Small Business Chat with Libro Editing

Sophie Playle

Small Business Chat is a blog series orchestrated by Liz Dexter over at Libro Editing.

Over the years, Liz has interviewed all different kinds of small business owners, and I’ve been happy to feature in the series since 2013. Every year or so, Liz checks in with her interviewees to see how their businesses are developing and what lessons they’d like to share.

In 2013, Liz interviewed me for the first time. I was pretty new to the freelancing game, and talked about why I’d decided to launch my own editorial business. At the time, I was working under the business name Playle Editorial Services.

Click here to read my 2013 Small Business Chat interview.

Just over a year later, I spoke about my stabilising income and the rebrand of my business to Liminal Pages. I offered some advice about what I’d learned during the first few years of running my business. At this point, I was even contemplating setting up a second side business as a copywriter.

Click here to read my 2015 Small Business Chat interview.

In 2016, Liz interviewed me again. I talked about the first course I developed, and my thoughts on self-care and maintaining a balanced life. Most years I set a trend of making big plans for the following year, then changing my mind!

Click here to read my 2016 Small Business Chat interview.

And finally, in my latest interview – which I think is also my most reflective – I talk about how I made some big decisions on the direction of my business, and how it’s important to not get overwhelmed with the reams of business advice out there.

Click here to read my 2017 Small Business Chat interview.

I look forward to answering Liz’s questions every year as it allows me to reflect on my business in a fun and succinct way. It’s so interesting for me to look back at where I’ve been, what my plans were and how things have changed. Even if you’re not a part of a blog series like this one, I can imagine it would be useful and interesting to interview yourself every year!

Don’t forget to dive into interviews from the rest of the series. It’s amazing what we can learn from one another, even if we aren’t in the same line of work. And it’s nice, too, to see how everyone else’s businesses are evolving entities – no one does it right straight off the bat.

If you enjoyed reading these interviews, you might also enjoy Liminal Letters – my fortnightly newsletter in which I talk about what’s going on in my life and my head as an editorial business owner. Sign up below.

Sophie Playleis a professional fiction editor. She specialises in developmental editing, critiquing and copy-editing, and loves working with authors and publishers who are passionate about high-quality storytelling. Speculative fiction, fantasy, science fiction and literary fiction are her genres of choice. She's an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading and has a Creative Writing MA from Royal Holloway, University of London. Find out more: liminalpages.com

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