Do you manage your own business? Did you always plan to do so? Whichever way you landed up where you are today, did you have a short, medium and long-term plan when you started out?
Most people (in my experience) start out with a goal. That goal may be personal, or might be specific to their business. Over the years since FWL started out, I have met dozens of people (generally when networking) who came to a point in their employed life when they told their employer to ‘stick their job up their arse’ (or a more polite version, sometimes). That wasn’t me but there came a point when my desire to find people and make a difference (in a different way to the day job at the time) became greater than my desire to leave the house at 6:30am every day, spend seven hours in the company of amazing young people, two to three hours (generally) per week listening to drivel in meetings (often reinventing the wheel) and a ludicrous amount of time planning and marking in a way I might not even agree with etc. etc. The time I spent with the young people I worked with was thoroughly enjoyable and the holidays made up for the long hours I (thought I) worked.
Having told my Headteacher that I would rather be self-employed than employed, I find myself here, three years later, managing an extremely successful business with an office, staff and amazing work colleagues. Over my years of employment, I learnt a lot from some ‘interesting’ managers and the ethical values upon which FWL is founded, take heed of both the positives and negatives I (and others) have experienced along the way. And now, FWL is here…. nearing 2017….
2016 has been a year of massive change. New office, new team members and new vision. We have invested. Each step of change is a challenge. We question, is our next decision the right one? What are the pitfalls if it isn’t? What could be the benefits if it is? Success breeds jealousy (unfortunately) and other people in whatever field you work in (sadly) often feel the need to criticise the progress you make. Why do they feel the need to do so? More often than not, because your success makes them feel inadequate, in my opinion.
Change is a good thing. It takes time. If change doesn’t quite go to plan, learn from it and make another change to the plan. The plan may not be written. It may not even be concrete, in any form. Stick with Plan A because, as the UK’s Number 1 motivation speaker says, if you have a Plan B, you don’t believe in Plan A enough (or words to that effect).
You can’t change the past but you can change the future. Let go of negativity and be positive …. always.
