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 MumsClub Name: Office Diva
Real Name: Kerryn Greatrix
Age (or age range): 34
Children’s ages: 3
Business Name:Office Diva - www.officediva.co.uk
Business Contact: kerryn@officediva.co.uk
What are the key features of the products or services that your business offers:
Administration & secretarial service/telephone answering service/business address service + many more!
Why should customers and clients use your services?
You have a professional partner to help grow your business; You only pay for the hours worked; You do not have any employment costs to pay out; You have the benefit of using a highly skilled & qualified Personal Assistant to carry out your essential non-billable tasks. It frees up your time.
When & how did you start up in business?
I started it up approximately 2 months ago, by doing a lot of market research, some re-training & lots of networking!
How did you decide what business to go into, and what was your motivation? I also run a business as a mortgage broker, which I’ve had for some time now. Due to current market conditions, work had started to slow down & I needed something else to supplement my income. When I started to look at my skills & qualifications, it was my administration & organisation skills that I decided to draw upon to create Office Diva.
What were the most challenging aspects to setting up?
Keeping going through the tough times!
What has been your biggest business achievement?
Signing up my first client onto my books.
Have, or do you do anything out of the ordinary to benefit your business? I do tell everybody that I meet, so this could be classed as ‘out of the ordinary’!!
What stage is your business at now & what are your plans for the future?
It is currently at the stage of getting regular clients signed up. I hope to grow it & to take on associates.
How do you manage to juggle your business with family life? Has it been challenging? Not really sure! I have to be strict with myself & only work when my daughter is in childcare or in bed! I don’t even turn the computer on now as even replying to one email can spiral into doing an hours work & it is not fair on me or my daughter. It is difficult working from home, but it’s having self discipline.
How has online networking, specifically with other mums, benefited your business?
Greatly! I think more so for me coming from the mortgage/corporate world (which is full of men) I have seen a huge impact. We are all like-minded people who basically want the same things out of life. I think that this goes along way to supporting each other without having office politics & competition fights!!
What resources do you NOT have now that might make your life easier?
More time! As my daughter is only 3, she is in part time childcare. I know that the day she starts full time school will be here soon enough & that is when I can put in more hours. But until then, I want to enjoy my time with her as much as my time working.
What advice would you give another mum considering starting her own business? Go for it! There is no better way to achieve your work/life balance. And, it’s not just about when your children are small, think of all the nativity plays, Easter festivals, sports days etc etc that you may not be able to attend if you work for someone else. Not to mention the awkwardness of when your child is poorly & can’t go to school/childcare & you have to phone your boss who may not understand that sometimes your children come first. Obviously, you need to think about it carefully, do your market research & get your business plan done – but once you’ve done that – there is nothing stopping you!!
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