This book continues the journey from Leaving the Corporate 9 to 5, which focused on the initial decision to quit your job to do something different. It’s a practical guide to designing and building a profitable business that gives you freedom, flexibility and fulfilment. outsideofthe9to5.com
*Resources mentioned during the episode*
Outside of the 9 to 5 – A practical guide to designing and building a profitable business that gives you freedom, flexibility and fulfilment. outsideofthe9to5.com
Outside of the 9 to 5 book
Hello there, welcome back. And I’m super excited. I really am. I know people always say that, but I really am excited to talk to you today. Finally, about The Outside of the 9 to f5, this is my book, this is the sequel to leaving the corporate nine to five. It’s a practical guide to designing and building a profitable business that gives you freedom, flexibility, and fulfillment. Now, I hope you don’t mind, I hope you’ll allow me a little bit of indulgence here. self indulgence, as I pause for a moment to celebrate this because, and I’m sure I know that some of you have similar aspirations and have perhaps already started work on your book and even published it and you know what it takes to do so. I’m so proud of myself for single mindedly focusing on this. So my priorities for 2022 were to develop my course, which I finally did, and to write this book. And as ever, it’s so helpful, first of all, to focus on one thing at a time, and I say one thing at a time, of course, I focused on 3000 T things in the meantime, but you know, the big, big, big kind of legacy projects, were first the course. And then secondly, the book, which in fact feeds into the course. And you know, I think I had sort of a an optimistic ambition to kind of release one book a year, once I done that book in 20, you’ve read 2018, I thought,
Oh, easy peasy. I can do more every year, obviously wasn’t quite the case for a number of reasons. One was that first book was a collection of stories. So I kind of rested on the laurels of other people in using content that I already had, sharing other people’s stories, and then just adding the framework around it writing a whole book is another story is a whole different beast. Secondly, though, timing wise, that was October 2018. And in fact, I then had Sofia, my daughter in May 2019. So that perhaps, I was going to say was a setback. Certainly not a setback, but it perhaps at least put some of those ideas of writing more books on ice. What else happened? COVID Is that an excuse? No, lots of people wrote books during COVID. I did do a positive psychology course during COVID. So I did something. I then had Zach in November 2020 2021. What happened in 2021, who knows, I feel like I did a lot of back end stuff I worked on my website, I finally had an agency to professionalize what I had been doing myself DIY for the past many years. And that was great. Worked with a graphic designer worked with a photographer, so up date a lot of backend stuff. And I’m really pleased I did that. I feel like it’s now much more representative of where I am in the business and where I want to be. But this year was really about, again, that course and the book. So again, apologies for kind of celebrating myself, but I think it’s really important. I know, it’s really important. It’s something I certainly don’t do enough. It’s something I know my clients, and I’m sure you don’t do enough. So please allow me to role model celebrating, I was encouraged by a friend at a mastermind to actually have a launch event. So I’m going to do that, mainly friends and family. It’s not going to be big and fancy. But hey, if you are nearby, I’d love to see people from the community from the podcast, of course clients and so on.
So if you are able to travel to the southwest to the coast of England, then do let me know and I’d love to send you the details. But I would like to celebrate with you, of course on social media, in the Facebook group. And above all, of course, I’d love for you to buy the book. And perhaps it’s a wonderful Christmas present for a friend of yours who is a would be entrepreneur or someone who is already working in their own business, perhaps not quite getting the results they want or perhaps getting the results in terms of money and business and so on, but not in terms of the work life integration in terms of the broader definition of success. So to read what I wrote in the back and this I write a long time ago, outside of the nine to five is the book title. The subtitle, if I don’t change it one last time is as I said, the practical guide A Practical Guide to designing and building a profitable business that gives you freedom, flexibility and fulfillment. Here it is on the back. And a limbo continues the journey from leaving the corporate nine to five her book that focused on that initial decision to quit your job to do something different as she now looks at what happens next. Here she details what’s needed to sustain your initial escape from the nine to five and a guide to designing and building a profitable business that can support your desired lifestyle and allow you to achieve success on your own terms. In the book, she guides you through the five pillars of a successful business, identifying your personal definition of success, cultivating confidence and resilience. Choosing the right business model building an effective brand platform and designing flexible work life integration. Enjoy success on your own terms with a profitable and enjoyable business that supports your lifestyle and lets you say goodbye to that corporate life for good.
