Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Lauren Lbik, Founder of Discover Your Creator, located in St. Petersburg, FL, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My business is called Discover Your Creator, and I teach others how to discover their inner content creator and earn an income online with the online business and marketing strategies that I have learned from over 6 years of experience in the industry. My customer base is anyone looking to start an online business, primarily through creating, sharing, and monetizing the content that they create.
Tell us about yourself
I have a background in business — specifically, a degree in accounting and a Master's in Business. I started out working in taxes and auditing and got my CPA license. After a few years in the corporate world, I grew tired of the grind and discouraged that this was supposedly the key to a happy and successful life. Fast forward a bit, and I started my first business, a health and wellness website. After finding pretty quick success and earning over six figures in the first year, I started another website in the business niche, and that turned into multiple other websites, YouTube projects, and other opportunities.
I love what I do, and by far, the most rewarding aspect of this type of work is that I get to have an impact on other people's lives while also enjoying a level of freedom that I never thought was possible. Now, I get to show others how to achieve this.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Professionally speaking, my biggest business-related accomplishment is hitting the 7-figure mark with my online business. I made 5x what I earned as an accountant in just a couple of years — a level I likely never would have accomplished in the corporate world (at least not for 30+ years).
Personally speaking, my biggest accomplishment is just having the courage to start an online business and learn how to put myself out there. I have a big fear of public speaking and being on camera. I'm not the Instagram influencer type, and that's not how I run my business. But I have found the courage to build an audience of tens of thousands of people and get myself on camera and start a podcast for them. That's big for me.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
I think that the direct and sole responsibility for your own future is probably one of the hardest parts of being a business owner. Probably because of my background in accounting and the environment in which I grew up in, I have a pretty risk-averse, money-saving mindset. I tend to worry about when the money will run out and what I might do after that. As a business owner, especially in the online world, things are constantly changing, and you have to stay on top of that evolution and pivot when necessary (and often frequently). That's tough sometimes.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Find the courage to get started, even if you feel that you have no idea what you're doing or how you will make it work. We lose so much time letting imposter syndrome keep us frozen in place and finding excuses why things won't work. I used to scoff at people that told me to start my own business because my first thoughts always started with "I can't." Limiting beliefs are so powerful.
- Commit wholeheartedly to your business and its growth and success. I've met so many people that tell me that they want to start an online business or want more exposure and success with the one that they have started, but they don't prioritize it. They continue traveling, spending money, or focusing on other activities that don't relate to their business. If you want it, you have to give 150% to make it work and ideally as quickly as possible.
- Keep moving — always. My motto is to fail often and frame all of the failures as learning mistakes. In the first few months of trying to make money with my first business, I often failed - constantly. But there was no "waiting around to see how it went." I tried tons of different strategies, and when they failed, I tried to understand why they failed to help me get it right the next time. Eventually, things fell into place, and I made my first bit of income. From there, I doubled it for the first few months after that. Keep moving, keep trying, pay attention to the data and analytics, and learn how to do it better next time.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://discoveryourcreator.com/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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