2 Years In: a (Business) Survival Story
I recently celebrated my business’s second birthday. I’m really happy, proud, and grateful to have made it this far- especially in light of the alarming statistic that more than 30% of new businesses fail by their second year.
But, I wanted to give you an honest accounting of what it really took to get here. Sans Instagram filter, sans positive spin, sans boot-strapping nonsense.
So, here’s what it really took, the risks I had to take, and the hardest-won lessons I learned. I share hoping that this can bring you some ease and convince you that:
✨ You’re not behind, give it time
✨ Your heroes had help
✨ Your mistakes are your biggest teachers
I’m taking a “High Fidelity” style approach, by taking a “Top 3” view of different aspects of my first 2 years as a business owner.
Biggest Risks
I believe in “Greater the Risk, Greater the Reward.” And damn, have I had to take some big risks since opening my business.
Here were the top 3 hardest risks in my personal journey, and why they were more than worth it.
#3 Coming Out Professionally
When I first opened my business, I was still stuck in a conservative, corporate mindset around “professionalism” in a lot of ways. I’d taken it to heart that my experiences as a queer, Chicana femme were “too political” to be in any way acknowledged at work. And if I was ever “too political” no one would pay for my work.
Fear had kept me in the corporate closet for a really long time.
So, when I first opened my business, my service structure and my messaging was like mildly spicy corporate. Now, it’s a whole damn ghost pepper. Because I’m not a mild spice person. I’m a set-your-taste-buds-on-fire person. But, not everyone can handle the heat. A lot of people hate the heat. So, it took me a long time to feel safe being as spicy, as flavorful, as “political” as I am and to trust that there are enough people who love my spice for my business to make it while I am being fully, authentically me.
The thing that really marks that transition for me was finally coming out of the closet professionally. Last June, I published my coming out story with mitú with my real name in the byline and I shared it on all my business socials.
No turning back to conservative corporate acceptability now! But I felt so much freer. So much lighter. Even if my old jobs would never even think of hiring me back should my business fall through.
Worth it.
#2 Going Into Debt
I’m currently about $14,000 in debt not counting student loans. Where did the money go?
Living expenses- I’m blessed that my business has pretty much paid for itself right from the start, but there have been many months when it didn’t cover anything more than that. And putting rent, food etc. on your credit card can really add up. And no, I haven’t considered getting a “day job”- because it doesn’t feel aligned and I simply don’t have the extra energy for it.
Self-employment taxes I didn’t realize I owed 😅
Emotional support- being an entrepreneur has brought me face-to-face with many of my inner demons. Especially my fear of uncertainty and money wounds. After all, as a Hispanic woman, I’m part of one of the lowest-paid demographics in the United States. Needless to say, this has brought up many challenging emotions that definitely would have shut me down and sent me into a freeze were it not for my investing in therapy and business coaching.
Self Care- My body has shown me time and again that when I don’t rest, when I don’t take good care of myself, I get sick. So, I make time for exercise, meditation, rollerskating, pole dancing and tarot reading. And, I still splurge on going blonde, brunches, and things to spoil my pets with. Every investment in my well-being helps me to show up better for my business and for my clients.
Community- I run a digital marketing agency and most of my Marketing Confidence Cheerleading clients are virtual. It can get pretty isolated and echo chamber-y if I’m not making an effort to be social. But it’s very important that I surround myself with the right sort of people. People who will motivate, inspire, and encourage me rather than feed into my doubts and fears. So, I’ve invested in membership in several entrepreneurship groups like Upper Left Ladies and the Elemental Entrepreneurship Coven so that I can feed my social needs with a community that truly lifts my spirits.
Though debt has felt really scary to me for much of my life, reading back through this list I am still 100% convinced that it was worth it. Look what debt has allowed me to build!
#1 Dropping My More Conventional Services
Thanks to money panic, when I first opened M.Isa, I offered something like 36 services- most of them done-for-you. I thought I should make myself available to do anything I had the skills to do for whoever needed help… regardless of whether I actually enjoyed providing that service.
