I read with interest your ‘Spotlight on… going it alone’ article (Personnel Today, 7 February) as I made the same transition five years ago. I think one key word is missing from the whole article and message, however – passion.
Unless there is passion, there will be little energy or will behind the endeavour. It is, of course, potentially valuable to identify a gap in the market, but the path to ‘freelance freedom’ is littered with casualties who focused only on filling gaps.
Finding gaps is not even a necessary condition – if you have passion, you will overcome barriers such as existing competition because the passion will provide the drive and determination to succeed.
It’s far more fun when you pursue your passions rather than what you think you should do. This principle also extends to employees. I wonder how many employees are passionate about their roles. What improvement in performance would we see if people followed their passion more?
But that’s another story.
Harish Bhayani
Principal
Proactive Reputation Management
