2025 is wrapping up in about 60 days, and I’ve been thinking, what have you learned this year as an entrepreneur? What’s one challenge you’re still fighting to overcome?
Hi,
I’m a marketer, and I talk to 3-4 small business owners every day (mostly teams under 15 people).
Two things keep coming up:
- Struggling to get consistent clients, even after spending thousands on marketing.
- Team management, about 40% of employees not working at full potential.
Curious what your biggest struggle or lesson has been this year.
Maybe we can exchange ideas and help each other out.
Thanks
2025 is almost over – what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned running your business this year?
byu/GRSolution inEntrepreneur
Posted by GRSolution
15 Comments
Deadlines. Everything i do needs a deadline or I just endlessly tinker with things aiming for perfection. The timeline stops this.
Biggest focus for me this year was processes. Can’t keep growing without food processes so tried to slow down lead gen and build scalable systems. Hired a PM have some good things in place and hoping to add more by years end.
Priortizing tasks. I’m constantly reminding myself tasks that actually move the needle should always be at the top of the list and completed first. Everything else is distracting ‘busy work’ that should either be delegated to someone else or remain at the bottom of the list until needed.
I learned that starting your business and launching it is just the half and easy part of the battle the real deal is to be seen out their and as someone who hates self promoting , it’s overwhelming me
Really looking forward to replace people with AI.
For me it was realizing how many revenue opportunities SMBs lose from the small operational gaps. Like missed calls, slow response times, stuff that seems minor but adds up.
Spent most of the year building systems to plug those leaks. The businesses I’ve worked with see it too – they invest in marketing to get leads, but lose them because they can’t respond fast enough or after hours.
Your point about consistent clients hits – sometimes it’s not just about getting more leads, but actually capturing the ones you’re already getting.
Biggest lesson, get comfortable with saying “NO”.
No to distractions, side projects, and pointless collaborations.
Beware who you sell equity too. Even companies that profess values that you align with, may not live by them. Trust is a valuable commodity, don’t give it out too freely.
The market is turning from products to services.
I had to take several months in the middle of the year for medical leave. As a solo business owner doing 1:1 coaching, this mean I made very little money those months. Coming back, I’ve been getting really clear about how much energy and time I can put into my business and what level of quality various different things I’m working on really require. I’ve drastically reduced perfectionistic tendencies like rework and analysis paralysis and have been very productive. I look forward to seeing what happens as I continue this.
Use AI to save money and automate things. that will give you the upper hand from businesses that arent.
following up with leads and getting that trust. but I find the problem is market saturation and competition for people’s time to solve their own problems. basically people who know they have problems and wish to solve them but they are so busy firefighting everything else in daily life to even have time to look into getting into new solutions.
Crime actually pays very well, you just have to be bold? I didn’t learn it from my business, but from watching the news.
Some things affect your traffic and they are 100% outside of your control. No matter how hard you work at it.
i lost my business a couple of years ago. i learned that my family who i worked with 20+ years was really toxic and not worth the money i made.