One big thing I miss about working for a big company is the perks. Working for yourself is great and all, but any perks have to come out of my own (my company’s pocket). It’s hard enough using my company card to pay for legitimate everyday expenses, never mind the non-essentials I’m about to tell you about.
I was really impressed at my last company’s Learning @ Work Week initiative. The last one I was there for actually spanned a fortnight, and was a chance for people across the five floors of the headquarters to find out more about what different teams did, and to hear talks from representatives from Nike, Disney, Snapchat and all other big companies about the inner workings of what it takes to keep massive brands growing.
Inspirational stuff.
Another helpful thing about working for a big company is that they offered course upon course about how to improve your skills, whether it be at Excel, management or whatever else you needed to fulfil your role to the best of your ability. Occasionally it also meant they’d offer to pay for you to leave the office for a bit (a few times even pay for a hotel, as it would be in another city) for in-depth training. The most expensive one I remember taking cost over £450.
Serious business.
I don’t think it’s very likely that I’ll end up paying that much for single-day training myself, but the next-best thing is to get to as many relevant free and cheap conferences as I can. I’ve got a calendar of dates across the year filled with digital marketing, Amazon, ecommerce and blogging events I’m going to get myself down to, so I feel like I can keep up with what’s new in the industries, as I really felt it in my year away from them.
I’m back and about.
This self-employed world is as lonely as you make it. There are loads of opportunities to connect with people in similar situations, so that’s exactly what I’m making an effort to do from now on. It’s given me valid reasons to escape the boys for nights away in Brighton, London, Manchester and elsewhere over the past few months.
So is it working?
As good as the events have been, most of the value has come from just being able to get away and think about work instead of doing it. I’ll get a handful of nugget of actionable insights from each, but stepping away and chatting to people (both new ones and people I used to work with) has been the difference maker.
I’m ready to set my next OOO.
