What This Year Taught Me as a Founder
If I had to sum up this year in one sentence, it would be:
“You can’t grow your business and stay exactly the same person.”
This year stretched me — as a marketer, as a leader, and as a human.
Here are a few of the biggest lessons I’m taking with me into next year.
Lesson 1: “Busy” Isn’t the Same as “Building”
There were seasons where my calendar was full, my inbox was packed, and my brain was buzzing… and yet I didn’t feel like I was actually moving forward.
That’s when I started asking:
Is this making the business better?
Is this helping my clients more?
Is this helping my future self, or just satisfying my urge to “do”?
Not everything that fills your day grows your business.
Sometimes, the work that matters most is the quiet, unglamorous stuff: tightening systems, saying no, planning content, refining offers, raising prices.
Lesson 2: You Can’t Pour From an Empty Founder
We hear it all the time — but living it is different.
There were weeks I pushed through fatigue, stress, and overbooking because “clients need me” and “this is the price of growth.”
But the cost of ignoring yourself is high:
Your creativity drops
Your patience gets thin
Your joy disappears from the work
And that isn’t fair to you, or your clients.
So I started protecting:
Sleep
Movement
Days where I don’t pack back-to-back calls
Time to think, not just react
Your business needs an energized you, not a constantly exhausted version.
Lesson 3: The Right Clients Don’t Want You to Be Someone Else
This one felt big.
There’s always going to be:
A bigger agency
A more corporate agency
A cheaper option
A louder competitor
The right clients choose you because:
They like your approach
They trust your judgment
They connect with your story
They feel seen and heard
The more I leaned into how I naturally work — collaborating, strategizing, being honest, not overpromising — the more aligned clients came through the door.
If you’re tired of trying to sound like everyone else in your industry, that might be your sign to sound more like you.
Lesson 4: Growth Requires Braver Decisions
This year asked me to:
Raise prices
Say no to misaligned projects
Hand off more to my team
Trust my experience even when something felt scary
None of those things are comfortable. But growth doesn’t come from staying in last year’s decisions.
Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is:
Let go of an offer that drains you
Leave space in your calendar for bigger opportunities
Trust you can figure out the next level, just like you did the last one
Lesson 5: Gratitude is a Strategy Too
I know “gratitude” gets tossed around a lot, but hear me out.
The more grateful I am — for clients, for referrals, for my team, for the chance to even run this business — the easier it is to:
Show up fully
Build genuine relationships
Stay grounded when things get hard
Gratitude doesn’t mean you ignore challenges. It means you remember why they’re worth solving.
If you’re reading this as a small business owner or founder, I hope you know this:
You’re allowed to be proud of yourself.
For getting through another year.
For making something out of nothing.
For caring as much as you do.
And if you want someone in your corner next year, helping with the part that often feels heaviest — your marketing — that’s what Sater Creative is here for.
