Sole proprietorship — the new self determining social wave!
Defining oneself and becoming a business owner and self employed is a journey no one can prepare you for!
The questions one needs to ask. What are my key skills actually now that I can choose? What do I want to do? — Enjoy most?… Or even not want to do anymore…
The self defining moments of reflecting to make decisions and choices are momentous. Once done it’s followed by a time of self determining that boosts confidence and creates boundaries with in which the future is able to be planned and is more attainable.
I decided to upskill/retrain and that too opened doors to a broader offering to my clients!
Another defining moment was discovering as an artist and team player I most certainly was no salesman or a public speaker. These were learning curves by trial and error that found me floundering and loosing deals and learning what not to say or do! Body language and personal presentation along with well researched presentation have grown my confidence to a point where I can now speak impromptu if need be.
For some time I worked alongside a business coach and found valid changes were needed and more planning and strategy put in place would give me clear goals and achievable milestones to get there.
TIme is a most precious commodity and once spent is not relived! Time is money and diligence and time keeping are imperative.
As a creative I find my mind wanders and I am easily distracted so keeping myself accountable is a daily hourly practice to keep myself on task!
Hard work and smart work needs time for reflection and relaxation and with balance they work well together! It’s been and excersise again in finding the true desires of ones heart and hobbies as rewards for diligence at work projects.
Stimulating the mind and growing mentally comes from reading, by putting dedicated time aside daily for this I have found a wealth of knowledge and grown as a person. With the business and marketing world changing at such a rapid rate it’s imperative to be in the know. Offering timeous and relative branding and advertising to clients with knowledge to confidently present concepts is key. Clients confidence in you and your decisions is vital, this being the key defining factor that keeps them coming back for your input.
I am 17 months into the journey of self employment and the learning curve is still steep exciting, challenging for sure but a most enjoyable climb!
My business name now seems to be more apt that ever! EMPIRICAL design. “Based on observation and experience not theory and logic” I continue to grow my knowledge and add it to observation and 35 years of experience!
A creative life is so exciting!
If you enjoy my thoughts or could add to them please do! Info@empiricaldesign.co.za
