The Unexpected Wisdom of Becoming an Entrepreneur
Nearly a decade into business, I finally feel like I’m treading water.
My journey as an entrepreneur has taken many twists and turns and has truly become a unique story. Along the way, I’ve worked to make my mark in the interior design industry—an industry that has fascinated me since childhood and one that has allowed me to explore my creativity in countless ways. If you want to read more about my story, click here.
I thought I would put together a post that shares a little about all the lessons I have learned while building Spaces by Dee (the platform you are reading this on).
Entrepreneurship has taught me lessons I never expected to learn, and I hope that by sharing them, I can help others who are navigating their own path.
10 Lessons I’ve Learned From Entrepreneurship
1. Success Will Probably Take Longer Than You Wish
One of the biggest lessons I have learned through entrepreneurship is patience. And patience because, well, success (true success and longevity) means taking the long road. When taking the long road, it is all about building and not instant gratification.
I would like to say that I reached success early in my career, but I did not. It took me quite some time to figure out how I was going to succeed in this game. Years of learning, rebuilding, and experimenting. It wasn’t all for nothing, but I will say that the building process took a long time, and I still feel like there is plenty more building to be done. In some ways, the journey of patience does not end here either.
2. Life Will Direct You to Iterate Your Business
When I first started out in the interior design industry, my dream was to run a traditional interior design business. This meant boots on the ground, running with a large team, making it all happen within the city I grew up in.
So, I worked towards this and learned the ropes of the trade, only to discover that running a full-service interior design firm was not necessarily all that it was cracked up to be. Dealing with trades became a nightmare. All the paperwork and logistics of it all had my energy feeling drained and left me feeling defeated.
On top of it all, I started to dream of a new life—a life that allowed for flexibility in where I lived, a life that allowed me to stay the one-woman show I loved being, a business that was beyond myself but in a way that had less overhead and less fuss.
That is when I started my blog (the one you are reading now) and began offering virtual interior design services, pivoting my business into something that could travel with me.
The dream changed as I discovered what made sense for the type of lifestyle I wanted to achieve.
3. You Won’t Know Much About Business Until You’re 5+ Years In
When I first started my business, I was filled with zeal. So much zeal that I wanted to hit the ground running as an entrepreneur and never look back at the 9-to-5 life again.
I started my business very young—21 to be exact—and like most 21-year-olds, I had no clue about life, let alone business.
So, the beginning years were spent trying to figure out my business, but also myself, which meant a lot of failures, a lot of confusion, a lot of winging it, and finally understanding the basics of business.
4. You Will Scream Into the Void for a While Before Anyone Notices
Being an entrepreneur in the beginning kind of feels like talking to yourself in front of others. I could also say it feels like screaming into the void for a while before anyone realizes you are even there.
This was my reality, especially when I pivoted my business and started my platform. I blogged for two years before anyone noticed, before traffic came, and of course, before I ever made a dollar.
Even before that, there were dry spells where I didn’t see the next client on the horizon and felt completely invisible.
The point is that sometimes, as an entrepreneur, you will feel like a ghost. You will feel unseen. Despite this, you need to keep going.
5. It’s Not Always About Grinding the Hardest
I will admit that there were seasons in my entrepreneurial journey when I was a little extreme. I was constantly pushing, doing email outreach, trying to force myself to the next level through sheer effort.
Grinding culture is huge in the entrepreneurial community because we think it will lead us to success, when in reality, it often just leads us to burnout.
I realized that while the quote-unquote grind is necessary to some degree, it won’t necessarily get you where you want to be faster.
True success comes from alignment, persistence, and authenticity—not grinding until 2 a.m. every other night.
6. Success Is Not Linear
This is one that gets said a lot, but success rarely looks linear.
There were years in my business when I thought, “Yes, I have finally made it,” followed by a year that made me think, “Back to square one.”
Success comes in waves. However, it’s important to zoom out and look at the bigger picture. Sure, successful years feel great, but you are not failing if things slow down the following year.
Sometimes those slower seasons are giving you the opportunity to reflect, make adjustments, and rebuild momentum with the experience you now have.
7. You Have to Jump So Something Can Catch You
In 2025, I took the biggest risk of my life. I sold all my belongings and left on a one-way ticket.
What came out of that experience was my business flourishing and a whole new attitude toward life. If you want to read the full story, click here.
What I took away from that experience was that sometimes you need to walk by faith and not by sight. Not to paraphrase the Bible or anything, but you do need to take risks and believe in yourself before you expect the world to move in your favour.
8. It’s About Who You Become, Not the Product You Create
Being an entrepreneur forces you to work on yourself more than you work on the end result, whether that end result is a product or service you are trying to bring into the world.
Entrepreneurship forces you to face your insecurities. It forces you to build yourself up. It forces you to diminish the habits that are holding your business back.
Ultimately, it forces you to become better because whatever you want to create will only come into fruition through the person you become in the process.
9. Sometimes It Feels Like Nothing Is Happening, Then Everything Happens at Once
My favourite entrepreneurial experience has been watching everything suddenly happen all at once.
After more than eight years of what felt like very little movement, people suddenly started finding my platform. People suddenly started booking my online interior design packages. People suddenly started noticing me.
It took a lot of perseverance for things to suddenly start happening, but when they did, it felt like years of effort finally compounded into something meaningful.
10. Not Everyone Who Hires You Is Your Client
Not everyone who wants to pay for your services should become your client.
The reason is simple: not everyone is truly aligned with your work style.
While these types of clients have taught me a lot about myself and helped me become a better designer, I have also become much more selective about who I choose to work with.
Alignment, to me, means both parties have a clear understanding and agreement about how the working relationship will function. There is also a certain energy around alignment—it feels natural. It feels easy. It feels like smooth sailing.
And when you find those clients, the work becomes infinitely more enjoyable for everyone involved.
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