Every business has a story, and if you have been following along with mine this week, you’ll have seen the seeds planted throughout my childhood developed into my business, Academic Smartcuts.
But how did I take the leap from 9-to-5 employee to self-employed? The answer to that question is a bit longer than can be shared in a blog post, and it can be read over on Careershifters.
TL;DR: To borrow a line from Free Range Human guru Marianne Cantwell, weaknesses are strengths in the wrong environment. The environment I was in was a poor fit for my interests. I wanted to use my skills and experience to bring about a genuine change in the lives of those I worked with. I discovered that helping people interpret and communicate their research so it can be easily understood by others allows me to do just this.
A few lessons emerged from this:
First, a negative environment can still teach you a lot. In particular, it can help you understand what you value in a career. Knowing what you DON’T want to do is just as valuable as knowing what you DO want to focus on.
Second, you can always make a shift to something better. It takes some time, it takes some planning, but it can be done.
And finally, it’s important to stay open to possibilities and new opportunities. That Careershifters profile I linked above? It was as a result of this that I met Dan Allwood. And working with Dan has taken my business in an unexpected direction. Check out PART 5 to learn more.