Starting to feel disillusioned, it's taking a long time to take off...

[Thornykate]

Am starting to feel some of the isolation of starting up my own business.

Really thought by now that things would be picking up but it all seems so slow. To be fair I have had to change my branding & trading name so haven't been marketing until new logo,website & marketing materials are ready but it feels so disheartening to be at a standstill right now.

How do other people deal with quiet times & /or when a new business is taking twice as long as anticipated to get going? If I wasn't pregnant I would be taking on a part time job by now as it is driving me mad not working!

Can you diversify or use other skills? I had to change my business from inhouse contractor to homebased and do other things to make the money while I built up contacts.

My sector (writing/editing) is very competitive and saturated - I don't know about yours so I can't make suggestions...

Use this time to think through your plans and revisit what you wanted to do - is it still what you want to do? Have you written goals down? Look at them and remind yourself why you're doing this. If you need help doing this find and life or business coach that you can work with.

Plan your time as if you were busy but fill your diary with appointments to research, consider, think through, plan, review things. Continue to set goals for yourself - to go to two networking events, make three phone calls to prospective clients etc.

Is there any training you could usefully do? Are there any skills you would benefit from revising or gaining - time management? project management? Even reading a book on a subject might help you feel you're making the most of this time.

When the credit crunch hit our main company had literally not one enquiry for five months. It was a tough time but we were able to use the time to re-evaluate where we wanted to be and now we have a new division, new services to offer to a different set of clients and we've opened up a whole new market.

I hope things take off for you soon.

I have had a couple of rough days, as a newish freelancer, so share your pain.

Even though your marketing is being worked on, could you not get out networking yourself? It might make you feel better. You might already have this sorted, but looking at the relevant 'social media' space for your business takes lots of time; you could build up people to follow on Twitter, Facebook groups etc.

I'd also agree with helenagrace, plan your time, keep timesheets, think about research, prospecting etc. And use this time to do stuff you won't have time to do once you are busy. I am enjoying being able to read e-newsletters, something I just couldn't fit in when working.

I am guessing the pregnancy isn't helping with the motivation, however could you not set yourself some small targets prior to the birth?

It can be slow and frustrating when you first start out - I felt the same when I started my own business. In the early months, I did A LOT of work on marketing (online marketing and PR), quite literally hours each day. I also did a tiny bit of freelance work too. The latter made me feel productive at least, even if it wasn't a big earner. For me, the feeling of productivity was very important.

If you're pregnant, obviously you have a limited timeframe to get things sorted. (I'm pregnant myself, so am strongly aware that I have X number of months to get things in place for when I need to step back a little from my business). I do think you need to be realistic with your business plan to allow for this (key!) fact.

What field are you in?

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk is also a good forum for new start businesses, which I personally found helpful for talking to others in a similar position and for getting ideas.

Thanks for your suggestions, it's great to hear from others who have come through the other side of this.

goldenpeach I am a nurse aesthetics practitioner; basically I provide consultations & non surgical treatments (Botox being the most commonly known) to clients by running clinics in beauty salons & seeing clients on a mobile basis. I do have other skills mainly in nursing & medical insurance & would usually fill in by doing a little agency nursing but nobody wants a pregnant nurse!

Helenagrace thanks for the nudge re scheduling work related tasks into my diary, I have really let this slip recently as I expected to be busy with work & have to admit my time management has lapsed badly; I have tended to set myself a small task to do & been very relaxed about timescales...basically spending far too much time on MN etc . Bad habits to get into so will be planning next weeks tasks accordingly.

I have been on a marketing course today which wasn't great in itself but has opened my eyes up to actions that I need to look into taking so will push on with this next week.

I am sure that medical aesthetics is what I want to do career & business wise, deep down I am confident that I can make a good business out of this but I do need to focus on my target markets which are on the whole overlooked by my competitiors.

I agree Watersign that more networking is in order while I have the time on my hands, there are several industry contacts who I want to re connect with who although will not bring direct business to me at the moment are very useful to know. I will be sorting out hootsuite this weekend too instead of putting it off until my website is completed & then trying to tackle everything at once.

Am also going to look into finding a local women in business forum as I feel that formal networking outside of the industry would be productive.

I will check out that link thank-you Saffra, congratulations & when are you due?

I think that the pregnancy is compounding the pressure I am feeling at the moment; I have 7 weeks left until due date & was hoping to have an established client base before baby arrives so that I can 'tick over' for a few months after. If I don't manage to achieve the minimal client base by then I will have to be pushing for new business for the foreseeable future without pausing for breath when baby arrives.

TBH I can cope with that but I am aware that circumstances may possibly go beyond my control & one never knows when a complication may occur such as a c section or long recovery period.

