We had celebrated the completion of our first year and did not even realized it. And also that we have not even had a vacation because of the amount of work we have had.

Before writing this post I read one I wrote at the time of  the creation of Homemade Marketing and I am really excited for two reasons: First, we keep on having the same vision for our work as when we started and secondly, we maintain the same company’s philosophy to what we had from the beginning: to enjoy our work.

We thank each and every one of our customers for trusting us and all those people who have passed on their positive energy to us so that everything goes well. And above all, thanks to Homemade team as without them we wouldn’t be where we are now.

In case it may be useful to some entrepreneurs like us, I leave here 10 tips for surviving the first year of your business:

1) Patience and good spirit are the first things you’re going to lose. Embrace yourself with both and do not miss a single day, good things come with time.

2) Invest in Marketing, albeit with minimal budget to attract customers. If you see that no one calls you to buy your product, go after them yourself. There are dozens of things you can do from your office and beyond. Just sit down with your team and think about what you can do.

 3) You will have arguments with your team but that is fine. It is good to have several points of view and learn how to adapt to each other. Just make sure that everyone is being heard and do not deny any idea without hearing it out.

4) Make time for your business, so that in day to day life you devote sufficient time for your company, website, workers …

5) Forget about the holidays as you know them. As from now on, you can go on a vacation only when your work permits you to, so try to organize your time in the best way possible. If you have to charge less, you will earn less, but it doesn’t matter. If you do it right, the rewards will come eventually.

6) Be always grateful to everyone.

7) Do not look at mistakes as something impossible to get out of. Analyze, revise them and learn from them so that they do not happen again and move on.

 8) Monitor your competition and listen to your customers. Both good customers and less good customers will give you clues on how to improve your current methods, your service or your product. Studying your competition will help you to know what services and what prices are being demanded.

9) Go out and take action. Go to business meetings, visit customers, go to events, join some organization that can help to spread the word about what you do. Do whatever you can to promote your company and I will suggest you from my own experience to make sure to take your business card with you as you never know who or where you can meet your next client.

10) Enjoy your work and always speak about your business with passion. If you do, you will convey that emotion to your future customers.

A lot of encouragement to all those who start their adventure of becoming an entrepreneur. So that you know you are not alone.