How to Cope When You Work Alone

For most of you, you're a solo machine. I can definitely relate. I have launched over 25 different product/service ideas in the past 6 years alone. In most of that time I have worked alone, not necessarily out of choice, but more out of necessity. Now, it's important for me to stress that my failure rate is sitting at around 80%. Heck, Musta is the only one venture I have spent longer than 12 months actually being committed to. I used to get bored very easily and so my project turnover rate was quite rapid. However, the change really came for me when I finally shifted my focus from just wanting to start things (so I could look good on my CV) to actually wanting to grow things. Growing things is hard, especially when you are on your own.

But, there are things you can do to make things a little better.

👉🏾 Watch your mouth. The first thing that you need to do before anything else, is to take control of your mindset. As a creative, there are some slumps that seem to automatically come with being a part of your subscription to the creative industry. For example, some months can be really tough financially, you can face seasons where you lack any inspiration or good ol' imposter syndrome can rear his ugly head. It's difficult, but despite it all, you've still just got to watch your mouth. Why? Well, what you say about yourself is a representation about what you feel about yourself. What you feel about yourself is a representation of what you think about yourself. If you think you suck, then there is no way you'll be able to produce work that doesn't suck. Be kind to yourself always.

👉🏾 Fully Unpack. Much like if you live alone, when you're working alone, you're often doing the complete process yourself from A to B. It's the process of going shopping for the ingredients, cooking the food, eating the food and then washing the dishes. You're accountable for every single stage. Because of this responsibility, you need to ensure that you separate the various processes so that things don't get muddled up. I'm sure you know that I'm an Admin Queen, so you'd better believe that I've got a digital folder for everything. By separating everything this way, you'll be able to keep tabs on the million things that you have running around in your mind. If folders are not for you, then it may help to put things on a visual board instead. I personally use Notion and Milanote because sometimes you just need to see how things are coming together visually. The key thing is to get everything in your head down somewhere- even if it's in a notebook. Why? Because that way it's not so scary or overwhelming.

👉🏾 Call in the Robots. There are so many different tools and software that you can use to make your live easier. From accounting software (i.e. Quickbooks) to project management tools (i.e. Asana or Slack). I also use good ol' PayPal as my invoicing system which sends out my regular invoices automatically (because I would definitely forget) and allows me to issue new ones in less than three clicks! Seek tools that can make your life easier, so you can focus on doing the work that you love.

Working alone is can be really challenging but also really character-developing, so be smart with the choices you make.