Proven Business Advice from Entrepreneurs: 44 Insights for Growth

1. Always be learning.

Kate Dillon, CEO, Crate Insider

Digital marketing and social media are constantly changing.

While it’s not always easy to keep up, have a great strategy in place so your marketing is effective regardless of the changes the platforms make.

Enact a continuous improvement plan for your website. I like to say that a website is never done. It’s a double-edged sword.

On the positive side, unlike print, you’re not stuck with a typo. On the downside, it means there’s always one more thing you can do to make it better.

Improve product descriptions, add pictures or most importantly at this time, add video. Video is king right now on all marketing channels.

2. Have patience.

Ecommerce Manager at Terramai, Terramai

Have patience.

Ecommerce isn’t a get-rich-quick business and requires patience.

Too many people want the quick success that only a few have earned (usually by creating a new, worthy product).

Have self-awareness. Build on YOUR strengths and not what the “gurus” are telling you to focus on.

It’s better to act on your one or two strengths than be paralyzed or go half into ten different tactics that you aren’t strong in or know nothing about.

Focus on your niche, niche, niche!

You’ve heard the old adage of “Location, Location, Location” for retail stores. Online, location doesn’t matter. Niche matters.

It’s better to find 1,000 true fans that resonate with your story and buy from you than 100,000 Instagram followers that don’t.

3. Seek mentorship.

Ana Seidel, CEO and CCO, My Bliss Kiss

It’s very important to take advantage of a lot of the free resources and coaching from Small Business Development Centers.

Their coaching is one of the greatest reasons we have been so successful.

Being an entrepreneur doesn’t always make one good at all of the skills necessary to run a successful and profitable business.

4. Be humble.

Nicole Facciuto, Founder, Corky’s Nuts

My biggest piece of advice is to give yourself permission to be in a space of “not knowing” how to do something before doing it.

The second part of this is to embrace exploring the unknown.

CORKY’S NUTS actually came to be as a result of this philosophy.

I would also recommend giving your community the opportunity to be a resource.

Anything you want or need help with is just “an ask” away.

5. Nothing comes easy.

Judson Uhre, Owner Operator, Hotels for Humanity

Ecommerce is like buying a sleeping IPO – with a lot of hard work and patience it will one day be a total success!

6. Journey to 100.

Tamara Mauro, Owner, Littlest Prince Couture

Never give up.

When you get in a rut, take out a clean sheet of paper and write down no less than 100 ideas or ways that you could sell your product.

Don’t stop until you get to 100.

Some of the ideas might be absolutely ridiculous, but it will get your creative juices flowing.

Then, when you finish your list, immediately get to work on 2-3 of the ideas.

Pretty soon you’ll have more business than you know what to do with.

7. Learn from others.

Gene Constant, President and Founder, True to Size Apparel

Remind yourself as to why you are doing that which you do.

Treat everyone at least as well as you want to be treated.

Pleasantly surprise them often.

Visit and even buy from your competitors and learn how they act.

Look at great performers outside of your industry and see if there is something they are doing right, then wonder if you can incorporate any of that right-stuff into your model. Spoil your customer.

8. Have focus.

Brittany Hogan, Owner and Artisan, Nefertem Naturals

Develop self-discipline and perform acts of self-love every day, be it a morning exercise routine or an evening herbal bath. Caring for yourself will help you stay motivated.

9. It’s a marathon not a sprint.

John Wray, CEO, Hero Care Packages,

Be persistent. Keep working. There are so many people out there! If you just find a good idea and good niche, it will snowball.

10. Don’t get lost in the weeds.

Derek Lenington, Co-Founder & CFO, Taylor Street Favors

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

We were focused initially on the look of our website as a differentiator, spending $$$ on customization that was not really apparent on mobile and made our site load slowly relative to competition.

We followed BigCommerce’s advice, focused on site speed and convenience (like one-page check-out) by migrating to a Stencil theme with no customization – and our Google ranking has been steadily improving along with sales.