Dragging yourself to work on a Monday morning isn’t always fun. And neither is having to sculpt your life around the assumption that you have to be in the office from 9 to 5 every day.
That’s why an increasing number of people choose to be their own boss – it gives them the ability to organise their work around their life, rather than try and fit their life into their work schedule.

One person who understands the benefits of being your own boss is Nikki McNeill, who runs Global Publicity, a PR and communications firm focused on the music and events sector.
It’s an industry Nikki has worked in for 16 years, but since launching her own business in 2007, she’s been able to take back control of her life.

“The best thing about working from home is that you are not limited to 9-5. Sometimes you’re not at your most productive between those hours,” she said

“You might get up and be really on it and hyper and get lots done, and be really productive in the morning. Then you might have a lull in the afternoon, so you might as well do the shopping, the washing or go to the gym and then come back to it later in the evening, so I think being able to work from home means you can utilise the best hours when you are most productive, which I think is important when you are running your own business.”

Of course, working from home and being your own boss doesn’t mean that you get to take things easy.

As Nikki puts it: “Running a PR company isn’t quite as glamourous as it might sound. I am chained to my laptop, answering emails for the majority of the day. I might go into London to see my clients, have meetings or go to events, but the majority of my time is spent in front of my laptop.”

And being your own boss means that you’ll have to handle a lot more in terms of responsibilities.

“I would say the biggest challenge for running your own business is all of the admin for running the day to day duties for promoting artists and events. Making sure your website works, banking all those kind of things,” Nikki said.

“To make it all work quickly and effectively working with partners such as 123 Reg really helps my business.”

So what advice does Nikki have for those looking to take the plunge and start their own business?

“For anyone else thinking of starting their own business I would definitely say do it. There is so much more opportunity out there now, being able to run your business online, from anywhere in the world. Don’t give up, be confident and go for it.”

And having a business website that’s powered by 123 Reg shared hosting has been a crucial part of Global Publicity’s success.

“Our business relies on communicating our events and clients pictures and music to journalists, so we need to make sure the website works fast, people can download all of the pictures, images and apply for press accreditation online.

Hosting our website with 123-reg gives me the peace of mind that our website will work fast, be reliable and I have got the customer support I need if anything goes wrong.”

Inspired by Nikki’s story and looking to start your own online business? You can take a look at our shared hosting packages here. And remember, you get at least one .co.uk domain name free with all of our shared hosting packages.

Need more information about getting your online business up and running? Why not take a look at our Online Business Training courses. They’re 100% free and can teach you the skills you need to launch a business website.