But, slowly, I grew to realize that just because I could do something didn’t mean I had to.
Slowly, I began to believe that I was “allowed” to only sell what I WANTED to provide. Inch by inch, I assembled faith that I could make a living doing what was fun and easy for me.
Best New Beliefs
When I say entrepreneurship forced me to face my demons, most of my demons turned out to be internal ghouls. A mean inner critic. Money wounds that clouded my vision. People-pleasing behavior that a scared child version of me was holding on to.
My inner demons were beliefs that I learned in an effort to keep myself safe at some point in my past. After all, a belief is just a thought you’ve had over and over again until it becomes a habit.
Luckily, that means you can change any belief you want to by practicing a new one in its place.
Here are the 3 new beliefs I’ve practiced that have been the most helpful for me in my first 2 years as a business owner.
#3 Work Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
I opened my business assuming that what came easily to me came easily to everybody. What was fun for me was fun for everybody. Therefore, no point in charging good money for my natural skills, talents, and aptitudes.
What an odd belief!
It must have been conditioned into me along with the notion that money only comes from hard, unpleasant work. That technical skills are worth more than creative ones. That no one really cares about the big-picture vision or meaning.
I’ve had to unlearn all of that.
What comes easily to me does not come easily to everyone else. And if it doesn’t come easily to them, of course it’s worth good money for me to handle it for them! Even if it’s easy and fun for me to do it! Even if it’s something others might call “woo woo”. Even it’s lending you my expansive imagination to help you envision what you really want so that your desires aren’t overshadowed by your fears.
Besides, hard, unpleasant work is hard and unpleasant. It leads to resentment of whoever is asking me to do it. And I don’t want to resent my clients!
When I spend my days in hard and unpleasant toil, I get sick more often. I get burnt out. So burnt out I can’t keep working and making money.
But when I do work that is fun for me, that is a fit for my natural abilities and the things I want to keep learning and growing in… I can’t wait for work every day! I love everyone who wants to collaborate with me so that I can do what I love!
Doing the work I actually want to do is fun and financially prudent. It just took a lot of trial and error and practicing of new beliefs before I could accept that.
#2 Money Is a Limitless Resource
Oooo boy, have I had to work on my money mindset to make it these 2 years.
And to be real: I was a Negative Nancy Scarcity Queen for much of my life. So, I really had to practice new thoughts about money to keep myself from freaking out every damn day as a new entrepreneur with unreliable pay.
Here are some of the best new beliefs about money that I have been practicing, probably borrowed or cobbled together from Intuitive Edge Coaching, Tiffany Cheung, Simone Grace Seol, or Manifestation Babe. Please take what is helpful for you and leave the rest as you see fit.
Money is a limitless resource. There is more than enough money circulating in the world for me to have everything I could ever want or need.
I am a money magnet. Money flows to me effortlessly just for me being me.
Money flows to me faster and with greater ease when I rest.
People love to pay me for the incredible value I provide. The transformation they get is worth more to them than the financial investment.
I’ve set my prices correctly when I am excited and energized whenever I make a sale- not pre-exhausted at the thought of completing the work for that engagement.
I notice when money flows to me and show appreciation so that I signal that I want it to keep coming back.
Investments are a celebration of trust that money will come back to me 10-fold.
#1 My Thoughts Are Valuable
One of my big fears when I first started out was: “What if no one cares what I have to say? What if all this content I’m working so hard on is useless to anyone but me?”
But here’s the thing, you can’t know how your thoughts help others unless you share them. So, in order to start sharing them, you have to train yourself to believe the following before you have proof:
If I’m struggling with this, someone else is too.
Knowing what I now know could have saved a past version of me a lot of trouble. Sharing what I have learned will help anyone who is currently experiencing what I was then.
We all have different brains. My perspective gives others the opportunity to see things in an entirely new way they might not have come to on their own.
