I retired and started my own business

 

I’ve been agonising about content for a regular blog and have finally decided to blog the truth – not really revelationary, but interesting all the same.

Not the truth of secrets best kept in their cupboard, but the truth of how I am managing as a sole trader, newish business owner and someone who has reached retirement age but who also still very much wants to reach her full potential.

Like many people I have dreamt of being my own boss. Having experienced both good, bad and indifferent management styles, I always thought I would be the best boss in the world – the jury’s still out on that one, as I have been my only employee until recently, and I work myself very hard and don’t reward enough, but that’s another story.

By the time I left my last job as an employee nearly nine years ago my confidence in my ability to carry over my skills to another environment wasn’t very high. I had been working as a full-time journalist in a rural newspaper and didn’t have the capacity to start my own paper. The paper’s paid journalists did a good job of handling local news and there weren’t many opportunities for freelancing.

I had a lucky break when I was offered some media work in local government as a contractor, first taking on the development of their Facebook page and interspersed with some media releases. I was offered a place in the Federal Government’s New Enterprise Incentive Scheme and completed a Certificate III in Microbusiness Operations, which essentially left me with a business plan, followed by regular mentorship support.  Work came in from private businesses needing media assistance or website and brochure content and then more opportunities to work with local government arrived.

At the same time as being on NEIS I found free information sessions on aspects surrounding the digital economy delivered by great facilitators at the Polaris Centre at Mawson Lakes in South Australia – an initiative of the Salisbury Council and funded by the Federal Government. My attendance put me on a list which gained me an invitation to sign up for an eight month Coaching for Success Small Business program – the best thing I have done so far in my business journey.

The monthly group meetings and the monthly one-on-one mentorship proved invaluable.

Over the years other opportunities have come along – leadership training through the National Rural Women’s Coalition, more leadership with the local Regional Development Board’s Emerging Leaders Program and the amazing experience of Venturedorm – an entrepreneurial accelerator program through the Flinders University New Venture Institute which has come with ongoing learning opportunities and mentorship.

During my time running my own business there has been a strong learning curve, particularly in the areas of technology. I’ve always been an early adopter, even though I have trouble using the TV remote! My office started off in my lounge room then graduated to a spare room, then a slightly larger room, and now the two rooms I had called my office have been opened up to provide me with a larger space and room for a staff ‘hot’ desk. It’s lucky my tolerant husband is such a handy man!

2020 was the first year I really put an effort into advertising my services, having relied on word of mouth and lucky opportunities for my client base. But, here I am in my ‘retirement’ years keen to expand and provide opportunities to another woman in my community to pick up some casual work with me, with a view to more and more hours.

Where I once had a business plan which focussed heavily on proof reading, editing, media releases and content writing, I now provide social media management and training, run a series of workshops, provide business mentoring for startups and a wide range of interesting ‘jobs’ which come across my desk, including constructing small uncomplicated affordable websites.

Working from home has its own pleasure and pain points and I’ll address those in my next blog – but it also provides me with the flexibility to take a break when I want it, play with the dog, put on a load of laundry or start dinner.

Get in touch if you have a small business, are thinking about running your own business, are an ‘older’ entrepreneur looking for somesupport or are keen to ramp up your social media.