Welcome to my personal blog about changing my life and running my business full-time.

I started my business, Libro, in August 2009. I’d been doing bits and pieces of editing for people on an unpaid basis for years, and had lots of experience in various jobs, but it was when a colleague at the Library where I worked (full-time at the time) asked me if I could proof-read a couple of students’ dissertations that I decided to go for it, set up the company, registered with the Inland Revenue and went on an HMRC course to find out what to do.

Since then, my roster of clients has grown; rather than work every hour of the day on both the day job and the business, I decided to go part-time at the Library, dropping one day a week in January 2011 and a further day in May. I’ve kept spreadsheets of how I’m doing against target, built up my customer base gradually, diversified so I now offer proof-reading, copy-editing, writing, typing, transcription and localisation, and I could see through November that it was time to make the big move and take the business full-time from January.

So, I finish at the Library on 12 December (because of University General Holidays and some leave I had left to take) and then it’s Libro All The Way!

I’ve started this blog because I want to record what it feels like doing this, and how it goes. I’m about to turn 40 and this feels like a really important time in my life. At the moment, it’s busy-busy-busy – TOO busy, really, and I want to take a few moments of reflection along the way.

Some boundary setting: I won’t be talking about my clients by name or by identifiable features (so don’t worry if you’re reading this). I don’t know how often I’ll update it, so you might want to subscribe to the feed or just check back for new posts every now and then.

So: welcome to my new, more personal, blog. I’ll still be maintaining the Libro blog about language, writing, Word and business, but you’re welcome to drop by here to see how my new life is going …