I’m going to share something with you.

It wasn’t pleasant at the time, but it has actually been a blessing of sorts.

I’m going to tell you about it because it might help you overcome some nagging worries about starting a new enterprise from home.

Maybe the COVID-19 pandemic has threatened your livelihood, making your job or business almost impossible in these radically changed circumstances.

Maybe you just want to find a new source of income so you can work from home, but worry that everything you’ve learned is not relevant anywhere else.

Maybe you’re fearful that you’re not going to be able to grasp the techniques and tools needed in the online world.

I get it, I really do.

But however unsure you feel about the future right now, there is a way you can take control of what happens next.

Whatever skills and experiences you’ve acquired in the past – they CAN be transferrable to an online enterprise if you think laterally.

I know this because not so long ago, I also went through an experience where suddenly my skills and expertise were no longer relevant (or so I thought).

How I was made redundant by the EU

Direct mail (sending people details about your offer/services via mail) is a great way to market new services, and it really took off here in the UK in the late 90s.

When it was done well, it was a fantastic way to find customers and present them directly with an offer that they’d find exciting.

Obviously, when it’s done badly it rightly earns its title junk mail 🙂

Many years ago I was lucky to work for the billion-dollar publisher, Agora, who trained me in the art of running a successful direct mail campaign.

I learned how to develop promotional sales packs, letters and books that we’d send through the post in order to sell newsletters, courses and advice services.

It was quite a complex operation, with lots of moving parts.

Selecting the right mailing list… commissioning the copywriters… getting sales packs designed… deciding on the offer… printing the materials and covering letters…

And it was expensive too…

I ran one campaign that cost over £125,000 to post!

Just imagine the pressure of making sure there were no spelling mistakes or errors in a campaign like that (those of you that know me will know that spelling is NOT my forte).

It’s not like publishing online these days, where you can correct things later.

Anyway, I spent my early career learning all about this method of marketing and mastering its techniques.

And, not to boast, but I was really good at it.

There weren’t many people in the country who could do what I did, which made my skills very valuable.

And then those skills became the cornerstone of my publishing business, Canonbury, which I started with my husband in 2003.

Then – disaster.

Almost overnight, the direct mail skills I’d learned over almost TWO DECADES became redundant.

I won’t go into the ins and outs but, in short, the EU decided that promoting things by post to a new audience was not going to be allowed.

By that I mean, we couldn’t legally get hold of addresses and send unsolicited mail.

Now, I get that junk mail can be seen as a nuisance – and there was some bad stuff around. But when it is done correctly, direct mail can be great for both the customer and the company.

Anyway, it didn’t matter anymore…

Because thanks to these new laws, it was pretty much over for old school direct mail campaigns.

But this isn’t about whether the EU decisions were good or bad, the crux of the matter was that the techniques and processes that I had used for nearly 20 years were now useless.

It felt bad…

Really bad.

I know that some people are going through something similar right now, as they realise that their jobs, businesses, industries or sectors are in trouble.

So if you’re one of them, you have my sympathies.

I understand how it feels when everything changes and suddenly you feel you aren’t needed.

But here’s the silver lining…

This could be the most exciting opportunity of your life

In the wake of the new EU laws, I’ll admit that I was pretty down in the dumps for a while. I was anxious and worried about the future.

But then I began to pull myself together.

I started to think about the skills I had developed over the previous decades.

Could I use them in other forms of marketing?

After all, the old direct mail campaigns might have become obsolete, but a whole new world had opened up on the internet.

Fundamentally, the principles of publishing and marketing online remained the same…

Finding an audience… capturing their attention… crafting an offer… delivering an engaging product.

If anything, there was more opportunity.

Because now there are all these other platforms in which I could use my skills… Facebook, Instagram, webinars, LinkedIn…(and of course email which I love!)

So that’s what I did.

I took what I knew, and was good at, then applied those skills just to a different medium.

And I’ve never looked back.

In fact, it’s ended up more exciting and fulfilling for me than direct mail ever was.

While the initial shock was painful, the disaster turned out to be a wonderful opportunity.

It could be the same for you…

You might be surprised at how skilled you are

If you dig deep, you’ll find that there are things you know, or that you have learned in the past, which can be used for many different applications.

That includes any work in which you dealt with people, learned communication or organisational skills…

Any skills you developed in accounts, planning, IT, logistics, sales, recruitment and training…

Any experience you might have had in design, writing, editing, presenting or public speaking.

You’ll find that most of these skills ARE transferrable.

In particular, this is true of creating courses.

Because any of those skills could be the topic of a course.

Or they could be skills that help you create and run your course as a successful home enterprise.

Maybe even both!

It is scary when you are faced with something new in life, but you’ll be amazed at how many of those skills and experiences of the past can help, even in a totally different context.

If a course sounds like something you could potentially use to take those skills into the future, then don’t forget that I’m running my free online workshop to help inspire you to get started so please click here to find a time that works for you.