Things I learned in my first week as a full-time entrepreneur

If we’re going to split hairs, I’ve been working full-time on my SEO SaaS and services company Centori for 1.5 weeks, not one week.

This goes to support the overall “thesis” of this post though: one of the things I’ve learned so far working as a full-time entrepreneur is that time management is hard when you don’t have a boss.

I’m used to a highly regimented workweek. Working as a Product Manager at two demanding companies meant most of my days were structured around meetings. Product Managers don’t really do much. My job is to make sure my team is successful, which means orchestrating their work, being the poop umbrella for them, and spending time in meetings.

Lots, and lots of meetings.

In the unstructured life of an entrepreneur though… man I was not prepared for this whirlwind.

What I’ve learned so far working as a full-time entrepreneur

Here’s a non-prioritized and non-ordered list of lessons I have learned so far working full-time on my business.

Wait… I’m not going back to work

I’m still processing this one.

Part of me feels like this is just a vacation and I’ll be going back to my day job soon. Because my day job was so demanding, I tended to work at a frantic pace on Centori. If I had time to work, I had better use it to work.

Now though… I’m “unemployed” but I still need to shake the feeling of “OMG I need to get this done now because there is no time tomorrow”.

I think once I make it through the month then it’ll really hit me. Also when I get around to updating my LinkedIn.

Time management is key

Like I said, most of my day was structured for me. In the open ocean of a calendar relatively free from meetings, it’s easy to get lost at sea.

I am a firm believer that I’ll get as much done in one hour or 10 (if I am allowed 10). Because of that, I’m realizing the need for better time management and productivity.

I have no hacks or secrets other than the fact that to-do lists and Pomodoro timers have been helpful so far. Also blocking off days from client calls to give myself some good deep think-time.

Doing the important stuff is more important than doing lots of stuff

Somewhat related to the above point, doing the important stuff matters way more than doing a lot of stuff.

On busy days, it’s easy to get bogged down in minutia and not get anything important done. On those days, it’s imperative to be ruthless with your time and get the important stuff done first, then let the lesser task fill in the rest of the gaps in the day.

On the flip side, there are days when I don’t have much to do and I feel guilty for not working “hard”. Well, as long as I got the important stuff done, then who cares if I wrap up by 1 pm?

As long as I am doing things that continue to make my customers successful and happy, and get new customers, then I am in the clear.

If I want to go faster, I need to go faster

For 8 years I’ve worked for someone else (for better or for worse).

Sometimes I’d luck out and have a great boss who fought for me and got me a nice raise come review season. More often than not, my annual raise would cover a few extra coffees or lunch once a week if I was lucky.

Now though? There are no review seasons. There’s no ACR, no getting up for promotion, and no employee rubrics and guidelines to follow. It’s thrilling, but also puts pressure on: if I want to make more money then I need to go out and sell.

Slow days are okay - and necessary

With the pressure on to keep going faster, one important lesson I have learned 1.5 weeks into full-time entrepreneurship is that slow days happen and that is okay - and required.

I’ve been on 6 sales calls in the past week - and it has me pretty exhausted, to be honest! Looking at the week ahead I have no sales calls and while that scares me a bit… it also gives me the time and space to deliver for my new customers, and refine the way I do work, deliver value, and prepare to scale.

I may end next week with no sales calls… and that’s fine. As long as I do the important stuff (deliver for my existing customers, do things to get new customers) then I’ll be A-OK.