Today I wanted to talk a little bit about making dreams happen. Your dreams and my dreams. Because I've discovered a little thing that I've been doing recently and I wanted to share it with you.
By the way, it's nothing new!
So I'm getting really focused on what I want. In the beginning of running my business I didn't really know what I was doing. It was all really overwhelming and I was just happy if any money turned up in my bank account each month. I hustled hard, met so many people and put myself out there, and the work did come.
I got big contracts with the City Council, The National Trust and a fabulous charity in Camden. There just wasn't enough of it. And it was a little bit all over the place. In my first year I earned £9,000. £9,000! That is not a lot of money. At all.
I was earning 3 times that much in the management job I had left to follow this path and because I didn't have any goals and because I wasn't really keeping track on the figures it was a big shock when I did my first tax return.
What was really frustrating was that I knew I was good at my job. I knew that. I got fab reviews and most of my clients came from word of mouth.
I was earning 3 times that much in the management job I had left to follow this path and because I didn't have any goals and because I wasn't really keeping track on the figures it was a big shock when I did my first tax return.
Luckily I had tax credits to help me out, so Robin and I didn't starve (if you didn't know I'm also a single mummy).
Over the next 3 years things did get a little better. My wage rose steadily. But I still didn't really have a plan. When people asked me if I had a business plan, I used to scoff; who needs a business plan, things change so quickly in life, how could I predict the future?
I had no idea that I could predict my future.
Now I've read The Secret and listened to things about law of attraction and the such like, but I read The Secret while having chemotherapy and it kind of messed with my head a little bit. I didn't ask for this, I shouted back at the book.
Maybe I did? Or maybe I needed the experience, because so many good things came out of me having cancer I would never not have had it now.
Anyway. So, in the past I have generally got what I asked for. When I left Uni I wanted a job in a magazine. I got it. Then I wanted to be a writer, for a charity. Pretty specific. I got that too. Then I wanted to be a mummy. I got that.
And when all the cancer and what not had been done with I wanted a job running events with older people. Also pretty specific. And guess what I got that to, and not just got it but had an amazing experience starting up a whole new social enterprise with a business partner and funding from the city council! Then I wanted to work for myself and I got it. But I had no idea what to do with it.
And this is where I stalled and so I carried on plugging away, winning some big contracts, getting fabulous reviews and getting paid an amazing day rate - but somehow still not quite getting it right. All hustle, tired and worn out, for little return.
So last year I started little experiments. Writing things down in a book and wishing for them really hard, and clearing the decks and moving in the direction of the goal I wanted.
I really wanted a diamond ring and made that my intention and the next time I saw my nanny, out of the blue she took her diamond ring off her finger and gave it to me. 'I'd rather see you enjoy it now, rather than when I'm dead'. Made me cry.
Then I decided that my partner and I should live together after 6 years. Something we always agreed we wouldn't do. 2 months later he'd moved in.
Wow, it was working!
Then I got a business coach - a really expensive business coach - a coach from America who charges around £750 for 2 hours. Well, all or nothing, I thought.
And I started getting clear in my intentions for my business.
I wanted to lecture at university. I have recently lectured at Loughborough University, The Hive at Nottingham Trent and am lecturing on the MSc Marketing course at Nottingham Trent. And I'm good at it too.
Then my longest standing client, that has been with me since the dawn of time decided it was time for them to employ someone full time in Camden. They've seen the amazing results working with me and after 3 1/2 years are willing and excited about investing in a full-time person to run their digital marketing in house.
And instead of being scared of the hole in my finances I knew that something would come along. And so I wished for a client, a fabulous client that I could really get stuck in with a make a difference who would employ me for 2 days a week. And guess what last week out of the blue I got an email from a company I'd never heard of asking if I'd like to meet them to discuss me working for them 2 days a week on their whole digital campaign. We met yesterday and we're going to work together. And they're a fabulous company who does good and work in an exciting innovative field.
This means I can now concentrate on my next big want (but it's ticking away, so I'll keep it a secret for now!).
Really the point of the post is that if you want to get serious about your business, if you want to make good money, to stop the hustle and make things easy; you need to know where you're going and you need to invest in yourself.
Paying for a coach was a big deal for me. But it was also a game changer. Sometimes we need help to get where we are going. And we need to put out intentions so we can get there.
And the best thing. I earned in the first 2 months this year almost as much as I earned in the first whole year of working. I even surprised myself. But I have a strangle like hold on my finances, so I knew it was coming!
If you want your business to deliver, you need to get serious about it. And create goals and make your wish list and know clearly who much you want to earn and move towards it and trust that the universe will deliver.
It's working for me.
If you want me to help you make your business dreams happen, come and work with me!
