What I Started Life As

As we delve into the stories of different creators, makers and entrepreneurs, I thought it would be fitting to give an insight into my journey and how isla started.

TL;DR

I jumped from studying music to computer science, then worked in sales and event management, helping run music festivals and businesses, then back to software development and freelancing building websites for businesses big and small.

Takeaways

- Finding a mentor and community can help you in your journey, to keep you accountable and support. Plus to show the cool things you make and get feedback on them.

- Remind yourself of your why and reason for being. It’s an easy one to overlook but crucial in supporting yourself.

- You deserve to be here, whatever you're doing, feeling like a fraud is normal, you're not! (Unless you're doing some sort of catch me if you can vibes)

I made a video if that's more your speed.

I took a winding road into software development, freelancing and starting my own businesses. Like many people I did a lot of different jobs and ended up with a wide range of experience. After a while, all of that experience started to position me for starting my own businesses.

What did you start life as ?

I started off in music and events management. I loved recording and the technical side of music as well as playing and management / business. After studying music industry management I then went on to do a masters in computing and information systems after the final module of my music business course and building a prototype app for connecting musicians and managers. I got a postgraduate certificate in computing and information systems, although I didn’t do it to the best of my ability after a difficult year of ups and downs. From there I ended up back in sales and development in events.

As like a lot of people, after the pandemic I ended up having the time and resources to figure out what I wanted to do, and all roads lead back to software development. However, I moved from London to Wales and there wasn’t a lot of opportunity in software development there. I met a great guy who rand music festivals and other businesses and I got in there. Long story short I ended up doing all of the development for those businesses and that’s what launched me into software development full time and running my own business.

In your journey, what's been the most unexpected lesson you've learned?

Creating videos and putting myself out there.Getting out of my comfort zone and networking literally changed my life. I don’t know if it was unexpected, as people always talked about the importance of it, but I thought little old anxious introvert me didn’t need to do that. I did, and so much opportunity and work came from it.

Also maybe not unexpected again but, back yourself, unequivocally, event if you’re wrong (you’ll soon realise if you’re wrong and you’ll work it out) but you have to be your number one fan and support system.

In terms of business, what do you think is more important: sticking to your niche or exploring diverse opportunities?

Exploring within your niche and expanding from there. Don’t be afraid to pivot or change, if you feel like doing that, do it, if it’s meant to be you’ll make it work, if not, then regroup and go again.

Advice for those looking to grow & Evolve

Put yourself out there, don’t be afraid to try new things, record yourself doing videos, be a goofball, be yourself.

What's Next?

I’m still going to be creating software products and freelancing but who knows! I’m taking each day as it comes.