It’s been a while I know. The end of last year several things converged – none very positive: Startupbootcamp, the company that had hired me for three years and provided my financial anchor, went bust leaving my invoices unpaid, Shell Global decided not to continue with the startup programme I have been running in the UK and the lovely team I’ve worked with in Shell went into a reorg, leaving the people I work closest with ‘at risk’.
As a solopreneur these things hit hard.
I’d had a bit of warning that one or more of these might happen, but not all three in one month. Nonetheless I had been building some back-up options, some of which materialised, some of which have not. The market is pretty tough with, on average, up to 250 candidates for every job, so there a lot of talented people scrabbling for the same jobs. I have had at least four coaching clients tell me they applied for the same job…
I’ll admit I didn’t particularly feel like writing. Or selling the benefits of life escaping corporate (not that I really ever did – sell the benefits or escape corporate).
But these last few weeks something has changed. I’ve stopped focusing on the negatives and instead realised there’s a lot to be pretty happy about:
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I’ve made this life work for more than five years. And it’s a brilliant life where I see my wife and children a lot – and I have been able to do work I love with great people.
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My confidence remains really high – where it was declining when I worked at BP. How many restructures and gut-wrenching rounds of redundancy have I missed?
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I’m so much more resilient and opportunity-rich than I ever was as an employee: I have a buffer, a network and a track record of adding value to clients.
And this is what I talk to my coaching clients about.
For some reason I forgot to talk to myself about this.
Amidst the doomscrolling on LinkedIn Jobs, I didn’t follow my own advice that my next gigs will come through my network, not applying cold to people who don’t know me. They never have since leaving BP so why would they suddenly appear on LinkedIn now?
I’m generally too expensive to hire full-time now, freelancing suits me and the clients who want to work with me. They don’t need me full-time and I don’t want to work for any one client full-time (that’s called employment).
And as I turned this corner these past few weeks, I noticed new clients coming out of the woodwork: several wrestling with impending and actual redundancy, some looking for work, some wanting to feel better about themselves, several looking for a portfolio career, one wanting to set up a business.
I will help those people, like I’ve helped more than a hundred over the last few years.
My experience is now not just my own experience but the shared experiences of all these people who haven’t been where they wanted to be – but now are.
Maybe there’s another book in me sharing these experiences, to give hope and build confidence in others yet to make the leap.
Goodness knows we need it. The world of work feels as unsettled as the world more generally.
If there’s one truth I’ve learnt it’s that we can only truly rely on ourselves and what we create for ourselves. At some stage, most of us will find ourselves in the wrong box in an HR spreadsheet and we’ll need the confidence, skills, inspiration and networks to plan our next moves; to take control – rather than have our lives controlled by others.
If it’s starting to feel like time you got yourself in control and built some options, I can help either one-to-one coaching or I’m going to start my group programme ‘Escapology Live’ again in March. Reply to this blog and I’ll add you to the waitlist.
It’s good to be back helping people make the most of their lives.