I’m a part of all that I have met – so are you.

I’m a part of all that I have met – so are you.

Being a self-employed Marketer – I’ve realised that being able to grow my new fledgeling business has largely, for me, been about Community.

Those who I know. Those who I am yet to meet. Those who know me who know others. Those who talk to people about me. Those who don’t know me yet, but that I have on my list to meet.

My favourite quote has, for most of my working life, come from the poem Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson. He writes about moving on – he writes,

Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use! 

But that’s not actually my favourite part. My favourite part is the line “I’m a part of all that I have met”.

You see – I’m a firm believer in the fact that your community – be it your immediate working environment, where you live, where you go to school, your gym, your local fresh fruit & veg grocer, the little lady you bump into in the mornings while you wait for the bus – are all part of this great big journey we call life. And before I hastily run away on my philosophical horse, let me bring it back to the case in point. Self-employment.

I’ve recently had the wonderful opportunity to get back into my local community – and pick up commitments and engagements that kept me intrigued before heading on to new corporate pastures. I’ve had the opportunity to re-discover online networks where people, not too dissimilar to myself, are looking to grow their businesses, expand their profiles, and grab this thing we call The Gig Economy with both hands and succeed.

So this evening, that’s exactly what I did. Between updating profiles on freelancer websites, and joining expat forums – I soon felt part of a brand new community of the self-employed – who are all focussed on 3 things:

1. Helping me become better at what I do
2. Helping themselves become better at what they do
3. Live the life that we’ve chosen for ourselves, selling what we do best – because we’re good at what we do.

And what’s even more encouraging are businesses who are actively adapting their business models – and grabbing this new way of working – and respecting skills and talent – not business names and brands – to get the real success that they’re after.

And that’s encouraging – no matter who you are.