We asked some of the brightest folks in the community to open up to us about the most important lesson their business or career has taught them. We’ve highlighted some of those responses below.

Justin Viens | Entrepreneur & Photographer

The most important lesson that starting On A Limb Apparel (and selling my photography) has taught me is that Growth Takes Time. The most important part of the whole process is simply starting. Once you’ve started, just focus on that very next step and celebrate the small victories along the way. Read more>>

Ann Ecklund | Owner and Lead Designer – Ann Ecklund Interiors

There are so many lessons as a small business owner but one of the most important of my career is to trust people when they show me who they are. In interior design this goes for trades, vendors AND clients. Say a painter returns my calls, gets me estimates quickly, is respectful in clients’ homes and does good work – trust them. Read more>>

Anthony Lambatos | The Coach and Co-owner of Footers Catering at Social Capitol and MIBE

By far the most important factor behind our success is our emphasis on creating a great place to work and taking care of our people, but a critical lesson for me was to understand one of the dynamics behind that. There is a misconception that we need to make work easy in order to make employees happy. Read more>>

Chris McGurrin | Custom Woodworker and Van Builder

As you could imagine, running your own business teaches you a plethora of lessons. Throughout my journey I learned valuable lessons across a variety of disciplines, such as financial, marketing, operational, managerial, etc. That said, these learnings are fairly pragmatic, and can easily be overcome with basic awareness and discipline. Read more>>