Hi there! Welcome back to On Brand - your weekly dose of actionable strategies and insights to grow & monetize your personal brand.

I asked on stories the other day whether it would be helpful to share some tips on how to “create your own job” and the response has been overwhelming. So here we go! In today’s issue, we’re going to dive into how you can go all in on entrepreneurship/ freelancing / creating your own opportunities in general.

With the recently announced lay-offs, the general anxiety about where the job market is headed, and on the more positive side, the new wave of people who want to make a living by doing what they actually want to do, the timing couldn’t be better.

I loved this video by Victoria Prew, who founded Hurr (rental platform in the UK) and is one of my fave entrepreneurs to follow. And I couldn’t agree more.

It’s been two years since I gave in a notice at my dream tech job, and dare I say, I’ve been thriving ever since (other than the daily non-negotiable entrepreneurship crash out), so let me share how I’d navigate it if I were to start all over again.

And of course, I’ll be talking about the importance of building your personal brand and getting your name out there. We’re starting The Personal Brand Challenge today, so make sure you join us if you want to be the next big thing in your space. Link to sign up here - we have over 1,000 of you in already!

WE’RE STARTING TODAY

Twice a year, we run a 3-day challenge to help ambitious founders and creators take their personal brand to the next level. Last time we ran it, we had over 1,500 incredibly ambitious women joining us and the breakthroughs they had with how they want to show up?! Insane!

So we’re doing it again! Starting on Monday, November 3rd, you’ll receive email training and tools to help you go from the best-kept secret to the next big thing.

Click below to grab your spot!

The best things we’ve read, watched and listened to + news from the internet.

Looking for a new gig?! We got you! Here are some coolest jobs in social media, creator economy & female-led brands.

Whether you want more freedom, find working for yourself ultimately chic or always knew you were meant to build something bigger than your day job, I hope you find this guide helpful.

Take what resonates, leave what doesn’t. Everyone’s situation, circumstances, and taste for risk-taking will be different, but here are the things I wish I knew when I first started, the things I did right, and the lessons I learned the hard way.

Quick backstory, I left my 9-5 (product ops management in big-ish tech) in Summer 2023. I’ve been working on my own business and growing my personal brand since early 2022, way before I decided to go solo.

1. Build a safety net for yourself

The more romantic thing to say would be to quit your job tomorrow and go chase your dreams. It would also be incredibly stressful for you and we don’t want that. If you have the luxury of a stable 9-5, keep it until it no longer makes sense. I didn’t quit my full-time job until I built a client roster ( I worked A LOT!), my own work was outearning my salary, and I could see long-term potential in it.

The same goes for savings. No job is ever as stressful as not knowing how you’ll pay your bills or rent the next month. Be smart and set yourself up for success, even if it means doing both things at the same time for a period of time.

During the “transition” period, I’d get up at 4 am to write content, do client work (I did freelance social media for a big wellness brand in the UK), and work on courses I was offering at the time. Then I’d clock in at 9 am to my full-time job, and every weekend for months would be spent shooting content. I’m very grateful to Alex in 2022/2023 for her hustle.

2. Create your own opportunities

99% of the opportunities that I’ve had in my career so far, I created for myself, mostly by cold emailing people. Brand partnerships, clients, speaking gigs…you name it, I probably asked for it. I cold-email and cold-DM to this day like my life depends on it.

If you want to be successful, you’ll need to learn how to be shameless and how to handle rejection well (or, like me, handle it very badly but then dust yourself off and get back up).

3. Put your work out there

You don’t need to have 100,000 followers to be successful. Unless that’s what you want to do, of course. What you need is to get your work in front of the right people.

The internet has democratized success, and you’d be silly not to take advantage of it. The most incredible things happened to me because I’ve put myself out there, and so many of my friends & clients experienced the same thing. I know content can be so time-consuming, but there truly isn’t a better way to create your own opportunities.

4.Network like it’s your full-time job

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Knowing and being endorsed by the right person can get you very, very far, and one conversation can change the entire trajectory of your business or career. I wish I had taken this far more seriously from the get-go. Network with peers. Network with mentors. Meet people in person. Meet them online. If you need more of a system, I loved this Substack by Phoebe Dodds about The 100 Connections and will be participating in the challenge myself.

5.Expect things to get tricky (and be ready for when the s**t hits the fan)

Working for yourself, being a founder, girlbossing around the globe, it all sounds so glamorous. And while following up on the client’s email for the third time in a row is definitely easier from a cafe in Paris or beach club in Canggu, running your own business is REALLY hard. They say entrepreneurship is like a personal development accelerator, and they are not joking.

Build your support network. Build financial safety as much as you can. Build in any rituals that keep you sane and help you cope. Scream into a pillow. And then get back out there.

6. What to monetize and how to price yourself

There are a million and one ways to make money, and choosing the right opportunity to pursue is half the battle. Choose based on your current circumstances and your priorities.

If you have a big, engaged audience already, you can look at creating a paid resource or a community for them. But that’s probably not going to work for now (and pay your bills) if the only people currently watching your reels are your mum and your bestie.

Or maybe location freedom is very important for you. That means you’ll only pursue fully remote opportunities and not open a studio in the city you’re currently in. Decide what’s important for you and what your financial goals are, and then work backward from there.

Different ways to make money:

1. Hourly consulting and client retainers. The fastest way to replace your income, especially if you get multiple clients.
2. Fractional work. There are a ton of opportunities to do fractional work for companies, especially for more senior roles. Think fractional CMO, fractional Head of Socials, etc.
3. Project work. What it says on the tin. You help your clients deliver a certain project and charge based on the scope.
4. Digital products. You can take your knowledge, turn it into a product like a course, workshop, or downloadable, and monetize it. This works best if you can create a lot of content and drive a lot of traffic to these products, as they tend to be on the lower side of the $$$ spectrum.
5. Paid programs, coaching, and communities. Again, taking your knowledge or solving a problem for your audience with more hands-on delivery than digital products.

Ok, I hope this was helpful! This obviously does not cover things like scaling a company, creating a brand, building your audience, etc., but if you’re just starting or considering doing your own thing, this should give you a good insight into whether this could work for you or not.

I think the future is full of people with unconventional careers doing what they genuinely love and are the best in the world at (shout out to all the baddies with made-up, cool-sounding job titles), and you know…if it doesn’t work out, you can always find another job (only half-kidding here).

Now, go make the world your stage and create something extraordinary.

We’ve created free tools to help you level up your personal brand this year. Grab both of them below.

Obsession-Worthy Brand Guide

Your blueprint for a personal brand that connects and converts. Downloaded 3,000+ times and rated 5 stars, it helps you show up with clarity so your content actually lands.

On-Demand Personal Brand Strategist

Get a powerful ChatGPT prompt + five follow-ups to clarify your positioning, grow your audience, and create content that drives results. 

As always, thanks for being here! And let me know - are you already running your own business full-time? Are you doing both? In your 9-5 daydreaming about being your own boss one day?

The Girls Club Team

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