So… I’m Going to Quit my Job
I had always considered myself a risk-taker, just take moving to London at 21 from Paris where I was born and raised. I originally planned to stay in the city for just six months and then, you’ve guessed it, I never left.
Following my move to ‘The Big Smoke’, I climbed up the career ladder in the events industry. I loved and still do love events; there’s something so magical about working on a project for six months and seeing it come alive in front of your eyes - much like the launch of a new menu or working on a new opening, that buzz is very addictive and my role at Cocktails in the City was exactly just that.
When I started with Cocktails in the City, I knew no one in the industry (well, other than my partner and some of his friends) and quickly had to build a network of contacts in cities across the country from Edinburgh to Bristol and Manchester. This was nerve-wracking but I fully embraced the new challenge - after all, I have always felt at home in bars, especially as my dad owned his own in Paris when I was a little girl. OK, it might also have something to do with my penchant for a Negroni and a boogie into the late evening.
Changing jobs is one thing but changing career is a big step, especially when I’d worked hard to climb up the ladder as young woman in a country where English was my second language. But four years ago, I felt ready to take the next step as I craved a new challenge. Having just wrapped up a sell-out event in Leeds, my sister, my mum and I embarked on a two week holiday to Senegal, where I still have a large group of family residing. Although I had spent many summers there, that one trip felt different. There was something different in the air. Our paths led us to a small village a couple of hours away from the city where we met a group of women weaving baskets all together. We were greeted with an instant sense of community, connection and joy. That image stuck with me for weeks, months even, and as I stayed in touch with these women, I soon came to realise there was a real market for people who wanted to buy what these craftswomen were making, creating, sculpting with their hands. This was a skill that had been passed down from generation to generation to women in rural villages. A seed was planted and the idea for La Basketry was born. There were daily chats with family and friends about savings, with many asking, ‘are you sure you making the right decision?’. But behind all of this, I had an innate feeling, a gut feeling, if you like, that this was the path I was meant to go down.
Ok, so forgive me for sounding all ‘Eat Pray Love’ right now, but I truly believe we’re led to meeting people – as I was those craftswomen on that trip – and if your instinct is telling you to go for something, you should follow that signal and ACT on it.
Taking smaller steps before making the big leap.
As much as it is freeing and exhilarating to quit your job, for me it was a gradual transition. I quietly worked on my business for eight months while still working full time. It was challenging to say the least as there were quite a lot of logistics involved - I could write a whole feature on import, export, customs and freight - but things paid off when one of my products was featured in a national newspaper and sales started to pick up 2 months after launching the online shop.
People often ask me, “when did you know it was time to go?” I knew the time had come when I started to miss opportunities to properly scale and grow the business because of my commitments to my full time job. Side note; you’ll also be surprised at how many skills you have developed in your past careers that are transferrable to your new business.
Stay open to opportunities and embrace change.
When you start your business, you’ll have a clear idea of how you envision things – congratulations if you find the time to put a business plan together! I was strongly encouraged to write one myself, but in reality this plan was out of date within 6 months because the market and my vision had changed so much. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to be the visionary and understand your sector, but the world is constantly evolving and to stay ahead of the competition, keeping pace with new technologies, meeting customers’ needs or simply doing what feels good and aligned to you (hello gut instinct again), you will need to stay open to changes and opportunities that take you away from what you had initially planned.
Half a year into launching La Basketry, I was approached by a publisher to write a book that was released in 2019 and has now been published in 6 languages across the world, including Spanish German, French and Italian. Never in my wildest dreams - and in my business plan - would have I imagined this opportunity arising. This was a project that took me away from the work I’d been doing with the weavers in Senegal and took a toll on the business in its second year. However, it’s clear to see now the time spent away from the day-to-day business ended up having a much bigger impact in the long run as it attracted a new audience and opened me up to a number of different revenue streams.
You will fall, but you’ll also pick yourself back up.
Which brings me to resilience - probably one of the skills you’ll require the most as a small business owner - you’ll need a lot of it (plus *insert your favourite spirit*). Your ability to overcome challenges and bounce back from setbacks is what will set you apart and learning to dust yourself up after you fall means you’ll rise back bigger and better, with a lesson or two under your belt for next time. If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.