Five years into her life as a business owner, Sarah Banks of Bank’s Business Solutions has shown that with a little faith and a lot of courage you can carve out a new career path. Not only has this change helper her build a whole new skills base, but she is able to create truly flexible work. Read on to hear her digital nomad story.
Over to you Sarah!
After having my eldest daughter in 2008, I didn’t want to return to work full time, so I took on a part-time lower level role elsewhere. I worked up to a higher level there, but after having my 2nd daughter in 2013, I returned to work and our family dynamics changed. My eldest was then in school and she didn’t enjoy the after school provision and my youngest hated nursery. Something had to change, and so a chance conversation with another Mum lead to me starting my virtual assistant business. I signed up my first client in May 2014 and worked my last day as an employee in September 2014. Since then I haven’t looked back and having my own business has given our family so much more flexibility – my husband is a teacher and as I can work anywhere we not take more holidays and even spent 3 months travelling as a family last year.
Being a parent was definitely the biggest trigger for me to make the leap, but the role had changed and it was located 45 minutes drive from home so that made it an easier decision to make as it wasn’t what I wanted to do either.
My experience has been office based so I am familiar with the usual office systems namely Microsoft Office. I was lucky to be able to complete my Prince 2 Foundation Project Management training before I had my eldest daughter. Since starting my business I have completed training in WordPress websites, email marketing and how to create passive income streams. I have also spent a lot of time teaching myself platforms such as MailChimp, Canva, WordPress and Gsuite. I regularly attending networking events both on and offline to help with my own self-development and to ensure that I don’t feel isolated now I work at home. I also have a maths degree and a lot of the logical and critical thinking skills from that inform my day to day working practices now.
All of my office and project management skills have been critical for my business as well as budget planning and some of the softer skills I gained from a self development programme I undertook whilst in my last employed roll. The basis from work has really helped me to build and develop my business.
My self-confidence has been my biggest challenge, in the early days of running my business I regularly compared myself to others and didn’t feel I was good enough to charge the rates they did or to offer services like them. Over the last 3 years, I have built my network of women in business, especially other VAs who have lifted me and shown me how much I have to offer so I am now confident in myself and my skills. I am an entrepreneur with a very successful business and I just happen to also be a Mum.
The biggest surprise? The fact that clients actually want to pay me to help them and give me testimonials afterwards about the difference I have made to them! I also didn’t realise how easy it would be to work from anywhere – all I need is my laptop and an internet connection which gives us so much freedom as a family.
To anyone else looking to take the leap into self-employment? I say, take the risk, you have nothing to lose by starting your business. However, make sure you do your research, set yourself up properly with insurance, GDPR compliance and proper contracts. Build a network of people in the same position that you can learn from and collaborate with and finally be really clear on who your ideal client is – I see so many new VAs saying they will work with anyone but the fact is that if you don’t know who your target client is you can’t market to them.
What great advice – there is so much that rings true. Whenever you start something new, be it self employment or a new role, building your skills base and your network is essential. I also love the freedom this business has given Sarah and her family; what could you do if you thought a little differently and broke the mould?
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Clara Wilcox is a straight talking, practical and experienced coach helping clients navigate the tricky waters of returning to work, career changes and professional development. The Balance Collective is a social enterprise focused on improving the lives of parents, by working together to build inner confidence and promote a healthy work/life balance.
