What’s Next? – Career Development When You’re Self-Employed

I’ve been a freelance copywriter for more than a decade. I love what I do, and I love the freedom that comes with being self-employed. But there is one thing I really miss about traditional employment. Career Development Plans. Let me explain…

Have I Ever Told You About My Career in Retail?

In another life, before marriage, before kids, and long before Love Audrey, I worked for Woolworths {RIP}. I started as a Christmas temp when I was 16, working evenings and weekends around my A Levels. When my 12-week contract came to an end, they kept me on.

A few months later, having decided 6th Form wasn’t for me, my manager, Brenda, promised to give me as many shifts as she could, putting me in charge of seasonal confectionery. With Easter coming up, it was a big responsibility! She arranged some extra training so I could supervise the tills, give refunds and authourise exchanges.

‘Frank, I’m gonna give you this to do,’ she would say. ‘I know you’ll be great at it. Let me show you how it works.’

I was young, incredibly hard working, and I loved everything about retail. Eventually, the big boss, Andrew, noticed my potential and I was given my own department to manage. When a vacancy opened up for Senior Team Leader, he encouraged me to apply. I was awarded the promotion and soon found myself in charge of recruitment and training.

When Andrew moved to a brand new store, he asked me to go with him. I spent 6 weeks interviewing, on-boarding and training over 100 new recruits. Over the next couple of years, I completed numerous courses and worked in various roles before my area manager suggested I apply for an Assistant Manager position at another branch.

And on and on it went. I worked in various stores across London, embracing every training programme, course and qualification I was offered. I loved my job, and only thought about leaving when I realised the graduates I was training to be managers were earning more than me simply because I’d learned ‘on the job’ instead of going to uni.

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone

As a company, Woolworths was far from perfect, but I always felt nurtured and encouraged. I was lucky to work with managers who wanted the best for me and took a lot of pride in developing their team. I never had to figure out my next step because there was always someone pushing me forward. I was handed a clear, defined path of progression with plenty of formal and informal learning opportunities along the way.

This is what I miss. A ready-made road map to the next level. Someone to nudge me in the right direction. The perfect training programme or course just waiting for me to attend. A promotion to apply for. Annual reviews. Professional validation.

Of course, there are ways to access all these things as a freelancer, but sometimes doing this under your own steam feels like too much. Career development is another task on the never ending to-do list, and it’s one that requires plenty of head space.

What’s Next?

As you can probably tell, I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. As a family, we’re about to go through another massive period of transition. Our eldest daughter, Izzy, is off to university this autumn and our youngest son, Jesse, is alarmingly close to the end of secondary school.

Whenever my daily rhythm changes significantly, I find myself reflecting on my career and wondering whether anything needs to change. Is it time for a new chapter? What might that look like? What steps do I need to take to get there?

I guess this post is a long, convoluted way of saying I wish I didn’t have to figure it all out on my own! Can you relate?!

Love Audrey xxx

P.S. 7 Questions About Writing and my Career

P.P.S. A version of this post originally appeared in my monthly newsletter. If you’ve enjoyed reading this and would like more of my words in your inbox, you can sign-up here.