Turning a one-man band into an orchestra (or at least a quartet)

Lessons from 18 months of entrepreneurship and plans for the next 18.

So yeah.

18 months ago I was made redundant from my rather cushy Digital Marketing agency job.

I had graduated University in 2012.

This was my third job since then. Three jobs in four years.

My first job out of uni I was sort of fired/made redundant too.

My second was just a 12 month contract.

And then this.

I’d had enough.


It’s basically impossible to navigate the internet without stumbling across some dude who’s quit their job, gone out on their own, has advice for you, and thinks it’s great/okay/bad/delete as applicable.

I’m not that dude.

Yes I went out on my own, but this wasn’t some brave, calculated risk — where I spent months saving up and then going for it, leaving my 9–5 in blaze of glory and high-fives.

It was in many ways a necessary move. The only move.

I was genuinely so unhappy with the world of work, and the idea of starting the whole shebang again in a new role, that this really seemed like the only option.

So hopefully there are some pearls of wisdom in here for you, but bear this context in mind — I did this because I had to, I did this because it was the best option for me.

I’m not telling you to quit your job and do what I’ve done. I’m also not telling you not to.

Either way, I thought I’d note down some of the things I’ve learnt about this process, and what I plan to do going forward, and if any of these points helps you, then great.


So yeah.

I was made redundant at the end of 2015.

The idea of going out again, back into the shark-infested waters of the interviewing process, filled me with a strange sort of existential dread.

I began to question my life, my choices, my career.

Then I realised that solution was quite simple.

Let’s fuck all this job stuff off and just do it myself instead.

With that, Beanbag Digital was born.

Actually, that’s not quite true.

Though I’d made the decision to jump into the world of starting my own marketing agency/consultancy, I didn’t have a name.

That came thanks to my S/O who was inspired by … yep you guessed it, the beanbag in our flat.

I loved the name, and it’s stuck to this day.


So since those early days, Beanbag Digital has evolved into a viable business.

At this point, I should make clear, it’s just me — most of the time.

I outsource some stuff, and work with other agencies, but by and large it’s me.

I don’t employ anyone. Yet.

But I have a business.

And that is lesson number one:

Getting a business up and running is actually easy.

No seriously, it is.

Anyone that says to you otherwise, either has an overcomplicated business plan or no network.

What is it you do right now? Could you do that, but instead of being employed by someone, you do it yourself?

Can you find one, two, three clients?

Boom. You’ve got yourself a business.

It really is easy. If your career isn’t translatable to a freelance gig, then what about your hobbies? Do you write? Can you code? Can you fix cars?

Boom. Business. Easy.

What isn’t easy, is scaling.

Scaling a business is really. goddamn. hard.

In 18 months, Beanbag Digital has doubled in revenue.

But that’s doubled from not enough to just about enough, but still not much.

Now, I fully intend for revenue to double again over the next 18 months, but I’m going to have to work harder.

You see, I’m in a bit of rut.

Not in a bad way.

In the sense that I’m now just about comfortable with what I earn, and my work/life balance is pretty on point.

And so I’m not really striving to take that next step in the business. The next step being finding a big enough client that I have to employ someone else.

But I’m beginning to realise that it’s my partner who’s taking the brunt of this inaction.

She’s been a superstar throughout this whole phase, and though I know she’s happy with what I’m adding to our combined pot, I personally want to do more.

So that’s the next step: get in more, and bigger clients, so I can start making a few more quid.


Thanks to the work I do, I also have time to focus on other projects.

So as well as Beanbag Digital, I’ve got my own online t-shirt business —

t-shirtsaredead.com

I also write — here and elsewhere.

I’m making a film, too.

These are all things that I’ve started, or progressed, since branching out on my own.

And this is something that I didn’t realise I was missing so badly by working my 9–5.

Since I’ve had to literally rely on my own creativity to make a living, I’ve been rewarded with more it.

That’s lesson number two:

Creativity begets creativity

I am bubbling with creative ideas right now, and that’s a fantastic feeling for someone who before, was just stuck in a permanent state of writer’s block.

I’ve been thinking about this creativity recently, and what I need to do over the next few months is start to hone it, chisel away at where my time is spent.

Look at that list above — t-shirt business, writing (online, novella, other bits), film.

The only thing I’ve ‘finished’ from that list is the t-shirt business. It’s up and running, I don’t need to do much to keep it ticking over.

Great.

But the other, more creative pursuits, are in a perpetual state of ‘in progress’.

It’s difficult, because I give myself excuses. We all do.

But the reality is, if I want to engage in such a breadth of creative endeavours, I need to get better at finishing them. Either that, or I have to focus on one thing at a time.

I’ve never been good at that. I get bored quickly. But maybe I should try to improve here.

It’s clear to me that there’s room for this creativity alongside the main business. But in order to ‘fund’ this creativity in the long-term, the business needs to be doing better.

So there’s a clear step — let’s get Beanbag Digital up to the level whereby other people are doing the majority of the work for me, so I can focus on everything else. Sick. Plan. Sorted.


My natural state of being is a precarious balancing act of cockiness and deep anxiety.

I think I’m both the best and worst person in the world.

The truth is somewhere in the middle, of course. Hopefully closer to the former than the latter.

Anyway, us millennials (sorry, won’t use it again) have been conditioned by an uncaring society, a biased media and deluded, gilded elders into thinking we’re not worthy.

We are.

And what I’ve discovered over the last year and a half, is that it’s time we started acting like it.

I don’t mean entitled, I don’t mean living up to the narcissistic media portrayal.

I mean completely and utterly accepting ourselves for who we our and recognising that once we’ve done this, we can start making the changes we want.

First accept you’re good enough, then make it better.

Easy to say I know. And I still have crippling self-doubt on all the days that end in a Y.

But it’s about not letting that voice in your head become the voice of your parents, or the media, or whoever.

So that’s the final thing I’ve learnt:

I’m valid. I’m good enough.

Now in terms of business, what does this mean?

It means that I shouldn’t be shy about promoting myself. I shouldn’t be shy about putting my voice out there.

Of course, this comes with the caveat that I need to be aware of others’ opinions, and treat them in the same esteem.

But it’s okay to get up in the morning and shout “I’m here!”

So for the next 18 months, I plan on being more proactive with how I put myself out there.

I’m going to talk to more people, I’m going to post more shit on the internet (good shit hopefully) and I’m just going to crack on with making my dent in the sand.

I’m not going to be afraid of pulling people in to my projects, and taking those big steps to get to the ‘next’.


So yeah there we go, a few lessons, a few plans and a few GIFs.

Being my own boss is a fantastic, enriching experience - it really is. Here’s to the next 18 months of entrepreneurship.


Jackson Rawlings is the founder of Beanbag Digital, a content marketing and web agency in Brighton, UK. He’s also the owner, designer and creator of t-shirtsaredead.com, and a Politics and tech writer here andd elsewhere on the web. When he’s not doing that stuff, he’s thinking about fantasy football.

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Jackson Rawlings🇪🇺🇬🇧✊

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Writing words about politics, mostly, and hoping they appear in the right order.

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