6 lessons Johnny Truant taught me about doing the work I love

August 31, 2009 by 7 Comments

j0439442This wasn’t the post I had planned. The one I had lined up was called “6 practical steps to falling in love with work again”. In it I was trying to write about that awful experience of losing any interest you might ever have had in the work you’re doing and wondering what the hell you’re going to do next. This happened to me over a decade a go when badly managed big organisational changes kicked the shit out of my enthusiasm for my HR career. I spent years struggling to reorient myself. I’d hoped that by talking about the practical things I’d learned along the way, I’d inspire and encourage others that there really was a way to finding and falling in love with a different kind of work.

I’d scribbled some bullet points in my spiral bound notebook, and got down to writing. But when I got to the blank Add New Post page, nothing flowed. I spent a couple of hours painfully grinding out a thousand words. It was turgid. Panic and frustration set in. How could I inspire people that it was possible to love work when I was feeling so blah about mine?

So, what does Johnny Truant have to do with this? Well, that’s just what I’m coming to. You see, completely deflated with my writing, I quit WordPress and Twittered my stuckness. No sooner had I done this than Copyblogger landed in my inbox. Johnny’s article, Confessions of a Comment Addict, immediately cheered me up. He’s such a wit and I love the way he cuts right to the chase on things. But it was the serious point in his post that really struck me: to be of service to our readers, bloggers need to confess stuff.

On the one hand Johnny’s words were laxative for my writing constipation. But, as serendipity would have it, he taught me a few lessons on doing the work I love and in loving it in the process. In the spirit of openness, I thought I’d share them.

Lesson one: I need to be engaged and present in my work

As I read back through my original post, I was aghast to find that I’d lapsed into  the dry corporate bullshit I’d been trained to write when I was in HR. It was all second or third person: about “you” and “my clients”. I’d omitted completely my own life changing experiences. No wonder I wasn’t enjoying writing it – I wasn’t there!

Note to self: if I find myself struggling with any kind of work in the future, I’ll check out whether I’m really engaged with it.

Lesson Two: I need to be able to put all of myself into my work

The key reason I wasn’t in my own writing was that I was playing safe. I was avoiding saying things that are true for me in order not to offend people or have people think badly of me. I was trying to make out that my experience mirrors that idyllic experience people talk of. You know, the one where they fall out of love with one career, have a period of turmoil and searching, and then fall in love with another. Job done, life change over. But my journey has been different. I’ve been constantly changing and iterating what I do over the last ten years. Don’t get me wrong. I love that and wouldn’t have it any other way. Problem is, force-fitting me into someone else’s model for the sake of acceptance was actually leaving me out. I certainly wasn’t getting anything from that and my bet is that neither would anyone else.

Note to self: take the risk of saying what’s true for me, irrespective of whether it’s true of others or not.

Lesson Three: My work needs to be current and real

The original idea was solid in its essence and maybe one day it’ll be right to do a post with those ideas. But I’d been driven to writing it because I believed my site should have a post or two that was about doing work you love and indeed supporting people through a process of discovery. What I ended up with, however, came from paying attention to the moment and responding to it. Seeing the creativity in a couple of synchronistic events and grabbing it.

Note to self: Doing what I should do means I lose vitality and that comes across in my work.

Lesson Four: It’s okay not to be perfect

Sitting with my original post, I allowed myself to listen to the chatter that had been going on in my head as I was writing it. There was all kind of stuff about me being a new blogger and the fact that my Thesis Theme site still needs lots of work doing to it. In the aftermath of reading Johnny’s article I was able to tell myself it was okay to be a new blogger with a site in development. That this was the essence of blogging. If stuff is too polished it doesn’t convey the sense of vitality I would wish to bring to it and indeed enjoy from it.

Note to self: work in progress is just fine.

Lesson Five: It’s okay to be stuck and not know

It was a complete first for me to Tweet that I was stuck with my blog post and to allow myself space. And it was a reinforcement – the first I’ve had whilst blogging – that magical and unexpected things can happen when I allow myself not to know.

Note to self: remember how exciting it was to let this whole process reveal itself.

Lesson Six: Experiment!

If you’d asked me last Friday morning whether I’d write a post dedicated to one of the Copyblogger guys I’d have laughed at the idea. But you know the idea came and I’ve run with it. Who knows what will happen as a result? All I know is that this is me now and this is what I’m putting out there.

Note to self: no need to say more here.

