My five favourite things about being self-employed

Everyday I am grateful for being my own boss. Something that I long dreamed about and has now been a reality for more than three years. Running your own business is a fabulous privilege all year round but there’s something about the festive period that makes me appreciate it all the more. Here’s why.

• I’m free to work when I want to – This means I can choose my own schedule and work when I am most productive. For me this is writing and planning in the morning, meetings, phone calls and emails in the afternoon. I can also take time out in my day when I choose to. In December, this is extra valuable – no crisis because I can’t get a hair appointment on the Saturday before Christmas. And I can nip to the shops whenever I like and avoid the crowds, so I actually enjoy Christmas shopping.
• I can work wherever I want to – I’m not tied to going into an office. When the snow strikes and the country grinds to a halt, I don’t have to risk life and limb and precious time slip-sliding around on the roads. I can just fire up my laptop and stay toasty warm at home. With email and Skype I can keep in touch with clients just as well as meeting them face to face.
• No end-of-year reviews – I never much looked forward to my appraisal at work, not because I hadn’t done a good job but because they often glossed over what you had done well and focused on what you should do to improve your ‘development areas’ i.e. your weaknesses. Now I constantly assess how my business is performing and get feedback from my clients. And, better still, I can concentrate on using my strengths – the things I do best – and find other people to help me with the things that are ‘not my bag’.
• I can set my own agenda for the year ahead – I love having a clean slate at the beginning of a new year, when I can sit down and map out what I want to achieve – both personally and professionally. The best thing about being your own boss is that you are in control of this – there’s no objective-setting session that you have to go through and get approved by someone else. The thing I love most is that my business and personal lives are now so much more closely aligned so, if I’m doing something in my business, it’s likely it’s helping me to achieve a personal goal too.
• I can take two weeks off at Christmas without worrying about a holiday allowance – This started as an enforced thing when the first clients I worked for didn’t need me to do anything between Christmas and New Year. Now it’s something I insist on. It means I have plenty of time and energy to celebrate with friends and family. This downtime also gives me time to rest and reflect, to plan for the year ahead and to hit January refreshed and raring to go.

Of course, when you work on your own there’s no company Christmas party to go to but actually I reckon that’s a bonus too. I’m free to celebrate with whoever I choose – friends, clients and other people who are running a business on their own.

There’s no Christmas bonus either but the best thing is, the harder and smarter I work all year round, it’s me (and my clients) who benefit – I’m not at the mercy of a manager deciding whether or not I am worthy of a performance bonus.

So, what about you? I’d love to hear about your experience. Do you run your own business? What do you love most about it? Or maybe you’ve been thinking about becoming your own boss.  What’s stopping you? This time next year, this could be you!

Love and festive fun.

 

 

 

Read more about Lucy on the Contributors page, or check out her business, Blue Penguin Communications.

 

 

What I’ve learned from a new type of networking

Back in the days of my old corporate job, if my boss had suggested that I needed to ‘network’ more, you’d have seen me running a mile in the opposite direction. Even when I set up my business, I was deeply sceptical of getting out on the networking scene. I had visions of sharp-suited salesmen all trying to outsmart each other, a big focus on the “so what do you do?” question and pressure to refer business to other people from day one.

I wasn’t sure that networking would be ‘my thing’. But I couldn’t have been more wrong.

There’s a new type of non-scary, non-sleazy networking out there

Gone are the days when networking was all about small talk and scary sales pitches. There are different groups out there to fit your type of business, your personality and your needs. I have personally tried and loved Networking Women, The Oxfordshire Project and Fe-line’s Word of Mouth sessions. (The Word of Mouth sessions have now finished).

For me, networking is all about learning, building support networks and sharing ideas and inspiration. It’s also a great cure for the isolation that could set in when you’re running a business on your own for the first time.

Networking helped me to shape my business from day one

From the minute I went to my first networking meeting, I stepped onto a new journey for me and my business. For the first time, I was meeting people just like me – who wanted to build a business and live a life they love on their terms.

The people that I met along the way became my friends and a crucial part of my support network. They had either been through the challenges I was facing, or we worked through them at the same time. In time, many of these people have also become my clients because meeting them helped me to figure out for the first time what I truly wanted to do with my life. Through getting to know and understand these people, I realised that they needed my marketing experience and I could share it in fun, friendly and affordable formats. Helping them to build the business and life that they want. Fulfilling their dreams and passions…and mine!

Social media is no replacement

You might be thinking that networking meetings are a bit old school, when it’s so easy to connect online these days. In my experience though social media is not a replacement for face-to-face meetings – it is something that complements it perfectly. There have been several occasions when I’ve sat down at a meeting to find that I’ve already met the person I’m sitting next to through Twitter or Facebook. It makes that initial conversation so much easier.

In fact, it works both ways – it’s so much more natural to keep in touch with someone though social media after you’ve met them in person, rather than jumping in straightaway with an email suggesting how you could work together.

So what could networking do for you?

If you’ve been hiding away at home, why not check out a networking group near you? There are options that can work for you, wherever you’re based and whatever time of day suits you best. So go on, step out from behind your laptop and go and meet some new people. You never know where it might take you.

Love and inspiration,

 

 

 

Pictured: My Blue Penguin Marketing Meetups were inspired by networking.
Image credit, Vivacious Mel Photography.