Latest / The Uplift- with Luke Pollock / #38 - Solo Pod- Reflections of 6 Months Self Employment
Transcript
- Luke Pollock: Welcome back to another episode of The Uplift. I'm your host, Luke, and today we're back with another solo podcast. We're gonna be covering what the last six months have looked like for me as a self-employed person, as a self-employed physiotherapist, and my biggest takeaways from these last six months. So if that's something that you're interested in, then please stick around for the full episode. we're gonna get into the pros and the cons and I'm gonna give you a really honest review of this time that I've so dearly searched for for the last two to three years. And now it's here. How am I actually finding it? Am I enjoying it? Am I not enjoying it? Stick around and you'll find out. But this is a a nice natural time for me to come and reflect because we're having a week off rugby. So we finished the first block of champ games, the first five games, and it's a bit it must feel a bit weird for everyone else to hear that, although it is half term. it naturally just feels like a a break in my calendar and yeah it's come at a really, really nice time. Obviously the body is feeling it after five games in the English Champ, which I've really, really enjoyed, to be fair. I've really enjoyed the step up. I've really enjoyed feeling like I'm competing at the top level. and it's challenging, but that challenge is very welcome for me at the minute. And th that leads me on to to saying how grateful I am that I am self employed. And it during this podcast, during this episode, I never want to come across Like I've got it all fixed, sorted, like I've got it all worked out, like I know everything. this is just my experience and I'm incredibly grateful to my wife that supports me in doing this and to my family and everyone who watches my Instagram videos and everyone who signed up as a a client with me allows me to do this and I do feel very fortunate in that and I understand that everyone's in different situations. So I'd like to caveat that at the start. and I often hate caveat and stuff because I think, people will know this, but I think it's important to say that this is all coming from a place of of gratitude. And I haven't prepped too much for this podcast because I want it to come from myself and and not think about what people want to hear, but actually think about what how I actually have found it and and try to be authentic in that. so yeah, the the chump so far, before we get onto the the lessons I've learned, the chump so far has been really, really fun. I've found that I've been able to give more time to my rugby in terms of time invested in video and then time also in my own like investing into myself in terms of getting recovery sessions in. And these were things I wished I could do last year. And I was sort of hanging on by a thread at points last season. so it's been really class to be fair, give my body a bit more time and time that it deserves to cope with the demands of playing at this level when you're playing against full time teams so it's their full time job to play. So yeah, I've I've really enjoyed giving it a bit more time. And I think that's showing on the pitch. I hope I'm playing with a lot more freedom than I'm used to playing with compared to the last few seasons. I would say the last two session seasons I felt a bit more pressure, but now I'm just enjoying it a lot more and I hope that that's coming across in the way I'm playing and I'm sure it is. But That's not really what we're here to talk about. We're here to talk about the last six months. So, for those of you who are new here, I quit my private physioclinic job in London in March time to go all in in on self-employment. And at the start, that looked like a mix of seeing in-person and online clients. I would say probably 60% online, 40% in person. So the in-person stuff is really bumping up my income. But then I very intentionally cut that back. And to the point where it's now probably ninety percent of my income comes from my online physioclients, and then ten percent is bumped up from people I just see in person. And that has been intentional because I want to have an online business. I want to have the flexibility and the freedom to work with any from anywhere. but I also enjoy working with people. So the ten percent of time I spend wouldn't even be ten percent. It's five percent of the time I spend seeing people in person. I really, really enjoy and value that time. And I'm quite a sociable person. Having an online job can mean that can mean that I'm less sociable. So I really enjoy still having the option to see my clients in person. And a lot of my online clients have been coming to see me in person, which is really fun as well. So you get to know them a little bit more. but that leads me into my first point, I suppose, which is Working for yourself can be financially stressful. There are no two ways about it. you have one good, comfortable month and the next month might look very different, especially when you're s factoring in things like being sick and being on holiday. fortunately, no, I haven't been sick. I've only been ill once and I was able to just cancel cancel my in person session. but I have been on holiday. I had a month off pretty much. So my income dramatically dropped for July and August, which was to be expected, but it is tough. when you have bills to pay and you're trying to keep everything afloat and yeah, you are living in an expensive city. It can be tough at times. but it is a work it is a it's