5 Things I Learned from the First 5 Years of Business at KLMC

Back in November KLMC, the content marketing firm I started, celebrated 5 years of being in business. 🥳

After taking some time to reflect, these are the 5 seemingly simple business lessons that I learned the hard way.

1. Know what makes you different.

What makes you unique? Find your differentiation and lean into it. Hammer it. Learn to tell that story well.

2. You’re only as good as your team.

There are a lot of people out there. Finding the right ones will take a lot of time and effort. Always be looking for good people that you want to work with. You don’t have to have a project to start getting to know someone.

3. Scalable systems matter.

If, right now, you landed all of the proposals that you currently have out — would you be able to deliver?

• How would you scale?
• What do you need to do to get ready?

Start doing those things now.

4. There will be ups and downs. Be ready for both.

When an opportunity presents itself, do you have the bandwidth (financial, mental, staffing) to take advantage of it?

If you lost your biggest customer tomorrow, what would have to change? How can you protect yourself against this?

5. Know your ‘no’s.

You cannot be everything to everyone. Many times saying yes to one set of customers means saying no to another.

• Do you know who you should say yes to?
  • Who does that eliminate?
• How do you negotiate those conversations?

And always, always keep learning.