Kirsty Knight - FIRST-TIME ENTREPRENEUR?: Set Your Strategy, Master Your Mindset and Turn Your Business Idea Into Reality!

I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. It was on my when I grow up list from an early age. Admittedly, this was nestled between several other random ideas that I wanted to have a go at (novelist, spy, ice-skating cook dont ask), which would now probably be acceptable (since the terms multipassionate and multipotentialite have been coined), but at the time made me seem like I was an overly ambitious, totally confused little girl with no apparent direction in life.

I dropped several of these random ideas from my list, but the one that always seemed to remain was the desire to set up and run my own business. This desire most likely originated from my dad. He warned us repeatedly against becoming dependent on others for our earnings and encouraged us to create a life where we are rewarded by our own efforts, rather than putting money in someone elses pocket. He was a self-made, hard-working farmer at the time and over the years had added many trades to his belt always so he could be totally self-sufficient, self-employed, and as far away as you could possibly be from dependent on someone else for his money. He practiced what he preached. And his messaging clearly found its way into my subconscious.

At 25 years old, however, despite having worked as a freelance/self-employed construction project manager for several years, taking on a massive barn conversion project when I had zero experience or knowledge in that field, and accepting the deal that I would only make money if the project netted a decent value at the end (which some might consider to be the typical risk taking, go-getter attitude of an entrepreneur in the making), I still wasnt quite living up to my own definition of an entrepreneur. I felt there was a difference between being a freelancer/self-employed and creating a business that ultimately could provide a product or service without you being present. Of course, since a lot of freelancers do eventually expand their businesses beyond themselves, still have to manage their finances and market themselves, and do all the same core business tasks, I now realize that this was more down to my own mindset blocks than it was the actual facts. It is entirely up to you whether or not you want to call yourself a small business owner, an entrepreneur, or a freelancer.

Another mindset issue I was having that contributed to me not seeing myself as a proper entrepreneur was the psychological phenomenonimposter syndrome. I was completely unable to believe that I had achieved the freelance job legitimately, because of my own efforts and skills. The work was for family-friends and I felt that I had only landed the job because of those connections, along with the fact I was the person proposing the idea. This meant there had been no requirement for me to do any marketing, branding or sales pitches to get the job. Also, as they trusted me to deliver the project successfully, there were also no accountability checks, quality checks, or even formal project meetings and updates I had to endure. They essentially gave me free rein. This obviously removed a huge amount of red tape, which meant I really could just focus on the job at hand. I took the opportunity to get way more involved in the day-to-day running of the projects (I properly got my hands dirtyplumbing, digging, compacting, pointing, decorating, floor layingyou name it, I had a go) and as a result created a much bigger profit margin at the end. So, happiness was had all around. But it did nothing for my confidence that I could run a business myself, set up formal systems, do marketing, or work with the public in a proper formal setting.

In hindsight, I can view the outcome differently. I could have taken the experience to demonstrate that you dont need fancy formal systems, corporate red tape, and bureaucracy to deliver a successful outcome. I could have acknowledged that many skills used in project management are similar to those used in business. But at the time, as with many things in life, I just couldnt see it.

I felt like I still had not ticked off that bucket list item of having and running my own proper business.

It wasnt that I was short of ideas. I had loads of great ideas. I could easily spot trends in the market and by assessing our skills, experience, and what assets we had available to us, I could easily see how to convert many of them into opportunities. But I didnt know which one was the right one. I also felt like I didnt have one specific key strength/skill to guide my search. I didnt consider myself to be an expert in any area. I hadnt had 15 years as a strategic analyst or 25 years in PR, like a lot of other older entrepreneurs had, so there was no obvious path for me to go down.