I’ve come to understand leadership means to guide others or to bring them along with you. And, to help them be the best they can be.  I’ve lived independently, with my own team since 2013, and initially I did not view myself as a leader. But very quickly I learned if I was to have control over my life this was a skill I needed to develop.

Living independently, and empowering others to fulfill their potential, has been both my passion and a dream for years.  Throughout my journey to date, I have had 3 inspirational role models.  Meredith Allen and Melinda Smith from Australia, and Toby Hewson from England.  They have each in their own way shown me I can achieve. I know this because they too have achieved leadership roles in their home and working lives.

Life is not a dress rehearsal

My initial experiences at uni were not 100% easy. Lots of things went wrong and other people seemed to have their own ideas about what was right for me. After asking myself what did I want from living independently I came up with several answers. My key focus was to enjoy my life, to be fulfilled!  In my opinion, if we are going to do something and spend a lot of time at it, we need to enjoy it. So we should laugh, and love what we do. And, let’s face it this is my life so I want whoever is working with me to want to be at work.  As my grandad says ‘life is not a dress rehearsal’ so I needed to find a way to make this work for me.

Looking back I’d spent the first few months at university trying to be what other people wanted me to be.  I just needed to realize I just needed to be me.  To lead my life in a way that made me happy.  In turn this meant my working style changed, I relaxed more and my leadership experiences got better.

Managing your own team

Lots of people have asked me about working with my team, and how things work for me. So my website has become a place to share my own experiences, good and bad, as best I can.  If this then means other people want they can choose to identify with what I have been able to do, or not.  If what I write provides a catalyst for thought and reflection then that is good.