a payoff and it's part and parcel of it. And to be honest, while I find it stressful, I would much rather that stress than the other stresses that came with being employed for me. So the stress of trying to please a boss, the stress of getting the tube every day. Those stresses to me were much worse than the stress of financially, am I gonna make it work this month? I actually secretly quite enjoy the hustle of that. although in the at the time I maybe don't, but looking back on it, I I secretly quite enjoy the hustle of of trying to make trying to try trying to make enough to live on each month and going beyond that as well. So financially it can be stressful. The other side of that is financially it can be incredibly rewarding. So for the last three months since September, well yeah, last two months. But there's been three months I've definitely out of the last six where I've definitely made more than I would have made working full time hours for a private clinic in London, which is kind of crazy to me because in that clinic I would be seeing, you know, forty clients a week at times or ther yeah, at least thirty, for eight clients a week at times. And I'm making more money this way on on my own hours, being able to make a podcast on a Wednesday afternoon, which is really cool. So it can be financially stressful, but the financial upsides are also are also very present. And I've enjoyed both of those. And I I guess it kind of equals out to like if I had a job, but because three months haven't been as good and then three months have been much better. Secondly, then my second point would be we have We have been conditioned to work in a certain way and it is really hard to get used to a new way of working. So I would say I am like working in a different way to how nine to fivers work, but I find it really hard to teach myself that. So I will still come with a nine to five mindset. So I will still come with the mindset the longer I'm I'm at my desk, the more I will get done, or the more I should reward myself with time off. So if I haven't been at my desk for four hours that day. Then I feel a little bit guilty if I'm going out for a coffee. And that is how we've been conditioned. And you're probably listening to this, been like, Yeah, obviously, because you haven't worked hard enough. But that's actually that's crazy. Like you should be able to go for a coffee first thing and get what you need to get done for the day in in a couple hours and then go and chill out after that. But that is much easier said than done because when you work for yourself, there's no one saying, Yeah, you're done now, you can go off. You can just keep going and keep going. And there's always something more to be done. I haven't made a piece of content today. Well, I'm going back home this weekend. Maybe I should make pieces of content for that. There's always more to be done. And it's like it can become addictive, but in the wrong way. So you're like punishing yourself. And you can't let yourself enjoy your time off unless you've ticked every box and replied to every message. But as soon as you reply to every message, then you'll get more messages through. So it's like a self fulfilling, a self feeding cycle, I should say. So we've been conditioned to work in a certain way, which is time oriented. Instead of task oriented. So if you read a book like Deep Work or Essentialism, it will get you to focus on tasks at a time. And normally there's one to two tasks that I have to get done each day that are important. Today it's a podcast and I had a coaching call this morning. Those are my two big tasks for the day. But I will fill so much time around that. And those are two hours max. Like the time I the coaching call was an hour, and then the time I prep for this and edit, it will be an hour as well. but I've spent so much time deliberating around it and on my phone and thinking I could be doing more, should I be applying to this and and feeling busy. Feeling busy is so addictive. So I'm still very much getting used to this new way of work. And in reality, I could wake up at seven and work from eight till eleven and get everything that I need done for the day. But my brain tells me I need to work harder, I need to be at the desk longer if I want to do well. which is crazy. And I think it's really good for me to make this podcast to realise that as well. Like I could get all my work done in three to four hours in a day, but I spend most of the day at my desk scrolling, picking picking my next Instagram post for hours and hours and hours. And because I don't have like a certain time constraint or anyone telling me, you're done now, I can spend all day doing different tasks. So that is something I've definitely, definitely stru struggled with. Which sort of leads me to my third learning, which is doom scrolling is an issue. And it's becoming like a bit of a a joke thing recently, I think online, like, we're all addicted to our phones, doom scrolling. And this is something I've been like acutely aware of. I remember in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, turning my phone to grayscale mode, which if you don't know, you could turn off the colors on your iPhone and it tricks your brain into thinking like this isn't a fun toy to use anymore. so I did that in twenty twenty and I've throughout my life I've gone through periods of being on my phone all the time and then cutting out and feeling much better. And it has slowly crept in and crept in. And I've said this on recent podcasts, but I haven't done anything about it. And today when prepping