Breaking free of the monotony of a 9-to-5 job may not be a piece of cake for most of us. But Pamela Slim is elated that she secured a nice little niche for herself around the concept. Already her popular blog, Escape From Cubicle Nation, has spawned a book by the same name, but you’ll have to wait until spring 2009 to read it.
Slim has trained with “the best-known life coach in America,” New York Times bestseller and O Magazine columnist Martha Beck. She is married with three kids and lives in Mesa, Arizona. “Entrepreneurship at its heart is aligning your purpose for being on earth with a business idea so compelling that you simply must do it, despite the fears that hold you back,” says Slim.
A pro at helping wannabe entrepreneurs jump ship, Slim took a little time out of her extremely busy writing and coaching schedule to talk about her journey.
Role model?
Slim: I love my mentor, Martha Beck, for her great contribution to the coaching field through a number of books (Finding Your Own North Star, Steering by Starlight) and ongoing magazine articles (O Magazine). I love how she makes writing a key part of her business, as well as how she truly lives her coaching principles.
Personal mantra?
Slim: If it tastes like liberation, it must be a good direction.
When did you start your business, and what inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
Slim: I started my business in 1996. When I first got into consulting, I thought I was just doing project work between jobs. But as soon as I started working for myself, I got lightening bolts of inspiration and realized I was made to be an entrepreneur. I have never looked back!
What tips can you give others who want to embrace their dream but don’t feel they have the confidence to move forward?
Slim: Creating an ideal life out of a place where you feel very stuck is a series of very small, incremental steps. Don’t worry about getting an entire business model designed and launched; do one small thing and see how it feels. When you get positive validations that a. You are capable of doing new things and b. It is possible to make progress, you get energy to continue the journey.
I also encourage people to develop a circle of supportive friends and mentors. If you try to do everything alone, you will feel very scared and unsure of what you are doing. By connecting with people on blogs, Twitter, social networking sites and plain old in-person networking events, you will gain courage.
Tell us about your product and what it was like to take an idea from concept to getting it up and running?
Slim: My business has changed since I first started it 12 years ago. I started as a consultant to large corporations, in the areas of training and development, management coaching and marketing communications. I got immediate validation that I could succeed as a consultant the first year I was in business when referrals started to come from my clients. In the almost 10 years that I did consulting, I never made a cold call.
In the most recent iteration of my business, I offer three things: coaching sessions for individuals, training for other coaching and entrepreneur companies and writing. I knew there was a market for my coaching when my blog really took off. Clients came calling without any effort, all attracted by what I was writing about.
Have you noticed certain advantages to being an entrepreneur versus having a day job?
Slim: It has been so long since I had a day job I can hardly remember. The advantages of being an entrepreneur are so many. Primarily, working for myself fits who I am as a person. I like flexibility, creating new things and not being stuck doing the same thing for a long time. I also have loved being able to flex my business as my life changes. I have had two kids in the last three years, so I was able to totally change my business model in order to work much less and stay home instead of travel the world. All this without having to have painful negotiations with my boss.
How long did it take before your business became profitable?
Slim: Mine was profitable the first month. Knowledge-based businesses are so much easier than those with great infrastructure costs!
Were there any challenges that you experienced along the way that you had to overcome?
Slim: I have had to overcome a lot of challenges. When I first started, I felt I was so green that I didn’t always have the answers my clients were looking for. I soon learned to rely heavily on mentors and to only worry about the project in front of me. As I completed more and more successful projects, I gained confidence.
When I started my coaching business, I had to learn everything about internet marketing from the ground up. None of my clients came from personal relationships as my consulting business had. So the learning curve was steep!
Can you share a few resources with us?
Slim: I love Robert Middleton’s site, actionplan.com. He focuses on independent service professionals like myself, and has wonderful information about creating a marketing program. I also often recommend startupnation.com to new entrepreneurs, as it has a wealth of great, free information.
For more information on Pamela Slim visit her at EscapeFromCubicleNation.com and ganas.com.
Looking forward to your coments; feel free to reply below.
Michelle
This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 2:44 am and is filed under Work, Starting a Business, Growing a Business, Women in Business, Information Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.9 Responses to “Living Happily Ever After Escaping the Cubicle”
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June 20th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Good stuff. I learned in 1998 that employees and “fixed assets” were not only no longer necessary, but might just prevent otherwise smart people from “making it” in business.
-ski
P.S. Plus, the personal freedom of entrepreneurship is a great (and unmeasurable) perk!
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:19 am
Escape From Cubicle Nation is a big inspiration for me. There is a way out of cubicle, but it is up to the individual to find it. We are so brainwashed to accept the comfort of the cubicle that we cannot even imagine there is a way out. Once the fear of failure is overcome, the rest follows. Ms. Slim’s articles showed me out.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I have been working hard on an internet business to help me escape my cubicle! It takes a lot more work than most think. I have started to see sales success ever since I started using glyphius to boost my ad copy. I am not out of the cubicle yet but i am well on my way! I look forward to the book in 2009.
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Awesome and inspiring article. Thank you!
June 24th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I work for Intuit — we make QuickBooks financial software for small businesses. Pam talks about the importance of developing a supportive group of friends and mentors when running your own business – we have a free website called JumpUp.com that offers just that. It has a community of entrepreneurs who share and get advice via forums such as “Get your business started,” “Get more customers” and “Coffee break.” JumpUp.com is also a resource site that you can easily search to find quality answers to your questions. Anyway, it’s a great resource for anyone who dreams of starting or has already started their own business.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Pamela, this is great advice! I just left my day job less than 2 weeks ago to live my dream of running my own web design business full time. I’m loving my new life and am very excited about this new phase in my career.
I agree with you that it’s so important to have a good support system in place, and expect that there will be many challenges to face, etc. You wear so many hats running your own business, but it’s learning about all the aspects (marketing, etc.) that I find fun and fulfilling as well.
Anyway, just wanted to thank you for sharing your experiences - it was articles like this that helped pay a role in deciding when to take the plunge.
June 30th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Pam,
All I can say is Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I am very new in my business and I appreciate the guidance you are giving to all of us as women entrpreneurs!
September 9th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
This is a grest post … very Moving and Inspiring. I love it!
May 4th, 2009 at 9:30 am
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