These last few months haven’t been easy, but they have been inspiring for a lot of us. We spoke with a few women that took the leap to start their own business in 2020.
This year has been a wild ride, a lot of people lost their jobs due to the pandemic, some had to reinvent themselves, and a fair amount took their newly found free time to start thinking about their hopes and dreams. A few brave ones even decided it was time to take the leap and start their own business. Starting a new venture is always complicated, life-changing and challenging in many ways – financially, but also psychologically – but creating something new while the world seems to be crumbling around us, takes even more courage and perseverance. We talked to a few new entrepreneurs to understand the ups and downs of creating a new business during a global health crisis.
Being your own boss
Tori Beat, the founder of Textual Healing Creative, gave up her stable fifteen-year long career in law after a series of bad experiences at work, to become a copywriter and editor. For her, achieving wellbeing and work-life balance was the primary goal: “When I left my job as a lawyer I had to think long and hard about how to use my transferable skills for something I loved. I swore to myself that my next career move would be for the love of the job so that I could be in a good place mentally to support my family and maintain my own wellbeing. I was inspired to retrain in copywriting after talking to a fellow guest at a wedding last year. I’d always loved writing since I was small, but never thought I could make a career out of it. She seemed so enthusiastic and passionate, and I thought, ‘I want to feel like that about work’.”
I read a quote which said something along the lines of ‘your dream job is usually the thing that you most enjoyed doing as a child’. When I was little, all I wanted to do was draw pictures, make stuff and write stories. Essentially, that’s exactly what I’m doing now!
Sheridan Smith, founder of Word Circus
Finding the courage to leave what we know behind is always a tricky part of the process. At first, Tori struggled with imposter syndrome – who doesn’t? – while Sheridan Smith, founder of the creative agency Word Circus, took inspiration from other entrepreneurs to give herself a confidence boost: “What inspired me was a combination of seeing other people launch their businesses, a fiery confidence which seemed to emerge from nowhere, and almost feeling forced to. It was a real feeling of ‘now or never’.”
Take the positives from 2020
2020 has been a bad year for everyone – except Jeff Bezos and a few others who’ve made millions during the lockdown – and this idea that we are all in the same boat helped a lot of us push through the uncertainty and the hardship. Communities have come together like never before, and there is a certain level of openness in how people talk about struggles that weren’t so widespread before the pandemic. For a lot of us, being stuck at home meant regaining power over our own time, which led to questioning how we used to spend it before the pandemic.
For a lot of people, rediscovering the power of having time was the only push they needed. Nicky Khan quit her job as a commercial litigation lawyer this summer to found The London Birth School, where she teaches hypnobirthing: “I think for all the heartache and uncertainty 2020 has brought and continues to bring, it has forced many of us to evaluate our lives. For me, it’s brought a degree of simplicity and allowed me to focus on what’s really important, which for me is being around my family.”
Building a service brand – like copywriting or graphic design – is very different from starting a business that usually requires physical interaction. Still, you don’t need to quit everything at once to start your business. If anything, the limitations on travel and social life give us extra time to start building an empire while keeping a steady income, as explained by Samantha Organ. Samantha has started her pilates business in 2020 but is still keeping her job in PR: “I’m an extremely cautious person, so I am still working while I continue to build up my client base. For me, it’s about the little steps and the sense of achievement you get from each one.” Building a business is not a sprint.
There is no right or wrong time to start a business
The idea of starting a business at the right time is, sometimes, what stops potential entrepreneurs from taking the leap. There isn’t a right or wrong time in history to start a business; there is just planning, preparation and courage. Of course, it’s crucial to have a clear idea of what we want to do and how we intend to do it. And we suggest you prepare a safety net – or keep your day job for a while – which can allow you to start your business without finding yourself in a sticky financial situation.
Sabrina Panizza and Aude Lerin, founders of pl_studio, have worked in the creative industry for years with the idea of creating their own creative studio for a while. With work slowing down because of the pandemic and more time to think about the business and organise their launch, taking the leap in 2020 seemed almost obvious for them: “Setting up a company and taking the leap can be very daunting and risky, but that’s actually always the case, regardless of the pandemic”, said Panizza and Lerin, “For us, the idea was there, but we believe the pandemic has actually accelerated the process. A less hectic and stressful life and a better work-life balance allowed us to focus on what we felt passionate about. The pandemic has given us the time to rethink about our future and life goals, and we quickly realised that it was the right time to make a change.”
Starting a business is not for everyone, but if you are reading this article, it’s probably for you. A lot of incredible success stories – from Estée Lauder to Madam C.J. Walker – show us that we are usually the ones limiting our own success. And as the incredibly wise Maya Angelou once said, “nothing will work unless you do”, so go for it.
5 tips to start your business
Don’t delay your plans to set up a business due to the pandemic if you feel confident in your business concept, experience and skills. Despite recent challenges and the global financial crisis, people are still keen to experience new services, try new products and discover a world that goes beyond Coronavirus, so the needs are still very much there, just different than before.
Sabrina Panizza and Aude Lerin, co-founders of pl_studio.
Do as much market research as possible and make use of the vast array of resources available to freelancers and small businesses. Join networking groups online as you can pick up lots of tips from people’s experiences, as well as share your own knowledge in return. If there was one thing I wish I had known it would be that you don’t need to have a completely finished ‘product’ to get out there and start offering what you do. You don’t need to start from perfect.
Tori Beat, founder of Textual Healing Creative.
Before you start, make sure you have a really clear idea of what you want to do. Know it inside out. Write some ‘brand guidelines’ for your own business so that you’ll always be consistent. If you’re starting a service-based business, email relevant people to introduce yourself – it doesn’t have to be cold or dull! Create a spreadsheet with every single person you think will be interested in your services, with columns for their name, company, phone number, email and a notes section where you can write when you first emailed them and if they responded. Also, make sure you fully understand things like how to do your tax and how to write a business contract.
Sheridan Smith, founder of the creative agency Word Circus.
Do your research and know your market. If you still feel passionate about it and have a drive after this, then take the steps to get to your end goal.
Samantha Organ, founder of Samantha Pilates.
Don’t be afraid of failure. It’s so easy to let the fear of failure hold us back, but I’m getting better at having a more laid back attitude to things not working out perfectly the first time. Progress over perfection is my new mantra.
Nicky Khan, founder of The London Birth School.
