Being an entrepreneur is hard enough. When you consider the many hurdles and hiccups that come with creating your own lane, navigating being paid your worth shouldn’t be a factor that holds you back.
by Kamille Coppin
There’s a delicate balance between accepting the ebbs and flows of self-employment and being downright underpaid (or not paid at all) for the work that you do. Statistically, most businesses don’t see any real profit coming from their venture for the first 2-3 years. While those early years can be fulfilling, they challenge any young entrepreneur to grow, adapt, pivot, and generate scalable revenue.
So where does one draw the line between making exceptions to grow a business and making ends meet?
Enter, Cut The Sh*t, Cut The Cheque. This month, Shay Myer, founder of Finance For The Culture, Imani Walker, founder of Future People Media, Benjamin Agbeke, co-founder of Floor 13 Sports, and Eddie Bucardo, founder and co-owner of Unchanged Athletics, hosted a panel and networking event for business owners and creatives to share what it really takes to launch and scale a business - without sacrificing your bottom line.
Here are 5 key points every entrepreneur should take away from this discussion.
There is never a perfect time to start your business but being prepared, using your transferable skills and organizing your finances is step one.
Bringing your big ideas to life can be overwhelming.It will likely never feel like the perfect time to make the leap, but bet on yourself and launch.
The reality is you cannot control what challenges come your way along your journey. What you can control is your level of preparation to ensure you get started on the right foot. That way, when you dive into those uncharted waters you’ve already set yourself up for success with a life jacket and compass.
Videographer and Creator, Benjamin Agbeke, says although there will be many things you have to learn without a teacher, your transferable skills are a leg up you shouldn’t forget about.
“[At my previous job in sales] I learned how to actually create a business plan, how to manage incoming business, doing outbound calls, reaching out to people, and overall just figuring out ways to build a business. So one thing I always tell people is whenever you work a previous job and you're jumping into a new lane, remember those transferable skills will always help you later. It's just how you choose to apply it. ry not to let those skills go dormant.”
When it comes to managing your finances, Shay Myer says this must include organizing your business income so it’s held in its own account.
“When I first started I was actually working a 9 to 5. And my 9 to 5 income and business income began to flow into the same account. That's one thing I noticed a lot with early entrepreneurs… all the money goes to the same place and they don't separate it. But without those financial organization skills, it can get very, very messy, very, very quickly. So even if you don't wanna open up a business account to avoid fees, just having two separate accounts will get you started in the right way.”
You are your own HR; create boundaries.
It can feel like entrepreneurship runs on hustle culture. Anyone pivoting to the mindset of a business owner from an employee will likely find it hard to navigate that change in pressure. Suddenly, it’s all on you and the difference between paying a bill or making a late payment is landing that client or job. But at what cost? Overworking yourself in the name of your business is known to cause burnout and other significant mental health concerns.
So how do you avoid burnout while striving for your quarterly goals? Myer says it really comes down to being loyal to your integrity and having patience that the opportunities that are meant for you, will not miss you.
“I know sometimes it feels weird; you're just starting out and you may need the money, but there are some companies you truly don't want to work with, or don’t have the capacity to work with… If you truly believe in what you're doing, the abundance may not come now but it will come eventually.
Don’t allow yourself to sink [into the] black of, ‘I have to take this because I need the money and this opportunity will never come again’ because you are psyching yourself out. You have to have the power to say no sometimes and trust your journey. And that extends to your health, especially as a woman navigating work and your cycle.”
Taking risks can be the difference between taking off and remaining stagnant
Risk is in every decision you make from pricing services for a client to taking your marketing in a new innovative direction. In every case, failure or hearing that dreaded “no” is typically at the heart of most hesitation.
For both Imani Walker and Eddie Bucardo, becoming comfortable with risk propelled their ventures into new spaces.
When Canadian news outlets were banned from Meta social platforms, and at one point from Google, Walker launched Thisxplained, covering local news for Torontonians. While Walker admits she reached a point where she wasn’t sure if the platform would hold value as the media ban progressed, it later became a platform she could use to demonstrate her value and be compensated fairly for it.
“In my case, what I really learned from that is it doesn’t matter if you don’t necessarily have a plan or reason - just do it and be consistent because if I had not continued to grow that platform I couldn’t have used it to secure myself a better deal with more pay.”
When it comes to setting your price for partnerships Bucardo says, “one thing I wanna tell you all is closed mouths, don't get fed. [What I’ve learned is when] I'm doing a pitch for [a company] I don't wanna go too high but I also don’t want to rob myself. So when you price it and you’re pitching – just say the number. Whatever it is, they can negotiate but if you start [pricing] too low you’re not doing what’s best for yourself or your company.”
Your pricing comes down to what you bring to the table - make it tangible and measurable to competitors
Regardless of what your venture is about, you should be getting paid adequately for what you bring to the table. Although your clients’ budgets may vary your expertise does not. It’s important to understand the value you bring and be able to back it up with thoughtful competitor analysis that reinforces your pricing structure.
While there are many ways to do this, for his client-based athletic training and rehabilitation business, Bucardo starts by comparing what his company provides to his top competitors and prices strategically based on that.
“For our services in our space, essentially, what I do is I go on Glassdoor and compare what we offer to the industry leaders. If we offer more, hold more qualifications, which we usually do, I price based on that.”
Not only does this ensure that the pricing aligns with industry averages but it more easily allows him to justify any differences on cost based on the added value he is offering.
In the creative industry, pricing can be slightly more complex. The main rule for pricing Agbeke lives by is to quantify your years of experience and ask lots of questions to understand the real scope of the project.
“The first thing I remember is I bring 10 years of experience in the space, then I look at what the needs are for the shoot and ask a lot of situation-based questions about the client’s needs. A common mistake I see creatives make is someone will reach out and ask for let’s say headshots, they’ll agree and suggest a price.
But before you give them a price you need to know things like: do you need me to book the space? Do you need different lighting setups? Are we just doing one location, with multiple locations?Is there more than one person? How many outfit changes?
These are all things to consider because they change your output of work which changes the price. Don’t put yourself in a situation where you allot x amount of time and now you are being underpaid for the amount of work actually necessary.”
Have integrity when managing a team: listen, have check-ins, take lessons from bad bosses
We’ve all had a terrible boss or working experience that we didn’t enjoy. At some point during that experience you probably thought to yourself “If I was in charge here, I’d do things differently.” When it comes to entrepreneurship and growing a team, those lessons on everything you’d never do “if you were in charge” is a great place to start defining what an ideal working culture is like for you and your team.
As Bucardo manages a number of independent trainers, he prioritizes three things; listening, checking in and taking lessons from bad bosses.
“Listening is number 1. Number 2 is we have regular check-ins with our staff. So every couple of weeks, we sit down. How are you feeling? Are you overwhelmed right now? What is it we can do to give you more business, or how can we lay back a little bit?
Checking in is super important to me as a leader because a company I worked for before had horrible leadership so everything was horrible. I think the greatest mistake you can make is working for a horrible boss and not using it as a blueprint to create a better culture for your business. Use that experience to sit back and really think, how do I be a better boss, how do I be a better team member, how do I be a better listener, a better leader?”
As an entrepreneur on your own journey, what lessons would you add to this list? Share them with us on social media to help inform and empower other Black entrepreneurs.
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