Sticking to your values when starting a business…

My advice when setting up a business?

We set up a financial advice firm from our house, in October 2019. Sick of working 9-5, and for other people, my wife and I took the plunge and ‘went it alone’.

Terrifying? A bit! Exciting? Yes!

Throw in the Covid pandemic 6 months in, and the first few years were a baptism of fire.

When we set up our business, we were sure of three things:

-        We wanted the business to suit our family life.

-        We wanted to work to live, not live to work.

-        We wanted to run our business with our values, and our personalities at the fore.

There have been times over the years, we have chosen to turn down opportunities as they didn’t fit around family life. There have been times in the past five years where we have chosen not to work with certain people because we knew it would lead to our work life balance being wrong. And there have been times where us being ourselves has meant that people have chosen to take their business elsewhere.

Should we have waivered from our goals?

Should we have acted differently to attract those clients that went elsewhere?

No, I don’t think so. We have a business five years on, that works how we want it to. We may have grown more gradually than if we’d made different choices. We may be more ‘successful’ had we strayed from our values. But what we have created is a business that we love, working with people that bring us joy, in a manner that suits our family life.

So, the advice I would give to people wanting to set up a business. Be You. Do it your way, with your values, in a way that suits the way you want your life to be.

Stick to that, and you won’t go too far wrong.