"I'm
Fran Williams and, for my sins, I'm MD of 2 local businesses; a wife and a mum
to a teenage daughter, 4 dogs, 3 cats and an alpaca!
Having
done the 'career woman' bit, I took stock of my life 10 years ago and, as a
newly single mum, decided that something had to change. I'd spent the first 6 years of my daughter's
life working full-time. Now it was time
to redress the balance …
I
decided it would be lovely to work from home, and I set up a payroll and
bookkeeping business. It was a perfect
scenario. I got to do the school runs,
and to go to sports days and nativity plays and never got that guilt thing that
working mums get. Most of my clients
were local, so I simply worked between 9.00 am – 3.00 pm, so I could be a
perfect mum to my little girl. It also
meant that I could be there if Jennifer was poorly.
My
clients were lovely, and I had a great time working from their premises or
homes. Always well look after by my
clients, it was back to a stark reality on those days I was working from my own
office (when I say office, I mean the room between the living room and the
'lean-to' kitchen – I think the proper term is dining room, but that's just
semantics). Don't get me wrong, my
office was lovely and the view of the back garden was super. The view into the kitchen of my Cavalier King
Charles spaniel fast asleep in the sink was a small distraction. It wasn't all bad, as the dog didn't always
sleep in the sink. Sometimes he slept on
my desk, keeping my papers tidy and performing other office junior type roles.
Bored
with only a dim spaniel for company during the day, and needing some
intelligent conversation, I decided I needed to get out of the house more and
found a part-time job. Perfect.
Except now I couldn't fit my clients' work into 6 hours a day. Never mind, there was always the weekends and evenings, and clients could drop their books off at my home. Fantastic. But did I really want clients visiting my home, particularly when I had a small child in the house? Not ideal, but ok.
Fast-forward
10 years.
Hubby
and I have just launched a new business centre in Consett. One of the main markets we are reaching out
to is people who don't want (or can't afford) a full-time office of their
own. They maybe want a hot desk for a
day, or an office one day a week.
I wish I'd been able to hot desk 10 years ago!
During
Consett's snowmageddon in January 2013, I conducted an experiment and worked
from home for a day.
I
started work in my office at 7.00 am (ok, dining room) and all was fantastic
for at least 2 hours until the dog fell asleep on my work papers. Said dog then decided to search my briefcase
and found some goodies, which he sat on and distracted me by glowering all
morning. Lunchtime came and went. At 2 pm, I went into the living room to work
on some social media – horizontal social media, on the sofa. At 5 pm, hubby returned home and somehow I
was still on a horizontal plane.
Yes,
working for yourself is fantastic and working from home can work amazingly well. What I have learnt is that sometimes it is
nice to have some professional space, where your dog can't be a paperweight or
a distraction! For anyone curious
enough, Barbilla the alpaca is on livery.
Just as well because she is so adorable, I would never get any work
done."
The Perspective team in the
break-out zone - no spaniels in sight!
(l-r Simon Williams, Joy Williams, Fran Williams)
Fran
Williams, Perspective Business Centres Ltd
Tel: 01207 585843
Thanks for your words Fran. I was honoured to get an invite to the launch of the Perspective Business Centre and I can honestly say it is fantastic. The team are so welcoming and have created a lovely environment in which you could work.
Speak to you soon my friends.
Maxine
x
Thanks for your words Fran. I was honoured to get an invite to the launch of the Perspective Business Centre and I can honestly say it is fantastic. The team are so welcoming and have created a lovely environment in which you could work.
Speak to you soon my friends.
Maxine
x
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