And so I’m holding an author’s copy a proof in my hands, which is pretty exciting. And I feel like now I can actually call myself an author, I should be able to do that even after one book. And in fact, I did write another book self published with a colleague some years ago. And but it wasn’t quite again, it was more sort of an, I guess, a little work. But can I perhaps, don’t see it quite as my PSD resistance, as we say. However, that’s really important, because as I say, Tony would be authors in my community or friends, your first book, or someone once said to me, and I’m passing on the wisdom is not going to be a best seller. You know, unless you’re very lucky, very talented, writing that first book, suddenly a novel or something, you know, it’s unlikely to hit the bestseller list. And unless you invest a lot of money, and have a PR support team, and so on, then getting your book onto you know, the the New York Times bestseller list, etc, is unlikely. And that’s not really the point. So for me, there’s a huge fulfillment that comes for me simply writing it and having it in my hands and being able to say that I’m an author, so a bit of an ego there, I suppose. It’s also playing a really concrete role in the so called funnel, certainly in the ecosystem of my business. So leaving a corporate nine to five was designed, as I said, to inspire people, of course, not to inspire to quit their jobs as such, but to inspire them as they navigated that journey.
That book, then fed into my business incubator program, which takes people from all I have an idea, I have some ideas, I’m not sure how to translate my skills and experiences.
So in into viable business, how do I navigate this transition, right through to, I know exactly what I want, I’ve got a clear business model strategy, I’ve got a pipeline of clients, and I’m ready to press that button and quit or to go all in with the business. So that was a very intentional step on that journey. The book is a great point of market entry, as as, as it were, into the brand ecosystem, you know, less than 10 pounds for paperback and something that someone can buy, whether they can’t afford the coaching, or it’s just an initial taster, they find it I’d like to say they find it in a bookshop. But at the moment, it’s only in Amazon, albeit in many different formats, paperback, hardback, and Kindle. So this next one is designed to feed into, actually initially my accelerator program, which is for people who already have that business. And it still is, to some extent, and but as an initial step very concretely, it feeds into my business academy, and the coaching that goes with that. So in the academy, as I believe I mentioned last week, and I’ve talked about a little bit was the, or is the self directed course, that takes you through my five pillars. And this book, in fact, is organized according to those five pillars. So again, the previous one, leaving the corporate nine to five was arranged in five different ways, options for leaving the corporate nine to five. So changing sector, starting a business, going freelance, creating portfolio career, which is some combination of those, or taking the leap, which is what I did without really knowing what you want to do. And that’s how I organized the stories. This one is organized according to five pillars.
Now, of course, in terms of reading it, by the way, if you do when you do get your copy, you can dip into the sections that are most relevant and necessary for you. However, of course, I would encourage you to work through it. It’s not sequential as such, although, for example, having a clear definition of success is critical to choosing the right business model. And knowing your why knowing your skills and strengths and so on is critical to then being clear on how you’re going to build your credibility and boost your visibility and convey that credibility to the world. Right. Again, having the clear definition of success will help you design your flexible work life integration, and so on. So they all feed into each other. And although again, you can pick and choose and dip into it, I would encourage you to start certainly with the definition of success, which is always a good place to start, again, whether you think you’re clear on your vision, or you’re just getting started and you’re not so clear, really starting from the beginning, is the way you’re going to get the foundations in place. So again, it’s arranged according to those five pillars. In case you’re not so familiar with them, I’ll repeat them one more time.
So the first one is your definition of success, really looking at the big picture vision, your values, your purpose, how to have that balance in your life, confidence and resilience.