What if my favorite author never wrote my favorite book? What if my favorite singer never wrote my favorite song? What if the podcast that calms me down whenever I’m feeling anxious never got made because the host was worried no one cared what they had to say? My thoughts, my creations, are that for someone else.
Now before you start telling me you’re too afraid of being arrogant to practice thoughts like that, let me ask you:
Who does it hurt for you to decide to believe your thoughts are valuable? Who does it hurt? Deciding your thoughts are valuable doesn’t mean you can’t learn new things and change your perspective when appropriate.
How would you ever know whether or not people find your thoughts valuable without testing it out by sharing them? And not just to the people in your immediate circle. There’s a whole internet out there. Share your thoughts, share your content so your people can find you.
Biggest Slices of Humble Pie
Look, these 2 years have been incredibly rewarding. I don’t think anything has accelerated my personal growth so much as opening and running a business and having to be THIS accountable to myself and others.
But, honestly, the most powerful and valuable lessons were ones I learned through failures and fuck ups. So here are the biggest slices of humble pie I was served, and why I’m glad I made a feast of it.
#3 Learning the Hard Way That Even if I Can Do Everything At Once, I Can’t Do It All Well
If you wanted me to do literally anything and everything for you in terms of marketing when I first started my business, I would.
TBH, that was biting off way more than I could chew- even with some awesome team members helping me.
Plus, marketing is huge. VAST. And constantly evolving. There is no way me or a small team could be good and knowledgeable about ALL of marketing. So, even when I went to superhuman efforts to entirely handle multiple business’s marketing for them all at once… they were getting mixed-bag results. Because there are some things I’m good at and some things I’m not.
At first, I thought I had to convince folks I was good at all of marketing or they wouldn’t trust my expertise.
Bad move.
It’s better for everyone involved for me to be clear with myself and others about:
What I’m good at
What my team members are good at
What we actually enjoy providing
Remember, just because you technically can do something doesn’t mean you should, or that you have to.
Stick to your strengths. Stick to your interests. Stick to your passions. They are enough.
#2 Learning the Hard Way I Can’t Half-Ass A Launch
Look, I’m good at other people’s launches- not always so great with my own.
Like seriously, I know how to launch. I just had a client make back 8 times her investment in my custom marketing plan during her soft launch alone.
But with my Marketing Plans, I make sure to assess and factor in the person’s style and needs. How does their brain like to be motivated? Do they need structure and checklists? Or do they need to make it amorphous and flowy so they can ride the creative wave where it takes them?
I’m very much the latter, but had been so heavily trained and practiced in the former that it took me a while to remember to assess MY OWN STYLE.
Here’s something I’ve learned I’m guilty of: I get excited about my mentors’ advice, curriculum, and launch formulas… for a minute. Then my enthusiasm fizzles out and my launches tend to flop because I’m not properly promoting them.
I’ve learned that traditional, structured, put-it-on-the-calendar launches don’t work for me. If I want my launch to be successful, I need to SIMPLIFY. I need to be open to flow. My launches need to work with my short bursts of energy and long periods of rest, recovery, and receptivity.
That means my most successful launches are either:
A super short, spur-of-the-moment launch that allows me to promote only when I’m in the short span of “FUCK YES!” energy. For instance: the Secret Sales for 1:1 cheerleading I sometimes offer to my most engaged followers. This last 3-7 days tops.
A long-term, open-ended, evergreen launch that allows me to build content on my schedule and continuously welcome in new clients. That’s why I’m pretty much only going to be promoting Season of Support moving forward.
The takeaway is: I don’t get the results I want when I half-ass launches. And I will half-ass a launch formula that doesn’t fit my brain, my creativity cycles, my energy, and my style. Even if it is a great formula for other people! The only way to ensure I full-ass my own launches is for me to do it my way, in my own rhythm.
For me, that requires less structure and more flow.
#1 Needing & Accepting Help
One of the hardest things I’ve had to accept is that I needed help to make it in business.
The most humbling help I had to receive was moving back to the family farm so I could do farmwork in lieu of rent.
