Here's to Twenty-A-Team!!

Recently, we shared our retrospective of what we had achieved in our first year as a new business. Before, If you had stopped us in the street and asked us, we may have um'd and ah'ed, and blurted out a few things but, when we actually sat down to put pen to paper we realised, we were just like those soldiers of fortune, The A-Team! While we were fairly unknown as an entity within Cambridgeshire, once people found us, we proved to be an unstoppable force!

But where do we go from here? Where should any new business head for their sophomore year? We've put together a few ideas of our wishes, plans and goals for the next 11 months to continue our journey to success.

Get up, stand up

Working from home certainly has its benefits. You're surrounded by your creature comforts (in our case, literally in the shape of two black labradors) but it's easy to forget that you have work to do and not a permanent vacation (although I'm sure the monthly bills will soon wake you from this). It's fairly easy to work from home in your PJ's or send a few emails lying in bed (who will ever know!) but that's not long-term healthy. Getting up at a regular time, getting dressed and getting to work will bring some structure back into our lives. We've all read about 'dressing for the job you want', and well, we know we have the job we want, so let's give it and ourselves, a little respect!

Working for yourself...

If you ask any new business owner or freelancer what the worst thing about the lifestyle is, the answer will probably be 'the not knowing when the next job is coming in!' With that in mind, it's so easy to grab the nearest water wings to keep you afloat but they may not be helping you learn to swim. Having grasped that low hanging fruit, 2018 may be the time to be a bit more selective on projects, working out which ones are just quick wins and which ones may prove to be more beneficial.

Remembering the days we used to go for interviews (one could argue that every potential client meeting is an interview) and knowing that we're not just being interviewed, we're interviewing them? Why should this change? Working alongside businesses that we want to partner with and that can benefit from our offerings is not just a priority in 2018, but a must. Having the confidence when and how to say no (especially when you get a nagging feeling) can and should only strengthen your business.

...doesn't mean to be alone!

One of our promises to ourselves in 2017 was to research and join business groups as well as attend networking evenings and this isn't going to slow down for 2018. The amount of support, friendly advice and referrals we have received has been immense from groups such as The Marketing Meetup, Freelance Heroes and Drive the Network. Do remember that not all business groups are the same though and not all are for everyone but it's certainly worth checking them out and getting a feel for what you are after.

You can do it!

There are many varied reasons why people start their own business or give freelancing a go and we would guess a priority would be that people just like to do what they feel they are good at. Imposter syndrome is a common theme amongst those going it alone. The creeping self-doubt that you're a charlatan and why would anyone actually listen to your skills, let alone pay for them. What rubbish! To take the leap of working for yourself shows that you have talent and passion so it's time to get moving, get groovin' and show the world what you're made of!

We want to improve on that and not only do what we're good at but do things that may take us out of our comfort zone and expand our horizons. Currently, we deliver many launch/ celebration events which are fantastic but our passions also lie in running projects as well as marketing your events. We'll certainly be putting a focus on this in 2018.

While not resolutions as such, we see the importance of reflecting in order to shape the business and use this year to really plan the path forward for us. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find us (we seriously hope you can)....maybe you can hire.... The Crane Event!! (Que action soundtrack).