Book Review: Liz Broomfield, How I Survived my First Year of Full-Time Self-Employment: Going it Alone at 40

Entering into the world of self-employment can be a daunting prospect. Having faith in your own ideas, and trusting yourself enough to make those ideas work, brings a particular set of challenges. In this well-written, honest, and open account of her early days of freelancing, Liz Broomfield charts the trials and tribulations of starting up her own successful proofreading, editing, transcription and localisation business.

Written in a diary-entry style, Liz maps out her experiences during her first year and beyond. With advice on starting out with a website and blog, sourcing potential clients, managing work and downtime, and organising a daily schedule, Liz guides her readers through the different stages of moving from being an employee, to becoming a fully-fledged freelancer.

Books like these sometimes have the tendency to venture into the territory of the dry, how-to study, but Liz completely avoids this thanks to her honesty and humour. Along with all of the important advice on setting up, she also offers her insight on what to wear for working at home, and how to fit in that all-important personal time for TV, reading, and holidays! Without prescribing rules, Liz simply provides her own account of how she negotiated the early days of setting up, and turning her start-up into the thriving business it is today. As somebody in the early days of my business, I found Liz’s guide to be genuinely useful, insightful, and above all, enjoyable to read. I feel I must add here that, having contacted Liz, (on more than one occasion, so I am in danger of becoming a pest – sorry, Liz!) she has been extremely gracious and generous with her help and words of wisdom. That being said, I chose to write this review of my own free will because I think Liz’s book offers a useful, and above all, honest insight into starting a freelance business. A definitive five stars!

If you would like to purchase Liz’s book, it can be found here.