40th edition: Painting grey skies with colour

Why grey zones are one hell of a canvas

Happy Wednesday, I hope you’re having a wonder-full week.

Yesterday, I experienced the perks of prepping in the rain. Here’s a glimpse for yourself—make sure your sound is on to capture the magic:

I was decorating booths for Startupfest—Montreal’s biggest startup event—when the rain came down and a rainbow popped out to say hi.

The sudden change of a grey sky painted with colour was emblematic of my dive into self-employment. Back in September, I left the security of my nine-to-five job not knowing how I would earn my next dollar. Uncertainty was my canvas—and as it turns out, my muse.

“The only thing bigger than fear is hope.”—Unknown

Here’s the advice a friend gave me to stave off darker skies—like dwindling my savings—as I searched for opportunities to illuminate my one-woman business.

Start with what you know—then refine

“Let your network know what your skill set is and then see what people come to you for. You’ll likely be surprised.

Take what you can get initially, and then once you know what you want to focus on, you can be more selective.”

—My first friend in London turned personal career guru

Ten months back, this advice was the first sign of a rainbow after I’d plunged into a grey area. Not only did former colleagues and collaborators propose continuing to work together on a contract basis, but old acquaintances and complete strangers saw my content on LinkedIn and reached out with potential projects.

Every creation—or process—has to begin somewhere and undergo changes through various stages (Image source: Sublime Cravings via Google images)

Now, I’m at a point where I’ve earned the right to be more selective.

The transition has been weird—but good. At first, I felt guilt at not accepting every great project or short-term role that came my way. How can I pass this up? I would think. Then, per usual, I would call one of my few friends on a similar solopreneurship journey for their advice—only to have them put me in touch with what I already knew in my gut: this is a great opportunity but I must decline it because it isn’t right for me at this time.

The upside is that being more selective is beneficial to both me and my clients. Win-win.

Course-building example

Keep reading for a rundown of my favourite post-course reflection exercise

Launching a course is similar to how I started my solopreneurship journey in that there’s a lot of grey to wade through. Even when you feel clear about who your ideal students are and what you should teach them, you should think of your pilot cohort as one big experiment. Trust me, you’ll enjoy it a lot more that way.

You’re guaranteed to be surprised by the number of insights you glean, and one of my favourite parts of running courses is taking time to reflect on changes to be made for the next cohort.

EXERCISE: Here’s my favourite reflection exercise—which you can run independently or as a team:

Alexandra Allen | Learning Designer @AlexandraAllen_

The best teams are always optimizing. Meaning they enhance collaboration from one project to the next. If you’re keen to do the same, try this:

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Thank you for reading, I appreciate you being one of my first 213 subscribers.

For those of you new to this burgeoning community of course creators and writers, you can check out past editions here. Also, please feel free to hit reply with feedback or suggestions for the future. I’d love to hear from you.

Have a wonder-full week,

Alexandra

P.S. If you’ll be at Startupfest tomorrow or Friday, let me know and we can meet up. Also, if you’re into walking meetings, I encourage you to stroll around the area surrounding the venue. Between the historical buildings, the water, and the summer sky, the Old Port palette is one you’ll want to soak in.