Lessons of a One Year Old | Happy Birthday, Relier!
Welcome to my digital diary and thanks for tagging along this wild 12-month journey we’ve had so far. Rewind to a year ago today and I would have told you I was shivering in my boots with equal parts fear and adrenaline about the future of Relier! My business launch plan was riddled with Plan B options - if this didn’t work, where to next? How soon until I would be job hunting again? Is there really a demand for my skill in the market? But hidden in the depths of my soul was an underlying belief that this was my shot. It felt like a true now or never moment and I rolled with the punches from there.
I’ve certainly been hit with my fair share of challenges in this entrepreneurial endeavour. A pandemic that shut down the retail nation certainly takes top spot on the list (can I get a here-ye!). The raw truths of the hardships of launching this business span far and wide…
Confidence battles
Pricing structure qualms
Imposter syndrome
Backing yourself
Recovering from perceived failures
Overdue and unpaid invoices
Saying no - that’s not good enough
Pivoting my service scope
The midnight hustle
Outstanding emails that interrupt your sleeping abilities
Accounting
Finance in general …
I could go on for days… I hope this list makes entrepreneurial-you sigh with relief and find comfort in the fact that all of these things are normal (and please, if you want a buddy in your solo-journey, I’m here for that, sista. Slide into my inbox.)
Truthfully, it’s been a very equal balance in terms of challenges and wins - I’ve celebrated peaks at the highest of highs and came close to drowning in troughs at the lowest of lows… but enough about the tough stuff, I’m here to celebrate are my top learnings from year 1 of doing-ma-own-thang and building this baby that I truly am so proud of. Read on, if you dare to care.
The most harrowing expectations you seek to fulfil are the ones you place on yourself.
After all, we are our own worst critics, right? Learning to be kind to yourself, to forgive your mistakes and to start each day fresh has been the biggest learn of all. The stress and pressure I have experienced in the past 12-months have been predominantly self-inflicted. Of course, there are the issues of heavy scopes of work, client deadlines and all that fun stuff that comes with contractual ‘stuff… but the worst pressure of all is that which you place upon yourself. Every day I remind myself that I am working on my own clock, at my own pace, and towards the projects and scope of works outcomes that were drafted by me. At the end of the day, I remind myself this is a business of my own design and I need to cut myself a little slack sometimes. It’s hard to be self-aware of those expectations that are realistic, and those that aren’t. But by-gosh-by-golly am I dancing the self-expectations dance each day. Continue to keep me in your prayers!
You will ruffle feathers and you can’t keep everyone happy.
Perhaps this is the nature of recruitment and head hunting… or perhaps it’s the nature of business in general. I’ve had tough conversations with people who were once a very important part of my professional trajectory. I’ve faced criticism and comments that have been hard to swallow. At the end of the day, you can’t keep everyone happy and create a career of your own design at the same time. You have to ruffle some feathers sometimes. Those who like what they see, what you do and your personal character will be all aboard your train to success-city. But there have been people, clients, businesses who didn’t see the merit or understand the mindset behind the business I have created. Accepting this, standing my ground, backing my decisions and upholding best practice (as often as humanly possible) has gotten me through these tricky, sticky scenarios. I am nothing but proud to brave enough to have my own back and stick to my guns in times of these hardship. If I don’t back and stand up for my business practices, who else will?
That you will never be ready. There is no such thing as a perfect launch. But there is such thing as constant growth.
I certainly am not proud of the first few pitch documents I sent in my first quarter of trade. My talent placement terms needed a lot of nourishment and my processes took time to develop. But they say if you launch with the perfect product, process or procedure, you launched too late. The growth, the learns, the failures, the wins - they’re part of the journey and it’s a really powerful feeling to know you have driven your own learnings, change and ultimate growth-spurts through pure resilience and ongoing self-reflection.
The most important skill you need to achieve your big goals is resilience.
