Six lessons from a lawyer-turned-founder on launching and exiting a business

In 2018, just after having her third baby, social justice lawyer Andrea Christie-David founded Leor In Home Learning, a startup that went on to be acquired by the ASX-listed entity G8 Education in 2021. She’s now moved on from the business and shares her reflections on the key things she’s learned since launching and exiting the business.

When I embarked on my entrepreneurial journey many people were surprised to see me shift from being a social justice lawyer with a stable wage to taking the risk of starting a business with an untested concept. I had just given birth to my third child and many thought it was a crazy time to take such a big financial risk.

But what only those close to me knew was that I came from a family of entrepreneurs, business owners, and risk-takers, so not only was it in my blood, but it was also my turn.

I needed to challenge myself and test my ability to combine commercial goals with my passion for solving social problems. I saw a gap in the market that conveniently also solved my need to access quality early childhood education and care for my three children under the age of three, so I decided to fill the gap!

When you throw yourself into entrepreneurship, there are the highs — like hitting 20 percent revenue growth month on month in the business’ first year. But there are also the lows, like when your personal bank account hits rock bottom because you can’t pay yourself yet, but you have to keep the lights on. The loneliness of decision-making and risk-taking at the top requires grit and determination, but it can also offer immense personal and financial rewards if you see it through.

Now that I have moved on from the business I established, I thought it was timely to share my reflections on the experience in the hope of encouraging others to take the plunge and bring their ideas to life that could just change the world.

The stomach for it

I have always said that to take the plunge as an entrepreneur, one must have the stomach for it. You need to be comfortable with rejection, making mistakes, and taking decisions that might not always pan out the way you hoped, despite all the best planning.

A recent episode of the Hidden Brain podcast (pop it on the list if you’re a human behaviour nerd like me) talked about our ability to live with failure and our own mistakes. They discussed the concept of ‘intelligent failures’, namely ones that are well-informed but occur when you are exploring new ideas, innovating, or trying to push yourself out of your comfort zone.

In my journey, I needed to be comfortable with trying new things even if they didn’t work out, while taking the time to learn and reflect on them to improve my future decisions and actions. When you finally create something out of nothing, that feeling is indescribable, and it’s only through mistakes and failures that this kind of achievement is reached.

The right team

Having the right people around you to be able to execute is vital, but you aren’t always going to have the pick of the market when you’re a startup or make the right decisions the first time. So again, be comfortable with knowing when you’ve made the wrong choice and be swift in taking action to move people on if they aren’t the right fit.

Diversity of experience, skill, background, and way of thinking among team members is a must-have. You don’t want people who glorify you and are just excited to be part of a startup. You want people who question your ideas, push you out of your comfort zone, and bring skills you don’t possess.

As an entrepreneur, you are most likely the biggest risk taker in the room, but you need at least one person sitting next to you who tells you not to jump off that cliff.

The mental toll

Any entrepreneur or business owner will tell you that the mental toll of being a leader is almost impossible to quantify.

Not only is it lonely at the top at times, but you will also feel burdened by the weight of the business, you will have sleepless nights over finances, and you will be unpopular because of the difficult decisions you make. So, ensuring you have strong self-care habits will be key to getting through these times.

During the height of Covid, I found myself exercising more and taking frequent breaks from my computer to balance the stress of economic uncertainty. A great support network outside the business, like family and friends, will also provide reprieve and a place to debrief during those challenging times, not to mention being there to celebrate the successes.

In terms of the ongoing running of the business, make sure you have team members you can trust to run the business in your absence. Being away from the day-to-day is not only great for your mental health, but it also provides appropriate distance from the business to enliven creative solutions for problems you might have been grappling with for a while.

The learning

Once you decide to launch into business, you will most likely have the tools and skills to get something off the ground.

But be prepared to learn. A lot. I found myself watching YouTube videos to build a website myself, I got a friend to teach me how to use InDesign, and I tapped into my network to ask questions about insurance, marketing, trademarks, you name it.

After you have established the business and have confidence in the team you have created, be prepared to let go a bit (yes that’s directed at all the control freaks reading this). You need to impart your knowledge, give others the freedom to learn and make their own mistakes, but be there to guide and support them on their own journey of growth.

This type of freedom does, however, mean you need to maintain a strong culture of accountability and autonomy, otherwise you will forever be doing other people’s jobs. The reward of growing the capability of others will also form part of your entrepreneurial legacy.

The ‘why’

Many innovators and creatives can be easily distracted, so whatever you decide to focus on when taking the leap of faith into entrepreneurship, make sure it has staying power to command your ongoing attention.

If it’s going to be a fleeting interest then don’t do it, because there’s no such thing as easy money in business. Success takes time and commitment and your ongoing interest in the subject matter will be crucial to achieving that success.

In my case, the ‘why’ had a strong social purpose while also achieving commercial goals. The overall vision in the original business plan enabled me to create a clear set of values that remained relevant throughout the business’ evolution. This meant that many new recruits joined because of values alignment and understood the ethical framework that sat around decision-making and the way we operated, which allowed us to stay true to our purpose as the business grew and changed.

The leap

Taking the leap has to be the scariest but also the most exhilarating part of the journey. That nervous feeling when you don’t know if something will take off, but you have done all the preparation, planning, and research to get you there is fun, wild and takes guts.

If this is what you’re thinking of doing, then jump. You don’t know if you’re sitting on the next big thing that could change just one person’s life or shift the course of society forever, so maybe it’s time to step into the uncertain and share your idea with the world.

This article was first published by Women’s Agenda.