Last week I wrote about changing direction and what led me to drastically change my career trajectory.
This blog post led to some interesting and open dialogues with a whole range of business leaders that it was a privilege to speak to. In many cases people are ready to be brave, face the crossroads and choose a different direction. The main worry was around the challenges they would face and how they would cope with these.
This led me to take some time to reflect on the challenges that I have faced, and the tools I have put in place to overcome them.
I always knew I wanted to work for myself and not have people telling me what to do. Although I hadn’t realised just how much I needed people around me to keep me motivated, keep me level, keep me going in the right direction rather than chasing after every exciting opportunity or person that I met.
My weekly interaction with different suppliers and advisors are highly motivational and critical, plus it gives my family some time off from hearing about my latest client meeting!
So make sure you tap into the “non-corporate eco-system” that is on your doorstep, the thousands of people like you who have made that brave move, I was blown away by all of the people who offered support, in my corporate world I was too focused internally (and perhaps too arrogant) to pursue these mutually beneficial relationships.
I also quickly realised how “spoiled” I’d been in my previous role as a senior leader. Now it was all down to me. There was no IT department to help when my laptop crashed, no customer success team to support the valuable clients that I’d just landed, no-one in accounts to follow up with invoices or chase for payment. I was doing the lot. Everything from marketing, selling, fulfilment, delivery, follow-up…
I am visibly less stressed, I am in control. Don’t get me wrong, the stress is there, but it’s a different type of stress. I own it. I’m continuously thinking about finding clients or keeping clients happy, an endless cycle when you start a business.
When you have a tough day or a big setback or are plagued by doubts about whether you’ve done the right thing (and this still happens regularly), you learn to be amazingly resilient, learn that these obstacles are deterring 90% of your competition, so keep pushing ahead.
Ultimately, my change in direction has resulted in the positives massively outweighing the challenges. Aside from the obvious control of my own destiny and the reward of growing something from nothing, the satisfaction of realising and starting to achieve my personal purpose in life is incredible. I’m turning a dream into reality.
Nowadays, I’m lucky enough to be able to pick and choose the leaders who I work with, in other words people who genuinely want to learn, all from different backgrounds, who in turn can inspire me and teach me something.
Of course, I practice what I preach…focusing on Results, showing Empathy and being Authentic in my everyday interactions and always trying to Learn something. The key elements of REAL. leadership!
The quote I’ve pinned to my monitor “Don’t make a sale, make a friend first. The selling will take care of itself” by Whitney Vosburgh. In other words, don’t pass up on a conversation because you can’t see how it will make you money, some of my best clients and advisors have come from conversations about other things…
Are you at that crossroads? Have you faced challenges that you didn’t know you would need to overcome? Or perhaps you made the career change years ago, either way I’d love to hear your story.
#newopportunities #leadership #business #newjobs #changeofdirection
Previously published on LinkedIn
Last week I wrote about changing direction and what led me to drastically change my career just over 9 months ago.
This blog post led to some interesting and open dialogues with a whole range of business leaders that it was a privilege to speak to. In many cases people are ready to be brave, face the crossroads and choose a different direction. The main worry was around the challenges they would face and how they would cope with these.
This led me to take some time to reflect on the challenges that I have faced, and the tools I have put in place to overcome them.
I always knew I wanted to work for myself and not have people telling me what to do. Although I hadn’t realised just how much I needed people around me to keep me motivated, keep me level, keep me going in the right direction rather than chasing after every exciting opportunity or person that I met.
My weekly interaction with different suppliers and advisors are highly motivational and critical, plus it gives my family some time off from hearing about my latest client meeting!
So make sure you tap into the “non-corporate eco-system” that is on your doorstep, the thousands of people like you who have made that brave move, I was blown away by all of the people who offered support, in my corporate world I was too focused internally (and perhaps too arrogant) to pursue these mutually beneficial relationships.
I also quickly realised how “spoiled” I’d been in my previous role as a senior leader. Now it was all down to me. There was no IT department to help when my laptop crashed, no customer success team to support the valuable clients that I’d just landed, no-one in accounts to follow up with invoices or chase for payment. I was doing the lot. Everything from marketing, selling, fulfilment, delivery, follow-up…
I am visibly less stressed, I am in control. Don’t get me wrong, the stress is there, but it’s a different type of stress. I own it. I’m continuously thinking about finding clients or keeping clients happy, an endless cycle when you start a business.
When you have a tough day or a big setback or are plagued by doubts about whether you’ve done the right thing (and this still happens regularly), you learn to be amazingly resilient, learn that these obstacles are deterring 90% of your competition, so keep pushing ahead.
Ultimately, my change in direction has resulted in the positives massively outweighing the challenges. Aside from the obvious control of my own destiny and the reward of growing something from nothing, the satisfaction of realising and starting to achieve my personal purpose in life is incredible. I’m turning a dream into reality.
Nowadays, I’m lucky enough to be able to pick and choose the leaders who I work with, in other words people who genuinely want to learn, all from different backgrounds, who in turn can inspire me and teach me something.
Of course, I practice what I preach…focusing on Results, showing Empathy and being Authentic in my everyday interactions and always trying to Learn something. The key elements of REAL. leadership!
The quote I’ve pinned to my monitor “Don’t make a sale, make a friend first. The selling will take care of itself” by Whitney Vosburgh. In other words, don’t pass up on a conversation because you can’t see how it will make you money, some of my best clients and advisors have come from conversations about other things…
Are you at that crossroads? Have you faced challenges that you didn’t know you would need to overcome? Or perhaps you made the career change years ago, either way I’d love to hear your story.
#newopportunities #leadership #business #newjobs #changeofdirection
