When You Have No Business Starting a Business… But You Do It Anyway

Petal & Root
Apr 22
3 min read

Let me just say this right out of the gate: starting a small business with zero experience and no business background is not for the faint of heart.

It’s crazy.

It’s scary.

It’s fun.

It’s confusing.

It’s empowering.

And if you’re anything like me it’s also a trial-by-fire, learn-as-you-go, Google-everything, “maybe-I’m-just-crazy-enough-to-do-this” kind of journey.

a bakery shelf is in focus, with dark brown glass jars of products with white and green labels sit. The background shows a blurry shelf of crystals with a dark botanical canvas behind on the wall.

Starting a Business With No Experience

I didn’t go to business school. I didn’t have a mentor holding my hand through the process. I had no formal training, no spreadsheets, no plan. What I did have was a big dream, a burning desire to create natural, nourishing products, a whole lot of courage (mixed with some healthy stubbornness), and the wild ambition to just start.

So, I did what any overly enthusiastic, starry-eyed creator does when they’re chasing their passion: I jumped in headfirst…and started throwing money at the highest quality natural ingredients I could find. I told myself,

“If the ingredients are amazing, the product will be too, right?”

Wrong. So very, very wrong.

Woman sitting with head in hand, wearing a gray sweater, appearing stressed. Soft lighting and blurred neutral background.

One of my first major projects was a 12-pound batch of handcrafted soap. I had watched what felt like hundreds of YouTube videos, read a bunch of blogs, pinned everything I could find on Pinterest, and was convinced I was going to be an overnight success.

Spoiler alert: I was not ready.

A botched batch of soap, a strange greenish brown color, showing equidistant lines etched in to the top half where an attempt to cut it was made

I made a massive miscalculation with the lye. The mixture overheated, burned through my gloves, the batch traced unevenly, and the smell still haunts me to this day. When I attempted to cut it 36 hours later, it all just crumbled before my eyes. I cried. I literally cried. Hundreds of dollars in premium butters, oils, and herbs… gone.

A botched batch of soap was attempted to be cut up, but it mostly just crumbled. Crumbled pieces of dry, patchy, blackish green soap lie on a granite countertop

I took a lot of “L’s” that day (that’s “L” for lesson, mostly 😊), but my biggest takeaway, and the main point I want to drive home, is that I had been tunnel-vision focused on all the wrong things. I obsessed over my branding. I spent hours designing labels and picking out aesthetic jars. I threw dollar after dollar on the aesthetics, sourcing the dreamiest ingredients I could find as though I had any idea what to do with them.

But what I should have been focused on was:

· Starting small

· Increasing my knowledge

· Perfecting my recipes

· Learning how to keep the dang books

Four soaps on white fabric with flowers, including orange blooms. A textured beige pouch is beside them. Calm, natural ambiance.

Somehow, it all came together eventually. The lessons, the growth, the knowledge, that all arrived exactly as it was meant to. But allow me to spare you the suspense, (and the pain of a potentially massive fail), and leave you with these final words of newfound wisdom:

Tips That Will Save You Time, Money & Frustration

Start where you are, with what you have, and put in the work. You do not need to go big out the gate. Starting small lends the freedom to experiment and test out what works,
Fancy packaging doesn’t matter if your product is whack! Perfect your formulas before you focus on aesthetics.
The best ingredients won’t save a bad recipe. Research formulation basics. Test and retest in small batches.
Track every dollar as you spend it. Even if you're not “ready” to be official, get into the habit now. Future-you will thank you!
Set boundaries with your time and energy. Burnout is real, especially when you're wearing all the hats.
Invest in education early. Free YouTube is great, but a well-reviewed course or consultation can save you from thousand-dollar mistakes.
Find community. Fellow makers, local business groups, online forums; connect with people who get it.
Don’t compare your chapter 1 to someone else’s chapter 20. Stay in your lane and focus on your growth. If you’re ever going to compare yourself to anyone, in anything, compare to your past self.
Legalize your hustle. When you’re ready, register your business, get insured, and know your local laws. It sounds scary but it’s empowering!
Document everything. Wins, losses, goals, inventory, customers, expenses - it becomes a goldmine over time.

Letter to my Past Self

If you're in the thick of it…don’t give up. Don’t get discouraged.

It’s okay to take a break. Step back. Take some deep breaths. Be patient with yourself. You’re learning. You’re growing. And yes, some of those lessons might come with a hefty price tag, but they’re shaping you into a stronger, wiser, more capable version of the business owner you dream of becoming.

So, whether you're just starting, pivoting, or trying to pull yourself out of a creative burnout, remember this:

Come back to it with clarity, with new resolve, and with a heart full of purpose. But do come back.

You’ve made it this far. You’ve got this.

Now go make magic.

Stay Radiant,