At the beginning of 2026, I celebrated my 5th business birthday. I’m a bit of an accidental business owner, so it’s definitely a pinch-me moment. I never dreamt of running my own business. But 5 years in, I’m still here, and can honestly say, it’s the best job I’ve ever had.
It’s not all been sunshine and roses of course. There have been many ups and downs, and plenty of lessons learnt.
I’m going to share 5 of those lessons with you.
Let’s dive in shall we?
Lesson 1: Community
When I left my previous career behind, I was leaving a large supportive network of people. A network I had been building for over 15 years. I was starting a brand new career, from scratch. How was I ever going to find a new network?
I needn’t have worried, because eventually, I found my tribe. It was actually a client and friend of mine, who I had worked with in my previous career, who introduced me to the Being Freelance community. It was a bit of a worlds colliding moment.
I’ve written a lot about how community has helped me since becoming a freelancer. I highly recommend you go back and give some of these posts a read. If you’re new to working for yourself, finding a community that’s:
- there for you when you have a burning business question
- happy to celebrate your successes with you
- and hold your hand or be a shoulder to cry on during the tough times
- or work alongside you during weekly co-working sessions…
…is absolutely priceless*.
When I left my previous job, it didn’t mean leaving my old network behind either. They’re still very much part of my life too. And they’ve often been a source of work over the last 5 years.
I’ve even been part of creating a brand-new community in my local town, which is opening more doors and more conversations with lovely individuals.
Running a business can be lonely, but there are so many amazing communities out there. You don’t have to play an active part in every single community. I’m in and around the Being Freelance community the most, but sit on the periphery of other groups too, dipping a toe in when I get a chance, or have some availability to be a bit more sociable.
These are just a few of my fave communities:
Do you have any other recommendations I should add to my list? Drop me a comment below, and I’ll check them out.
Lesson 2: Boundaries
I notice such a big difference when I enforce boundaries. I still often find myself hitting a rough patch before I realise it could’ve been avoided by enforcing or re-enforcing a boundary. But I’m human (one of my core values in fact). I make mistakes, and we can’t account for every circumstance when we create a boundary. Sometimes boundaries need to be tweaked, and that’s ok.
These are some of the boundaries I’ve learnt to be consistent with since running my own business:
- I use a business WhatsApp number for my clients. I use a clear-out-of-hours automated message, reminding my clients of my working hours. I don’t check messages after 6pm in the evening, and I don’t check them at weekends. The only exceptions are when I’m involved in an event they are hosting.
- I’m a strong believer in balance for my clients as well as for myself (in fact, balance is another one of my core values). I don’t have a set number of holiday days I take each year, but I do have at least a week off every quarter.
- I share terms and conditions that my clients need to approve before we start working together.
- I’ve recently published my mission and core values on my website. After being stung by a couple of previous clients, it’s become increasingly important for me to talk about my values to ensure I’m working with people whose values align with my own.
This is in no way a sales pitch or an ad, but one of my clients has a fantastic book that has a whole chapter dedicated to setting boundaries. Check it out here.
Lesson 3: Mindset
As previously mentioned, 2025 wasn’t a great year for my business. It all started last January when a client dumped me. And then another one of my long-term retainer clients put a hold on one of our projects. Queue a year of being stuck in a funk with a negative mindset. It lead to me trying to revitalise a relationship with an ex, when we clearly weren’t meant to be, and then getting into a coercive relationship with somebody else.
My low vibrations meant I was attracting other low vibers. And it wasn’t doing me or my business any good.
We all know it’s not possible to be in a positive mindset all day, every day. But the key is noticing when you’re slipping into that negative headspace, and then doing something about it. For me, it’s been about easing my way into 2026, taking a step back and figuring some stuff out, on both a personal and a business level. There was no big, new year, new me moment. I crept into 2026, reflecting and not making any big decisions about life or business, until I had done some work on both areas.
Working on a more positive mindset isn’t an overnight process. In fact, I believe it’s probably a constant thing we all need to constantly work on. You don’t just wake up one morning and have a positive mindset. But taking that time to step back and reflect has helped me. Other tools I use for improving my mindset are getting outdoors and into nature, going on holiday, talking to others who have a positive mindset and moving away from those moodhoovers!
Lesson 4: Get out of your comfort zone
Last year, during a lull in business, it gave me some time to think more about my business. For a long time, I’ve felt that I waffle my way through conversations. I’m very much a, ‘I write better than I talk’ kinda person. But, as someone who needs to be good at articulating stuff clearly on discovery calls and not just in writing, I decided it was time to get some help.
I put a message in the Being Freelance community asking for tips on how to stop the waffle. I was inundated with really helpful advice. But the one that really stood out for me was a response by BFF (Being Freelance Friend) Michaela, who said:
When it comes to speaking, practising on Insta lives has helped me.
This struck me hard. I’m always telling my clients how effective Instagram Lives are, especially when they collaborate with others. Yet, here I was, not taking my own advice. But Michaela’s words spurred me on, and last summer, I ran my first Instagram Live series about finding harmony between social media and our wellbeing. This was soo far out of my comfort zone. I’m not a public speaker. But I loved every single chat! And my social media stats boomed! The advice I had been giving my clients for ages was finally paying off for me to!
In fact, I loved it so much, I’m running another series this Spring. This time, the subject is around small business owners and dealing with the ups and downs of perimenopause. Keep an eye on my Instagram for further updates!
If you fancy catching up on my IG Lives from last summer, you can find them on my Instagram feed and my YouTube channel too.
Lesson 5: Don’t wait for the work to dry up before you market yourself
2025 was my worst financial year since running my own business. I had a couple of clients either stop or pause work at the beginning of the year, and that pretty much set the tone for the year. Up until this point, although I was active on Instagram, I wasn’t doing very much to promote my business. Word of mouth had very much been my saviour up until this point, but in 2025, it was crickets.
I did, however, use this as a sign to start shouting about my business more. I started showing up on LinkedIn (still not a huge fan, but it’s definitely a useful place to hang out), and began posting more intentionally on Instagram.
Although I don’t get loads of work from people outside of my existing network, being active on social media is great at reminding people who I am and what I do. And when the time is right, and they’re looking for a social media manager, I will often be their first thought.
The next step is to make sure I don’t drop the marketing ball, even though business is now picking up!
Final Thoughts
I learn something new about being self-employed every single day. Whether that’s noticing a boundary I need to tweak, a new opportunity that excites me, or a new contact I’ve made.
There’s no getting away from the fact that the lows can be really tough to ride out. But I can honestly say that starting and running my own business has, hands down, been the most rewarding job I’ve ever had.
To celebrate my 5th business birthday, I’m going to be running a series of giveaways and special offers throughout 2026. Most of these will only be available to my email subscribers, so make sure you sign-up to my mailing list below, if you’re not already part of my growing email community.
And on that note, I’m off to celebrate with cake! I might even dig out the party hats…
*definitely not completely priceless. I do pay to be part of the community, but it’s worth every single penny and plays a key part in helping me with running my own business!