Six reflections on 12 months of Everyday Research
This month marks a year since I took the leap, founded Everyday Research and started sharing my user research skills as an independent contractor. After 10 years in the Civil Service I left behind my Lead User Researcher role and embarked on this adventure. Here are six reflections to celebrate the 12 months of my new beginning -
Motherhood gave me new found confidence to start contracting. During my maternity leave, days often merged into each other. Full of the glorious mess of thrown vegetable purees, pram pushing and car rides in search of sleep for my nursling. That season in my life brought a pause and time for reflection. New mums are often portrayed as lacking in confidence, worried about a return to the workplace. For me, it was thankfully quite the opposite. If I had the resilience to survive recurrent loss, several rounds of IVF and to keep a new human alive; well, I could do anything. Motherhood underlined to me how capable I am and ultimately, has been the catalyst for me to set up my business.
If you’re considering a big change, get clear on your red lines. I loved my old department, role and team. It was a career highlight and privilege. I still carry some sadness not to be back there doing my thing. During and post covid, messaging around remote working shifted wildly though and unfortunately the final position just didn’t work for me.I wanted to spend time being productive, time with family, not as a sardine sweating on a Southern train that would inevitably fail to make its onward connection. I got clear on my red lines and saying no to presenteeism was one of them.
We all need cheerleaders in life and I am so thankful for mine. I knew something needed to change in my working life but I couldn’t quite work out how. On the many, many pram walks I took while on maternity leave, ex colleagues (who I consider friends) kindly talked with me about my options. Their experiences, the pros and pitfalls of contracting, working agency side, the things to consider. They created space for me and gently nudged me towards a place of realisation, that not only could I contract if I chose to, but I could thrive doing so. They continue to cheer for me and for that I am incredibly grateful. Jon Rimmer, Miles Cheverton, Christine Cawthorne and Gurpreet Sehmi you are wonderful!
To contract you need to be comfortable with uncertainty. While your contract might say they try to give a certain amount of notice, in truth it could be less. There’s a psychological challenge that comes with that. One way to mitigate it is to get together a ‘treasure chest’ of funds so that should you find yourself out of contract for a while, you’re covered. This is something I’m working on.
It’s ok to know your financial worth and to ask for it. I was extremely proud to be a civil servant and strongly believe in public service. Using your skills to support society and leaving the world better than you found it; those things matter to me. I’ve been lucky enough that within reason, money has not been a motivating factor in my career decisions (although the civil service pay freezes were challenging!). That said, setting up a business empowered me to review my market worth and through some self coaching and encouraging words from ex-colleagues I felt confident to ask for renumeration that matched my skills.
Contracting can feel lonely, it’s up to you to build your support network. The organisation I’m contracting for at the moment couldn’t have been more welcoming. But I am always acutely aware that I’m a one woman business and a contractor rather than an employee. That means some of the usual workplace practices that knit everyone together, just aren’t there in the same way. To counteract that I’ve been working on connecting with my community of practice across organisational lines. More to follow on this.
So there we are, six reflections for 12 months of Everyday Research. What a ride it’s been! If any of my musings resonate, I’d love to hear from you and thanks for reading.
All the best, Claire