With my fledgling business slowly earning money, my credit cards getting worn out, and a ghastly chronic illness that could knock me out for days at a time… paying my rent, bills, and all my pets’ expenses stopped being feasible.
Being an adult back at her parents’ house certainly brought its fair share of shame for me to work through.
But here’s the thing ladies and gentlethems, the more I studied and worked with incredible mentors, the more I learned that ALL OF MY HEROES HAD HELP TOO.
And I am so grateful that they are open in their marketing about this so that when we new entrepreneurs need some help ourselves, we don’t feel like we’re uniquely burdensome or fucked up.
Help can come in many different forms, but here are some common forms of help many now-successful new entrepreneurs have received:
Financial support from a spouse or family member - sometimes for YEARS before their business takes off
Income from a less-than-glamorous day job
Therapy
Medical care
Help around the house especially cleaning, meal prep, and laundry
Childcare- paid or from a family member
…And, perhaps most importantly, every successful entrepreneur I look up to has had EMOTIONAL SUPPORT. They invest in it. Most of them have gone into debt for it at some point.
All of my mentors have mentors.
All of my coaches have coaches.
All of my therapists have therapists.
All of my favorite community members contribute to building and participating in communities.
The point is: if you feel like you can’t do it all alone- OF COURSE YOU CAN’T. No one does.
There is nothing wrong with needing help, asking for help, and receiving help.
Best Investments
As they say, “you gotta spend money to make money.” The trick is figuring out where to spend money.
The best investments I’ve made have been those that support my emotional well-being while I navigate bigger challenges and greater uncertainty as an entrepreneur.
This is the help that I need the most. When I am emotionally well, I have more spaciousness for warmth, for creativity, for serving and interacting with my people in my highest capacity.
So, here are the nonnegotiable investments in my emotional well-being I made- even when I was broke AF.
#3 Membership To Communities of Likeminded Entrepreneurs
The people we surround ourselves with have a HUGE influence on our outlook, our mindset, and our mood.
As a new entrepreneur, I learned quickly that spending too much time with Negative Nancys, Doubting Thomas’s, and otherwise glass-half-empty- Eeyore types will quickly knock me off my game.
I realized that if I’m to spend time with folks, that time needs to feel inspiring not defensive or draining.
And, to be honest, at the time, I didn’t have such company to rely upon! It didn’t pre-exist in my life.
So, I found some and invested in becoming a member.
I joined the Elemental Entrepreneurship Coven to learn the ropes of owning and operating a business while being supported by other new, neurodivergent, sensitive bb entrepreneurs. I joined Upper Left Ladies locally so I could have regular, fun meetups with other witchy, femme entrepreneurs at all stages of business.
Let me tell you, it really helped because:
I always had someone to talk to who would uplift me rather than feed into my doubts.
I always had inspiring people to hang out with.
I never felt like I was alone or shouting into the void- because I always had people to bounce ideas off of.
I learned from the coach and/or group's answers whenever anyone else was brave enough to share what they were working through.
I made some seriously awesome friends.
#2 Business Coaching
It always helps to have someone who has been there before to show you the ropes. Especially if they’re skilled at stopping you and:
Helping you to acknowledge your wins
Giving you a new perspective for a more expansive outlook
Hitting pause on your spiral and giving you tools to come back into your body
Validating you when you need validation
Supporting your boundaries and giving you scripts for how to uphold them
Offering ideas and avenues you wouldn’t have otherwise thought of
Business coaching was and is an absolute life-saver for me as an entrepreneur. That’s why I’ve heavily invested both money and time in working with some great business coaches. (Shout out especially to Cera Byer!)
#1 Therapy
Like I said, I’ve never had to come face-to-face with my deepest, darkest fears as when I opened my own business and suddenly:
I had to put a monetary price tag on the value of my work.
I was entirely responsible for my results. There was no one else to blame even if I’d wanted to.
I had to emotionally navigate failing over and over again without letting it crush me.
I had to tell myself I was “allowed” to rest, even when I wasn’t sure where my next paycheck would come from or when it would arrive.
