Lessons We Learned In Our Fifth Year In Business

FocusCopy Turns 5 Years Old (PLUS 6 Lessons We Learned In Our Fifth Year In Business)

Entrepreneurship / By / August 15, 2024

It never fails that when I start writing this blog each year, that all the emotions from the year compile together. And this year is no different. 

But today, we hit a milestone that I’ve been anxiously waiting for since the day I founded FocusCopy back in 2019. Why? Because statistically, the odds were stacked against us with over 50% of businesses failing within the first 5 years (Luisa Zhou). Moreover, wiser founders (i.e. in their fifties) are nearly 2x more likely to succeed than a 30-year-old founder (Luisa Zhou). 

I started this business as a 24-year-old without a dog, house, or baby. This was my first business venture. And I can officially say that we made it! 

Now, it’s time to turn up the heat and create more impact for service-based entrepreneurs and marketing agencies around the country!

So here is our annual letter, giving you a deeper understanding of what we’ve learned and what we’re doing differently going forward. 

Want to see the other lessons we’ve learned over the years? 

Read Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4

The Year 5 Mindset

Reaching year 5 is an accomplishment of its own. And it’s a goal that I’ve been working towards for…5 years. This past year with all the changes of becoming a mother, dealing with family health issues, walking through the passing of my mother-in-law, and surviving a hurricane alone (another story for another day)…my mindset was simply to get through and survive. 

We missed goals. We didn’t do as much as we wanted to. But what we did do was build a more sustainable and profitable business so that when the inevitable life events happen, we aren’t crippled by them. 

And you’ll see a lot more of what we’ve been working on this past year coming out in the next couple of months. To be in the know, you’ll want to be on the Copy Roast.

6 Lessons We Learned In Our Fifth Year In Business

Reflection is a crucial part of growth. That’s one of the primary reasons that we reflect on the previous year so that we can climb even higher for the next. Here are the 6 lessons we learned in our fifth year in business. 

1. There Is Power In Human Relationships

Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to take over our businesses and lives more and more each day. But the people and businesses that prioritize humans over AI, efficiency, and productivity will always win. Why? Because people want authentic connection. They want to do business with people they know, like, and trust. That’s why there is a big push in marketing for brands to step away from the brand and show more faces. That means showing up at events, posting pictures and videos of yourself, and sharing vulnerability in your marketing. Here are a few places you can find us:

2. Partnerships & Community For Entrepreneurs Is Critical

I’ve always said this…You need partners and you need community. Entrepreneurship is one of the loneliest professions out there. And the amount of mental health diagnoses among entrepreneurs is sometimes unbelievable. But when you’re living it, you understand. That’s why it’s so important to find your proverbial village. 

How do you go about finding these people for yourself? 

  • Ask the people you’re networking with to meet up
  • Connect on a deeper level with your strategic or referral partners
  • Don’t be afraid to build your own group and meet regularly
  • Talk about everything with your business bestie

I would not be here after this past year without these 2: Savannah Becerril of Go Savvy and Houston Marketing Alliance. 

Savannah Becerril of Go Savvy was actually our very first client. Since then, she’s become my best friend, a confidant, my son’s Aunt Sav, and the person who we bounce ideas off of (regardless of how outlandish). She is my sounding board for doing business. And we know each other’s businesses so intimately, we could go into any sales pitch successfully for the other person.

Then, Houston Marketing Alliance (HMA) was born out of a group of marketing specialists who wanted to refer to top-quality experts in their area. Since then, it’s become a place where we regularly check in, hold each other accountable, collaborate, and rely on each other. We are constantly building each other up. 

3. Life Happens…It’s Okay To Re-Prioritize

When life happens, it’s okay to re-prioritize. Last month (July), Hurricane Beryl hit Houston unexpectedly as there were only 2 spaghetti models directing it at us. 

My husband had left a few days prior for a work trip 9,500 miles away when the hurricane wasn’t directed towards us – leaving me with my 85-pound boxer mix and my almost one-year-old son. I had everything. But then Beryl hit, knocking our power out at 5:50am on Monday morning. I had no cell signal – severely limiting my ability to access information or even run my business. I wasn’t even able to notify our clients of the situation until the next day. My priorities had shifted entirely that week to taking care of my boys. 

It took 7 days for us to get back power and 8 days to regain Internet. 

This is simply one example of how life gave us a curveball and we had to readjust. July definitely didn’t turn out how we intended it to go. But we were able to connect with other Houstonians and linemen from around the country. And I was able to spend a bunch of quality time with my boys. 

Give yourself grace when life happens. It’ll turn out okay. 

4. Find People Who Refuse To Let You Fail

Over the years, I’ve found the people you surround yourself with are ultimately more indicative of your success than your actual work. This year was tough balancing it all – motherhood, homemaking, entrepreneurship, wifehood, church, community, etc. And, at one point, I told my husband – “Should I just step away from entrepreneurship for this season and focus on other areas of our life?” He immediately reassured me that I was so close and not to give up. 

The very next day, we signed a massive contract with a dream client. And we had our best month revenue-wise. The next month followed suit and became our newest and largest revenue month. 

Keep your circle close and intimate so that they are more equipped to hold you up when you’re feeling weak so that you can fulfill your company’s mission. 

5. It Isn’t About Work-Life Balance Anymore…The Focus Should Be On Creating Balance

This notion of creating work-life balance has been one of my big soap boxes this year. You see, there’s been a big push to find work-life balance over the last couple of years. But I concluded that we only have one life. And we fit family, work, friends, exercise, hobbies, etc. into that one life. 

When we focus on creating balance, we find that there’s more flexibility. We become more productive because we push in certain areas when we need to, and we ultimately design days that are more conducive to our vision. 

So how are you creating balance in your life?

6. Roll With The Punches

Years ago, the late Bill Sherrill spoke to the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at our retreat. He took a step back and actually rolled down the hill at 90 years old. You can imagine 70 students running after him. Thankfully, he wasn’t injured. But what he responded with was profound. 

“Sometimes, you just have to roll with it and not fight it.” 

I keep that sentiment close to my heart. It’d be easy for me to fight my son’s naptime and stress myself out…Stress about the business when putting my mother-in-law on hospice and planning her funeral the next week…Figure out how to keep the business operating when the hurricane knocked out power for over a week and the Internet for even longer.

Instead, I knew that I had fantastic relationships with my clients. I knew they would understand that some things were simply out of our control. And I knew that there would either be coverage – through my team and strategic partners, or things would be delayed by a couple of days. It was all going to be okay. 

Year 6, Here We Come!

Year 5 was a doozy, left us with a couple of black eyes, and exhausted. But we are so looking forward to what the future holds for us…

  • More value
  • Increased sustainability
  • Greater impact
  • Better offers
  • Opportunities to be our creative selves

Join us along for the ride when you subscribe to Copy Roast.