Jade Wicks, Founder of The Artisan Market & Doeth Marketing consultancy
“Redundancy helped re-awaken my entrepreneurial side”
I was made redundant not once, but twice, in 3 years.
Some may think that this is bad luck, carelessness or that perhaps I’m just not a good employee. With regards to the latter that’s probably valid. I don’t make a great employee for many organisations because I’ve a knack (or annoyance, for some people) of instantly seeing ways to improve the efficiency & effectiveness of an organisation.
This almost always rocks the boat, threatens the status quo and creates tension between myself and bad managers who see me as a threat to their authority - but that’s a story for another time! Back to redundancy …
For me, both instances of being made redundant was a way of ‘the universe’ righting my ‘wrong’ decisions and getting me back on track. I knew that I had veered off path, accepted job roles despite my gut instinct telling me that they were not a great fit and I was becoming more and more apathetic and frustrated in my role.
The only thing that stopped me from proactively jumping ship on the first occasion was fear - fear of the unknown and fear of financial instability. That fear has also kept me in many organisations and roles well beyond their expiration date.
The first time
The first time I was made redundant, I was in debt, had no savings, no assets and just a short window to get myself another income stream. My boyfriend and I had just moved into our first rented home together and he was just about keeping afloat of his own debts.
Whilst I had ‘passion projects’, i.e. side projects which weren’t currently profitable or generating any kind of income but brought me joy, jumping headlong into these with no financial buffer really wasn’t an option.
As a newly unemployed business development manager/digital marketing consultant I still had many meetings in the diary, including a breakfast meeting a few days later. Instead of sending a quick one-liner to cancel my place, something made me open up and explain my circumstances to the group leader. And after a short confidence-boosting call he persuaded me to go along anyway because whilst he ‘[couldn’t] guarantee I would pick up work, stranger things had happened’.
And indeed they did.
I took a risk, I went to the breakfast networking meeting and instead of representing the old agency I went on behalf of myself “a newly unemployed, freelance marketing consultant looking for work” and whilst I didn’t pick up business there and then, I did pick up a recommendation for a new start-up who were looking for a marketing manager.
Long story short, I applied, got the job on a freelance marketing consultant FTC (4 months) basis which led to me setting up my own freelance digital marketing consultancy.
The 3 years that followed were a whirlwind as I gathered clients at breakneck speed - which was fantastic for paying off debts, saving a deposit for my first home, validating my skills and consolidating knowledge gained working in agencies over the years.
Second time around
After almost 3 years working 4 days a week for my largest client they made me redundant in June 2019. I did some of my best marketing comms and advertising work there and made a significant contribution to the transformation of their organisation and bottom line.
Unfortunately, when my role changed from working alongside the Directors - where I had the freedom and autonomy to put forward recommendations and implement without resistance - to working under an incompetent manager who ruled with fear and to whom I posed a threat, I knew that my future within the organisation was limited. But the monthly revenue was comfortable and the considerable time investment limited my ability to prospect for new clients and ultimately kept me there against my better judgement.
“Low and behold the Zoom call came and went and once again the universe had corrected my path.”
Whilst financially I was much better prepared for redundancy second time around, the emotional knock is still a kicker.
In the 7 months since, I’ve finally launched my passion project as a real business and picked up consultancy work for a local charity - a charity I had previously volunteered for. And most importantly it’s given me the space to reflect and evaluate whether I’m still on the right path for me.
Key takeaways from a redundancy veteran ;)
Redundancy doesn’t make you a failure or mean that you’re not good at your job. It simply means it’s no longer a good fit for you anymore.
Redundancy can be a liberating experience, giving you the push you needed to get back on the right track.
Use it as an opportunity for growth, reflection and to reevaluate what’s really important to you.
Build a financial buffer as you go along if you can and invest time in your side hustles & passion projects alongside your core employment or business.
Vulnerability and honesty pays off - don’t feel ashamed about sharing the reality of your situation even in a business context - those honest, open conversations may be the ticket to your next opportunity.
If you take the opportunity to start your own thing then work from a coworking space - even if it’s just for a day a week - the transition from being in a busy office environment / talking to colleagues everyday to the isolation of home working can be tough. Coworking spaces are also an incredible networking spaces!
You can find Jade on Instagram…