This April, we’ll be celebrating LIVELY’s 6 year anniversary which is so surreal to me. Growing up, I didn’t hear the word entrepreneurship a lot, and I had a very narrow definition of what success looked like from a professional perspective, so starting this chapter of my life had a massive learning curve to say the least (but also in the best way possible)! When I first started working on LIVELY in 2015 (which we were calling brand X at the time), my greatest motivation came from founders who were just a few years ahead of me. Hearing their experiences, their personal wins and losses, their expertise, and their greatest takeaways along the way gave me so much value and the confidence to fully step into this world that seemed so intimidating from the outside (and still does, if we’re being honest)!

At the time, I thought to myself that half of startups are likely to fail within their first five years, so why not just have fun with it? Knowing how slim the odds are to make it to this point is what has caused me to really sit and reflect on what I’ve learned throughout the journey.

Also knowing that I wouldn’t have been able to get here without the advice I received from those founders in the beginning days, I wanted to share a list of my top takeaways from our six years in business, for anyone who is thinking about or has just recently entered the world of entrepreneurship.

Clearly, a lot can happen in six years, and I’m so grateful for these lessons and what’s next for team LIVELY and me! So excited you all are here and to be learning from each other along the way.

1. Believe in the long game
2. Hold tight to your core values
3. Prioritize people and community above all else
4. Everyone has to pay The Learning Tax: make sure you pay it (you’ll be better off for it), and pay it early
5. Live in beta: instead of wanting to know what the end result will be, focus on constantly trying new things to see what works
6. Always remember that a “no” for now can become a better “yes” later