7 Years In: Lessons From a Copywriter & Small Business Owner

I never thought I’d be an entrepreneur. I had big dreams of a corner office and a fat salary, but as life changed my plans (as life usually does!).

If you don’t know my story, I stumbled into entrepreneurship after I had my third child. I recently celebrated my seventh-year business anniversary, and if I’m being honest, I’m shocked that I’ve gotten this far! But I mean it when I say that I wouldn’t change this life for anything.

Lessons For New Business Owners

When I first started, I learned a lot from other entrepreneurs who were just a little bit ahead of me. In this blog, I’m going to share with you seven things I’ve learned in the past seven years that have helped me build a sustainable business.

Trust me, I’ve learned a lot more than these seven lessons, but these are some of the things I really wish I'd known back when I first filed my LLC in April 2019.

1. Your Business Will Evolve – And You Will, Too!

The business I have right now is not the business I started, and that’s a great thing! Your business should evolve. You should, too. It’s a sign that you’re paying attention to you and your audience’s changing needs.

The market changes, your clients change, you change, and your business needs to reflect all of it. If you white-knuckle your original vision and refuse to bend, it’s going to cause more harm than good.

Flexibility is literally one of the most important entrepreneur lessons you can internalize early on. Give yourself permission to grow into a version of your business you haven't even imagined yet.

2. You Need to Build Your Network & Connect With Other Business Owners

I cannot stress this enough: building a network is a non-negotiable. Some of my best clients, collaborations, and opportunities have come directly from genuine relationships I've built with other business owners — not from a perfectly optimized Instagram grid or a flawless pitch deck. People do business with people they like and trust, full stop.

And I'm not talking about transactional networking where you collect business cards like Pokémon and never follow up. Because I literally hate that and it gives me anxiety.

I'm talking about real, reciprocal relationships where you show up, support each other, and actually give a damn. Join communities, go to events, hop on coffee chats, and invest in those relationships without expecting an immediate return. The long game always wins.

3. Talk TO Your Audience, Not AT Them

Listen: leave the lecturing in the lecture hall. Nobody wakes up and thinks, "I really hope a brand talks at me today." When your marketing feels like a one-way broadcast, people tune out. The businesses that build real loyalty are the ones that make their audience feel seen, heard, and understood.

Talking to your audience means writing and creating content like you're having a conversation, not delivering a TED Talk nobody signed up for. It means asking questions, using their language, addressing their actual pain points, and showing some personality while you're at it. 

One of the biggest entrepreneur lessons I've learned is that the more human your marketing sounds, the harder it works for you. Ditch the corporate-speak and just… talk to people like they're people.

4. If You’re the Smartest Person in the Room, Find Another Room

Seven years in and I am still regularly humbled by how much I don't know. And honestly? I've learned to love that feeling.

The moment you think you've arrived and there's nothing left to learn is the moment your business starts quietly dying. Things are constantly changing, especially in the world of digital marketing. Staying curious is one of the most underrated competitive advantages you can have.

Seek out people who are further along than you, invest in courses, read the books, listen to the podcasts, and stay genuinely open to new perspectives. Don’t be embarrassed by being the least experienced person in a room full of sharp, driven people. Some of my biggest growth spurts as a business owner came directly from putting myself in spaces where I had to stretch. Comfort zones are cozy, but they're not where the good stuff happens.

5. Get Comfortable Outsourcing

It can feel like taking on everything from the bookkeeping to the tech stuff to your copywriting is a great way to save money, and sometimes it is. But a lot of time, you’ll find that all you’re doing is burning time, energy, and sanity that could have been spent on the work you’re actually good at. That is not a flex. That is just exhausting. You cannot – and should not – do everything on your own.

Outsourcing is not a sign that you can't handle your business. It's a sign that you understand your business well enough to know where your time is best spent. You don't have to hire a full team overnight, but start somewhere. Find the tasks that drain you the most and find someone who genuinely loves doing those things. One of the most liberating entrepreneur lessons you'll ever learn is that doing less — strategically — actually helps you accomplish more.

6. You Have to Silence the Critics

Not everyone is going to get what you do, why you do it, or why it matters. And at first, that can feel really discouraging, especially when it's people close to you. 

But what I’ve learned is that you are not obligated to justify your vision to people who have already decided not to understand it. Some people will come around eventually, and some simply won't, and both outcomes are okay.

What's not okay is letting that noise slow you down. There's a big difference between someone who asks genuine questions because they're curious and someone who pokes holes in your dreams for sport.

Learn to tell the difference quickly. Protect your energy like it's your most valuable business resource — because it is. Stay focused on the people who do get it, because those are the ones who will cheer you on, refer you, and grow alongside you.

7. Pause Before You Burn It All Down

Every entrepreneur I know has had the moment. The one where you're staring at your laptop at 10pm, wondering why you ever thought this was a good idea and fantasizing about going back to a predictable 9-to-5 with a steady paycheck and a boss who handles the hard stuff. It happens to all of us, and it does not mean you're failing. It usually just means you're tired and need to step away before you make any big decisions.

That said, sometimes the urge to blow it all up is actually useful data. Sometimes your gut is telling you that something genuinely isn't working and it's time to pivot, let go, or start fresh. The trick is learning the difference between burnout talking and your intuition talking.

When in doubt, close the laptop, go outside, and revisit the decision with fresh eyes. Nine times out of ten, the business looks a lot more manageable after a good night's sleep and maybe a little snackie snack.

Key Takeaways from My 7 Year Journey

Seven years is a long time, and I won't pretend the ride has always been smooth. But every messy, confusing, exciting, and humbling moment has been worth it.

If there's one thread running through all of these entrepreneur lessons, it's this: building a sustainable business is less about having the perfect strategy and more about staying adaptable, staying connected, and staying honest with yourself — even when that's uncomfortable.

You're going to evolve. Your business is going to evolve. You're going to need people, and you're going to need to ask for help. You're going to have hard days and big wins and everything in between. That's not a bug in the entrepreneurial experience. It’s literally the whole thing. The sooner you make peace with that, the sooner you can stop white-knuckling the journey and actually start enjoying it.

Whether you're brand new to running your own business or you're a few years in and feeling like you're figuring it out as you go, you're in good company. We all are.

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