Editor’s note: Isabelle Albanese is president and founder of Consumer Truth, Carol Stream, Ill. 

Author’s note: The original version of this article was completed, but not published, prior to our “new normal” business life. The global crisis has profoundly changed us – how we work, how we relate to one another, how we show affection and how we’ve increased reliance on technology to simulate our former interactions. I re-read everything to see if these 20 truths still stand. Every lesson takes on new meaning when read in the context of a COVID-19 world. And I believe they may be even more relevant right now!

For the past 20 years I’ve been an entrepreneur, launching what has become the second half of a career as a consumer insight consultant, professional moderator and interviewer. In March 1999, I created The Consumer Truth company, diving into uncertainty, unpredictability and surprises and have emerged wiser, invigorated, empowered and better able to anticipate the next big wave. 

This journey has been joyful and stressful; inspiring and depressing; liberating and confining. Had I known this before I started out – I would have gladly leapt in but with more than a little trepidation. Below, I will share 20 things I’ve learned on this journey. My hope is this gets you thinking about the lessons you’ve learned in the past two decades and how you can prepare for the next 20 years and beyond.  

  1. Starting a business is not for the faint of heart. It is risky and stressful. Especially when you leave the security of a big company with benefits, a staff, a reliable paycheck and guaranteed vacation time to spend with the three little kids you have at home! 
  2. You have to work at being comfortable with unpredictability. You must live with and navigate the world of uncertainty: Where’s my next check coming from? Will I have a project next month? Will today’s clients be with us tomorrow? It’s helpful to have savings or a partner who is able to fund the unpredictability – at least for a reasonable period of start-up time. My spouse and I agreed if the business wasn’t pulling in a certain amount within the first year, I’d give it up and go back to the corporate world. Because of this, I was comfortable with my decision to break out.
  3. Finding balance can be tricky! Entrepreneurs find it difficult to draw a line in the sand and respect it. There are no set work hours or work days, and you never get a real vacation. The laptop has come with me on every vacation I’ve taken in the past 20 years. But I’ve found putting it on the calendar is a mandate for me to make sure I’m there when I need to be for both sides of the line. It’s worked for everything from being a room mom to attending soccer games and traveling to China for business. If it’s on the calendar, it gets done.
  4. Don’t be afraid to ask – and pay – for help. Be willing to pay for help from professionals with expertise you need but don’t have, such as accounting, administrative tasks, legal advice, social media management, website development, etc. At first, it is difficult to fund something that you think you can figure out on your own. But any time you’re spending figuring it out is time you are taking away from doing what you do best. 
  5. Measure business success over the long haul. Your business is not defined by one good or bad year. Entrepreneurial success will ebb and flow. There are years of staggering success and years you wonder what the heck happened. We can only try to understand and learn from them. The key is not to lose confidence or faith in your abilities but continue to pursue and market your strengths!
  6. Stay relevant. This is crucial to keeping up and staying top-of-mind. This is true for everything in life of course, but for most businesses it’s about technology; understanding upcoming generational attitudes and behaviors; social media leaps and limitations; learning new skills; and expanding your unique capabilities.
  7. Learn to ride the tech wave. It is not going away. Artificial intelligence has easily incorporated into our everyday lives. Get used to it. And most importantly, understand how to use it to grow your business. 
  8. It’s never too late to get started. Make the leap. Write the book – or maybe just write the blog! Take the class. Put yourself out there. The time will pass whether you start something or not. I’ve always been happy to look back on what I tried to do and how I tried to put myself out there. And the times I shied away from taking the risk, I’ve always wondered, “What if?”
  9. Spend time working on your unique strengths and talents. These skills, passions and desires are what catapulted you into the entrepreneurial life. It sounds incredibly simple, but it can sometimes be difficult to focus on doing what you do best if you’re too worried about others around you. Sometimes working in your own truth will irritate other people. And it may cost you relationships, clients or income. But if you are true to yourself and your beliefs, it will be a sacrifice worth making and will pay off with peace of mind.
