Where am I from and Why did I set up as a freelance pa?
I thought I should share with you the story behind ‘me’ and why I set up as a freelance pa.
First, and most importantly I suppose, I found myself without a job and I had to do something! However before I go into my work experience, let me tell you a bit about me …
Where do I come from:
Well, I have moved around a bit. I was born in Northumberland but my family moved to Scotland (just outside Edinburgh) when I was teeny, so I was brought up mainly in Scotland. Like many young people, I headed to the bright lights of London for my first job, where I worked and lived for about 10 years. When my first child arrived those bright lights dimmed a little and I decided that I really didn’t want to bring up a family in London so moved to Edinburgh. Then, for a number of reasons, I returned to Northumberland and have never felt more at home … though I do miss the beautiful Edinburgh city life at times.
My working life:
Many years ago I started life in the Information Department at The Department of Health’s Medicines Division providing an information service to the doctors and pharmacists assessing new drug applications. After a few years, I moved into medical publishing, working for a small publishing house where I learnt the ins and outs of book and journal publishing, including the very new field of ‘desktop publishing’!! Showing my age here I think.
After a few years, I decided to start work as a freelance publisher, working as Managing Editor or various publications, writing Pharmaceutical company profiles, editing medical books etc. It was great fun, gave me the taste of being my own boss and allowed me to work around my small children. However, circumstances changed and I became a full-time mother for a few years … quite a different challenge!
Coinciding with my move back to Northumberland I decided to return to the workplace … but to what? Having bought, renovated and sold a number of houses over the years I wondered if I could get involved in something to do with property. Bingo! I got a job working for a firm of surveyors and that was me in the estate agency field! I loved it … who wouldn’t want to go around beautiful houses, sometimes advising on how they could look better for marketing them, writing about property and generally having a great time? I worked for a couple of agencies over several years and managed to combine my publishing skills together with my property knowledge … so that worked out very well indeed!
Then at the end of 2017, for various reasons, I handed in my notice and left a job that I loved and was left thinking … ‘what next?’. I wanted to be my own boss again … but what should I do? I thought long and hard about what I liked to do and the skills that I had …
Why I set up as a freelance pa
I thought about what I could easily set up in my study at home … well, all my jobs over the years had involved ‘admin’ so I thought ‘surely I can do that for small businesses that aren’t ready to actually ‘employ’ someone yet’.
After a bit of research, I realised that there was actually a thing called a ‘Virtual Assistant’ … I was thinking ‘freelance pa’ and that is often how I refer to myself as many people understand that more. So that was it … I set up Cornerstone pa services from my little study at home!
Oh how I would love to have a gorgeous, contemporary home office at the end of the garden … you know the ones I mean, that you see on Grand Designs! Or even a traditional, cute Shepherd’s Hut but with all mod cons. But this is me, in my home, having a fabulous time helping such a wide range of small businesses with their admin.
So I’m Lucinda and my business is Cornerstone pa services and I am here to help YOU and your business!
Do get in touch if you have admin tasks that never get done, or perhaps ones that you just don’t like doing, and give yourself more time to focus on other aspects of your business. No task is ever too small.