Measures of success for your solo business

Measure

Without the reserved car parking space, the corner office or the large team of staff, what can we use as measures of success? How do we - and those around us - know we are successful?

Measures of success can play on your mind when, like me, you get beyond ‘up and coming’ and your ‘start up’ is marking its tenth birthday.

Trading on potential and flexibility doesn’t always cut it.

My peers in the corporate world are driving the company-paid-for five series or wondering if the Cayenne will put some spice into their weekends (hilarious pun intended...and my kids tell me I’m not funny!) They fly Business Class because someone else is paying then use the company earned frequent flyer points to take the family to a ‘nice spot’ in Palm Cove or to Europe skiing every year.

And they leave on holidays knowing the company will be there when they get back.

Every month they collect a predictable pay cheque and can reasonably safely assume they will continue to, enabling things that defy me – financial planning, budgeting, regular saving.

They attend major events in the company’s seats or be entertained by customers who are only too happy to affirm their importance in the world.

They have all of the middle class, middle-aged aspirational trappings of corporate success.

Generally speaking, soloists are not of the mindset that fits well in corporate life and have made their decision to fly solo for a range of really sound and often very enviable reasons. And mostly, we love it. And very often we are equalling or exceeding the incomes of our corporate peers. So it is not about money.

But without the corporate trappings, I wonder where the affirmation of our success is to come from. From within? My energy is already fuelling my self esteem, my focus, my creativity, my drive. I overcome the view of others that I run a ‘little’ business at home, that isn’t like real work, that suggests perhaps I can’t get a ‘real’ job (or even have a ‘real’ business with an office I leave home to attend). Do I need to dig deep and find something to affirm my success as well? Flying solo can be exhausting enough.

Of course successful soloists can buy or lease their own Beemer, European 4WD or soft-top convertible. I have been advised to make sure they have seat-warmers so you are always warm enough to drive topless whatever the weather (hey, I’m here to help). We can always fly Business Class and generate as many points as we like. But do we? Somehow it’s a different decision when you are spending your own money irrespective of how much of it you have. Is it a greater affirmation when someone else is paying, anyway?

Another theory is that as soloists we are not the corporate trappings types. I not coincidentally live across the road from my daughter’s school and wander over at 3.30 every day to collect her and this is one of the choices I have made over corporate life. Being able to do that affirms my success. But only in my mind. There would be no-one observing that trip across the road thinking ‘she is a successful person’.

I wouldn’t be writing this if I wasn’t having my own little status anxiety moment, if I wasn’t at the beginning of the decade in my life when my peers are demonstrably celebrating that they’ve made it. Why isn’t being able to do fulfilling work on my own family friendly terms that generates enough cash for us all to have what we need and want enough for me? It used to be. Why do I still feel the need for this achievement to be affirmed, for my ego to be stroked?

Is it about fading youth? Do I want to be perceived now as successful as society defines successful, if not young and beautiful? What is the female equivalent behaviour of buying a red sports car and taking up with a younger woman? Maybe it’s just that age-old problem and maybe that’s what the corporate trappings for those enjoying them address too. I have left the days of my feminine power behind me and have entered the era when I bask in the glory of my perceived societal prestige but I am doing it without the corporate trappings that are the badges that announce I have arrived.

Will the benefits of flying solo and all of the reasons I do it sustain me throughout my need to self-actualise or should I be shopping for a sports car?

Somehow I expect that like flying solo, the troop carrier I drive fits the life I lead, so maybe I’ll just book a pedicure during corporate business hours and buy a model sports car for my desk.

Karen Morath of M Power consults, trains, speaks and coaches in public relations, personal effectiveness, life balance and all things empowering.

6 comments | Add your own

Hi Karen - I share your pain, but not your anxiety. Visit any cemetery and count the number of corporate thank you's and references - visit any hospice and ask how many residents are glad they devoted their lives to the corporate trappings - fling yourself into any peak hour traffic jam and smile at your fellow drivers, sitting as their lives tick away. Be glad that you had the good fortune to discover soloism, for you have a life worth living - do they have time to smell the roses before its too late ? Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles
This morning, whilst attending to a client on the phone, mum dropped by for 15 mins and I then walked her to her car. I was struck by how many birds I could hear chorusing this morning; how lucky I felt that I could take five; say hello to the 92 year old across the road and make her day; and then return to my home office to continue working on my client's project. I felt very fortunate. Even our grandchildren, who live in our street, regularly wave in the morning from the bus-stop across the road.
No-one is going to tell me at 50 years young that this is my corporate reward. I have worked solo since 1988 and have been in my chosen field for 32 years now. Many of my former school mates, (girls school), have either never worked, not worked for at least 20-30 years, or are retired and constantly travelling. I cannot relate to that life. As I get older there have been less of my age doing the solo journey. However, I am hopeful of a return to my age ranks as many women are forced into work through circumstance or divorce or choice, and decide to go solo. There is nothing wrong with our age group - it's just a perception ... we are now in a world that is entirely different to the one we intially graduated into in the early seventies, let alone our "Happy Days" childhood. And it is hard. But the intangible rewards are worth it. And, for the record, I still LOVE my work.
PS Karen M - forget the sports car. Go for the pedicure any day! Karen C from Springwood NSW
Isn't business class the only way to travel? Especially if the client pays. The problem comes from us not valuing our time, or valuing it in dollars (blessed be all accountants) rather than in all those other wonderful little ways such as rest, relaxation, or being able to be productive while travelling.
Denise (Chartered Accountant) from Kumeu
I really appreciated the comments in this article. It is hard sometimes to remember why you went into business in the first place, particularly when the cash-flow is not so great. However I know that being able to have time with my children is really precious and something I would not trade for all the BMW's , business class seats or cushy offices in the world! (well most of the time!) However I do suffer from the "what-ifs" ocassionally and do find it hard to keep motivated especially if its been a difficult month. So thank you for the inspirational article. Kirsten from Hobart
Hi
I am just starting out on my long held ambition to run my own business- helping people build eco homes.....for all the reasons you mentioned I needed to 'go it alone', at the ripe older age of 59.5 years. ("LivSimply-an eco path").
The corporate world does not appeal, but I would love to fly to France to visit my daughter working there in the snow. Now that would mean success to me!
Thanks for the delightful insights.
Best wishes
Suzan Bailey from Newcastle, Australia
Hi Karen, I agree with you here, but its tough trying to explain it to the corporate 9-5 thinkers. Its not their fault they have come through an education system which credits conformity. How could they be different the tutors have as well. What they lack is an entreprenuerial spirit.
Take say an accountant, you an choose to climb the ladder or you can be a soloist and employ the best . They are taught to be the best not to harness the best. When anyone does have thick skin and persist,persist, persist they open a new world which is refreshing and you cant help but grow. Ashley from Geelong ,Australia

6 comments | Add your own

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