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I'm a #LadyBoss. Yes, hashtag included! For a few years now, I'm "President" (that's CEO in France). And I have to admit: I do like it, even though my business card says "Mistress of Digital" - I like the title even better and it questions people. How did I get to this? Let's see...
Problems => solution
My main problem, if you can say so, is that I can't stay focused on a single task or project for too long. Not that I'm not able to concentrate, but I get bored easily and need to skip from one idea to the next. My second problem is: I'm not very keen on working 9 to 6. Not that I dont want to, but I'm definitely at my best at night. If you need me to work fast and good, let me turn on my computer after dinner and don't expect me to leave it before 4am. Advantage: no distraction of any sort, no noise, just my screen, myself and I. At night, my productivity is at its top.
Not easy to find a job when your working habits don't fit the box, especially in France where you're not paid for being efficient but for spending hours at work (35 to be exact). I can't tell you how many of those hours I spent playing backgammon online because I had finished my work and was restricted to my own tasks (please, don't try to do something else, even if you can succeed).
In my late 20s, I made a choice: instead of trying to fit in and feel miserable, I decided to take a chance on creating my first business.
From bad employee to bad CEO
My first experience as CEO wasn't that good. I was a bad employee - if you consider an employee as a docile executant - and became a CEO, no in-between. No previous experience. And at that time, creating a business was not as simple as it is today. Raising a business as unexperienced as I was in management was risky and, indeed, it has proven so. I started my company because of an opportunity and closed it three years later because of a lack of motivation.
I was focused on my work, on executing the tasks, just like when I was an employee and, even though I was much better at this than I had ever been, I sucked at managing a business. Accounting, business planning, finding clients... I hadn't anticipated the big picture. Nothing had trained me for this and nobody had given me the right piece of advice (whereas today you can find multiple articles explaining how to raise and run a successful business).
The serendipity factor
A few years later, back to school to develop my skills and try to think things over again. What would I do with my life? And there came a kindergarten friend who knew I was blogging. His boss was looking for a community manager with writing skills. He thought of me. After only a few minutes of interview, his boss also became my boss. This encounter was decisive for my future: he believed on work and results not on presence and boredom; instead of telling me what to do, he explained his views and asked for mine; and as the office was outside of Paris, he told me to come nonly twice a week and work from home the other days. I had no rules except doing my job. And I did it the best I could, hoping not to disappoint him ever.
I worked with him for a couple of years before the company was sold and I found myself wondering what I would do with my life (again!). I opted for social networking and found my first clients as a freelancer on Facebook (yes, I did, and this was back in 2012). As things went buy, I collaborated regularly with clients who referred me to other clients and so on. Eventually, a friend of mine offered to teach classes for bachelor students and that's how our big adventure began.
Don't think out of the box: create your own
Our big adventure is called Creative Slashers because we both multiply skills and lives with a certain creativity. We created our company, keeping in mind that we didn't want to make the same mistakes we had already done and that we should definitely follow our instinct instead of "secure" business rules. as time went buy, we started recruiting other members for our collective, all freelancers willing to collaborate on innvating projects while keeping a rich personal life.
Today, I'm still my own boss, even though my clients are the real boss. I've created my own rules, my own lifestyle, working as a digital nomad between Paris - my basecamp - and... wherever I want to travel. The world is my office and I never hesitate to take a break in the middle of the afternoon if I feel like it's the good time. The people who work with me know this and they have the same freedom: as long as he job is done, they manage their own time.
Now my box is like no other: full of personal time and exciting professional projects. As a manager, I still deal with the chores that remain my duty but my job makes me happy and, more than anything, I'm better at what I do than I've ever been. Who said you can't do things in a different way?