Why Self-Employment?

I went to school in the 70s and 80s, when school had a curriculum and end of year exams but no constant testing and scoring and ranking. I was identified early as a high achiever and was put in a group of 10 “Who were going places”.

We finished our work first, correctly and we undertook additional work while the rest of the class caught up. The 10 of us passed the 12+ and the 10 of us went to grammar school. Back in those days, university was not a natural or expected outcome of high school. It was a privilege. 

I obtained 8 O Levels and stayed on to do my A levels, which I completely failed having discovered the joys of pubs when I hit 18. I left school in May of 1986 on a Wednesday and the following Monday I started work at Jewson as an accounts clerk.

I spent the next decade desperately clinging to my childhood dream of being an accountant. I did night school to gain the qualification but with a shocking memory for names and dates, I failed the business law element by 1%. I stuck with it, but I was never truly happy. Then I was made redundant and after a short period of temping, I applied for a job as an admin – how hard could it be?

Over the next decade I worked hard to be the best admin in my company. I succeeded easily at this and my cherished memories are being an Executive Assistant to the Chief Information Officer where I travelled around Europe, set up assessment centres for potential new staff and learned what it meant to be a manager, without the title and trappings. Sadly this role ended in redundancy three years after I had relocated to Devon, so time for another path.

I moved to a training company as an admin manager and soon transitioned over to training manager. It was in this role that I started to pick up my formal education certificates and I realised, for the first time, that helping others to develop themselves was what I really enjoyed, and furthermore was good at it.

Training contracts were fleeting things in the first decade of the new century. Contracts were often only granted for 1 year at a time so there was little stability in employment (and lo and behold, that's exactly where we are today). Employees had to trust that their senior management team were on the ball. By this time, I was part of a senior management team who were working flat out to ensure that revenue was maximised. This was a high stress environment that used all the skills I’d learned over the years. I was straight with my team and they came up with some amazing suggestions that helped us move forward. I also knew that the only way we could continue to make money as a company was to double their caseload, and I knew that this would not go down well with them and that quality would suffer as a result. This forced change was stressful for all and it made me review my motivations, my joy and my future progression.

In 2011, I set up Train Smart Ltd and started to reach out to previous contacts who might become customers. I also started looking to training companies I had not heard of before and did some speculative canvassing. This resulted in a contract turning into an employment which was so tempting, I took it. Two more years of learning, developing and growth.

2013 was a turning point for me. My mum died early in 2013 and while I dealt with her estate, my thoughts turned to what she had achieved in her life.

She was born in 1935, her education was interrupted by WWII, then a few years later, it was interrupted again by an 18 month stay in hospital. She yearned to be a Tamber beader (someone who embellished high end clothing) but there were no openings in High Wycombe, instead, she did what most of the rest of the population did and entered the furniture industry as a sewing machinist. She met my dad when she was 20 years old and married him swiftly. I came along 13 years later and 4 years after that my dad went self-employed as an upholsterer, with mum also self-employed as his seamstress. They spent the next 4 decades building their business, guiding their own income. Their work was highly prized in the industry and their waiting list grew and grew. They set an amazing example of how to run their own business, while still remaining true to their own family unit.

So I decided that 2013 was my time to try self-employment. With nearly a quarter of a century of employment experience, with a passion for training others, with an armful of training certificates, what had I got to lose?

And that was 7 years ago.

I have gone through more personal development, I’ve become a network marketer, I’ve had ups and downs, I’ve walked down some dead end avenues and learned from the journey. I’ve struggled with self-belief, even went back into employment for a year, but in the end, I knew that it was not the path for me. I thrive on the adrenalin that self-employment brings. I love being able to work over a weekend and take time off in the week. I love working during the evening and having a lazy morning planning and writing. I love being self-employed.

So if you are thinking about your next steps in 2021 and you want to explore self-employment (or part time self-employment), I can talk to you about my experiences. It is unlikely to be an objective discussion, but you can hear from me first-hand about the joy and challenge self-employment has brought to me.

Samantha Marshall

02.01.21