for this podcast, I was like, right, I'm gonna do something about this today. So for now, I have re put my phone on grayscale again. So taking the colours off it, I have deleted Instagram on my phone, which I will obviously have to re-download if I'm doing things like creating carousels and stuff. I I need to I need it for work. But yeah, just those simple actions for today. At least I can win today, the afternoon of today, because my screen time's just getting higher and higher. It's like three, four hours a day, which is not what I want to be doing. Especially if I wanna be making things, be putting things out into the world and be creative. I don't want to be consuming that much crap in a day pretty much. So I'd rather be consuming from books and then actually enjoying my leisure time rather than lick mixing my chilling out time with work because I can be on my phone doom scrolling when I'm having a break from work and then a message will come through about rehab. So technically am I working? Am I resting? My brain never knows when to switch off. so that's been another thing that I've learned is it's really important to have a cut off time, which I would really struggle to have if I wasn't married or in a relationship for those of you who you aren't married. But when I know Catherine comes home like that's when work finishes. Maybe once or twice I've had to jump on a call or reply to a client or do a bit of programming. But normally when she comes home, work's finished, we're having dinner and we're watching TV for the evening, which has been class because otherwise I would definitely just like tinker away at things and try and do this or do this and get a bit lost in the project. But yeah, it's been really, really cool to have that. And then obviously I've got trainings most evenings as well. so that's been really good to have a cut off time and to be disciplined in that. And if you have someone that you like spending time with, then that will help that will help you to do that. The next thing then, so number four I would say is opportunities are endless. Like there's been really cool opportunities that have come my way and I've opened my idea, my brain up to new opportunities for next year and that I wouldn't have thought about to be possible if I was in a nine to five job because my first priority would be that job. But now that my job can be more mobile and more remote and I can create my own opportunities, it does feel a little bit like, I could do this, I could do this, which leads to the problem of like so many options. What what should I do? But I love having options last week. Options are a key. if you want to watch last week's episode, that's what we talked about. So yeah, I just think being self employed has given me loads more options and has made me realize that like we can you can kind of do what you want when you have a way of making money. And money ties us in so much to a location, a job. whatever that need and dependence on an employer really ties us in. So that's been really cool. I've been really enjoying different opportunities that have come along with it. Like this morning I was on a call, a social media coaching call, which is crazy. And I didn't advertise myself, but someone just messaged me saying, I want my social media to be better and I like what you're doing. Can you tell me what you're doing? And I just jumped the call for an hour and just talked him through my social media strategy, how I see it, what I'm trying to do, what my future look like and what I think he should do. And honestly, it was so much fun. The R absolutely flew in. It was supposed to be forty-five minutes and it was an hour. and yeah, I loved it. And I would have never thought that would be an option before this whole thing started. So it's really cool. I'm I'm really grateful for that. And number five is kind of the same. It will challenge what you want and give you autonomy in life. Well, it's not really the same. because you might think you want one thing, but when you get so much time to think and actually decide, this is what I want to do. So 'Cause I'm not working for an employer, I don't get told what to do. I get to choose what to do. And I'm very intentional about that. When I've had business coaches in the past, it has been, okay, let's like let's move through the rung the the rungs of thing is in terms of get yourself a name, get yourself a location, get yourself another employee employee. And that almost feels like I I'm employed again. They're telling me what to do. And that's not like a school, don't tell me what to do type thing, but it's more like actually, do I want that, or is that just what I'm told I should want? And should want to do. And I'm sort of like labeling myself as a bit of a joke, but myself as like a lifestyle business. Like I do have a lifestyle business right now. I don't want a physical location which I have to pay fees for. I don't want other employees right now. I want to my job to fit around my lifestyle. My lifestyle involves playing a lot of rugby, playing a lot of rugby, looking after myself, reading books, chilling out, and making money to make money. And sometimes I think that we can be told when when we start a business or go self-employed that you need to make more and more and more and more. And don't get me wrong, I have aspirations and projections, which I plan to make an episode on the at the end of the year about my 2027 goals because I think it's really important. And I was looking back on my 2026 goals and like my I think I had an episode titled like my plan for 