When this blog was born in March 2009, I was just getting into social networking for business and fully embracing the importance of digital reputation/personal brand. This awakening had arisen in conjunction with my baby step pursuit of becoming my own business. I created “Small Biz Big Time” to address the social and digital realm expressly for small or medium-sized businesses.
Over a year later, those baby steps have led to a full leap. Now, I’m nobody’s employee. I’m totally my own company. Prior to this ‘tah-dah’ moment, I’d been working remotely from a home office in Nashville for a company out of the Chicago-area for more than nine years. In my work-from-home scenario, I’d proven I was immensely disciplined, solitarily resourceful, high functioning and effective. I’d been doing some freelance work, so I was meticulous in tracking expenses, deductions and billing.
How different could things be when the framework of employment goes away?
Surprise! No way around it: something fundamentally altered in my universe when the flip was switched. Though I already had client projects in place and ongoing and my former employer became a client—keeping many familiar elements in tact, my corner of the world did morph.
This very blog is a representation of just how different things have been. I had nary an ounce of brain power left over to blog from March until June. It wasn’t just that I was swallowed in client deadlines, though that was blessedly part of the issue. It was also the fact that there’s a just different energy involved when there’s no set pay day, no corporate buffer.
Now that I’m really living the life of a small business owner, an entrepreneur—a start-up, I’m compelled to talk all aspects of running a business and living life as a business owner and am ready to broaden the scope of this blog. Thus I decree (it’s my blog, so I can do that) that Small Biz Big Time is now a forum for all topics relevant to business owners.
Sole proprietors, start-ups, well-oiled machines… Wherever you are in your business journey, this blog can be yet another source for insights, information and inspiration. Yes, social media—digital reputation, online community—will remain an anchor of content. But we’ll also talk about everything from finances and legal issues to HR issues and work-life balance.
Also, I’ve launched a Facebook group to keep the conversation and information-sharing fluid. Please join—and join in! If you have a question, topic suggest or would like to contribute, drop me a line at irene@workwriting.net.
I think we can all help each other—big time.
Thanks for reading!
small Biz Big time 