Six months in - three things I've learned

Emails and video calls

The most noticeable change has been the sheer reduction in both. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's probably been around 90% down on what I was used to, and it's been quite a shock to the system in the best possible way. Big businesses run on full calendars and full inboxes, and I genuinely wasn't sure how much of that was actually essential until it disappeared. The time that's freed up has gone into doing the actual work, having more purposeful conversations with people, developing where I want to take the business, and being more flexible around family when they need me.

There's pressure, but it's different

A lot of people have asked whether I feel more pressure running my own business. The honest answer is not really, or at least not in the way they mean. Corporate life was pressured too, with deadlines, stakeholders, and things outside your control happening constantly. The pressure now is simply to deliver great work for clients and keep the business moving. That responsibility was always there in some form. It just feels cleaner now.

Catching my dinner before I eat it

The biggest adjustment has been going out and finding the work. I'm not used to that. I love meeting people, I genuinely enjoy problem solving, and I get a lot from being useful to someone. But the shift from being "Alan from Diageo/Tennent's/adidas" to promoting myself and what I do independently has felt raw and uncomfortable at times. I don't think I'll ever fully get used to it. It does get a little easier every day though.

Six months in, no regrets. If you've made a similar leap, or you're thinking about it, I'd be genuinely curious to hear how you've found it.