Quick Tips

For those of you just starting, make a list of all your startup costs.

That includes everything you need before you "open the doors." When calculating your startup costs, triple your coffee budget.

You’ll eventually reach a point where your blood type is "Dark Roast," and that’s when the real innovation happens.

For more experienced business owners, don't hit "Reply All" to an email unless everyone on the list needs the information.

Before hitting "Reply" or "Reply All" to a client or employee, take a deep breath and ask yourself: "Is this the email that ends my career?"

If the answer is "maybe," delete it and go for a walk.

Choosing a direction today doesn't eliminate all of tomorrow's choices.

The pressure to find your "one true calling" is overrated. You're choosing your next chapter, not signing a lifetime contract.

Think of your career like a GPS. If you take a wrong turn, it simply recalculates. It doesn't judge your life choices.

Don't mistake a hobby for a business.

Loving to bake doesn't automatically mean you'll love marketing, taxes, and customer complaints about frosting.

Sometimes the hobby should just be for fun and that's perfectly fine.

Test Drive Before You Buy.

Volunteer, freelance, shadow someone, or take on a small project before committing to a new career or business.

It's like trying on shoes. Better to discover they pinch before you hike up the mountain.

Stop Comparing Your Beginning to Someone Else's Middle.

That successful entrepreneur you're admiring probably has years of mistakes, lessons, and coffee-fueled late nights behind the scenes.

Comparison is a terrible career counselor.

Start Before You Feel Ready

You will never know everything you need to know before starting. If you wait until you feel completely ready, you may qualify for Medicare first.

Start small. Learn. Adjust. Repeat.

Don't Spend Money Trying to Look Successful

You probably don't need a fancy office, $5,000 website, embroidered polo shirts, or 10,000 business cards on Day One.

Revenue first. Swag later. Nobody ever said, “The business failed, but wow, those were excellent tote bags.”