ella’s story

I certainly never envisioned working for myself, and it was only once I entered the working world that I realised why everyone says, its the best thing you’ll ever do.

Growing up, I was praised for my cleverness, for my confidence, and for my easy way with people - mainly adults. I went to Catholic primary school, then to grammar school, then an all girls grammar school, and then university, so my focus on academic validation only went from strength to strength (unfortunately).

As this happened, I always assumed that the next step would be to begin the climb of the corporate ladder, to continue chasing the ‘well done’s, ‘good job’s and ensure that I was always ‘so mature’ or ‘well spoken’ for ‘someone your age’. Unfortunately, this was not quite the smooth transition I imagined.

My first job after graduating was with a small but highly regarded law firm. I got the job after completing an internship the previous summer. The internship had fuelled my long-standing self-confidence, earning praise and easily making friends with my older colleagues. I began my legal career, that I had always imagined myself having, with cautious optimism, expecting to be met with the same encouragement and praise as I always had been. I was met with a very fast reality check once I began working full-time as a paralegal… there were late nights (unpaid, of course), a toxic male-dominated environment, and lots of crying in the toilet. I was repeatedly told that I was ‘so lucky’ to have a legal job straight out of university, that I just had to grin, bear it, and grind and I would be rewarded with a training contract, more late nights, more toxic men, and likely more crying in the toilet - lucky me! After 5 months grinning, bearing it, and grinding, I couldn’t take it anymore and much to my family’s dismay, I handed my notice in and never went back!

Comforting myself, I thought, of course law is not for me! That must be the issue. Therefore, after a brief interlude as a barista with a bad boyfriend, I got another job, in a new industry that I had never considered before - flexible workspaces. The company was woke, the people seemed nice, and the work was easy. I began being praised again, and I loved it. The company did and strove for great things; sustainability and better, ethical business practice. The structure was very flat, which I also thought was great - as an entry level hire, I could send a direct message to our CEO with a smiley face and exclamation mark! And I still think the company is great. However. No amount of wokeness can counteract the adverse effects of middle management.

When my colleague, turned close friend, whose eyes had been opened to the shortcomings of the corporate world long before mine, suggested that we start our own business and get rich together, I wistfully agreed. Luckily for me, Nic (my colleague, turned close friend) continued to pursue the idea, and I began to catch onto what she was pitching. We could work for ourselves, choose our own hours, design our own website, indulge our own creativity, set our own path, and follow it.

The longer I have spent in the working world, the more I have realised that working for someone else means putting someone else’s vision in front of your own. In fact, the longer I have spent in the working world, the more I have realised that working for someone else means losing sight of your own visions entirely. Working a 9-5 means restricts you in a way that has become normalised. We have been conditioned to be content in spending around 40 hours of our week working for someone else, fulfilling someone else’s quotas, meeting their targets and greeting their customers.

There are many aspects of my 9-5 job that I love; I have met fantastic people and learnt new skills. However, it has also curbed my enthusiasm and ambition in a way I didn’t expect. It is normal in larger companies for employees to be kept in their role and in their box. This works for them, but it doesn’t work for individuals who are eager to grow and learn. Once you have been knocked back enough times, you end up losing interest and ambition.

Luckily for me, I met Nic, and she helped me to re-direct my energy into bridgers.

Together we realised that to have flexibility and freedom, working for ourselves was the only way, and through that, bridgers was born.

Getting bridgers off the ground whilst both still working full-time is no easy feat, however, we both know that the end result will mean having the lifestyles that we want, whilst helping others to discover it as well.

If you want to dictate your own hours, your own work, your own clients, your own life, then its likely that working for yourself is the answer.

Ella McGuinness