On a positive note the 1st draft of my website homepage arrived today & it has given me a bit of a boost as it does look pretty good.

Thanks again for the input.

Thanks Kate, you too! Due in September and plenty to do ahead of then to sort myself out on the business front. (I started a thread on my own predicament some weeks back).

If you do have some spare time on your hands in the final 7 weeks (!), then you might want to try to get together a bit of an SEO plan for when you launch your site. If you can get it ranking well, then it can be a 'silent salesperson' generating enquiries for you when the baby is born.

It's great that you feel so motivated... But, perhaps, it maybe best if you don't put yourself under too much pressure at the moment in time. If you have identified untapped markets, then maybe you could put together an action plan to develop business in these areas, with specific actions to follow in due course. After all, there is only really so much that you can do before now and when the baby is born. It's natural that you will want to feel productive, but you probably aren't making the best use of your time if you start with lead generation and then don't have the chance to follow potential leads through. Better IMO to have a solid plan to work to when you are able to dedicate a bit more time to it.

saffra that's a good point you made about starting lead generation that I may not be able to follow.

Think I need to schedule some serious planning time for this week. I definitely need to get back to proper goal setting so that the next few weeks are as productive as possible.

TBH I am not too busy organising baby stuff, I am more laid back about that all falling into place than the business... DP has a week off at home mid April so we will be doing a mad dash around John Lewis to get everything at once no doubt! Same as last time for DS3 but it works for us!

If you are mobile - have you tried Groupon? They offer discounted vouchers on your services.

I know you don't make as much money (they take a fair chunk) - but it would get your name out there and hopefully repeat customers in 10-12 months time. And it is only your time and product cost you'd need to cover.

I know a couple of places in Glasgow have offered vouchers through Groupon - and they were madly successful. Though you might not want to be too successfull in the next month or so. Maybe speak to them with the idea of running a campaign in 3 months time??

One of the Botox providers in Glasgow are offering a £40 a month payment plan - which gives 2 or 3 'shots' a year. But would provide steady income for you.

I wouldn't mind doing Groupon actually, perhaps I should speak to them about doing something later in the year?

The finance for Botox is an excellent idea, without wanting to sound like I dont want to do the research; has anyone any idea of what sort of finance systems this would entail?
Are there companies that do the legwork for you re credit checking, direct debits etc? I am mainly a cash business so am WAY out of my league with regular payments etc but it sounds like a good way forward so any hints on where to start in looking into this are v much appreciated.

Thanks for the good ideas TracyK

I think the Groupon for Botox my friend went on - was £40 for your 1st treatment - which was for her No 11's (so I'm guessing not very much botox was used) ie not too much of a loss leader.

Then you will have received - say - 6 x £40 from a client before you have to do another top up. So I'd think not too much risk from your point. They, on the other hand, may say - what's to say you take my 6 x £40 and then renege on the deal. I'm not sure how you would pacify them on that score?

I have paid for laser in installments, I paid half up front via credit card and then half part way through the sessions. Could you use paypal to accept the payment?

I need to review previous wrinkle treatments on Groupon I think. I have seen some at a v low price but it looked like they were using a cheaper brand of toxin hence why they were able to go so low on price. I am a bit of a stickler for using genuine Botox so I will do my homework on what other offers have been based on.

Am assuming I would need some sort of contract drawn up with the client to make sure everything was above board re monthly payments. paypal does seem like an easy-ish option. My business advisor might be able to help me with the specifics.

Thanks again.

if you're London-based could you go via an agency-type set-up like return to glory for some work in the meantime?

I had a very quiet patch at the start of last year. I wrote a list of every possible contact/lead I could think of and then contacted every one. I also joined LinkedIn etc, and found as many people as possible on there to connect with. I saw it as a networking time.

I can't see the point of getting new clients now because you will want to be scaling down activities in three or four weeks anyway. I would write a list of leads, write your emails as if it is and save them in a folder, look into Groupon and VoucherCloud etc, and progress the website so that it is finished, and do everything else you need for a launch after the baby is born. Sort out your tax affairs, the bank account, insurance - all the dull stuff you don't have time for later. Then when you are ready to go back to work, you will can just go live with the website, send the emails, get your offer on Groupon etc etc.

I started my own will writing business about a year ago and find that it goes through peculiarly quiet patches then frenetically busy ones for reasons which I have yet to fathom. I wouldn't have thought that will writing was seasonal, it certainly isn't in my day job in a high street solicitors firm.

Haven't tried Linkedin yet, will try that now.

I haven't had much more than a trickle for about a month and am getting bored now.

bump