One Year On

A year ago today I started my journey on running my own business. Starting a business is challenging enough but when considering the climate we have been working in it is quite something to have reached one year of operation. Before I started I was warned that it is easy to feel as if you are not doing anything if you don't remember where you started. At times this has certainly been true. I write this article to look back at my journey and share some learnings for anyone who may be starting theirs.

Make an optimistic plan but prepare for the worst

As a risk engineer this is generally the approach I take to life. I look at a problem, work out how we can manage the risk and then I look at the problem again and plan for the worst. This is what I did with my business.

A few of successes:

• My main marketing strategy was to use LinkedIn to gain visibility. Last year I had only 600 connections. I close out today with nearly 5000 connections. This is in line with my goal that I set for the year (which I thought was completely unachievable). I had a plan and I stuck with it.
• My passion is improving process safety performance worldwide and I felt this was my luxury that I could now include this in my day job. This has been a very successful part of my business with delivery of six structured Safety and Reliability Society Webinars and articles supporting as well as several more items this year. This lead me to be shortlisted for the IChemE Best Consultancy Award which is something which I feel very proud of especially when I heard the competition.
• Make your IT as simple as possible. I opted for a user friendly option for my website, document storage and sharing which has really saved time and hassle this year. My business bank is easy to use and to keep track of things which definitely makes those tiresome chores of business management easier.

Areas where I have learnt:

• We are all in this together. Throughout my career I have conducted my business in this way. People often say I am too kind but I do know where I draw my line and the other side isn't the same. When I started my own business I thought I work alone and that't that however I have learnt to develop a network of freelancers who I can call on in times of need. This doesn't mean they are employed by me or anything but if I get a job that is too much for me at that time I know who I can pass it on to and likewise I am there to support them. Likewise I have a network of people who have different experiences and specialties managing process safety who I can call upon for services to best serve my clients.
• Work is not everything and everything is not work. As a freelancer it can be difficult to take time out. Time is money however I have been reminded again this year that there is more to life than work and have developed several strategies to manage my time more effectively. The courses on LinkedIn learning have really helped here.
• Don't over commit. At the start of my social media journey I told you all what my best case plan was (i.e. I will post every day making you all more aware of process safety) however life has not always allowed this. At the beginning I found this quite stressful but then I learnt not to broadcast my plan. Therefore it is now like the way I managed my wedding, if something didn't go according to plan only I knew - everyone else would assume that this was the plan. I have still managed to publish a whopping 25 articles over the year, publish something about 80% of days and most importantly I have had fun. Once I stopped letting everyone judge my performance based on my plan I really did start to enjoy this social media experience.
• Life is not what you expect. I suspect we have all learnt this in the last 9 months however this has been more important to me this year. When I started I thought that writing would be the only way in which I would communicate with you however I now have a YouTube channel (still can't believe it), I have tried a podcast (it wasn't really for me) and I regularly have video based interactions in the form of the Process Safety Forum and the monthly Masterclasses. This has helped me get that real time feedback which I was missing in just communicating in writing. Thank you all for being kind during my experiment into this.
• My approach to process safety is more serious than others. Yes, I approach my work in a very professional manner and the reason for this is because peoples lives are on the line. Working in assets I have not always know this as I often am the only process safety engineer only engaging others for advice if required. However this doesn't mean that when you work with me you won't smile however you will know when what I am telling you is something to pay attention to. I am honest (maybe too honest) and I will say when I don't know something, when there is uncertainty or where it is my opinion. However this being said my advice is always based on sound engineering, where I don't know something I will find out and it will be based on best engineering practice.

What have we achieved over the last 12 months

In the last 12 months I have engaged with over 20 different clients whom I have never had a professional relationship. However for me the biggest achievements have been professional development (no this doesn't stop when you become a free lance engineer). My highlights are:

1. Gaining Fellowship with the Safety and Reliability Society (SaRS)
2. Guest lecturing at Imperial College in February on HAZOP
3. Being one of IChemE's professional trainers
4. Delivering a six part CPD program for SaRS
5. Delivering my first ever paper at the IChemE HAZARDs conference
6. Being one of the team providing professional registration in SaRS
7. Being a panel member for the CRA Forum
8. Learning new techniques at the HAZARDS conference
9. Building my professional network of support
10. Managing the charitable efforts of Sewing4theNHS delivering over 2500 scrubs to the frontline
11. Being a governor at my local school helping them navigate the return to school and the lockdown. What an honour it has been to contribute positively to the lives of the children at that school.

I am looking forward to my next 12 months where I will continue to grow and learn with you all there to support me. The last 12 months haven't been plain sailing and I'm sure the next 12 months will bring different challenges but I now know I am up to it.

About the author: Louise Whiting is a professional process safety engineer and a chartered engineer registered with the IChemE. She has over 11 year experience in mainly operations support roles ranging from process engineering to process safety. She has worked in many different countries but the two main locations are offshore in the North Sea and in the Iraqi desert. She now manages her own path and everything she shares are her opinions (unless otherwise stated) and most definitely not those of her previous employers. For more information please visit www.louisewhiting.com.