  10. Protect your business investments. This includes colleagues, client relationships, intellectual property and business trademarks. You’ve spent time and money developing and cultivating your business and, when presented with outside threats and challenges, you simply must protect what you’ve built.
  11. Relationships are everything. Identify the most important ones and continually nurture them. True in life, family and business. Without being in relationships with people, there is no trust or future. Relationships require an investment of time and energy. There’s no getting around it. That said, there are only a handful you can sustain in each aspect of your life. Feed and treasure them.
  12. Networking is a skill and a talent. Networking can make the difference between success and mediocrity; between becoming a new business statistic or a success. It requires a lot of time and a certain talent. For some people it comes effortlessly, and they execute it genuinely. For me, I can’t stop myself from thinking of it as selling, so 20 years has not been long enough for me to perfect this talent! However, my very astute daughter made the observation that the relationships I have built have actually been the result of successful networking – no matter how I want to define the word! 
  13. Working with family or close friends can be rewarding, frustrating and pleasantly surprising. There’s that degree of confidence that comes from knowing your friends and family have your back. But there’s also a need to separate that personal and professional relationship in order to preserve both. Be sure boundaries are conveyed and that each person has their own responsibilities and is encouraged to work independently in their own truths so that everyone feels productive and fulfilled. And since these people know you better than no other, they often see and point out characteristics in you that (good or bad) you might miss in your own self-observation. 
  14. Share what you know well. Writing a book is a great way to share your experiences, provide useful information, tools and advice and gain credibility as a leader and an expert. Write about what you know well, what you have practiced diligently and can provide many supporting examples. Then ask credible topic experts who know you well and have experience with you to read the book and write reviews and an introduction. I am forever grateful to those clients and colleagues who provided that favor and service for me.
  15. Ask and be willing to receive. Feedback is incredibly important as you build your business and brand. It may not always be pretty or well-presented, but it will always be beneficial to help you grow. Plus, the truths and insights gained can help you come up with new ideas; introduce a new product or positioning; resuscitate a brand without life; or give ideas for how to communicate effectively.
  16. Let loose your inner anthropologist! Again, in the business of consumer/marketing research, getting into someone’s home (or shopping with them in the store) is the best way to learn about why they do what they do in life. We begin to understand brand connections and stories by witnessing the seen but unsaid, and the said combined with in-the-moment behaviors. Researchers have the unique opportunity to view the connections people hold dear and what makes them do what they do. And when we see this, we can begin to understand brand connections and the stories consumers hold dear.
  17. Give back when you can. For me this has meant speaking at industry conferences, mentoring young people coming into the business and serving on the board of DePaul University’s marketing council (where I completed my undergraduate studies), putting on free workshops to college students and lecturing in class. You will find you receive more from these experiences than you give.
  18. Remember what drove you here. In times of great challenge and frustration, recall the drive, passion and fire that triggered your leap. Even after 20 years, when I get frustrated or down, I remember the great excitement and anticipation, the freedom and control that helped me take the first leap. It mostly serves to reinvigorate and re-energize.
  19. It can be worth the risk. The rewards of freedom, flexibility and independence that entrepreneurship ultimately affords you can be worth the risk and the stress, no matter the inevitable downsides or hardships. Once you go on your own, you can never go back to corporate. Well, you actually can, but if you are like me you simply won’t want to!
  20. Twenty is the new 10. Twenty years go by in a moment! Keep writing out goals each year. And be sure your goals include your personal world and how it is affected by your business. Without keeping track, sometimes your personal world can become obfuscated by the demands of the entrepreneurial world. Next thing you know, 10 years turns into 20 and you may be feeling a lot smarter and wiser.

I’ve learned so much that I didn’t know I needed in the last 20 years. I’m celebrating all that I’ve become, achieved and collected; all the people I’ve met and have developed relationships with; all the small stuff I’ve learned to let go of; and all the kindness, graciousness, frustrations and truths I’ve learned. Cheers to the power of all that is waiting to be celebrated in the years ahead!