Mid-Career Crisis? The Key Reality Check Before Going Self-Employed
- Brainz Magazine
- May 28, 2024
- 5 min read
Written by Niki Kerr, Business Coach
Niki Kerr, an award-winning business coach and one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices, is a leading expert in fostering rapid personal and professional development for consultants, business leaders, and transitioning solopreneurs. As the founder of Great Futures Global, she helps professionals not only scale their business but also unlock their full potential through transformative growth.
Whether you fancy yourself a freelancer, small business owner or a solopreneur, stepping away from the monthly pay cheque to go ‘Solo’ is a big decision.
As Tony Robbins would say ‘In your moments of decision your destiny is shaped.’
And as someone who has been self-employed for most of my career years (not all by choice!) I’ll be honest, it’s exciting but it’s not easy!
That being said, would I ever go back to being employed?
No, a big resounding No! In fact, while most employed people think the worst thing that can happen is that they lose their job, most self-employed people think the worst thing that can happen is that they have to get a job!
What I have learned over the years though (as much through failure as through determination) is that although it may seem easier to make decisions independently, if your intention is to make this your sole source of income, your sales and marketing strategy is still the Boss. But more about that later…
The importance of knowing your why
When looking at the positives the most popular reason for going Solo is having the opportunity to do something you’re passionate about. You may even be thinking, ‘If not now when?’ with the perceived freedom to be master of your own time. And I don’t know about you but for me, even the thought of breathing in the fresh air of freedom is massively liberating.
So, to check the reality of this in terms of the work you’re thinking of doing, let’s start with the end in mind – What do you want ‘going Solo’ to help you achieve? This is your why, and I would suggest the first ‘why’ you come up with will be quite superficial, so keep asking; Why is this important? and go five levels deep to really understand your core values.
An example here could be
I want to be free to make my own decisions,
I want to make my own decisions because I can have more freedom,
I want more freedom because I want more time with the family,
I want more time with the family because they are important to me,
My family is important to me because…
I have purposely exemplified this ‘Why’ because overcoming the inevitable hurdles and challenges you will face will be much easier if the strategy you build to meet the vision for the business honors your why.
Clarifying the business vision
If you are still in the contemplation phase of going alone, consider the following:
What purchasable skills do you have that solve a problem or meet a desire?
Have you noticed a ‘hole’ in the market?
The more passionate and clear you are about the following the more likely you are to find your preferred customers and enjoy a successful business:
What will you do?
How will you do it?
Who exactly will you serve?
Where do they hang out?
For many years in my own arrogance, I ignored the advice to choose a niche, rationalizing this by considering my skills as transferable, able to serve multiple needs, and of course they do. However, when it comes to marketing if you try to speak to everyone, you speak to no one!
I mentioned earlier how your sales and marketing strategy will be the real Boss of the business. If you have never had to precure your own clients or customers, this is something you will need to master asap!
And there is a plethora of information and Guru’s around telling you how to do this, ultimately you will either spend time or money getting to where you need to be.
Fail to plan, plan to fail
In all transparency, in the beginning, I was the type of person who didn’t really go in for planning, I was winging it, paying out a little here and there for the cheapest online advice or generic books. Discovered an underworld of people who had business breakfast meetings, drank lots of coffee and I made some good friends but didn’t procure many clients.
You see, in my naivety not only had I failed to really nail my perfect customer avatar, but my tax return told me quite clearly that whoever they were they were not spending time at my local network events.
Eventually I got seriously committed to succeeding and invested tens of thousands on business coaches and courses arming myself with the knowledge I needed to feather my business wings.
And it’s hard to know where to invest, so my advice is, have an honest conversation with a trusted friend or even yourself. Identify; what do you already know that you don’t know about running a business? If you’ve studied leadership and management, you are likely to have done a SWOT and even some competitor analysis before. Having the vision or a dream is a fantastic place to start, now it’s time to find out what your strengths and weaknesses are in relation to what you want to achieve and decide how best to fill the gaps.
Deciding to succeed
Most people can relate to the importance of the tangibles when starting a business but give little if any thought to the importance of mindset.
Business does not take place in isolation; you can do a lot to influence the direction of your business outcomes but there will be plenty of times when it feels like someone is throwing logs in your path. When this happens my personal coaching mantra is ‘There is always a way’ and it’s also worth remembering Stephen Covey’s quote: ‘If you decide you can, you will’.
In her book Do It or Ditch It: Bev James, CEO of The Coaching Academy and Millionaires’ Mentor gives much advice to budding entrepreneurs including the points when you have to use strong decision-making strategies such as ‘Doing what-ever it takes’, no matter what!
Being in business as a solopreneur means leading on your own, and being responsible for everything can be exhausting. You may even find that your nearest and dearest try to persuade you to go get a ‘proper job’. You see an employed person thinks differently to a self-employed person and I’ve purposely outlined many of the difficulties that go along with transitioning into a Solopreneur career.
On the flip side, if you decide to succeed and ‘do whatever it takes’, the sense of personal satisfaction when you succeed is immense, and with the right mindset, strategy and support there really is no limit to the level of income you can earn.
If you’re still excited to dump the everyday, ready to kick start your new life and would like to learn more about the supportive services I offer my own clients feel free to contact me for a next steps discovery call.
Read more from Niki Kerr
Niki Kerr, Business Coach
Niki's personal mantra, "There is always a way," is a reflection of her life experiences and determination. Having faced the loss of a parent at an early age, she developed a resilience and a drive to become more than what was expected of her. This mantra has guided her through her career and continues to inspire her clients to overcome their own challenges and achieve greatness.
