Five Things I Would Focus On If I Started Over Today
I was looking through my inbox this morning, doing my regular clean-out and feeling my mind pulled in many directions. You may relate, especially if you are on an entrepreneurial path. It occurred to me, as I gave myself permission to delete and unsubscribe from various emails, that the contents of my inbox have changed over the last two years of starting and running my microschool. Where I now have emails from programs that will help me age up my offerings into high school options, I used to feel overwhelmed by the emails to the city about getting my first business license. In place of the emails I used to get from Yes Legal to help me figure out what business structure to form first, I am now opening emails from SCORE about capital loan options for growing my business. If I could go back and tell myself where to start two years ago, here are five things I would recommend focusing on:
- Mission Statement for a Minimum Viable Product.
In order to start quickly and get real data to work with, you can start simply. It can be tempting to get caught up in theory and best practice if you love education and want to build the “perfect” school. There are many schools doing amazing things, and if you don’t create a simple, clear mission in your mind, you may get overwhelmed with all the options. Try answering these questions as specifically as possible:
- Whom do I want to serve? Describe the student or family you want to create a space for, including ages, educational needs, family values, and scheduling preferences. The more specific, the better.
- What model feels feasible right now based on your own financial needs, scheduling preferences, and available resources? Start simple even if you plan to grow. There are families who needed solutions yesterday, and the sooner you start serving them, the sooner you can start making decisions based on real data from real users of your product.
- Create a Simple Business Structure.
When starting The Treehouse Agile Learning Community, I labored over some decisions that really didn’t need to be made yet. We ultimately became a single-member LLC because it is the simplest business structure for tax filing while still offering some separation between personal assets and business liability. In our second year, we added employees, which necessitated a change to our tax filing status. Looking forward to our third year, because of increased revenue, we are considering yet another change to our business structure. Additionally, as we work toward growing our space, we are learning how becoming a non-profit might be beneficial. All of these things have been handled over time and as they have become necessary, and the options look completely different now that I can view them through the lens of actual experience owning and operating my business.
- Talk to an Accountant.
I tend to be a DIYer and a researcher, so I have discovered lately that it pays sometimes to hire professionals for certain aspects of business. For some reason, I had it in my head that an accountant was an expensive luxury only profitable businesses could afford. As it turns out, we were able to have a free initial consultation with our accountant. He heard about our business, got some basic numbers, and then gave us recommendations for our business structure and tax filing. He explained the costs associated with having him handle various parts of the process. Not only were we surprised that it was less expensive than we expected to use his services; we also wondered why we hadn’t talked to him a year earlier!
- Hire a Freelance Bookkeeper, Get QuickBooks, or Both.
Although we set up a business bank account right away, I didn’t separate my personal and business credit cards very well in the first year, which made for some messy books at tax time. In my second year, I have started using QuickBooks and hired a bookkeeper, two more expenses that seem much less costly than I expected, and well worth the cost in reduced headaches for me. Our bookkeeper actually offered to get me just organized enough to where she could hand it back to me, but so far, I haven’t felt like the small savings would be worth putting that back on my plate. Again, find out the cost. It may be less than you expect, or you may be able to hire help just with setting it up to be more manageable for you.
- Start with the Red Tape Things, Including Business Licenses and Insurance.
Both of these items were slower processes than I expected, and I made the mistake of putting them both last. In my mind, it didn’t make sense to become “official” in these ways until I knew I had my minimum enrollment to move forward with opening. What I discovered, however, was that it is much scarier to have families enrolled and realize that you’re still neither insured nor licensed as the first day of school approaches. If nothing else, you can at least start the process for both and wait to pay and sign if necessary.
At the close of 2025, I asked some friends what they were leaving behind in 2025. I decided that my goal was to leave behind perfectionism. As a researcher, I sometimes catch myself believing that if I look long enough, I can find the friction-free path that avoids all discomfort. My mantra going into 2026 is: “I did what I could with what I had, and that is enough for now.” I remind myself that successful business owners don’t know all the things in their first year. They learn from their mistakes, building systems year over year. I often tell my students, “Mistakes are how we learn,” and, “There isn’t always a right answer.” Time to take that to heart.
