How I got here
I contacted Lucy in April 2021 having just had a website built by another company, that sadly turned out to be, not fit for purpose and cost me dearly in time and energy. It was my husband in fact who found Lucy and from the moment I called her and heard her uplifting personality, I felt comfortable and confident that she would be able to bring my vision to life, which she did in record time, with no fuss happily helping in whatever way she could and providing training to myself and my assistant. I am delighted with the site and have had numerous compliments about it.
I have worked for 44 years, 32 of which have been independently with many different individuals and companies in various industries and environments.
I realised long ago that I did not like inhouse politics or what appeared to me, as the regimental workplace and after being made redundant from two consecutive jobs six months apart, I placed an advertisement in a sweet shop window and with an old electronic typewriter started getting work. Word of mouth brought more clients and the income to purchase an Amstrad computer. I would work through the night to provide a first class service returning documents to clients in the speediest of timescales. Thankfully from that one advertisement, I accrued a regular client base and never looked back.
Of course, life happens and circumstances change and for me, at that time it meant having back surgery, which resulted in having to drop many of my clients for a number of months until I was, literally, back on my feet. I was very fortunate to start over again, organising many CEOs’ business requirements, assessing and identifying their business needs, as well as coordinating their personal lives and then, with another life changing event in 2009 necessitated a further change and I took up Minute Taking. With the positive feedback, I started a Minute Taking service in 2011 as a sole trader, then formalising the business into a company known as SHL Minutes Limited in 2019.
For the 32 years I referred to above, I have essentially been working remotely and I am a little surprised that more companies have not done this sooner. Employers have often said no to staff requests for working from home, however, it is evident that whether front facing or not, remote working can be successful and for me, with this pandemic, it feels like the world has finally stepped in line with the digital workplace.
Outsourcing is another area that businesses are coming to understand and in my business, people are seeing the value of this, as Minute Taking is a specialist area that can take up much of an employee’s time when they could be doing so many other valuable tasks and they are not always experts in this field.
The question of when people will get back to the physical workplace is regularly being discussed; I believe, going forward, that companies might now appreciate the work/life balance and offer a hybrid approach. I certainly hope that is the way forward, as geographically, we are able to reach further afield and accommodate many more meetings feeling relaxed and calm rather than being late, or exhausted from travelling and feeling rushed and pressured upon arrival.
I am pleased my Minute Taking service is being recognised, not least from my fresh looking website, thanks to Lucy and I hope that I might be able to assist you, once you have taken a look at it: https://shlminutes.co.uk/
Thank you for reading my story.
Susan
SHL Minutes Limited