Filed Under: Reinventing work, Work and life Tagged With: , , , ,

How a staycation can enrich your life

August 21, 2009 by 2 Comments

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I hadn’t really wanted to take time off work this week and not go anywhere. But Steve needed to work, and I needed a break and, not wanting to go without him, I decided to join the ranks of those in the UK who haven’t gone away this summer.

Initially I felt resentful that I wasn’t going to be visiting my favourite Maldives Island this year. There’s nothing like lazing in the sunshine to recharge your batteries, right? But the more I thought about it, the more I started looking forward to a big chunk of unstructured time at home and what that might do for me.

As it turns out, it has given me things I really would not have anticipated.

  • No pre-holiday stress. Without the deadline of an international flight and all the panic it entails, I found that I breezed through my last few days of full-on work. On the evening of the day I finished, rather than rushing around insanely trying to pack a suitcase, I opened the patio windows into my garden, had a large glass of South African red wine, and immediately began to relax.I’ve had no jet lag. Neither have I spent the first few days of my holiday recovering from the exhaustion of the extra work that getting organised for a holiday away entails. That’s meant I’ve benefited from my holiday right from the off.
  • No wardrobe pressure. I don’t go to catwalk resorts. Nevertheless, there’s always a bit of thinking and planning to do to figure out what you’re actually going to put in your suitcase and therefore wear for the week or two you’re away. And even if all your clothes are in good nick, fit you and don’t need cleaned or replacing, there’s the holiday toiletries to consider. SPF 15 or 20?Whether this means a trip to the stores, or some online shopping, there’s always something. I’ve given myself a holiday from all of that this year.
  • No assault on my bank balance. Whether we’re talking the cost of the holiday itself, or from spending money, or incidentals like the new clothes or toiletries above, there’s a cost of going on holiday. Whilst I haven’t spent my holiday in a darkened room, incurring no costs (read on for details), I have saved myself a small fortune this summer.I have no guilt about making a hole in my savings account, or putting large charges on credit cards. That is very freeing. Especially in the current economy.
  • Enjoying what’s around me. I live in London, which is a noisy, busy city, and so easily taken for granted as such. Not only that, but I spend a lot of time working from the office in my house and the line between work and home can sometimes get blurred.  But I’ve felt at home this week. For instance, I have relished my small but beautiful courtyard garden. The sound of trickling water running over my little cobble stones has dulled the passing traffic’s noise. The wildlife that comes in and around the garden has kept me both amazed and amused. Gloriously coloured butterflies floating on the breeze, and an acrobatic squirrel jumping hoops to steal the fruit of my fig tree.Beyond home, it has been so cool to hang out in my favourite coffee shop every morning and not have to rush off to do something. I’ve spotted the regulars now. Thinking I’ve become one of them, they’re even beginning to say hello to me.But my favourite day was Tuesday when I drove down to Buckinghamshire and spent the day walking through the trees in the Chilterns.
  • Unleashing the inner girl. All work and no play, right…?  So, I decided to do some things for me this week. Treats.  I had a manicure and pedicure one day, and a professional make-up done on another. These were great fun. Chatting to the technicians about how obscenely funny the film Bruno was. Playing with the different shades and colours and experimenting a bit. I also bought a stack of magazines and got caught up on both the gossip and what the new season trends are. Still to come is a massage and maybe a haircut. But already I feel brand new!
  • Taking the pressure off social media. I’ve loved having the time to spend on Twitter, LinkedIn, and on reading other people’s blogs this week. I have connected with some great new people and learned some really useful things. Steve has looked at me a bit askance from time to time as I’ve been lying on my sofa staring at my Mac. But what I might once have thought of as “work” has felt the exact opposite. And rather than feeling tired and drained by spending time I am inspired and excited. I have lots of ideas and new thoughts to take back into my work when I start back. I have figured out some design changes I’m going to make to this blog and how I’m going to build on the business idea that’s germinating through it.

So I feel rested, energised, creatively refreshed, polished and ready for the next season of my life and work, whatever that looks like. Who would have thought I’d have got that from staying at home? And I still have over a week left!

Filed Under: Work and life Tagged With: , , , , ,

Risk-averse freelancing

August 5, 2009 by Leave a Comment

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This is the third in a series of three posts on quitting paid employment and reinventing your life and work. It’s based on my own experience of having exited a so-called top job twelve years ago, and having subsequently made a good living from doing what I love.

What could I possibly sell?

