Bring Him Home Chapter 2

As we settled into our new offices our client base expanded slowly but surely, I took on two more  experienced part timers, both working Mums who again had been ‘let go' by their bosses. While they may have been working less hours or days than before, they put in twice as much effort despite my telling them it wasn't necessary. It was as though they were determined to prove to me and probably more so their old bosses that being a new Mum did not mean that you couldn't suddenly do your job.

Without specifically setting out too I had created an all-female company. This was both a unique selling point and in some ways a drawback because we did need a male opinion sometimes in our campaigns. Therefore we called on the Husbands, Dads, Uncles and Brothers of everyone who worked here and through them we developed an excellent system across the generations understanding of the everyday man.

I paid my staff well, gave them every perk I could reasonably afford and helped out when their childcare let them down or when the children were sick.  I treated these women as my family and it paid off, they rewarded me with 100% of their time and ability and we began to make huge inroads into the industry.

As my little company grew I started to realise that I couldn't do everything myself anymore, there just weren't enough hours in the day. While I had all the bases covered staff wise it was the back bone of the company that was starting to show weakness. Suddenly I was talking more to lawyers, bankers, trying to learn about HR as well as having to negotiate contracts and try and balance the books. We were showing a healthy profit and three years in we already had a good reputation in the industry but I was losing touch with my clients, half the time I was too busy doing the boring crap that needed doing to actually talk to them. The first time I almost lost a client because I hadn't had the chance to speak to them about the campaign they had running I knew things had to change. So right there and then I started my search for a CFO to run the finance side and to deal with all the lawyers and bankers and to make sure we were making money and an COO to take over the day to day running of the office, HR just generally making sure we were getting everything done on  time. The plan was then this left me free to deal with the clients, to give them the attention they needed and to concentrate on landing new work. I was the face of the company and it was time for me to get out there.

 It took me several weeks but I secured the first part of my senior management team. Rosalie Hale is my new CFO. She was top of her class at university and is an Accountancy wizard. I researched her for days; everything from her private life, her public image and business contacts to her media presence and when I finally approached her at the small firm she was battling hard to climb the ladder at, she jumped at the chance to move. 

I had found her after talking to some of my old school professors. I explained what I needed and two of them came up with the same name so I knew she would be what I was looking for. After checking her profile on face book I could easily track the places she liked to spend time and I was able to ‘run into her' at her gym. She was polite but firm with me when I tried to engage her in conversation, a much needed quality in her profession, and I liked her instantly. I knew she would be an amazing addition to my company.

I approached her the next day and after I made her realise the offer was genuine, she went away did her own research on me and my company. Forty eight hours later she rang to accept my offer and handed in her resignation. They removed her from the premises instantly, so after a few days to sort some personal stuff she joined us. She made a difference instantly and within a week I knew she was going to be a huge asset to us, my contacts had worked again.

Alice Whitlock was another such find. I came across her in the industry press as she was being honoured for a campaign she had put together for a young designer. Her ideas were fresh and vibrant just like the designer she was promoting and it was easy to see she totally understood her subject and what they required.

After a couple of days of researching her and talking to people who knew her, I knew I wanted her to come in and take over the day to day running of the creative design side. Whilst I had been looking for someone to take over every aspect of the day to day running it was obvious that Alice needed to be able to be creative with the team and not burdened with paperwork . I approached her at a party I knew she would be at, she was with her husband Jasper and the difference between them was striking. While she was a petite brunette he was a huge 6 foot plus blonde that looked like he regularly worked out. They created a vision together that screamed contentment with an underside of naughty. After a few drinks I introduced myself and asked her if she was interested in joining me, her husband nearly choked on his beer as he turned to look at me.

"What the fuck lady, she is very married, to me thank you very much" he said as he physically picked her up and moved her behind him.

I wondered what the hell he was doing until I replayed in my head what I had actually said to her, I couldn't help but laugh as I tried to explain I was offering her a job.

After that we all became firm friends as Alice took just twenty minutes to accept my offer and she started work as soon as her old boss let her leave. All I needed now was someone to oversee the admin side and we were good to go for the next phase of growth for my company.

The final piece of my jigsaw came together when I was contacted by another of my old college professors. His niece was looking for work after leaving her abusive husband, and he confided in me that he needed to get Esme out of the state as soon as possible. She was an experience office manager who needed a little help to rebuild her life, to get away from all the bad memories and to start afresh. I knew Dr Banner would never have asked if she wasn't up to the job so I offered it to her there and then.

My management team was in place, our office space was big enough for the time being and I was feeling confident. It was time to take on the big companies, shake things up and really make our mark.

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