Hook Home Help receives some help
Emily joined the team earlier this year to give her days some structure and to make a positive difference to her local community. She started out on our team of helpers, covering for others and then taking on her own clients. This was a massive career change from the world of IT but she adapted seamlessly. She took on a range of clients with diverse needs providing bespoke companion care to all of them.
During this time we had a rollercoaster of new clients starting and staff holiday to cover. I was so grateful for Emily’s ability to be totally flexible, unflappable and to deal with all the changes. Sadly her regular client passed away suddenly, but peacefully. The family thanked us both for all our help and for making his last few weeks so happy. We attended the only funeral that has made us both laugh and cry, and then she was left with some time on her hands.
When I realised that her skillset lies in computing and technology, I asked if she would be able to help me to implement some scheduling software. Hilariously, she was delighted and said it would be a fun project, and thanked me for the opportunity. I said I didn’t think it would be at all fun and that this stuff makes me want to cry. For me this stuff is as fun as plucking my eyelashes out one by one.
She thanked me repeatedly and I thanked her repeatedly and we realised that we had very different strengths. Since then Emily has totally changed my life. Firstly she researched what relevant software was available and found the answer to our problems. Then she set up the system which to me seems like she has created a miracle. This system has streamlined and simplified everything involved in running the business.
If she hadn’t had those first few weeks of chaos, to put it frankly, working as a helper, I think it would have been hard to understand where we were and what we needed. I am so lucky to have found someone so technically proficient who also had experience of being on the team, on the ground, doing the work.
As the company grew, the manual invoicing process was getting increasingly complicated to the point of being overwhelming. One of the many challenges is that the team have a wide range of computer literacy and some have struggled to use excel and are resistant to the new system. Emily has calmly dealt with all our questions and provided bespoke training to everyone on the team.
This month, despite these challenges, the process was unrecognisable. It was less time consuming, less painful and vastly more efficient and accurate. These new processes will enable me to be able to scale the business far more efficiently than before. I cannot thank her enough without offering her my internal organs.
“A fun little project”, she says. A completely life changing transformation which has streamlined all my business processes and saved my sanity. Thank you, Emily