Was running my bakery alone for two years and drowning in busywork. A guy who runs a small engine repair shop down the street told me: 'You don't have to be the best at everything. Just be the best at the one thing people can't get anywhere else.' I stopped trying to match the big grocery store prices and started making only sourdough and custom cakes. Revenues dropped for a month, then doubled. Still think about that conversation every time I'm tempted to add another product line.
Mentorship
The most useful business advice i ever received came from another small business owner
That's a solid one. Mine came from a guy who ran a tiny print shop: 'Raise your prices before you raise your stress.' Took me forever to actually do it.
Best advice I got was 'hire slow, fire fast.' Which I ignored for three years and learned the hard way. Now I have a team of four and actually sleep at night.
op, what did you do with the extra time? I feel like 'focus on one thing' always gets repeated but nobody talks about the messy middle where you're still broke and second-guessing.
Not op but the messy middle is just... messy. You stare at the books and wonder if you're an idiot. Then one Tuesday a bunch of new customers show up and you forget you were worried.
A competitor of mine, believe it or not. She said 'Don't badmouth other businesses in town. There's enough room for all of us.' Sounded naive at the time. Turns out she sends me referrals now because I stopped being an angry little gemlin about her.
'angry little gremlin' is going on my business card
Nobody ever told me anything useful. I just read a lot of books and made every mistake myself. Which is a terrible way to run a business, in case you're wondering.
I think the advice that stuck with me was less a quote and more watching a guy run his coffee shop. He closed at 2pm sharp every day. Never once apologized. Saw him reading a book on the patio wh ile I was stress-scrolling emails. That image lives in my head rent free.
Honestly this thread makes me want to go talk to the guy who owns the hardware store next door. We've nodded at each other for two years. Maybe I should actually ask him a question.
Do it. Worst case he's boring and you lose five minutes.