The One Where You "Get the Fear" and Achieve Your Full Potential
For many, lockdown has given us some time to stop and think about elements of our lives inclduing health, family and careers. The extra time has seen many of us discover new hobbies and new skills, as well as rediscover quality time with family whilst we take a much needed break from the rat race.
Undeniably, this period has also been a time of great stress and anxiety as many face job losses across many industries. This global crisis is not going away anytime soon, so whilst the pandemic may have thrown your life completely out of control, now is the time to take back that control and use this opportunity to reassess your career options and reinvent yourself with new career opportunities.
Today is National Freelancer’s Day and what a perfect opportunity to plant some seeds and make you realise that being a freelancer is a ‘proper job’, it is a valid career option and anyone is capable of being a freelancer!
The biggest barrier to overcome is self-belief and imposter syndrome but there is no time left to let these negative voices get in the way of your real potential. The pandemic has given us all a wake up call making many of us realise that life is too short. If you are feeling fear, then that is great as this is where you have to start in order to succeed! Fear is vital to help push you into achieving great things!
During lockdown, I decided to watch the hit comedy series 'Friends' from the very beginning and one of my favourite episodes so far is the one where Rachel quits her coffee shop job on the spot to “get the fear” and find that job that she really loves. This episode resonated with me on so many levels as I did something similar prior to becoming a freelancer a couple of years ago. During that particular summer, I was made unlawfully redundant during maternity leave, so I was forced to cut my maternity leave short and had to quickly find a new job. This new job was sold with all the bells and whistles but I realised on the first day that it this was far from the reality. I decided to stick at it for a few weeks in the hope that maybe, for once my gut instinct was wrong but as the weeks progressed, it became intolerable so without a second thought, I handed my notice in as I refused to be mis-treated by an employer again. With new found self respect, I refused to work my full notice, and so I found myself as a fully fledged freelancer on that following Monday! Eeeeek!!!
That weekend was full of celebration and relief as I felt I had finally made a decision about my life which felt right for me, and not what was expected from me. But boy did I feel “the fear”. I did not set out as a freelancer in any logical order as I had no website, no business cards, no branding and quite frankly, no idea of the specific services I was going to offer as a business. What I did have thankfully was a small client who I had been side hustling with as a social media manager with for a year or so whilst working at a company so I did have some income, just not enough to pay the bills!
The financial fear pushed me quickly into getting myself out there on the networking scene, building my own website, contacting previous contacts to seek new clients, all in no particular order as it all had to be done very quickly so I could start bringing in some money! I never had the time to consider if I had it in me to be a freelancer but hey, two years on and I have not once looked back! For sure, there has been blood, sweat and tears but the sense of achievement and level of personal development that I have gained from being a freelancer from pushing myself out of my comfort zone is second to none, compared to anything I achieved when working for an employer. I am a completely different person to the person I was two years ago, I am in full control of my life and choices, fully confident in my skills and where I feel there is a skill gap, I take the time to learn and upskill myself to ensure that my clients get the very best of me and my services. I have made myself take on all kinds of jobs, many of which have taken me out of my comfort zone, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
Stop thinking about it and go and “get the fear”. Turn it into an amazing opportunity for yourself because YOU deserve it!
But first grab a cuppa and be inspired by Rachel taking control of her life in the episode of ‘The One Where Rachel Quits’- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IwYV9xz0Bw.