This week’s Career Change Story is my own. I started my career working in technology. I set up my own business in 2012 – a business which has evolved over time, and now I am in the delightful position of absolutely loving what I do and the life that I lead.
This is a post in a series designed to inspire mums thinking about a career change. To find all the stories use Career Change Story in the Categories drop-down.
If you have a career change story to share, click here to contact me. I am always delighted to receive guest posts on this subject.
My story
Today I am a successful entrepreneur: coach, author and speaker. I had always known that one day I would be ‘in charge’. In charge of what, I wasn’t sure but I knew I was destined for leadership.
I didn’t go to university even though I was academically bright. When I was at 6th Form College, I had no clear plans; I was a messed up teenager, reeling from family tragedy and the breakup of my parents’ marriage. I wasn’t brave enough to ask about university and how to apply. Nobody asked me, nobody encouraged me. It didn’t happen. I enrolled on a two year secretarial course with languages. I was THE worst secretary ever. Taking instructions from somebody else when I thought I knew better … let’s just say I didn’t last very long.
Publishing the old-fashioned way
My first job was for a publisher, Thames & Hudson, as a bilingual secretary. I remember the telex machine – bashing away at this heavy keyboard. My typing was very accurate so I typed ‘live’ which was against the rules. I thought the rules were stupid. When you were an accurate typist, it was quicker to type ‘live’.
Next I joined a not-for-profit organisation, The Sulphur Institute, working for the European Vice-President who was French. I travelled frequently in Europe, attending research sites, conferences, making full use of my French, German, Spanish and smattering of Italian. I handled the Agriculture desk dealing with scientists studying the effects of sulphur in fertiliser. That might sound dull, however I loved that I had a whole library to manage. I organised international conferences, I translated scientific papers and prepared all the slides for the Vice-President’s frequent presentations. In those days, preparing slides meant creating the artwork on paper using Letraset, taking photographs and having them developed as slides – remember those 35mm slides? That you slotted into a slide projector? We didn’t have computers – we thought we were high-tech when we bought daisy wheel typewriters for the office.
My introduction to technology
The Sulphur Institute was a tiny organisation – just three of us in London. So no career prospects. My next job was at Arthur Andersen – I landed on my feet here. They were looking for somebody intelligent with languages to join their IT Help Desk … I had no technology experience, other than my Dad worked for IBM. However this is where I learned so much about technology. I was there for the introduction of the first PC network (I remember File Manager 1.0). I supported and trained Wang VS administrators all over Europe. Technology was moving so fast in the late 80s/early 90s. I had the gift of being able to talk ‘techy’ with the developers and real geeks, and talk straightforward plain English to our users. When I left, I was the Tax & Legal Technology Manager.
I moved on after 10 years and started working for a US law firm, McDermott Will & Emery. Another fabulous role and again I was promoted rapidly. While I was on maternity leave, I was promoted to a newly created role Global Head of IT Customer Services. This was a very senior role based in Chicago … while I was based in London although I did say to my CIO that I was willing to relocate. It was a long commute but I’ve loved Chicago ever since.
Then the global recession hit – so many law firms made large scale redundancies, including mine. I lost my job in 2009.
Moving to the dark side
Although I dabbled in setting up my own business after redundancy, I didn’t. I’m not sure why – fear, I guess. I felt great pressure to get back into paid work – my husband was a stay-at-home Dad. We’d made that decision a few years earlier because I earned so much more than he did. I spent all my time job-hunting and didn’t really know how to go about setting up my own business. I kept in touch with a US supplier – I’d got on really well with the President; he planned to open an office in London at some point in the future. His plans came to fruition and I was still on the job market. A fantastic opportunity to set up a business from scratch in the UK with full backing and support from the home office in Atlanta, Georgia. I call this moving to the dark side because the supplier was an outsourcing company.
After three years, the inflexibility of the role was just too incompatible with the type of mother I wanted to be. I was conscious that my eldest daughter would be starting secondary school and might need me more. I wanted to be there to support her with homework. I wanted to be able to go to the Christmas carol concert without booking weeks in advance. I wanted to go to sports day without having to arrange cover from Atlanta.
Setting up my own business
I worked with a coach because I knew there was something missing in my life. I knew I wanted something else but I wasn’t sure what. I decided to set up my own business. There was no masterplan. I decided to offer the services where I knew I could provide excellence, and see what happened. At first I was a performance consultant, specialising in Service Delivery in law firms. I had managed and run every type of service desk imaginable – in-house, decentralised, centralised, outsourced … it was easy to step into this specialisation. However I wasn’t in love with my business; I enjoyed the work but it wasn’t exciting. I shared previously how I transformed my business in 4 months into a life I now love.
Now I work to my true purpose – helping women feel powerful and make life-changing decisions with confidence and with ease. Find out more about the work I do here.
My tips for women thinking about setting up your own business:
- It’s ok to let it evolve, to not know where you will be exactly in three years.
- Just get started – don’t procrastinate, don’t get stuck by inertia like I did in 2009.
- Do something you love – identify your effortless effort – the times when you are in flow.
I hope you have enjoyed this career change story. Don’t miss the next one, click here to subscribe and be informed of future posts.
If you have a career change story to share, click here to contact me. I am always delighted to receive guest posts on this subject.
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