I had to learn how to feel safe amidst chaos and uncertainty.
I had to set boundaries even when people were upset or disappointed by them.
I had to confront my avoidant attachment style so I could handle challenges rather than just ignore them and hope they’d go away on their own.
Thank Gawd for my weekly therapy session so that I had a safe place to process all of this and learn new, healthy coping skills. Honestly, without therapy, I’m sure the only place you’d have been able to find me was at the bottom of a bottle.
Biggest Losses
Stepping into my new, dream role as my own boss of my own dream company required me to shed an old version of me- and many of the trappings of my old life.
I’m going to let you in on the Top 3 - biggest, as in, most painful - losses that came with this transition. I promise, it was worth it though.
#3 The People Who Weren’t My People
Remember how I talked about quickly learning that being around the wrong people knocks me off my vibe? It doesn’t mean they’re bad people, or that I don’t care for them. It just means that I can’t do the work I came here to do, I can’t go all in on my big dreams, I can’t take the risks for the rewards that I want, when my social sphere is feeding me:
Doubt
A focus on scarcity and lack
Negativity
Resentment
I care about my vibe too much to allow it to be poisoned. That meant that I had to leave some old friends, colleagues, and even mentors behind.
#2 Deference to Authority & Other People’s Rules
I used to take pride in my ability to follow direction, perfect every assignment, plus the extra credit. I felt safe in the approval of the person I was learning from or working for.
But, as my own boss, I had to learn how to trust MY wisdom above all others. To reject all formulas, templates, and advice that wasn’t a good fit for me.
This was actually a super rough transition for me. Just to take one silly example: it took me forever to accept that I could really, truly set my own hours instead of working 9 to 5. That I was allowed to just not be a morning person. That I had permission to set my calendar to not accept any meetings before noon.
But, the hardest test was learning not to follow the advice of my coaches and mentors when it wasn’t right for me. Even when I love, trust, and appreciate them.
Thank goodness I now have the confidence to:
Only listen to advice from people I respect and trust.
Only take that advice if it feels aligned.
Hold my ground without getting defensive when I receive pushback about my decisions or direction.
#1 My Old Understanding of “Safety”
Not having a steady paycheck in the sense of “the first and third Friday of every month I get paid X amount” really challenged my sense of safety.
Safety is primal. It’s survival. It’s knowing you can count on yourself to get food and shelter and to care for your loved ones.
But… Working a job I hated that was wrecking my mental health and draining me of time and energy wasn’t actually safe. Even though that paycheck was reliable.
So, if a steady paycheck doesn’t make me safe what does?
Here’s what safety has come to mean to me: trusting that no matter what comes my way, I’ll handle it with grace.
Safety gets to be a thing I now carry with me always, regardless of my circumstances.
Biggest Wins
Alright, I hope that letting you in on some of my biggest challenges in my first 2 years in business has brought you some solace.
But by letting all my demons out of the closet, I don’t want you to assume entrepreneurship is a nonstop emotional horror show.
So, to close out, let me leave you with 3 of my Biggest Wins from my first 2 years in business.
#3 The Launch of the Irresistible Marketing Pod
This podcast has been on my mind, my heart, and the tip of my tongue for a while.
I’m not sure what took me so long to actually start it, but I’m so happy that I did!
Each episode feels so good to release. And it literally feels like a release. A weight of wisdom off my chest that needs to come out because it was always meant to be shared.
I’ve had the opportunity to speak to incredible guests. To redefine professionalism on my own terms. And to do my damndest to promote the awareness, creativity, and insight to inspire people to make irresistible marketing that is also ethical. As in: inclusive beyond rainbow capitalism. Fatphobia–free. Inviting rather than intrusive. Consent-based rather than coercive.
I’m so proud of The Irresistible Marketing Pod- go subscribe wherever you like to listen to podcasts if you haven’t already!
#2 Getting to Focus On What I Actually Want to Offer To the People I Actually Want To Serve
Remember how I told you M.Isa Messaging started out with 36+ services? Yeah. It turns out I did not actually enjoy providing all 36 of those services!
