It’s 2.5 years since I set up my own business. It’s been a journey. I’ve learnt a huge amount. I’ve met some brilliant people and had the freedom to get involved in things that pique my interest. I’ve juggled home-schooling and been hugely grateful for the flexibility to do this. I’ve also doubted myself and worried about income uncertainty. There are a huge number of positives – I’ve also never been so resilient in my life!
Here's the advice I’d give myself 2.5 years ago…
1. Take time to become clear on your purpose
For most of my career, I’ve been passionate about helping build a different type of business – one that’s financially successful and sustainable, whilst integrating environmental sustainability and social impact into its business and operating models so that having a positive impact on people and planet is core to the business and its strategy.
Once I connected this personal purpose with my business, I was able to:
- Connect with potential collaborators and clients around vision and values; and
- Be authentic and opinionated on LinkedIn, which significantly increased engagement with my posts
Having a strong opinion and being clear on what I stand for means that some people will feel a strong connection. The flipside is that this will put some people off – and it’s taken time for me to be comfortable with that. If you try to be all things to all people then you end up being nothing special to anyone and that’s not the foundation of a successful business. It doesn’t mean it’s easy to do though!
2. Get a coach
With my how-to-run-the-nuts-and-bolts-of-a-business finance background and my experience leading innovation, I thought I could work things out by myself. With hindsight, I should have invested in a coach at the outset – someone experienced in helping people at the start of their self-employment journey.
It’s hard when it’s just you inside your own head every day. I would have benefited from someone external to support me and challenge me to focus on the right things. I definitely needed support with marketing as that isn’t my background.
3. Take a portfolio approach
Intellectually, I know I need a portfolio of income streams. I’ve personally found this hard to achieve.
I often hear it’s a good idea to start your business while taking your employed role down to part-time. Or for your first client to be your former employer. This is really sound advice. You might be impatient to get out there and get going on your new business (I know I was!) but having a secure income stream to pay the bills can create the space and time your new business needs.
I’ve found a mental model of three buckets helpful:
- Bucket 1 – this is your bread and butter. You can do this stuff with your eyes closed, there’s market demand and you can charge a good rate. You might not love it and it might not be what you want to do forever – but you’re good at it, you can get work and it pays the bills. For me this is part-time work or associate work for established consultancies (programme management and innovation).
- Bucket 2 – what you’d like to become bucket 1. The market is willing to pay and you’re able to do the work, but it may be a newer skillset for you or a less established market. For me this is my own consultancy practice, helping businesses know what steps to take to become sustainable. The market is still relatively new and it’s taking time to build a pipeline of clients. I can’t rely on this to pay the bills and also need to be patient, giving this business time to develop.
- Bucket 3 – this is what you’d love to learn more about and turn into an income stream in future. It doesn’t bring in income yet – e.g. a trustee or other volunteer role; supporting early stage start-ups; additional studying; building a network and having exploratory conversations. For me, this is learning about how we can create value from waste and using the concept of the circular economy as a springboard for innovation.
This is another area where a coach can help – supporting you to create income and time-allocation targets per bucket and holding you accountable to these. I could happily spend all my time in bucket 3!
4. Be patient
Creating a business proposition that people will buy and is aligned to your skills and passions is tricky and is a journey. I’ve learnt to take time to process what I’m hearing, reflect on conversations, join the dots and observe how the world is changing. And then evolve the business accordingly. This process can’t be rushed.
It would be lovely to identify the right audience, problem and solution straight away – but it’s not going to happen. However strong your vision and objectives, you will still go on a meandering learning journey. So enjoy it and give it space to happen.
This is where a portfolio approach can help – if bucket 1 is paying the bills then it’s easier to let buckets 2 and 3 take the time they need to evolve.
5. Be consistent and trust the process
Business development and marketing can take a lot of time and feel like they’re yielding little value. Sometimes you just need to trust the process.
I’ve now been posting on LinkedIn every weekday for 18 months, tracking what resonates with people. I also actively engage with other people’s posts and build up my network. Sometimes it feels like I’m broadcasting into a black hole! It’s hard to know if this time investment is worth it. And then I’ve recently had a number of invitations to write articles and participate in webinars and podcasts, specifically off the back of what I’m putting on LinkedIn.
It takes time to build reputation and trust. Sometimes you have to put faith in a process.
A final thought
Be kind to yourself. Yes, I’d do things differently if I were starting again. Hindsight is a wonderful thing! I’m really careful not to beat myself up about this though. I feel confident that I’ve always done what felt right at the time. Maybe it turns out that it wasn’t the right decision. That’s part of the journey.
*The views expressed are the author’s and not ICAEW’s.