London woman quits job to run her side hustle full time and make 'six figure sum' despite finding solo work 'lonely'
A London woman has shared the reality of what life involves for an entrepreneur looking to make a success of a side hustle business full time. Shoshanna Davis has quit her corporate job to instead focus on running the Fairy Job Mother, where she offers career advice and mentoring to young people.
While Shoshanna, 28, hopes to pay herself a six-figure salary she's admitted the first three months running the solo business have involved a lot of "trial and error" plus she's had to get used to the loneliness of working alone. Shoshanna says she is still confident about the future after leaving technology firm Intel in January to take her company full time.
She started Fairy Job Mother in October 2020 to offer a "one stop shop" of careers advice to sixth form and university students. It also runs consulting services and interactive workshops for employers, schools and universities.
READ MORE: 'I came to London from Poland with £200 and a bike - now I'm worth millions'
It has since grown to a following of 20,000 by sharing careers advice resources across TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn - and Shoshanna aims to eventually pay herself a six-figure salary. Shoshanna, who moved from London to Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire, a year ago, said: “You see on social media stuff like ‘I’ve just made my first six figures working in Bali and this is how you can do it too’ which obviously puts everyone else under a lot of pressure.
“You think ‘why am I not making that?’ but most of the time it’s just bullsh*t and people are saying that to sell their online courses. There are so many unrealistic expectations flying around business and careers.
“Social media is definitely a highlight reel and I see so much of that on TikTok and Instagram. I just want to be honest and hope to help other people in the same position, struggling or the first few months have been hard, and they feel like they’re the only one and are doing something wrong.
“I failed my A-Levels and ended up getting into university through clearing as all of my offers rejected me. I had to phone up my uni and beg them to accept me, which they eventually did.
“I started with that disadvantage so something I wanted to do was try and get as much experience as I could. When I graduated, I thought I’d love to start a platform to help others do the same but I’d just started a busy corporate job which involved a lot of travel, so I didn’t have the time. But then Covid hit and travelling went to zero, so I started it and now have an online community of 20,000 people.”
Shoshanna joined Intel in August 2017 after graduating from London South Bank University with a degree in marketing. She left in January 2023 to be a full-time entrepreneur and says the biggest weights on her mind are the loneliness of working alone and the risk of depending on herself for work.
She said: “At the time Fairy Job Mother was taking up a lot of my time and I was very busy at work and very busy with both. I got burnt out loads of times and just thought ‘I’m going to take a massive risk and take it full-time’. It was and is very risky.
“One of the things I’m quite up front about is a lot of people assume I must be making loads but I’m not making the same money as I would in full-time corporate work. Usually, I work from home which is quite lonely as an entrepreneur. I’m originally from London and only moved to Cheltenham a year ago so it can get lonely, but I’ve joined a co-working space to potentially meet some new people which I’m excited about.
“The first month was February and I had quite a few things planned. I was invited to an event at the House of Commons for national apprenticeship week and I had two or three paid speakerships booked.
“But I ended up getting really ill and being bed-bound for two weeks. So, month one was pretty much a write-off because if you don’t attend things, you don’t get paid. For me one of the things I’ve had to do in March and April is take a step back and look at processes I need to put in place to start making more money. When I was working full-time, I didn’t have time.
“It’s about refining my offering, carrying out market research and speaking to employers. The first few months have been trial and error and also making some quite expensive investments. I may not see the money for a while but they’re worth it like getting a new website built and working with a business coach. But I’m absolutely confident about the future. You have to be. Mindset is everything.”
Shoshanna's top five tips for starting a business:
1. Empathise and understand - Speak to as many people in your target audience as possible to understand their challenges, perspective and if it is a genuine business opportunity.
2. Refine your idea - Use your research and knowledge of your target audience to refine your initial idea.
3. Write a business plan - Ask yourself these three important questions: What is the purpose of your business? Who are you selling to? What are your goals?
4. Assess your finances - Do you have the means to fund your business, or will you need to borrow money? If you plan to leave your current job to focus on your business, do you have savings to support yourself until you make a profit?
5. Progress over perfection - Your idea will never be instantly perfect. Focus first on bringing it to the market and getting feedback. You can always make changes later.
READ NEXT:
(Feed generated with FetchRSS)
Comments