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Discussion on: What are some of the biggest lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

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Stephanie Morillo

I learned that it's important to validate an idea before you put a product out! I released my first digital product earlier this year which did really well because of the target audience and the subject matter; it met a real need. I released a second digital product that has been doing fine but is for a more niche audience, and I released a translated version of my original product which has sold only a handful. If I could do it all over, I would not have moved forward with the translation!

Another thing is to give a lot of free value. Everyone isn't your customer and everyone won't end up buying what you're selling, but consistently giving away free knowledge will help you attract the right customers down the road. It sets you up as someone knowledgeable in your space and you become known as someone who wants to help people than sell them something they may not want.

Finally—track your business expenses religiously! I'm doing everything manually via a huge spreadsheet to get into the habit of bookkeeping. I'll delegate this task eventually, but for now I find it to be incredibly important to know how much is coming in and how much is going out every month.