Life in general is a combination of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Recuperation, reflection and recovery all add up to one big skill, and that is resilience.
Ask any employer, any life coach, any mentor and I can guarantee this skill will be in their ingredients list for the recipe of great success. The unfortunate truth of the matter is that people will always put themselves and their business first, but there is nothing you can’t bounce back from with the right attitude, self talk and support network around you. It’s also okay and very necessary to rely on the encouragement and assurance of your nearest and dearest.
No one can own the monopoly. There is room for every one. Your special skill is unique as the next person.
When I launched my business I was scared that there were too many others out there doing what I wanted to do... or worse, that they were bigger, better and more established and I could never compete with their extra-large talent databases and training reputations. But there truly is room for everyone. No one can dominate the monopoly because there is always a place for innovation in our digital world. Different businesses engage with different service providers for different reasons… it’s about value alignment and your personal touch. I have very quickly learnt that a great business isn’t built on the longest possible client list. It’s build on an intimate and small list of fab and loyal clients who love your service so much that they continue to return for more. Gosh I’ve loved this learn - more than any other. My favourite clients have re-engaged time and time again, spoken with kindness, understanding and we have shown a true value-alignment with one another.
Comparison should be a crime.
Starting out, I was constantly assessing my competitors. Constantly watching what they were doing in their own digital bubble and feeling I wasn’t at the same standard. I realised very quickly if I emulated other businesses then I wasn’t staying true to myself or creating something unique and special. So I decided not to define myself as a typical talent placement or training business. I instead defined myself a sole trader, and dream-job-chaser, who was wading my her through the fluff and searching for the gaps and the value-adds. I decided to take inspiration from brands and businesses who operated in entirely different fields to create a unique identity and perspective of my own, and it’s been much more enjoyable and fun to approach business from this mind set.
You won’t be proud of every move you make.
I guess this is part of the self-reflection journey! Hindsight is a powerful thing. I am learning to reflect on what I would do differently the next time rather than give myself a hard time or dwelling on certain scenarios. For me this goes hand in hand with also learning to be better at trusting my gut and intuition. I tend to trust the gut instincts of my closest pals over my own… I wish my gut had a voice as loud as my own.
Milestone moment: writing our first few CSX programs to get teams back on their feet after the impacts of COVID
Patience really is a virtue.
Don’t you know that Rome wasn’t built in a day? Full transparency - part of me expected to be an overnight success (the other part was still keeping an eye on job boards and had one foot in the employment market at all times). But it certainly did not happen overnight. It wasn’t until my second quarter that I was actually turning over enough to feed myself (thank goodness for the govvy and the pandemic support options or I would be a size 4!) They say it takes 12 months to properly build a business and reap the fruits of your labour, and for me this is most certainly the case. Again, resilience and dedication played a big role in being able to start fresh each day and week. I have learnt not to compare my chapter 1 to someone else’s chapter 10!
Manifestation is real, my friend.
Okay, believe it or not, but I wrote down a small list of clients I dreamt of working and aligning with back in March next year and most of them are on my client list today. Excuse the list on this website… I’m yet to update it with the exciting new names that have joined the clan in the last few months, but they’re here. With manifestation also comes stepping stones - the to-dos you have to tick off to get to the end call. These clients didn’t just happen across my page. One of them I emailed consistently for 11-months until we had the chance to properly connect and seal the deal (again, hello, resilience). My point is, manifest it, work out how to make it happen, and take those steps until it comes true. Also get a citrine stone for your desk like a special clan of chickas did for me in the weeks leading up to my venture.
All in all, I will say it is wonderfully wild how much you can learn when throwing yourself in the deep end. As much as I am a sucker for a good learning program, the best learns of all both personally have come from diving deep and working it out solo. My final piece of advice to anyone out there waiting for the perfect time to launch…. just do it. Stop waiting and get cracking my friend. Your dream career awaits.
Happy one year to us! Time to grab an espresso martini or 7 in full celebratory mode!