Challenge yourself
‘Choose to challenge’ is the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, the ethos being that challenge leads to change.
The self-employed — contractors, freelancers and entrepreneurs — are regular challengers: they’re challenging themselves by stepping away from the security of the 9–5, they might be shaking up the traditional view of ‘work’ in some cases and in others, their product or service is disrupting the status quo. And these challenges do lead to change — some may be personal and go unnoticed by those outside the inner circle whereas others may be huge.
Challenge resides at the opposite end of the spectrum to complacency whilst others say that if you don’t create challenging opportunities, you’re missing out on the chance to fail and learn from your mistakes. This may sound like a great deal of pressure to do something different and ‘step out of your comfort zone’ in order to have a real impact on yourself and society but it doesn’t need to be as grand as that. Whilst reading this, think about how you could challenge yourself this year and let us know — we’d love to hear from you and see if we can help.
There are five million self-employed people in the UK of which 36% are women and globally 40% of people who use coworking spaces are women. We want to shout about a couple of those entrepreneurial, freelancing, self-employed women who use our coworking space in the heart of Tunbridge Wells and who have chosen to challenge themselves. Starting a business is no small undertaking and these women have taken their idea and created opportunities to make it happen.
Charlotte Knee, Photographer
Charlotte is a lifestyle photographer, renowned for her stunning photos that capture their subject’s real personality, their authentic self. Charlotte has experience in publishing, working for a literary agent earlier in her career, and has photographed many an author but regardless of subject, her calm, considered but yet fun approach, draws out the very best of what she sees through the lens.
Charlotte admits that it was a leap to start her own business, but she loves the flexibility it affords her and the variety of commissions that she is asked to do. Her work fits well around her two small children although she acknowledges that her home office, sandwiched between the kitchen and playroom and all the distractions that those rooms provide, isn’t always the hive of productivity that she would like!
Before lockdown, Charlotte came to OfficeTribe once a week. She had previously worked in a buzzing office in Soho, central London and as an extremely sociable person, she missed the company of working alongside other people. As the name OfficeTribe suggests, she wanted to regain the feeling of community.
So many people don’t like commuting but Charlotte actually wanted the feeling of leaving home and ‘going to work’ in a ‘designated’ workspace. Her productivity definitely increased thanks to the lack of distractions and she picked up some new clients too — as she admits, having a camera on your desk gives people a pretty good idea of what you do!
Using a coworking space also meant that Charlotte felt as though she was giving her business the time it deserved. She was elevating her business from part-time to full-time, albeit just for a day, and she admits that the accountability of paying for a desk helped her to gain focus.
We look forward to welcoming Charlotte back soon and in the meantime, she’s taking bookings for headshots so do contact her!
Emma Jefferys, Action Woman
After a successful career in branding and advertising, Emma felt the pull towards helping others fulfil their potential and achieve their goals. She challenged herself to step out of the rat race to follow her goals, establishing her business ‘Action Woman’ as an accredited coach and licenced NLP practitioner.
These days, she is highly regarded and has featured in the press thanks to her warm and effective style. Since leaving London, her business has gone from strength to strength and she has amassed a loyal following amongst women and men who are seeking executive and career coaching as well as life coaching.
Emma has a lovely attic office at home where she sees her clients for coaching but before lockdown, she was a frequent co-worker at OfficeTribe, and a supporter of all we do. She admits that she uses a coworking space for her own mental health as, like Charlotte, she sometimes finds it lonely working from home. She likes the banter of working at OfficeTribe, chatting to people and seeing life from their perspective and making new connections.
When it comes to productivity, coworking is a great antidote to procrastination in Emma’s opinion as the feeling of industry is contagious. She also appreciates the feeling of going to work somewhere without home distractions and likes the variety it brings to her week. ‘It’s nice to mix things up after a long time in one space.’
If you’re unsure how to challenge yourself or how to get started, then Emma is the perfect person to help you. Action Woman’s strapline is ‘nothing changes if nothing changes’ and she is excellent at asking insightful questions to help you deduce the answer.
Emma’s website is Life, Business and Career Coach Tunbridge Wells | Kent | Action Woman and we recommend you contact her on all of life’s challenges, be they self-initiated or not!
What will you do to challenge yourself in 2021?
Whatever you do, we’d love to hear from you and if you need to challenge yourself to be more productive, more focussed or to meet kindred spirit freelancers, then contact us at OfficeTribe – 07780 598 808.
Your business deserves it!
#ChooseToChallenge #IWD2021