One Step At A Time
Week Two. It is Wednesday morning, and the first thing that hits me is that I am no longer expected to be anywhere or start work at a designated time. Yes, a client can give you a deadline, but otherwise I am free to do what I wish and when. But, ironically this morning, I woke up almost an hour earlier than I typically would, and went for a run. Nothing stopped me before, but there is this new feeling of liberation, I can structure my day to my natural rhythm. I get for some people that they yearn structure, but I have always been very much a independent player.
Anyway, what does my working day look like? It’s faster and slower in equal measure. There are less distractions (no longer is my day punctuated by Slack messages or meetings). However, you quickly become aware that no one else is going to pick up the tab. As a result, I do spend a lot of time watching tutorial videos from coding steps to outreach ideas. At this point in my journey, there is certainly no one that I can ask to help with tasks.
Though, so far, the hardest part of going solo has been one thing: focus. It is not that I finish up my days feeling unaccomplished. On that point, I feel surprisingly productive. My definition of focus refers to decision-making and prioritisation. For example, when it comes to this blog, I have to provide consistency. Nonetheless, I also have to work out the business value I get from my personal input or to put it more bluntly: time spent. For example, I have made the decision to soon provide this blog as a newsletter to maximise its value.
Moreover, the single biggest threat to focus is not saying “no” to the ideas that come into my head or from the vlogs I watch. I have been thinking about creating a YouTube channel, but to get it started, it involves a lot of input and time. I haven’t rejected it, but for now, I have put it on hold. You may say, but wouldn’t it be fun and build you an organic audience? It would, but at this point, the focus of my time needs to be on client outreach and continuing to perfect my value proposition.
This is the uncomfortable truth of launching a business. In popular culture, the story of starting a business is of natural growth and linear progress, where there is a certain glamour attached to the identity of the budding founder. In truth, at the beginning, black coffee, a lot of grit and a nice drop in earnings are likely to be more representative of your lived experience. Not to say that visualisation of a future resembling the narrative of popular culture isn’t always a bad idea to counter any moments of self-doubt.
I have also learned on the other hand that you need to let go of any ego you may possess. Your skills are not special, and your assumptions are often wrong. The competition is just as smart and creative as you are (if not often more!). So you need to perfect your craft and let your creative juices flow, to stand out in the market. What do I mean? A profile speaks one-thousand words. Does that copy really address the problems your potential clients are trying to solve? No, and it would look better in bullet points. Does your photo have the wrong dimensions, so it looks warped? Yes, then change it.
Another observation from the past week was that going public on LinkedIn creates a lot of buzz. It takes the edge off what is in an essence a lonely experience. I have been very appreciative of people reaching out, and giving me the positive feedback. Yet, what has been even better, are the three people who gave me constructive criticism. From my web copy to a broken link or two, with your fingers in many baskets, you always have a blind spot.
So to sum it all up my final lesson of the week is; I have learnt is that you should strive for perfection. This is very much a double-edged sword. In this, I don’t mean spending hours on revising a text. I speak of a process of constant self-improvement. You must keep moving forward. And most of all keep learning.
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