JBass Learning Turns Two!
Two years ago, I left the 'safety of wage earner land and set out to turn my side hustle as a freelance learning designer and strategist into my only gig.
It was both a thrilling ('I am the mistress of my destiny) and scary (‘OMG, what have I done, this is risky, am I just having a belated mid-life crisis? LOL’) moment.
In that time, I’ve had the opportunity to work:
With, and learn from, passionate, talented, and skilled learning and development people and subject matter experts.
Across corporate and government organisations, member associations, small businesses, start-ups, and disruptors.
On a variety of projects, including writing eLearning storyboards, designing hybrid professional development programs, converting face-2-face workshops to live online learning programs, conducting learning design reviews, and developing regulatory capability development plans.
I’ve learned heaps and collaborated with some pretty cool people - it’s been a great two years.
Five things I’ve learned
Embrace impermanence.
No matter how much planning goes into moving from paid employment to self-employment, it is a leap of faith.
There is always a level of uncertainty working like this – you nurture your pipelines, focus on the theory of abundance, and keep the faith that the universe will provide.
Saying ‘no’ is good.
It's not about trying to be all things to all people; it's about being the best you can be at what you do and focusing on what is in everyone’s best interests.
What got you here won't get you there.
There’s a lot to learn. What got me here is my learning and development expertise. But running a business is a whole different skill set. It's the same as when people are promoted from a technical role to a team leader role – their technical expertise got them the promotion but will not determine their success as a team leader – team leading is a capability in its own right.
Early on I got way too excited and took on more work than I could manage well (not my most auspicious moment) and learned the very practical reality around working on and in the business. I now wear two hats:
Jane, the manager - takes in the work, assesses capacity and assigns people (that would be me:)) to do the work, + then monitors performance (makes for some interesting performance conversations with the worker, LOL).
Jane, the worker bee - does the work.
It’s a juggle.
Back yourself.
A business starts with nothing more than an idea and it’s important to believe that it’s a good idea. It’s then about testing your belief by putting the idea into action and proving its efficacy, one way or the other.
It’s not all smooth sailing. We all have that nagging voice of doubt, the one who can get real bossy at times (there’s been a few nights when my manager self has had to give my worker self a bit of a pep talk!). Mindfulness and self-care are vital - this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Build your support networks.
Running a solo business is exciting and challenging, liberating and scary, and, at times, can be a slightly lonely experience. Having good people around me has been vital in being able to make it work.
I recently had the opportunity to catch up with my business coach, Nigel Rawlins from Wisepreneurs, Shifting to self-employment for professional women 50+, to talk about my journey to becoming self-employed, now that I’m 2 years in.
Podcast link: Jane Hudson Self Employed Learning and Development Professional
‘Jane Hudson has had an interesting career, initially working as a musician in Australian Broadway productions, then transitioning to a Learning and Development specialist and now self-employed in this field. She talks about the journey, how she sees Learning and development and her thoughts on self-employment.’