Question: What is one skill you wish you'd cultivated before starting your business?

Mindfulness

"I didn't get into meditation until I was well into being a startup entrepreneur, and it's helped tremendously, but I wish I'd started earlier. Meditation assists in being mindful with not only my customers but my team members. If I had been more patient earlier, I would have been less aggressive with certain sales, and instead given just enough to have the customer ask for more."

Patience

"A results-now attitude can really stunt long-term growth when you make sacrifices for short-term gain. Fortunately, my co-founder and I were quick in identifying areas for improvement and agreed to be in this for the long haul. So instead of turning a quick profit, we've aimed to grow a conglomerate that might even outlast us."

Learning to Say "No"

"When you're an entrepreneur, time is an even more precious commodity. In the early days of my business, I often agreed to engagements or projects that didn't align with my priorities, or help my business, just because I was uncomfortable saying No. I've since learned that every time you say Yes to something, it means saying No to something else. So, I'm much more careful about commitments."

Proofreading

"I move fast and try to get a lot done in a short period of time, which is necessary for successful entrepreneurs. But this can lead to sloppy mistakes. It's embarrassing to send emails that have spelling mistakes, so this is something I try to work on."

Basic Accounting

"It took a lot of time and energy for me to learn basic accounting "on the job" when I started my business. I wanted to have a rudimentary understanding of it so that when I handed things off to my bookkeeper or accountant, I had an idea of what was going on and could keep a birds eye view on it."

Public Speaking

"I am great with individuals and small groups, but in front of a large audience it's different. I've gotten more accustomed to it, but I wish I had that skill coming out of the gate. That would have allowed me to speak at conferences and in front of other large groups of industry peers much sooner."

Programming

"We're all thinking it. I don't want to do it but I wish I knew it! I wish I knew more about programming. In the past two years I've taken three courses and can code up basic applications. It's helped my business grow because now I know how to build and scale our applications 10 times better and I can explain how to go about doing it. I recommend it to every business owner."

Web Development

"If I could go back, I’d definitely learn the basics of web development, both front- and back-end systems. I wouldn’t be as dependent on others to bring my vision to life."