Business advice to my younger self

I was looking through my old purchases and sales the other day, reminiscing about when I started my handmade business five years ago, when I got thinking about the advice I would give myself if I could go back in time to 2009.

One of the first asymmetrical necklaces I sold. Thankfully, my photography skills have improved a bit since then!

I'm no wunderkind entrepreneur, but there are so many bits of advice I could give my more naive self back then.  Most of my advice I am still learning to put into practise now, but I'm sure I would have saved myself so much heartbreak and many mistakes if I had thought of it back then!

 Mr Cheeky Monkeys took drastic action to help me sort out my craft storage issues.

So my first piece of advice to my younger self would be to go easy on the supply purchasing.  With so many beautiful items for sale both online and in bricks and mortar stores, it is very easy to go a bit crazy and waste your business budget (especially if you're a bit of a magpie hoarder like I am).

 My weekly planner.

Another piece of advice I would give myself would be to sit down and systematically plan my days/week.  When you're a parent of young children, running a small business from home is pretty crazy and I have found that writing myself a list of tasks is very useful.  My list helps me not to overschedule my day and also keeps me accountable (to some extent) so that I don't neglect important or essential tasks.

 I am slowly learning to incorporate my least favourite colours into my designs. Just because I don't like a colour doesn't mean others won't!

There are lots of other things I would tell my younger self, but I know that some advice is specific to particular personality types or businesses so I would love to hear from you, my readers.  Do you own your own business (or have you done so)?  What advice do you wish you could have told yourself when you first started your business?  What advice would you give to other budding business owners?