What I Learned From My Business | Improve Public Speaking & Setting Boundaries
Here are some things I learned as a business owner. My name is Megan and I started my business about three years ago now and I figured it'd be fun to talk about some things that I learned along the way.
The first main thing that I learned when started my business was how to be a better public speaker. I always hated talking in front of crowds so when I took my public speaking class in college that was my worst nightmare. Starting my business I was forced to network and talk with people I've never met before and I think that really helped me get out of my shell and realize that I actually enjoy starting conversations and talking about things that I'm actually really passionate about. This will take a second. I think the biggest thing that made the difference in public speaking that made it easier is one: practice, and two: pretending everyone in the audience knows you already. Learning the skill of public speaking has been one of the biggest improvements for my business because networking does help me get a lot of my clients. I also think that public speaking helps when you are creating content online because you are talking to a lot of people at once even if it doesn't feel like it.
The next thing I really learned from my business is setting boundaries. Without the 9 to-5 structure that most people have in their jobs, it's really difficult to be able to set boundaries sometimes. Sometimes I'll get a email or text or even a direct message on Instagram or Facebook and it happens at 11:30 p.m. right. Sometimes it's hard to not respond right away, especially if it's a potential client. So by setting these boundaries and not responding until it's work hours of the next day again it helps me differentiate having a business and a personal life. This was a struggle especially in the beginning because I had no idea what being a business owner was like and what the struggles would be and finding that balance between business and personal is definitely one of the big ones. I was also able to set boundaries with what types of clients I wanted to take on. At first of course I wanted to say yes to everyone, so it was a big adjustment to starting to say no to some people who weren't my ideal client. I don't work with everyone and I'm proud of that because the clients I do work with get amazing results because they are the perfect fit for me.
I also really learned a lot about communication and how important it is as a business owner communicating with your clients. When something happens or when something changes is really important to making sure they feel like they are in the loop and that you value their time too. And this goes both ways, so when a client has to postpone a meeting or has to cancel a coffee date with me, that's totally fine, things come up and as long as you communicate it well, it shouldn't be an issue.
Another thing I learned is that you won't be good at something the first time you try it and it's okay to laugh at yourself. When I first started my business, some of the content I posted was not my best so it took a couple tries to perfect everything. From my workflow behind the scenes to how I wanted to talk to clients, that all evolved with time. I remember the first time I was invited to speak at a bigger conference and I was so nervous I showed up and came very prepared my slides were awesome. I went on stage and I was one of two speakers so I was the second one up and the first speaker was so experienced and she had her business for over 10 years and was fantastic. Like she could have done a TED Talk. And I went up and I stood there with the microphone like this the whole time I didn't move, didn't engage the audience, and I just remember blacking out and that afterwards I hoped it went well. Since then, I have definitely learned to maybe ask the audience questions, get them more engaged in my presentation so that way it's less boring and they can actually learn more because they were more engaged during it. But since then I've done a couple more speaking opportunities and I haven't been as nervous. So as long as you try something for the first time, at least you'll know you never have to do it the first time ever again. Another thing that I learned and something I teach every single one of my clients as well, is to create content as they go throughout their day. This way they'll have content to pull from to make Reels, TikToks, YouTube Shorts out of without having to feel like they have to spend a whole day filming. Taking a few 5-second clips throughout your day is so much easier than waiting for the end of the week to film everything for next week. Especially with a lot of content being b-roll content, you can use these types of clips for almost any industry. You could film yourself while you are waiting in the car for an appointment, you can film yourself making coffee, you can film yourself walking to the office. Doing this will save you so much time in the future and it looks more authentic and natural online anyways.
These are just a few things I've learned in the past three years, but I'd love to know what business lessons that you've learned recently in the comments below. And if you're struggling to come up with some content ideas for your business I do have a freebie linked in the description below this where you can get 40 free content ideas from me.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video!
