“I had no plan when I took redundancy. I was totally off the map in terms of what I had expected I would do with my career. I was still extremely unwell with stress, depression, anxiety and exhaustion. I was very fortunate that the right opportunity presented itself at the right time. It was all a case of taking the next step when I realised I was ready.”

Jessica is a wife and mum of 2 small boys, and has been a self-employed business coach for the last 4 years. Jessica believes business should be all about working less, earning more and embracing the freedom that comes from being self-employed. She helps women who offer consulting services to corporate firms scale their business to 7 figures without the drama. Jessica shares her story…

When were you made redundant?

I took voluntary redundancy in 2010 after chronic illness made it impossible to continue working full-time. I struggled on for nearly 2 years but I was having at least one day off work a month sick, and my life outside work was basically spent in bed sleeping. Things came to a head when I finally hit burnout in February 2010, and I was off work sick for 3 months (which had never ever happened to me before) but I just couldn’t see that anything would change if I returned to work. My health issues were still a major part of my day to day life, and I didn’t want to risk burnout again. When my company offered voluntary redundancy, it felt like an opportunity. It gave me the push I needed to start a new life. I didn’t want to make changes to my life. I wanted my old career and to get back to the job I had enjoyed, but I had to learn how to do life flexibly around my health issues.

What did you do after you were made redundant?

It took around 7 months of bed rest for me to recover. Looking back now I can’t believe that was the case, but at the time I didn’t think I’d do anything again. I started a part-time job 2 days a week and gradually built up my working hours over the next 12-18 months. I then took a job working for a startup company which was a great fit for my skill set - I’d previously worked in project management and business development. I was allowed to set my own work schedule, and worked 3 days spread across 4 to give me shorter, more manageable working days. I worked 3 days from home and one in the London office. Over time, I took on more responsibility and ended up running the company. I left in 2015 after my first son was born, and at this point I realised I was ready to work completely for myself so I set up my own business

How did you decide what to do next?

I had no plan when I took redundancy. I was totally off the map in terms of what I had expected I would do with my career. I was still extremely unwell with stress, depression, anxiety and exhaustion! But I was very fortunate that the right opportunity seemed to present itself at the right time on more than one occasion. It was all a case of taking the next step when I realised I was ready. Full recovery did take around 5 years, but 9 years later I no longer consider myself to have chronic illness and I’ve not needed medication for around 5 years.

What would be your advice to anyone who has just been made redundant?

I often say that my experience of redundancy was both the worst and the best thing ever to have happened to me! My advice would be, take the opportunity to rethink everything about your life currently. Some people know they want exactly the same career after redundancy. I had to start my life again at square one, and I’m extremely fortunate that I was able to build up my work around my ongoing health issues. It was great practise for balancing my current business around my 2 young children. I think if I’d had more confidence that it would be possible for me to find a flexible way of working when I first got ill, I wouldn’t necessarily have had to hit rock bottom in the way that I did. So learning to look 'outside of the box' has definitely served me really well since I was made redundant. I feel such a lot of gratitude to have the life I now have, and none of it would have been possible without my redundancy.