In this episode of the Smashing Self-Employment podcast we interview Caroline Hunt of Emerald Starfish (www.emerald-starfish.com) who is a self-employed recruitment specialist.
After 10 years of being in business Caroline has been through the highs and lows of being self-employed and has now become well known in the market for having a high-integrity approach to her service.
For Caroline it was redundancy that made her decide to become a self-employed recruitment specialist and the £2,000 she started off with ended up being a fantastic investment.
So, Caroline’s key lessons are:
Know your level of personal integrity. This is a big deal and means that you’re being honest with yourself and honest with your customers. If you act with a high level of integrity then you’re likely to keep customers for a long time and your reputation can be a major factor in your marketing.
Make your business fit your family life. This all about the elusive work-life balance. You don’t need to work silly hours and you should always make sure that your family time is a high priority.
Have confidence in yourself. When you start in self-employment it can be very tough on your confidence, especially if it’s taking time to get things rolling.
Spend time ‘on’ your business. It’s easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day work in your business. But if you want to grow you need to be able to step back a bit to work ‘on’ the business instead of just in it.
Know your numbers and pay yourself first. Far too many business owners put everyone else first but that’s the wrong way of thinking about it. It’s your business and should serve you. Therefore, it’s vital that you know how much you need to earn to pay yourself first.
Work to your strengths and get others to do the rest. Delegating stuff out is the only way to build a business. You can’t do it all and if you’re doing tasks that you’re not good at then they will take up precious time that could be better spent on things that are more valuable.
Wow your customers. Want to keep your customers? The go out of your way to impress them. Make sure your customer service is top-notch and always look to over-deliver.
Want more top tips from successful self-employed people? Check out:
9 Top self-employment tips from a successful social media marketing specialist (article & podcast)
Great post, Caroline. I enjoyed your post, and I found myself nodding my head in agreement the whole time. The tips you mentioned about being honest with yourself and making sure to spend time on your business are important for anyone self-employed or starting a new business. It can be hard balancing life outside of work, but it’s important to make that balance as much as possible if you want your business to succeed.