So looking at your beliefs, looking at your mindset, looking at your self care, actually, and looking at the support system you have in place, choosing the right business model, which is first of all getting clear on the criteria for your business model based on your vision, choosing the clients you’re going to work with perhaps business to business b2b or b2c business to consumer. Designing and building your products and services and ultimately envisioning and creating your ecosystem. Then your personal brand coming up with that big headline that’s going to sit on your website and your bio isn’t so one really the umbrella under which everything is going to sit what you ultimately want to stand for be known for creating content, boosting that credibility, and above all, amplifying maximizing your visibility. And the finally, the fifth pillar is designing flexible work life integration, which is around getting clear on your priorities really a day to day sense, both in terms of your business, but also more broadly, of course, in terms of life as a whole. So priorities, identifying the boundaries that you need, and want to have and enforcing those boundaries. And then actually, very tangibly when it comes to business, having systems and processes, I know really sexy to end on this, and starting to delegate and outsource work as well. So those are the five pillars. And again, each one, as you may have heard me talk there, if you’re very observant, has four steps.
So each of the five pillars has four chapters as well.
And then at the end, they will of course, be if you named me, well, you’ll be familiar with my one step. So taking your one step, my brand, and the publishing house is called one step outside. And so what one step can you take for each of those steps, and for each of those pillars, now again, if you do want more support, there’s the option to go to the Academy, which has then an interactive workbook, there are videos on each of those steps. So you can read more about that at once to get signed up comm forward slash course, but I don’t know about you, I’m quite sort of I have tend to have quite an academic approach. And I do love a book. And so if you know want certainly that if you want to start with this, and then if you if you love it, which I’m sure you will, then you can always upgrade to get more support, either the course with the videos, and so on, or actually work with me one to one, so I can support you really handholding I suppose really give you personalized and tailored support. But again, please join me to celebrate rah rah outside the nine to five, the next book. And I of course have a plan already for the next next book. So the third book, and is very exciting, because that’s really where I’m getting very close to my heart and very passionate about my bigger mission. And these are very practical books that I’m writing, that have a very tangible role in the ecosystem again, and I really believe I know will be a huge support to you to my clients. So I’m really excited to get this out into the world again, obviously, something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. In fact, the draft cover I designed with a designer last year, I can see it has my old logo, it has an old photo, pre photo, shoot, and so on. So you know, that’s how long, even I’ve been kind of concretely working on it.
But check it out. So I will be there will be a specific. In fact, I’ve got it here, let’s double check is outside of the nine to five.com is the URL outside of a nine to five.com, the domain the website, you can of course, find it on my website. Anyway, once episodic calm and either you’ll be redirected to buy it directly, hopefully, or you’ll be able to join the waiting list. And again, if you do want to join me on the south coast, it’s not so sunny perhaps now in at the end of the year, but certainly we’ll have some warming drinks and hopefully cake or something like that to celebrate for my book launch, then do let me know I’d love to hear from you. But otherwise, I’ll see you on social media, I hope you’ll get yourself a copy of the book, I hope you’ll gift them to other would be or actual entrepreneurs, freelancers, service based business owners in your life. And, of course, if you’re interested in write your own book, I have lots of tips to share. I do have a free workshop that I did some years ago that I can share with you and happy to give you any kind of personal guidance as well. And but thank you again, for your support. Of course, thank you to everybody who has contributed in particular, of course, my clients who have helped me validate all these frameworks and strategies and implemented them and seen results with them. And thanks to everybody you know if you’re an active or passive member of the community, friends and family, for continuing to support me on my own personal professional journey, so huge thank you to all of you. Here’s to launching outside the nine to five, the latest book A Practical Guide to designing and building a profitable business that gives you freedom, flexibility and fulfillment. And I’ll see you next week. Bye for now
WORK WITH ANNA
Let us help you design a business and a life that gives you freedom from the 9 to 5. There are several options for how you can work with us. Choose the programme that’s right for you.
The Outsiders Business Incubator
A year-long business incubator for experienced corporate professionals who want to translate their skills and passions into a profitable and fulfilling business. onestepoutside.com/9to5
The Outsiders Business Accelerator
An ongoing mastermind for service-based business owners, freelancers and online entrepreneurs who are ready to achieve success on their own terms. onestepoutside.com/accelerate
The Outsiders Business Academy
A self-paced course for you to work through in your own time, to learn – and implement – the foundations of building a profitable business that lets you escape the 9 to 5. onestepoutside.com/course
1:1 Coaching & Mentoring
If you’re looking for one-to-one support to help you achieve your specific life and business goals, Anna has a limited number of spots for individual coaching and mentoring. onestepoutside.com/coaching