Everything Is Difficult When It Is New
Day one of being a solopreneur and I am overwhelmed
Yesterday was the last official day of my secure, full-time, public-sector job. I resigned to pursue my own projects, which I wrote about in Martha Stewart helped me quit my job.
Fed up of poor management, needing to seek permission to take time off, trading in my time, and enthusiasm for the hourly rate, had all sapped my soul. So, encouraged by Martha, I decided that at 53 years old, if I was going to ever be my own boss, then I better get a move on.
Today, Day 1 of going it alone, I am feeling overwhelmed by how hard everything is when it is new.
I have been writing on Medium for around 8 weeks now, so I am a bit more familiar with how things work here. Writing here today is a bit of a comfort blanket because everything else has been hard.
Intellectually, of course, I know this is temporary and I will learn how everything operates. I know I will make mistakes, but I will learn from them. I may just be trying too many new things all at once.
I have already learned that, although my time is now my own, I still have to work. And work a lot! I am in control of the schedule but there is a direct link between my output and the chances of my gas bill getting paid next month.
Today’s schedule has looked like this
- No alarm (hallelujah). Get up, breakfast, shower, get dressed.
- Check overnight Medium stats.
- Research websites for my blog. Decide on Squarespace.
- Sign up for Squarespace. Spend the rest of the morning working out why this box disappeared, why does that move over there, and how do I upload photos, import domain name etc, etc, etc.
- Lunch
- Complete a hand-sewn lampshade that I have been working on for the last couple of weeks. I have to restitch one of the trims three times to get it to line up correctly. Argh!
- Take photos and videos of the lampshade, to use on Etsy. They will hopefully appear soon on my Etsy shop, https://alliemacmakes.etsy.com.
- Sign up to Canva. Oh wow, here we go again! Buttons, buttons, buttons. What do they all do?
- Call with my son, a graphic designer and owner of Impart Studio. He wants to prepare the photos for Etsy. Phew!
- I’m exhausted. I need to debrief but there is no one here. Hello Medium.
The thing with all this effort though, is that I have no idea if any of it will work. This may be one of the worst things I have ever done. It may also be one of the best. That is the risk.
I am reminded of this quote.
If I stayed in my ‘regular’ job, I would not have had the space to explore all these things. To try and be who I believe I should be. I am proud of myself for going for it but, my goodness, I am exhausted.
Tomorrow, I will know a little more than I knew today and I will keep moving forward.
If you have any blogging, Squarespace, Etsy, or freelancing advice for me, I would love to hear it. I need all the help I can get!
