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When you are in a job, you know exactly what to expect, especially after you’ve been in it a few years. You know your specialism well, the office politics are just a part of life, you get used to having a work family you see more often than your own, you know how your performance is evaluated and you have a handle on how you get promoted and, that to move up, its best to change companies every few years. You know the general flow of the working world and are conditioned into that. It’s comfortable, you know what to expect. You are like everyone else, whether you are really ambitious and career-minded or if you just want to do the job and be paid for it, the world of being an employee is ‘normal’, it’s what everyone does and you are on a path that you and other people understand, right!
Once you step out of that world things do change as you would expect. When I left my job I’d already started my business on the side, so I wasn’t starting from scratch, I already knew a lot of what to expect and had prepared myself for it. But there were still a few things that surprised me once I was a fully-fledged entrepreneur!
IT’S A STEEP LEARNING CURVE
The first thing I was surprised about was just how much of a learning curve it would be. Of course, I knew that there would be a lot to get my head around but it was only once I’d left the security of my corporate job that I realised just how much. You literally leave one job and gain about 8 more! You are the CEO, the board, every department and every employee, certainly for the first year at least, unless you have a meteoric rise and can hire a team earlier.
As an employee, you are used to having support, to other teams helping you out. But when you leave the job, you leave all that help behind, well for a while anyway.
Now although the learning curve is pretty steep, I do actually love it. I’ve always been someone that enjoys learning and so being able to learn all these new skills and take in so much new information is not a chore for me.
And I’ll let you into a secret, the variety of work involved in having your own company was something that drew me to it. I love having different things to get involved with because I get really bored with the same work every day. In my day job, I was always one of those people that wanted to do more than my job description. I put my hand up to get involved in projects outside of my specialism and if there weren’t something new going on to get involved with, I would look to create something either in my job or in my personal life.
But even knowing to expect to be able to turn my hand to many different tasks, I was still surprised at how much would need to be done. I’m not complaining and I’m not saying all this to scare you, if you're like me you will love getting involved so much in lots of different things! And it’s only at the start you need to do everything yourself.
Now, I get the variety I wanted and do things I actually enjoy and I know I can get help when I need it on things I don’t enjoy. There is an army of freelancers and contractors out there who can help you for a few hours or days a week on the things you are not so good at. So once you are up and running you can tailor your team to suit the skills you are good at and not so good at.
EXCHANGING 9 TO 5 FOR 24/7
The second surprise was that I would exchange 9 to five for 24/7. This is something that other small business owners warned me about but I thought wouldn’t happen because I was going to make sure I did not let it take over my life! Yes, I was a bit naive in that regard. I soon learnt that it does become a 24/7 obsession. Not that you are necessarily working all that time, but your mind is always on it. Thinking about new strategies, new products, how you can improve things, what’s the next thing you will focus on, are you doing the right thing, should you change things up etc etc.
That’s why if you are going to have your own business, it’s so important that you love what you are doing. It is something that will become far bigger and far more a part of your life than any job you may have had. I’m not actually telling you this as a negative. Because I do want to work in my business so much because I care about it! I love what I do and I actually want to be at my desk. I want to be recording my podcast, writing my blog, or working with people like you on your strategy to escape your gilded cage and start on your new path to freedom doing something you love. That is all my passion!
Do I need to work on my boundaries between work and life, absolutely, not because I don’t enjoy what I do, but because part of the reason I made my escape from my corporate cage was freedom, which includes the freedom to live a certain lifestyle? So I need to leave time available to do all the things I love outside of the business as well as time working on the business.
That is the beauty of being your own boss, you can decide to give yourself more time off or your can decide to work 10 days straight if it's an important project, it’s just about balance. You can decide what your working week will look like, you can decide if you want to work 24/7 or just three days a week. No one will tell you any different. So if I find myself working long hours for a while, I will then give myself a week of shorter hours or take a few half days to compensate. No more trying to make the 25 days of annual leave (standard in the UK) fit around other people and work projects. I don’t even know if I’m taking more or less holiday than I was in my day job. I take it when I need it.
SOME PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE JUST DON’T GET IT
Something I really had to come to terms with, and that I just wasn’t expecting after I left corporate to become my own boss, is that some people in my life won’t get what I’m doing. This was really a surprise to me. I thought everyone would be excited for me, that they would totally get this need in me to go for something new, to switch to a new path and go for my ‘one day dream’. But some people just don’t!
I know they try to be supportive, but they don’t understand the draw of working for myself and certainly don’t get what running an online business (like I have) is all about. I try and explain but often just get blank expressions, or they try and contextualise it in relation to working in a job. The truth is, having your own business is nothing like having a job. So to try and think of it in those terms, will always seem a bit strange. I know as I sit there telling them what I’m up to their heart of hearts they think I’m a bit crazy and secretly bet that actually one day I will be back in a corporate job (which I won’t!)
People also have trouble understanding why I decided to sell my home in Surrey and move to France for a while. But when at the end of last year I decided to move, I knew in my gut it was the right thing to do and I have not regretted it one bit. It’s been freeing in more ways than one and has opened up so many doors and opportunities for me. When I had my apartment, I was still tied to my old life. But after I sold it, I felt like that last bit of rope tying me to the person I had been and the life I had, had been cut and I could fly free. I’m not saying I will never buy again, I may very well do, but I plan to rent for a while when I do move on from France so I can decide where I ultimately want to be long-term.
But living with that kind of uncertainty and following my heart and gut is something some of my friends just don’t understand. And I’ve come to realise that that is ok! We are all different and have a variety of hopes, dreams, values and guiding principles. They are no less my friends just because they don’t quite get what I do. Actually, I don’t get what they want to do. Having a standard job and working there until retirement and not actually doing something different, outside the box and exciting is what I can’t understand! That is what I would dread, being like everyone else and not going for my ambitious and crazy dreams. So I do understand why what I’m doing does not resonate with everyone. We have other things in common, so I just play down a lot of what I do and don’t go into detail with friends who I know will never be able to understand.
THE ENTREPRENEUR COMMUNITY I GAINED
Finally, the biggest surprise of all for me was the community of entrepreneurs and freelancers that welcomed me into the fold. One of the things I was worried about leaving my day job was not having a team or work colleagues to bounce ideas off, discuss potential projects or just have a natter and gossip with.
So I was really pleasantly surprised to find this community of entrepreneurs and business owners that I had no clue existed. They don’t just appear, you do have to do some work to find them, but once you have connected with one group, you find out about other groups and your circle of entrepreneur friends gets wider and wider. And those people really get you and can help celebrate your plans and successes. I also know if I have a problem in my business, there is someone I can call or message to get their advice or their point of view or just someone to commiserate with because they have been there and done that. Many colleagues at my job I knew and spoke to every day for years remained mainly acquaintances and I am now in touch with just a few. But business owners I have met, sometimes only online, have become some of my best friends. There is a comradery of people who have the same outlook, the same dreams and they just get what you want to do and that is something that is very bonding and special.
THE BOTTOM LINE IS…
You can’t prepare yourself for everything that could happen when you decide to leave your day job to go freelance or run your own business. There will be plenty of surprises that come your way, both good and bad. But as long as you choose a business or specialism that you love and have a passion for, you will be able to deal with anything that comes your way.
