Every Day Is a Weekend for You: Month 1 of Solopreneurship Updates

I think I have heard, “every day is a weekend for you,” uttered to me at least 15 times in the last month. Mostly by family members, and mostly said passively-aggressively. But one thing that I am constantly reminded of one month post-Corporate America, is that every day is NOT a weekend, it’s a WORKDAY. My learnings over the past month have been vast, exciting, and frustrating. But more than anything, it’s been freeing! So, for those of you wondering what it’s really like either jumping out into the ether or following your dream job, I’m excited (and a bit nervous) to share my adventures with you.

Overall Lessons:

• I am so beyond thrilled that I left my “real job” (finally) – I have not had a moment of regret, wistfulness, or yearning. YAY!
• Setting clear boundaries is very important – with my schedule, where I do my work, and the freebies I’ve been duped into by family and friends.
• Having my time back has literally, changed my mindset. I can breathe.

Stumbles Along the Way:

• My lack of patience… I am constantly thinking “this should be done” or “I should have X number of clients/subscribers/likes, etc.” by now.” My patience has helped me as well, but I don’t think my patience realizes that I’m trying to build a business here. From scratch. So, I’m slightly disappointed with the “numbers” listed above, but am also so grateful for what I do have and what I’ve achieved.
• Community: Having been a member of the Human Resources community for so long prior to this venture, I never considered what being a part of the Loosen Your White Collar community could mean/be viewed as from outsiders. I had a close family member tell me that he wasn’t able to “like” my page, comment, or interact online because his work sphere is so small, that it would reflect poorly on his own career. I had never even thought about this in the scope of building this site. So, I had to scramble a bit to figure out what type of community interaction and presence would be appropriate. I’m still tweaking this, so please send me your suggestions!
• Not 100% monetarily sustainable… yet. I had some savings saved up to give myself some time to build my client base, reach, and products. I am not yet living 100% on my earnings, which isn’t quite a stumble, but I wanted to be fully transparent about this for all of you. My savings is still filling out some of my bills, but the dent was not nearly as much as it could have been!
• Reaching out is still a struggle. Put me in a room to network and schmooze the corporate world, and game on. But I’m still struggling a bit with having the courage to reach out to the blogosphere. I am excited to work through this during month two and finally move past this.

Big Wins:

• I have clients! Yep, people are paying me to do my dream job in several of my different services – resume rebuilds, coaching, and consulting. I’m making money, which is definitely on the right track!
• My whole outlook on writing as increased, ten-fold. I am writing more, I’m excited to write, I don’t feel blocked or pressured, and I’m enjoying it. Yippee! And I’ve had TWO guest posts on major blogs (monster.com’s BeKnown blog and Brazen Careerist).
• I am getting into a grove. I’m getting my schedule hammered out, I’m meeting new people, I’ve spent more time with my friends, and I feel like I’m finally DOING IT.

Some Stats:

In honor of full transparency, I thought I’d share some stats with you – the good, the bad, and the not quite where I want them to be stats.
Month 1: May 1 – May 29, 2012

• Facebook Page Likes: 43% Increase
• Twitter Followers: 16% Increase
• RSS Subscribers: 33% Increase
• Newsletter Subscribers: 43% Increase
• Business vs. Savings Income Ratio: 19% Income / 81% Savings