Making the transition from working for a company to working for oneself is a big change for most of us and one that not everyone handles with the ease they would want. I was reminded of this when I went to meet a friend at the end of a networking meeting she had been attending. It was interesting to observe those new to networking, and new to being self employed. They reminded me of a group of graduates at freshers week all keen to establish their identity but instead of revealing answers to questions such as: where they went to school, what degree they were doing, what A levels they had passed the net workers were keen to establish their identity in a similar way by revealing ‘when they had made the break from corporate life’ and ‘who they had made the break from’. I imagine I was the same when I ‘made the break’, I found it interesting to reflect on the transition phase and what questions may be useful to ask ourselves before, during and after we ‘make the move’.

One of the many models that attempt to gain a better understanding of what motivates people, what enables or limits us from making changes is that created by Robert Dilts in the Neurological levels, or Logical levels as some may know the model.
In our brain structure, language and perceptual systems there are natural hierarchies or levels of experience. The effect of each level is to organise and control the information on the level below it. Changing something on an upper level would necessarily change things on the lower levels; changing something on a lower level could but would not necessarily affect upper level. (Dilts, 1991)

It would seem appropriate to explore the levels in descending order:

Identity
This is about who you are and more significantly are you congruent with who you are in your role/position. So many of us shape our experience from who we are at work, what position we hold in an organisation often dictates what car we drive, what class we fly on an airline, what sport we play, who are friends are.
Those new to the experience of working for themselves often struggle with this is as they have not embraced a new identity and cling onto the old one in a hope of gaining some reference. Evidence for this comes from ‘I used to work for’, ‘I was the manager/director for’, ’I only left corporate life a few months ago’.

Part of the change to working for oneself is being congruent with who you are and not apologising for it. How confidently do you state who are and what you do? Are there any occasions when you feel less confident making the statement? Where and when and with who?  Being aware of this will help identify some of the beliefs that may be blocking us making that effortless transition.

Beliefs and Values
Beliefs can be defined as what we hold to be true .Values can be defined as what we hold to be important.
Beliefs can be powerful enablers or limiters to change. A useful exercise to complete as we move through the transition phase is to compile a list of all the enabling and limiting beliefs we are holding about ourselves in the new role.
For example:

Enabling

• I have experience in this area of business
• My family and friends are pleased for me
• I will have more time to do the things I enjoy
• People tell me I am good at this
• I am quick to learn
• I have a lot of contacts

Limiting

• There is a lot of competition
• Customers will expect a professional team
• I don’t know how good I am
• I may not get enough customers
• I can’t go back

Work on the limiting beliefs by asking yourself questions such as ‘How do you know there is a lot of competition’, ‘Who says you are not good enough’. Some self or external coaching will help you work though these limiting beliefs.

Skills and Capabilities
Skills and capabilities can be divided into the skills and capabilities you have in doing your business i.e. coaching, designing, training etc and those associated with running your business such as marketing, accounting, administration, managing staff and so on.

Presumably the skills you need to do your business are quite well honed and the need to keep these skills up to date is important, these are what your customers are going to be paying for. The skills they are not going to be paying for and are not very interested in are those you use to run your business. Is it cost effective to spend time and energy setting up and managing an accounting system that you are not familiar with rather than spending that time meeting potential clients or researching the market? Cash flow may be tight but ask yourself where are your skills and capabilities most appropriately used is it better to pay someone else to do the stuff that you are not skilled in doing?

If your business requires you to work with people then you need to meet people in order for them to experience you. A whizzy web site and stunning business card and brochure may look good but it gives the potential client no sense of what you are really like!

Behaviour
Giving some thought and asking questions about your identity, beliefs, skills and capabilities will have an influence on your behaviour. Your behaviour is the outward manifestation of all the above, the ‘you’ that your clients and potential customers gain a sense of.

How congruent are you? Does your behaviour (language, actions) match the inner you. Are you attempting to behave in a way that does not match with your beliefs?

Changes in working patterns are a significant part of making the transition. You are no longer bound by the convention of organisational working hours and the lack of meetings and external deadlines will be refreshing for many people. I am mindful that others struggle with the lack of structure and find it difficult to motivate themselves in the face of pressing household chores or leisure activities.

Give yourself permission to take time off to do things that would previously have seemed like playing truant. When asked the question ‘what or who is stopping you’ the memory of some boss from the past comes to mind. You are your own boss now, enjoy it!

Environment
Unless you have been used to working remotely or from home the change in your working environment is going to be quite different for you. The advance in technology means that a laptop and mobile phone may be enough for an office whether that be a purpose built workspace at home or off site office or somewhere on your kitchen table.

Once you have the essentials take some time to find out what works for you before spending a lot of time, effort and money.

It may be that your working environment goes someway to enhance your new identity. Although changes in an environment can have an effect on the higher order levels it is usually changes in the higher order that are required to make a successful transition.
Changing your environment by evolution rather than revolution may serve you well.

by Siân Livsey -