Being self employed is tougher than you think!

Being self employed is tougher than you think!

Have you jumped ship from your job, thinking “life will be better if I’m self employed”, and found that it is really challenging?

You may have been ‘made redundant’ from your position, been ‘bullied’ and thought I can do this better myself as a consultant or been stuck in the education world as a teacher, feeling stifled as you can’t be creative in the classroom as all management care about is data and statistics.  You were feeling unfulfilled, becoming depressed and anxious as you just couldn’t be happy at work.  You embark on having some therapy or life coaching to help you to relax and to gain understanding about what your life purpose is, and there you have it… you are going to become a therapist, coach or consultant yourself and have a glorious and relaxing time away from the corporate/public sector world.

In reality though, being self employed is a lot tougher than you think.  When you are employed, you can stay ‘stuck’ for years.  There is no need for you to do personal development work on yourself and provided you do a good enough job at work, your pay cheque arrives each month.  When you are self employed, it is a whole different ball game.  Money doesn’t arrive on a set date, people don’t pay on time, even though they say they will and there are lots of ‘hidden’ expenses which you never realised when you were employed.  Staff costs, pensions, personal development courses, marketing budgets, networking fees, etc.  When did you last have a drink in a pub and think about how much their electricity bill is?  One pub I know well, recently had a bill for £11000 and that was just a quarterly bill.

When you are self employed, you have to start working on yourself, to train your mind to be ok about having days when no money arrives.  You also have to work on yourself to start releasing any negativity about previous employers, partners, family members, etc, as this will affect  your ability to make money in your business, as you can only manifest what you desire if you are working from a positive vibration.  It is much more of a spiritual journey and you have to learn how to create the business that you desire as well as learning your lessons as you go.

A big problem for coaches, consultants, therapists and trainers, is that they have less tangible services to offer and therefore they have to produce products and services which package up their wisdom in a whole different way. They have to break through their self worth issues and fear of success and failure to sell their own unique brand, which is why so many fail. They don’t do enough work on themselves to understand how to bring together all the elements of a successful business as well as creating a set of products and services which meets the needs of a niched audience or specific ideal client. They don’t understand terminology such as sales funnel, leads, prospects and aren’t clear about how to network properly to attract clients and referring work to others. Money mindset is key and they need to ‘cure’ maths phobias as well as having sound financial habits around managing and tracking money and financial planning.

It is so important to Unleash and Awaken the Visionary Within, and for you to learn the right skill set as well as have support to grow your business.  Some things you may wish to consider:

• Get yourself a business coach/mentor from the start to keep you accountable but also to save you money and who you can ask your ‘silly’ questions. Chose wisely though. Work with someone who clearly has been there, done it, rather than someone who is enthusiastic but has had no business before
• Invest your time in planning and working out your vision for 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and how much money needs to fund you through this time.  A business plan is a must, not a nice to have. It needs to include strategies of how you are going to get work in as well as cover financial issues too.
• Be wise and don’t throw all your money at marketing in an attempt to get money in. Again, planning is key.  You need to know yourself first and have clarity in what you desire, before you start spending money on literature, Facebook ads, advertising etc.  You might be wasting your time and money on a strategy which just won’t work.
• Be frugal with your money and don’t just spend it on the next shiny object which sounds good. Work out whether that course, programme, etc is right for you. Will it give you value for money or is it not what you need right now. Be intuitive.
• Spend time on getting your head right and work from a growth mindset.  Remember everything you create in your business comes from the thoughts you are having in your mind and how you project them out to the world.  Keep everything as positive as possible and be realistic about it taking time to build relationships and getting a flow of money coming to you on a regular basis.
• Look after yourself, if you work too hard, you will alienate those around you.  You need to have a work/life balance.

If you are struggling since coming into business and you need some extra help, then book in for a complimentary discovery session.  Awakening the Visionary Within Group Coaching starts on 3rd October 2017 and is designed to help businesses to step up and shine. It is run over a 8 month period and includes support, training, mentoring, coaching and accountability as well as a 3 hour one to one session with Liz Almond and an analysis of your spiritual path to spot for self sabotaging issues.  It is suitable for both new and existing businesses.  It is especially good for those who are new or ‘rebranding’ or ‘transitioning’ due to personal issues e.g. partnership split, relationship issues, new challenge needed, etc. For more information go to http://insightfulminds.co.uk/group-coaching-programme/