So, I let several go!
I’ve got 4 core offers now:
Marketing Confidence Cheerleading - my 1:1 hybrid coaching/consulting service designed to vanquish all your marketing blocks and get you to fall back in love with your brand while getting super hyped about your offers.
Brand Storytelling Package - that literally gives you the words to turn your message into magick. When you’ve got too much mind noise, emotional blocks, or history to hear the spirit of your business- I act as the medium. Plus, you get a dazzling messaging framework to make sure everyone working on your brand stays on brand- because everyone is on the same page!
Marketing Plans for Launches & Leveling Up - this is custom strategy, baby. Not just for your field and your size but for YOU. Your creative style. The time and resources you have available. Your neurodivergence if you’re spicy like that.
Content Cauldron - in less than 2 hours of time on your part a month, I spin your genius into content gold to have an irresistible presence on all of your marketing channels. If you’re more of a verbal pontificator, why not outsource to a copy queen/social (media) butterfly like me?
These offers are all offers I enjoy providing. And though my mentor had to tell me to literally quadruple my prices for just about all of them, I’ve finally priced them in a way that feels like a fair and appropriate exchange of energy.
How do I know? Now, whenever I sell these services, I feel excited and energized. (Whereas, when I was undercharging, I felt drained at the prospect of actually carrying out the work.)
I’ve also dropped trying to appeal to everybody. I used to hold the false notion that only a certain type of person could afford me… (Thanks old boss, for all that conditioning about why paying customers wouldn’t pay me if I were “too political”... just by being my queer, Chicana self.)
Luckily, I’ve left that belief behind. And my marketing has massively benefited.
My messaging has gotten spicier. I swear up and down everywhere. I’m aggressively queer. I pole dance and rollerskate in booty shorts on my professional social media and talk about being sexy AF on purpose on my business podcast. I’m woo woo in public. I’ve sold a Marketing Witchery Workshop and Tarot Spreads for Confidence and Creativity are for sale in my shop.
This turns a lot of people off to me. This turns a lot of people on to me.
The ones that love to see me being me are the ones who throw money at me and resonate so deeply with me that I am genuinely able to help their open minds and open hearts. And there are enough of them for my business to turn a tidy profit. There are enough of them for my business to thrive.
#1 Happy Clients & Glowing Testimonials
I’m most proud of having helped usher in profound transformations and up levels for my clients.
Oddly, it took a while for me to be able to accept, acknowledge, and take to heart when this happened. Even with 5-Star reviews and wonderful testimonials!
So, I now keep a “File of Fabulous”- a little notebook where I hand-record positive feedback about my work. The cover is decorated with wildflower sketches- which is fitting because it’s kind of a practice of collecting and pressing my flowers.
This way, I can read it back when I’m having a confidence wobble or my inner critic is trying to convince me that I suck at what I do… because, oh, look! I have all of this evidence to the contrary.
(And yes, even the Marketing Confidence Cheerleader has confidence wobbles from time to time.)
The main takeaways of all the hell and turmoil and challenges I went through in my first two years in business are these:
✨ Every time a client falls back in love with their brand and gets excited about marketing, it all feels worth it
✨ Every time I get to genuinely help someone who I’m rooting for to WIN, I am filled with gratitude that I fought so hard for the opportunity to do this work
✨ Every lesson on the other side of failure was worth the pain of failing
✨ I’m so proud of my resilience, my willingness to ask for and receive help, and the communities that have held me so that I could make it this far.
I hope you found this helpful and that it saved you from making some of the same mistakes I did. If you’d like your first 2 years in business to be a lot less bumbling, and much more baddie- you’re invited to my free mini-course on why your business needs you to step into your Evil Queen Era. All you need is 10 minutes or less for 5 days. The lessons get sent straight to your inbox, so you can go at your own pace.
And if you’d like to work with me 1:1, I’d love to be your Marketing Confidence Cheerleader.
