Ep 11 - How I jumped from corporate to business owner, and you can too!

Making that jump from corporate to self- employed can be terrifying. There can be so many things to consider and plan out and it can seem very overwhelming. A feeling I know all too well!

In this podcast episode I tell you all about my experience in starting a business and some things I learned along the way that I want to share with you.

In December 2016, I was working a zillion hours a week for a big corporate as a Communications Manager. I’d joined the company in a midweight role, got promoted, built a high performing team, and was kicking-ass at work five and a half years in.

It was nearing Christmas and I was exhausted. I had done 14 trips away from my family that year, my kids hardly saw me. I NEVER took lunch, and sometimes I didn’t leave the office before midnight.

As a working supermum and closet hippy, my idea of “balance” was totally skewed.

I wasn’t looking after myself, my husband and I had NO time to enjoy the fruits of my successes because all I did was work all the time. I was grumpy and tired – and I was on the verge of burnout.

I’d had a niggling dream to set up my own agency and help market non-profits, startups and generally lovely people for years, but until that point—I’d buried the dream.

It had been ten years of ignoring what I really wanted to do in order to raise two kids, get the high profile job, achieve the recognition, climb the ladder, manage the team, do and have “all the things”.

I now had all those things. I had doubled my salary in 5 short years and from an outsiders point of view, I did have it all.

But guess what? (You know where this is going…) It wasn’t what I wanted. So I sat down and took a good hard look at myself. I realised I had been sacrificing everything to avoid looking at what I really wanted. I was avoiding facing my dreams head-on because I was terrified of taking the leap.

I was the main income earner and my husband and I had two mouths to feed… but I couldn’t pretend anymore.

So I quit my job. I had a long holiday.

Then I leapt into building my dream business – The Right Remark – and 3 and a half years on I haven’t looked back and I’m still going strong!

#1. YOUR SUCCESS IS NO LONGER DEFINED BY ANYONE ELSE

When you’re inside an organisation or your full-time permanent role you have a sense of job security, but if we’re really honest with ourselves, in 2020 there’s no such thing as job security.

Looking back now I wish I hadn’t thought that I didn’t have any options and that’s why I really procrastinated for so long before I did step out on my own. My earning potential is now limitless, whereas if I’d stayed in a corporate environment, my growth would have been based on someone else’s view and perspective of what I could earn and where I could go. I think that has been the biggest benefit for me about stepping out on my own.

#2. YOU WILL WORK HARD – YOU WILL WEAR MANY HATS + SUCCESS DON’T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT

Something that people often don’t realise is how much is actually involved in setting up a business. This was one of the things that really surprised me and that I didn’t expect. In the beginning I thought I would be able to step out on my own and have a business established and set up in a few months, but here I am 3 years later and there’s still aspects of my business I’m refining and getting right and I don’t actually think that journey ever ends for any business owner. When you are the business owner of your micro business you are playing all the roles. Bookkeeper, marketing person, social media manager, PR consultant, the specialist, liaison with the clients, administrator, coordinating legal contracts, market researcher and so on.

#3. YOU NEED TO FIND YOUR NICHE

Now as a marketer I. preach this all the time but I also know experience how hard it is to do it.

I spent time getting really clear on my objective and my niche. It took me about 3 months after I resigned from my job to start taking the idea of starting a business to actually doing it. In the initial stages I had a lot of ideas of what I wanted the business to look like, my service offering, and who I wanted to serve. The most important step was getting clear on the objectives of The Right Remark. This allowed me to decide how to niche down and set me apart from competitors- what I was going to offer that was really unique. Once I had this I could clearly see what type of clients I wanted to work with.

My advice to you if you’re looking to take. The leap is to really think about what makes your offering or value proposition unique. Something I see so often, and was guilty of tmyself in the beginning, is trying to be all things for all people. You have a special skill that no one else has and getting right down to the heart of what you’re naturally really good at and focusing on that is going to be the key to success.

#4. INVEST IN A MARKETING PLAN

There’s a lot of opportunities to market and promote – all the social channels under the sun, websites, online courses, networking. Events, business memberships, conferences, masterclasses workshops, etc etc.

Get a marketing. Plan and get clear on your investment and where you’re going to put your efforts. You’re better to do less and do it well than try and do everything!

#5. PROGRESS OVER PERFECTION

If I could go back and give myself advice when I was first starting out I would say to let go of perfection. I’ve focused so much on everything needing to be 150% sorted out before starting anything that I wasted so much time. I’ve learned that it’s so much better to put a product to market and not have it 100% but refine it based on feedback, rather than being perfect from the get-go.