Milton local Karin Neate has been running L’escargot Ivre Photography & Graphic Design from home for the past 5 years. The business supplies a number of different services to individuals as well as other local businesses ranging from Photography, Graphic Design, Marketing and much more including her Girl Friday assistant side hustle.
Karin has blended the passion for her business with her lifestyle by working out of home and embracing the spontenaity of the business. Previously working in child care and teaching, Karin’s patience and flexibility has helped with the ups and downs that self employment can bring.
In addition to learning more about Karin’s journey, we chat about some of the ways in which she has been able to push herself to improve her business including removing safety nets and embedding herself into the local community by helping/supporting others.
What did you get out of this episode? Here’s what I learnt;
1. The Advantage of a Smaller Area – It’s that ‘big fish, small pond’ mentality. I think we find at times in those more build up metro areas that there’s a lot of noise. It’s presents challenges in cutting through and keeping your head above water with the increased competition and gaining people’s attention. Karin has identified the benefits of living in a small area where it’s a lot easier to been seen and less competition which helps put more focus on creating a great service for her local area.
2. Removing the Safety Net – Karin made the decision to let her teaching license slide. After 10 years of teaching, Karin knew that she had to remove this safety net in order to break through and grow her business. By not having the reliability of her teaching job within reach, Karin was forced to work harder and be more creative in building her business and attracting clients. It could be argued that by not doing that, it may have taken longer to reach some of Karin’s self employment goals.
3. Deep Community Connections – That repetitive theme! Karin took advantage of her local roots in the area and made it a focus to reconnect and support others that were nearby. By supporting the community, the community has supported her and provided her with business.
4. Preparing for the Down Times – We’ve touched on this a couple of times in varying ways through identifying worst case scenarios and developing business plans. In addition to those, by understanding the uniqueness of the area in which you work and in context of your business, you’re able to navigate the highs and lows and seasonal changes throughout the year. By getting a deeper understanding of these changes, you’re able to prepare better for when things become quiet and actually take advantage of those times rather than suffer from them.
Show notes
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Learn more about Girl Friday here.
