Life as my own boss (part one)

I don’t know about you but whenever I sit down with the aim of writing a blog for my own business, 9 times out of 10 I move onto work I need to do for a client – sometimes writing a blog for them! Oh the irony :)

I generally start with a blank piece of paper (yep I’m old school) and jot down interesting things I’ve been up too, then I screw up said pieces of paper and see how many I can get in the bin without missing. This is usually because a) its too boring b) I think who on earth would be interested in what my days are like…. So c) never happens!

So….. As a marketing consultant I aim to start practicing what I preach and actually get one done.

Get ready, hold on to your hats…

I have run Love Marketing for nearly 10 years now (wow how quick has that gone!) most of that time it’s just me providing help and advice for a range of large and small clients in many different sectors.

Although a marketer by trade I find myself wearing many different hats on a daily basis – today I have been in Sales, Accounts, Cleaner, IT specialist and now writer.

It’s amazing how often I have had to call upon the many various skills I learnt whilst doing my business degree all those years ago!

I’m a big fan of The Apprentice and remember Lord Alan saying that ‘once he’d had a taste of working for himself, even when he wasn’t making a fortune, wild horses wouldn’t have been able to drag him back to work for someone else’.

Having been self employed for the past 10 years – I have to say I totally agree with this statement. How hard must it be to go back to a 9 ‘til 5 with very little flexibility (but the holiday and sick pay is very appealing at times!!)

So I wondered what is it that drives an individual to rough it through the very turbulent challenges of being ‘self employed’?

So a bit of background..

How it all began – 2009 (Dizzee Rascal was at No. 1 with Bonkers – very appropriately!)

I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar (not really) I was working in a very demanding role as Head of Marketing for our local football club (Derby County). I was in a constant battle to ‘ram’ (pun definitely intended) as much as possible into each and everyday (as I know we all do), but I started to feel pulled in all directions and my head was becoming increasingly woolley (end of sheep references for now). Back home I had a one year old whose first steps I’d missed, had taken to skyping the hubby and daughter so I could remember what they looked like and had also taken a season ticket out for the Derby Royal as my mum became increasingly more and more ill.

Sure I had a brilliant and exciting job, great company car, fab salary and stability but the idea of staying on this daily treadmill began to fill me with dread. Money was not my (and has never been) my main motivator - I simply needed more time and that was something I couldn’t actually buy!

So what’s the point? .. and as for a stable job – well I’ve always had a rebellious streak so taking everything into account the decision was made……

Time to Take The Leap!

I was lucky enough to get redundancy from the club (for which I will always be thankful).

So what were my options?

I could become a star of stage and screen and travel the world (but that would require me to be away and I wanted to be at home more!) maybe I could become the next big Reality TV Star – but decided there is not much call for ‘The Only Way is Derbyshire’. So I just went for the obvious – it was time to take the leap and set up my own business…

I had dealt and worked at and with marketing agencies over the years and *some were ridiculously overpriced, not particularly creative and didn’t offer a very good service despite all this they were really successful – so I thought if they can do it WHY NOT ME!

*Some were amazing and were part of the reason I wanted to set up too!

Never one to rush things, I took 6 months off spent time with my family, visited friends, spent time at the seaside and walked in lots of stunning country parks. This was such a special time and will stay with me forever but reality set in and one rainy day I thought maybe it’s time to get off my butt and actually do something about getting my business off the ground.

So, what next..?

Dx