Naeem: “When you come up with a business plan, what does it look like?”

Laura: “It’s like ‘War and Peace’ in one document!”

There is no easy way to summarize my interview with Laura Manning, founder of BRW Society. If you’re only going to listen to one episode of My First Business, make sure it’s this one!

Laura and I talked about:

⭐ Selling Avon products as a teenager

⭐ What Laura learnt from her mother (hint: keep going!)

⭐ Giving up the comforts and security of a salary

⭐ How to think about business plans

⭐ The importance of face-to-face research

⭐ Taking praise with a grain of salt from your biggest champions (friends, family)

⭐ How to start small, and test business ideas frugally

⭐ Being okay with failing!

⭐ The loneliness of running a business

⭐ Enjoying working on vacations

⭐ Dealing with disasters (actual floods!) and moving on from them

⭐ When to raise funding

⭐ Taking customer service seriously

⭐ Saying yes, then yes-but, then no

⭐ Why is delegation so hard?