I met with a close colleague at Starbucks the other day and while we were reminiscing, I realized I’ve been coaching for 14 years — time flies when you’re having so much fun.

Looking back, I thought I’d reveal a few of the lessons I’ve learned running a successful coaching practice (top 5%) since 2006. Buckle your seatbelts.

It’s frequently harder than corporate, but much more fulfilling.

I was in corporate for 20 years and busted my butt for every boss I had. I put in the late hours and traveled across the globe. The thing that was missing — I could never declare full ownership of my work — someone else always had their hand in it mixing up the pot. And I won’t get into the crazy politics, bosses, and people I was forced to work with every day.

With my coaching practice, I work hard. I put in a lot of hours — BUT — it’s MY business. Everything I do is directed by ME, brainstormed by ME, and the fruits of my efforts all go to ME. So there’s an internal furnace that keeps me going because I am in charge of MY destiny.

The majority of my clients are phenomenal, but there have been a few problem children.

Over the past 14 years, I’ve coached over 22,000 hours (see Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours). 99% of my clients are wonderful, but there’s that 1% who cause problems — I call them the chaos bringers.

Every business is going to have a small percentage of problem customers — don’t let them get you down, ruin your day, or even worse, question your efficacy. That’s what chaos bringers do — since they are looking for a fight, or someone to bring down — they target you. My opinion — deal with them and move on. Forget about them.

Suggested reading: How To Win Friends And Influence People

Plan for the ups and downs of work and money.

Learned this in my first few years of business — clients flood in and clients disappear. You need to prepare, plan, and save to weather the ups and downs of your budget. Come up with a revenue number that you must hit each month — if you’re over, save. If you’re under, you can grab additional funds from your account.

Hire a bookkeeper, a tax accountant, and an attorney — they will keep you honest and solid financially.

Fail often, fail forward.

OMG — how often I’ve failed. But then I take that failure, that frustration and turn it into something else that benefits my business. A huge company in CT wanted to license my entire sales training platform, I presented it and got to the top . . . and then, they decided to go in another direction (lost funding).

Boy was I frustrated. What did I do? Did I shut down? No. I pitched it to their competitors — and they bought it.

Most of all — keep trying. Failure is usually based on follow-through — you don’t go all the way to see fruition. Stick to it — make modifications, shift your direction — but keep moving forward.

Keep making friends. All the time.

People are the currency of any successful enterprise. You might have a good idea, but you need friends to make it a reality.

Get out and meet people on a regular basis. Build it into your weekly schedule — set up a lunch, meet someone for coffee, or have drinks after work. The more people you meet, the more opportunities will reveal themselves. And, the phone starts to ring more often.

Suggested reading: Never Eat Alone

Try to turn any obstacle into a challenge.

Work is solving a series of problems. Most people look at that situation negatively (I call them ‘Just Jobbers’) and trudge through their life disappointed and frustrated. On a more positive note, many people look at work as a series of challenges to overcome. They get energy from the process and are happy and engaged most of the time.

When you have your own business, shit happens. You can either say, “Oh woe is me” and shut down or understand that life is going to throw a lot of obstacles and challenges in the way. It’s your job to assess, propose a solution, and take action. And then move on.

Suggested reading: Make Your Bed & The Obstacle Is The Way

14 Years In, What I’ve Learned.