The Day I Quit My Job. What They Don’t Teach You At School.

Who remembers being asked at school (at least once) what they wanted to be when they grew up? Did you actually know the answer? If you did know the answer have you ended up doing what you predicted or have you gone down another path?

When you graduated school or university was it assumed you would get a job working for someone else? Did you find people seemed predominantly concerned with how much you would earn and what your job title would be rather than what you would actually be doing or where you’d be going?

If any of these things ring true for you then we’re on the same page. When I was in the education system the one very useful piece of advice that no one gave me (apart from perhaps my parents) was that not knowing what you want to do is totally fine, in fact it’s normal. You aren’t supposed to know what you want your whole life to look like at a young age, in fact there are people in their thirties and forties still working it out. Now don’t get me wrong i’m not advocating a lack of direction or encouraging laziness or indecision, just the thought that “not knowing” is okay.

It may seem a little cheesy to say, “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” but I honestly think this saying couldn’t be more true. And yet the number of people complaining “I hate Monday’s” is astoundingly high.

Why? Because what “they” should really be saying is, do what you love and the rest will come, chase the lifestyle, chase the dream. If you “do what you can’t” one thing’s for sure, you’ll be unique. Many people are happy to settle into a routine, work their way up the job title and salary ladder and watch the pay check roll in like clockwork every month. To many, this is the dream, and there is nothing wrong with that, good for them — but it’s not for everyone.

Two years ago I set out on my own. I was working for a reputable organisation and after a few years I realised there was little room to grow and, as much as I was fond of the company, there was no chance to chase my dreams. So I became a Digital Marketing freelancer, (storyteller) — with the aim of building my client base to eventually run my own creative agency.

The day I quit my job I couldn’t help but notice the look of surprise on people’s faces when, almost uniformly, they asked me “who are you going to work for,” when I answered “myself” they simply looked at me like, “yeah right, so we’ll see you in a year when you come back looking for a job, you must be out of your mind.”

Lesson number one, never underestimate ambition; it comes in all shapes and sizes.

I’m now two years down the line with Hannah Cotterell Media and what have I learned so far?

1. You don’t have all the answers, nor should you. If you’d asked me as a kid if I would one day be running my own Digital Marketing operation I would probably have laughed.
Lesson two: you don’t always know where you’re going or how you’re going to get there, that’s okay.

2. Learning. I have learnt more in two years working for myself than I ever did working for someone else. Since going it alone I have learnt photography, drone flying, how to edit videos and operate camera equipment as well as general SEO, Google Advertising skills and website building. The list is endless. Why? Because I had the time and I was interested.
Lesson three: if it interests you, you’ll own it, especially when there’s no one else to do it for you.

3. Money. Yes it’s scary being responsible for your own paycheck and yes sorting out taxes is definitely NOT fun. Conversely the opportunity to earn more is higher and with greater reward.
Lesson four: chase what you love, do what you can’t, follow the lifestyle and the rest will come.

4. The chase. Never become complacent, always hunt new work. If you’re not a sales person then you will need to be.

5. Forget the nine to five. Work when you’re productive, when your clients need you to and when you do your best work. There is no more Monday to Friday, nine to five, you just get shit done. This outdated ideology that we all need to march in like penguins and work together at the same time is honestly baffling. Life’s not a treadmill, no one person is the same, so who’s to say we all operate efficiently at the same times of day?
Lesson six: be good at what you do, never let your clients down, always get the job done and no one will care where or when you do it!

6. Loyalty. Earn the respect of people you work with, it will result in more work and you will learn to have each others’ back.
Lesson seven: the easiest business you will ever attain is through referral.

So what do you say to the young kid who’s yet to work all this out?

Never be afraid of failure, be afraid of never having the nerve to try at all. If you fail, learn from it, reset, pick yourself up and start again. Take criticism well and learn from that too, but remembers sometimes haters will be haters, don’t let them get you down. What one person can do, so can another. Some of the best entrepreneurs in this world have failed many times over before they succeeded, the difference is they didn’t give up.

Chase The Lifestyle. Chase The Dream. The Rest Will Come.

“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by the number of times I fell down and I got back up again.”

Nelson Mandela.

Hannah Cotterell

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