On the 8 May 2016 I officially became self employed. I had been thinking about it for months and worked part time alongside my new business venture for a while before it became obvious that I was not really giving either role my full attention, so that was it I took the plunge handed in my notice and began working as a freelancer.
Do I regret it? Not one bit!
That is not to say it has not been tough and there have been occasions when I thought I would not make it through the first year, but with a bit of perseverance and downright stubbornness I have. So, what did I learn along the way…….?
It is so much harder that you think it is going to be – I am not sure what I thought it would be like really but it has not been as I imagined. I knew it would be hard work and that it would be tough and I was very willing to put in the hours working in and on the business. But I was not prepared for how hard it was mentally. The constant pressure to succeed, to earn money, to separate your work and family time was exhausting and I can honestly say that some days I have never been more tired in my life and I have had children!! That said it has been the best decision that I have ever made. Being in charge of your own destiny is empowering but you must have that ability to motivate yourself, crack on with your day even though you know how hard it is going to be and how tired you feel. It would be so much easier to curl up on the sofa and cry but unfortunately you do not have that luxury when you work for yourself, so come hell or high water, you must get on with it. But you do and I have surprised myself by just how resilient I apparently am. Who knew!!
The level of organisation and planning required – This may surprise you coming from a Virtual PA who spends her life organising her clients and does this very well even if I do say so myself. But when it comes to organising yourself and your own business that is a very different ball game. There are so many overwhelming priorities that you can get in a bit of a pickle. It has taken me a good long while working out which system works bests for me and it is worth taking the time out to plan and organise yourself.
I have written a separate blog about the issues surrounding time management which you may find useful if this is something that you struggle with. It would be great to know what you think.
The learning is non-stop – There is so much to learn when running your own business, from how to set up, filing that first tax return, writing a blog, how to market yourself on social media, networking. The list goes on and on. I don’t think that I was quite prepared for the constant barrage of new information that comes your way when you are trying to start something new. I have learnt to learn however and have found over the last year if I sit down and list the knowledge that I have gained since starting out on my own, it is quite impressive. I certainly never knew how to maintain a website or in fact Tweet! So be prepared to learn it is amazingly satisfying when you acquire a new skill and can then use that knowledge to help existing or new clients.
Women are amazing at supporting women – Networking is an art and my first networking event was a Women in Business event. I was petrified. I consider myself quite a social person but the thought of walking into a room and not knowing a single soul was awful. I needn’t have worried, the leader and my now friend Gill ran the group and made me feel incredibly welcome as did all the other women in the room. It has never ceased to amaze me how supportive women are of other women that run their own business and it has in fact inspired me to work more with women who specifically support other women in their business. Thanks ladies.
I have also become a lot better at networking and no longer wobble like jelly when entering a room of strangers and I have almost mastered the dreaded sixty second pitch.
Put yourself out there – You have to, to get anywhere in business you must put yourself and your business out there. It is difficult if you are not used to blowing your own trumpet but you must. No one else will do it for you. If you are running a business you are already successful, it may not feel like it but you are and the only way you are going to be able to continue to do this is by telling everyone how fabulous you are. I found this incredibly difficult at first and was simply not used to bigging myself up, it does get easier. Especially when you get lovely testimonials, that helps!
Take time to reflect – This is so important. So many times I would be beating myself up about all the stuff that I hadn’t done, I forgot all the things that I had done. I have now started writing a “Got Done” list weekly so I have a visual reminder of what I have achieved. So, take time to reflect on your achievements, it is so worth it.
Be yourself – Why is it we feel the need to compare ourselves to other people in our fields? What are they doing, are they doing it better than me, my website doesn’t look like that. You know what, it doesn’t matter, you are doing what you are doing and they are doing what they are doing. To give you an example, I worried for ages about my style of writing and whether my blogs were too informal. Others were much more professional, seemed to have more references and were written in a more formal way. It wasn’t until I decided that I would just do my own thing that I relaxed into it and I enjoy writing these blogs. If others don’t like my style of writing well that is fine, I like the fact that I write informally and yes, I probably do ramble on a bit but that’s just me.
So, for anyone out there thinking of setting up on your own:
- Be prepared
- Be resilient
- Make sure you plan
- Don’t compare yourself to anyone else, just be yourself
- Support others
- Learn, learn, learn
And most of all enjoy it, if you are not enjoying it there is no point.
I don’t regret for a minute leaving the corporate world behind to work for myself. I heard when I started out that a lot of people give up within the first year and go back to employed work. Well I didn’t and am grateful every day that I stuck with it.
For more information about myself and my business please visit www.theumbrellatree.co.uk.