10k and beyond per month. And that is still my that's still my plan because I think if you're not aspiring and you're not pushing, you are dying slightly. But there is also In saying that, there is also a belief that we have arrived. We are enough. If you have enough to get through that week, that is good. and that is that is that's all we need really. And we can be told that we should be doing more. But actually, do I need to be doing more? Do I need more clients? Do I need more money this month? No, I don't. I'm fine. And that is a really, really nice place to be. And again, I'm thankful for that. But it will challenge, being self-employed will challenge you to what you actually want. What do you actually want? Do you want people to tell you you're doing well and that might be in the form of money? Do you want to show those things off? Or do you want more free time? Do you want to enjoy that free time more? And do you want to create more of like a lifestyle business? Do you want to create something which means you can retire early? Or do you want to actually spend more time in the now? And I'm obviously in my twenties, so I'm picking the time thing. I'm not in a I'm not in a massive I've been through the whole like hustle culture thing and I think actually What are we doing? Let's just try and enjoy the time we have now as much as possible. And I think that's what this business is giving. And I hope that doesn't come across that I'm not aspirational because obviously I am. I'm thinking about how can I grow my following? How can I grow my business? How can I grow my rehab service? How can I be better in these areas? I think that's part of the fun, but just taking the pressure off it and seeing it's more fun and enjoyment and seeing myself as like I am where I'm supposed to be right now. And happiness isn't on the other side of the next monthly figure, the next amount of clients. Things are trending upwards. and to be honest, like practically a lot of that, aside from like the spirit the spiritual side of it and being content in that, a lot of that has come from recurring revenue and income. I know you maybe weren't expecting that, but having money you know is coming in each month takes the pressure off massively and takes the feeling of I've talked about the book, The Gap in the Ga. It makes you feel like you are living in the gain much more because you're like, okay, I know this is coming in. next next month if we can just try and improve that slightly for the month after rather than I I need to start from scratch this month. I'm so far away from where I need to be. I need to do more, more more and more. and yeah just keeping that recurring revenue in. There's different ways of doing that. If you want to talk tactics, I can talk to you. but we'll will allow yourself to you'll present a better version of yourself to your clients, to your audience because you won't be under as much stress. You won't be coming from this place of lack you'll be coming from this place of fullness and completeness because you have that cushion to fall back on, which is which has been really cool. So that's been my plan recently, is just like grow the recurring revenue rather than these big lump sum payments which are harder to recur. Trying to recrow grow this recurring revenue so we can plan better into the future and know what's coming and take the pressure off a little bit. And that's been awesome. so yeah I think that's my that's my five lessons. So firstly it can be financially stressful, but it can also be Massively financially rewarding and I fully believe I'm at the tip of the iceberg with this at the minute. on both sides of things. And then secondly, we have been conditioned to work in a certain way, and that's really, really hard to unwork within yourself. Thirdly, doom scrolling is a huge issue. When you have more free time, you fall into easy habits and easy dopamine hits like doom scrolling, which is really unhealthy and is an addiction that needs to be addressed. And four, the opportunities are endless. There's things that will come your way that you never thought possible. And five, it will challenge and question the things you actually want out of life, which is really, really important. and I'm super grateful, wow, my leg is numb. I just sat in that one position for a long time. I'm super grateful that I've questioned what I want out of life and work now in my twenties rather than when I'm forty in a job for the last twenty years being like, Did I ever actually want to do that? Even though I'm uncomfortable now at times and months are stressful, boy am I happy that I'm doing it now and not when I'm forty and twenty years have passed. so yeah, I hope you took a bit of motivation from this podcast if you're listening. This is literally the podcast that I wish I had a year ago. So that's why I'm making it. I wanted to be self employed so badly. the idea of ha being my own boss was just so appealing to me and always has been appealing. And I'm super grateful I'm there and I talk about being self employed all the time. And that's because it's been life changing for me really and like the amount of time I got back is just class. obviously there's negatives like I've mentioned, but I'm trying to work through those as best as possible. So yeah, come on board if you want to join the the having a lifestyle business with me, then you're in the right place. keep listening along and I will catch you on the next episode next week, next Wednesday. Leave a five star review and follow the podcast for more. Thanks for listening. Goodbye.