Finding a new tribe

This brilliant snap popped into my feed this morning - a snapshot of happy times with the Promote team. And whilst it made me smile, it was tinged with sadness at the fact that I am no longer part of this team…or in fact any team. Get the affect at the moment has just one member of staff, me. 

Brainstorms for one can be a struggle, client management as well as campaign delivery fill my day with no one to delegate to, and don’t get me started on admin...  

Working for yourself can be lonely at the best of times I quickly found, but added to a global pandemic and having just an 11yr old for company most days, I found the need to establish a new work support network, a new tribe to feel part of. 

This realisation came at the same time as client work picked up and I needed to outsource some campaign elements including design and videography. I am a lady of many talents, but these areas are not some of them and I know when to bring in the experts.  

Slowly but surely my new ‘team’ emerged, a group of trusted, fellow independents with a shared desire to do great work for great clients, working with great people. I still have to make my own coffee, but conversations soon turned to day to day chitchat, brainstorming and planning, problem sharing and sometimes the odd rant. Added to this joining relevant networking groups and reconnecting with clients and colleagues from the past has continued to increase the sense of belonging.  

I can’t wait for lockdown to end and the ability to meet people in person returning, nothing beat face to face, even (especially) when there’s a difficult conversation to be had. But for now…Zoom calls.