I used to sit in a gray cubicle in the middle of the office, in the top floor of a building, somewhere in Philadelphia. Every day I would wake up, eat breakfast, rush with everyone else to grab the subway (metro), and then clock in. I’d go through my day doing work, that today seems monotonous. And yet, it’s a bitter sweet feeling, because now that I run a successful consultancy on my own, sometimes I miss those monotonous days when I didn’t have to worry about the “ship”.

Today, I want to share with you a bit about my story. I want to inspire you and let you know that your dreams of successful entrepreneurship is possible. However, it is not as glamorous as you think it is, nor is it easy. Anyone that still advertises success in any shape, way, size or form today as easy, is straight up lying to you. And this is one of the reasons why Emely Roman & Co. was created. There are huge problems in the market right now where the root cause is an onslaught of misinformation. But we will talk about that in another post! In the meantime, if you want to get some raw truth about running a marketing business join the best community for women in marketing, here.

I make what I used to make in a year—in a month, and how you can too!

I started the entrepreneurship journey back in 2012. That is over a decade ago! Throughout this journey I have spent over $100,000 in lessons, cried lots of tears, caught tons of tantrums, spent lots of sleepless nights, and constantly questioned whether I should have just gone back to working a 9-5 and live a simple life. You don’t have to. There are a couple of things that you can do in order for you to avoid the tough, painful lessons that I had to go through. Here are some of the things you should now, even if you are already in business.

Get your finances in order

This is by no means financial advice. But, it goes without saying, things would have been easier for me if I had a healthy credit score and not a lot of debt-to-income ratio. At the time I began to seriously pursue a marketing business, we were getting foreclosure notices. So, as you can imagine, we weren’t financially healthy. If I had focused on my financial hygiene first, I would have worked on getting a good credit score, a personal savings account with at least 3 months totaling my cost of living (essentials only), a DUNs number for my business, and I would have open a line of credit (Net 30) with a company like www.quill.com.

Set up a business plan

I know it’s boring, overwhelming, and sometimes it may feel like a waste of time. Specially if you are all over the place and you really don’t know what you are doing. At least, I know from experience, that when I was “getting my feet wet” in digital marketing, some days I wanted to be a website designer and other days I really saw myself as a social media manager. The business plan doesn’t have to be extensive and focused on a single niche of service. Your baby business plan should answer 3 things:

• How are you getting clients?
• How are you allocating your revenue?
• How are you marketing?

Focus on sales

If you follow me long enough, you will realize that even if I am a seasoned marketer, I will always prioritize sales over marketing in the end. Sales are the blood of the business. If you already have clients have been slacking on the pipeline creation efforts, you are already failing as a business. Just because you have clients today doesn’t mean you will have clients tomorrow—even if you have contracts in place and they tell you they love you. Never stop building your pipeline, prospecting, networking, connecting and pitching your services. Once you begin to solidify your niche, your specialty, you can begin to add additional layers to your business plan that include a “scale strategy” so that you are not the only generating pipeline for your business.

Not getting enough clients? Check out The M75 Club, this is a membership program that helps you generate opportunities for your business, provides you monthly consulting with me, and gives you access to a growing vault of tools and resources to grow your business for just $35/month.

Hone your skills

Before you decide on a premium coaching program to learn how to grow your marketing agency, make sure you have grow a strong muscle for delivering results. This starts with honing your skills. Be brutally honest with yourself. And keep a record of the results you’re currently driving for businesses, start writing up your case studies, ask for testimonials, and continue to invest in honing your skills as much as you can. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have invest money in courses, it could mean internships, free projects, or bartering. Don’t fall into the trap of “charging your worth”, instead let your work AND results do the talking when it comes to how much you charge.

Get Connected: find a community for women in marketing

Ever heard that “entrepreneurship is a lonely road”? (or something like that), it’s true! The best types of community for women in marketing and branding are the ones where you can see women in their practice, meaning, they are doing their thing. The Female Marketers Society is a growing Facebook community of just that. Inside you can network with veterans like myself and create or join peer groups so that you can grow together .

In my journey from the daily grind in a gray cubicle to building a thriving consultancy, I’ve learned that entrepreneurship isn’t all glitz and glam. It’s a rollercoaster with its ups and downs. Emely Roman & Co. was born out of the need to tackle the misinformation out there. Here’s the bottom line: get your finances in order, have a business plan (yes, it’s boring but necessary), focus on sales, hone your skills, and find a community for women in marketing like the Female Marketers Society for support. The road can be tough, but the rewards are totally worth it.