Anyone who knows me can tell you that I like a challenge. Learning new things and seeing how things work interest me. In 2020 I was looking into learning something new, something to improve my skills but on another level. 

So I recently went to the mouth hygienist. It was 10 months between my last visit and I usually do a check-up every 6 months - corona interrupted that. I have 2 different types of interdental brushes to use and also need to floss with a shoelace in between my big gaps. This usually happens 4-5 times a week. Don’t get me wrong I brush as required but this extra ‘chore’ is not being done 7 days a week. 

My idea of Shelley's Office Support was to work on location for my 2 biggest customers and work on the small and medium customers during the month as they would not take up as much time. Unfortunately Corona hit hard and some were affected more than others. One of my customers had stopped all external contracts and that left me with some time to guide my children whilst doing school work from home (see previous blog). 

All of a sudden I found myself in a position I had not thought of before but was sure I would be good at it. As a structured problem solver I was confident that with the right skills and some time I would be able to do all that was asked. I mean how hard could it be to keep working, help the kids with their homework and keep the household running right? That was me 20 odd days ago before the schools were closed due to the corona pandemic. 

There is one topic ruling the media these days: Corona virus and how we are going to survive it. Opinions go both ways from panicking and stocking up to very relaxed, 'it is only a bad flu' or 'not much to do about it'. It does not matter what your opinion is… this will affect us all. 

One question which needs to be asked is if you really need a website. One could argue that in this time and age a website is essential and my initial feeling was that most of my customers would be coming through the more powerful and highly useful word of mouth. I was selling myself and not a product so my background and reputation should do the trick right? 

In this digital day and age are business cards still important? I had my doubts as I was not going to be networking at events or tying my business cards to goodies at seminars. I myself have a little pile of business cards I have collected in the past and how often had I used them? Honestly, I rarely look up details and that is only for example for an existing relationship. I sometimes need to look up the name of our new account manager or see if there is a telephone number on the card which is not in the e-mail. Other than that the card will remain in my draw until a moment comes when I start the next Spring clean and deposit it in the bin. 

My previous article was about the moment I decided to become a part-time freelancer. A lot has happened since then and two of the things I needed to do in the beginning was decide on a company name and get a logo designed. 

Feeling wonderful...

There is no exact sign which will tell you what to do. I have thought of starting my own business in the past but never got much further than the ‘idea’ stage. Recently this moment arrived for me and I am glad to tell you how it all went. 

Mijn competenties en persoonlijke eigenschappen: twee 'word clouds' van wat ik kan en wie ik ben. De 1 strak en geordend en de andere wat speels. Beide vertegenwoordigen de diverse onderdelen van Shelley en SOS. Ben jij op zoek naar administratieve ondersteuning? Neem dan gerust contact met me op.