"People seem to have two views of people who run their own businesses. If you work from home, then of course you’re sitting on the sofa, slumped over a laptop with daytime telly in the background, IN YOUR PYJAMAS. But you’re also a pushy, shouty executive with your fingers in millions of pies, working every hour there is and doing it all for the money.
I’m not sure how these two stereotypes can coexist, and most of the entrepreneurs and small business owners I know aren’t like this. I’m certainly not, and while I’ve treated this topic at greater length in some of my blog posts http://libroediting.com/2011/05/18/risks/, I’m hopefully now going to reassure anyone thinking of starting their own business.
You don’t have to turn into Margaret Thatcher in pyjamas.
Soft-launching
Soft-launching is a fancy phrase for avoiding risks and supporting yourself while growing your business. I did this: I started Libro, which was then a proof reading business in August 2009 while working in a library full-time. In January 2011 I dropped one day at the library, and another in May, and I launched Libro full time in December 2011.
This allowed me to live on my salary while I built the business. I’m not saying it wasn’t hard: it is hard to do two jobs in one day; to only see your partner at mealtimes; to miss social events because you’re working … but all the juggling and tiredness aside, it meant I had the luxury to learn what I was doing, to make mistakes and learn from them, and to grow slowly and carefully, only taking on jobs that I really wanted to, with the support of my salary behind me. I also learned that I enjoyed doing this work, and would like to think about doing it full time.
Being true to yourself
You don’t have to change dramatically when you run your own business. I was always a quiet, efficient administrator, and that’s helped me in my daily work; I am also decent and fairly idealistic, and I still respect my clients, treat them decently, keep within the rules for claiming against my tax, etc. Maxine is a bubbly and lively lady who’s out there helping people have lovely parties. Neither of us has changed our fundamental personalities or ethics. Although I’d like to bet we’ve both become more confident!
You can do it
If someone had told me in my 20s that I’d be leaving paid employment to strike out on my own as I hit 40, I wouldn’t have believed them. I am an unlikely entrepreneur – if you have a limited view of what an entrepreneur is. Actually I’m persistent, organised and reliable – all features that have stood me in good stead in my new career. There’s plenty of help out there, both from organisations and other freelancers. If you fancy giving it a try, you can do it too!"
Liz runs Libro, offering proof-reading, editing, transcription and localisation services to businesses, authors and students. Her business blog features other small businesses once a week http://libroediting.com/2011/06/11/freelancer-chat/ as well as general business and language posts, and she is writing a blog http://www.librofulltime.wordpress.com about her experiences going full-time as a freelancer.
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