“I've never seriously considered jacking the business in” – autonomy matters to me

I remember being interviewed for a research job in 1999 and being asked ‘that’ question: “Where do you see yourself in five to ten years time?” I knew the answer immediately: running my own research business. But it would be another decade or so before this became possible. I began with romantic ideas:

I wanted to make big decisions, earn big bucks and take lots of holidays.

Yes, the first one has happened (I’m still working on the other two!).

Setting up my business coincided with a change in location and life stages. In 2010, we moved from London to Bath to find more space for our young family – and to be nearer to relatives. I tried commuting for a while, but the opportunity to become a contractor closer to home felt good.

I became a ‘pilot fish’ for research agencies and fed off the bits of work they couldn’t or didn’t want to do. But except for the fact that I was independent, which felt great, the job reward and satisfaction just wasn’t there. The roles were temporary, so I never really felt part of the team.

A few years later, I switched my business to a consultancy, delivering research projects direct to clients. It was a big step – without proving your worth using relevant case studies, it was hard to get this type of work. But if you start small-scale and build up, you can do it. By 2018, my business had started delivering decent work for decent-sized clients.

The change came when I signed up for the NatWest Accelerator programme.

This opened my eyes to the ins-and-outs of running a business and introduced me to a range of new ideas, from growth mindset to setting a vision, through to proper financial planning.

From then on, I had a new ambition: to grow the business and build a team. Which all seemed very possible, until Covid hit. All my plans had to be put aside in order to scrabble for work (any work!) and I’m only now building myself back up again. Currently, I’m at the point where I can start to realise my ambition of building an agency with a team of people. Now, the focus is on customer discovery, helping start-ups, scale-ups and growth-focused brands to get under the skin of their customers to develop their business and spot new opportunities.

Throughout the last eleven years, there have been huge highs and utterly sinking lows. Often, these are financial in nature. There have been opportunities to jump ship back to being employed; opportunities to partner up and collaborate. But I don’t regret not taking any of them. Throughout my time as a business owner, I’ve never seriously considered jacking it in.

My advice to anyone starting a business?

Make sure you have at least half a day a week to spend time ‘on your business’ – time that you can use to plan ahead, set strategy and goals and keep your business moving forward.

I own 100% of ‘not very much’, but the value of being able to live with autonomy is still hugely motivating. I wouldn’t easily trade those benefits away.