Long before I ever resigned, I started to hone in on the things I could actually package and sell to the market as services. Surprise, surprise, many of them were the things that I most enjoyed about my day job when I stripped away the politics and lousy working conditions. HR and organisational consulting, team building, group facilitation, team and individual coaching, management training courses.

In the beginning, there were a couple of things that I felt less confident about. For example, although I’d done content coaching in the context of specific projects or leadership development programmes, I’d never done bespoke coaching, contracted around the client’s unique agenda. So I decided that, in the beginning, I’d offer content coaching, whilst finding some training for myself that’d help me build my wider coaching skills.

You will find as you get into freelancing that you can build, develop and even reorient your offering. But in the beginning, especially if you’re in any way risk-averse, focus on what you know you’re good at and package it.

Who’s going to buy me?

Good question. And you can ask it from a small, childish place in yourself, or from a confident, problem-solving grown-up place. While the former will keep you locked into your risk-aversion, the latter will give you the energy to push beyond it.

Since I wanted to target business leaders who had both a need for my services, and the wherewithal to pay for them, I made two lists. One was of the business decision-makers in my network; the other was of people I knew who could influence decision-makers. There was a mix of business managers, business consultants and HR guys. I called up those I felt most close to and chatted with them before I quit my job. My reason for doing so was threefold: first to stay networked with them; second to share with them what I was planning to do; and third to get them to sound-check my ideas. I started with my closest connections because I trusted they’d be honest with me, and that they’d allow me to warm up before I put myself in front of people I knew less well. To my amazement, putting the word out that I intended to freelance began a flood of interest. This gave my embryonic entrepreneuring spirit a huge boost, and allowed me to believe that my planned escape was much less risky than perhaps I’d been imagining.

What resources do I need to get set up?

Think about this well in advance of leaving the comfort of your corporate job. I completely underestimated how dependent on my employer I’d been for things like my laptop and computing support, work venue and admin support. It meant that I was sorting out all these things for myself at the same time as taking on my first freelance projects. My difficulties in setting up customised email accounts and that sort of thing were mainly invisible to my clients. But, looking back, I could have done without feeling stressed about these more basic things whilst also learning real time how to deliver what I do in a totally different way.

So, think about where you’re going to conduct your business from. What are you going to call yourself? Are you going to have a website or a blog? Do you need to get business cards printed. Quite basic stuff, but if you’re not used to having to do these things for yourself, finding out how to takes an enormous amount of time. Time that, once you’re out, you probably want to be investing at the front end of things.

How much money will I make?

How much money do you need to make? Before you step out there on your own, you want to be very clear about your finances. I did a budget of my monthly expenses and included in it everything that I really did want to be able to afford. Rent, council tax, insurances, gas, electricity, water, food, petrol, the daily Starbucks fix – it all had to be in there. That’s was then my bottom line. The amount I absolutely had to make once I’d set aside what I needed to pay the tax man.

Then, how much do you need to be charging for your various services in order to make your top line? In considering this mix, I did a bit of competitor analysis to see what other people were asking and getting. The guys that had been at it a long time and were well regarded set the top end of the pay scale. Other newbies and people less well regarded set the bottom end. I set my fees along that range at a point that I felt both reflected my value and was reasonable as a new comer in the market who wanted to win good work. If what you’re doing is completely new to the market, what’s the nearest equivalent?

Although you can and probably will play around with this, I can’t over-emphasise the importance of setting your fees at the right level for you. Set it too high for you, and at a level you’re afraid to ask for, and you risk undermining your confidence to sell. Set it too low just to get work, any work, and you’ll soon resent what you’re doing. If you’re struggling with this, it’s a great thing to take to coaching.

How should I set myself up legally?

In the UK, you can either set yourself up as a sole trader, a limited company, or, if you’re going into business with one or more other people, a limited liability partnership. I started off as a sole trader and morphed into a limited company as I began to work with more businesses who wanted to trade only with other companies. Here’s where you need to reach out to a good accountant to advise you on what’s best. Over the last five years, I’ve used Neal Patel of BSG Valentine, who’s brilliant.

For the risk-averse, having as much certainty, and as clear a picture of how you’re going to manage the basics is really important. But, you know what guys, if you’re figuring out how to account for your business, the great news is you’ve already decided to do it. So, get the more practical things sorted well ahead of jumping off. Then you can really fly, and use your creative energies in building the freelance business you’ve been dreaming of!

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Filed Under: Reinventing work Tagged With: , , , , , , ,