Winning Friends & Influencing People

Or how I climbed the career ladder. VERY slowly and with a complete lack of intent and pitiful academic qualifications.

Feb 18, 2024

A few weeks ago, Leo’s school announced that he needed to secure a work experience placement, with the idea that it might focus him on possible career options for the future. This, I felt, was quite ambitious. Currently Leo’s interests, at 14, revolve entirely around FIFA 24, football and hanging around shopping centres, with the occasional foray into Nandos for some hot piri piri and bottomless PepsiMax. When I was 14, the only thing that I saw in my future was house parties, getting off with boys AT house parties, waiting for the house phone to ring AFTER getting off with boys at house parties, Liebfraumilch (very popular back in the 80’s), perming my hair, stiletto heels, school lunch break cigarettes and George Michael. I did, however, have a Saturday job at the local cafe in Eastcote, The Knife & Fork, where the average clientele were pulling their pension and the only music tape available for background music was The Best Of Bread. But a career plan? No. Nothing. I wasn’t looking any further than a steak and kidney pie and sticky toffee pudding with separate custard, please. Random fact of the day: I did Saturdays and Luisa Bradshaw White (best known for her Eastenders role and whom, it transpired, had an actual career plan) did the weekday shifts.

My attention at school was mainly focused on whether or not I had ladders in my 15 denier tights and hoping that the canteen had chocolate crispy cakes that day, so it will come as no surprise that I finished 5th year (that’s Year 11 to the Millennial uninitiated) with the grand total of three O’Levels. My parents were APPALLED. I had been on track for a more salubrious total and three A’Level courses, but my lack of focus and interest in going to the pub after school had done me no favours and I was placed on a CPVE course in secretarial studies whilst resitting what I hadn’t obtained (AKA, pretty much everything). One year on and I managed to add another three to my paltry O’Level rosta but, astonishingly, it transpired that I was very good at office administration and left Haydon School with 12 First Class secretarial qualifications including shorthand, a skill that todays workplace renders completely useless. I immediately went to work in Ruislip at Prowting New Homes as an office clerk, a job where the upside was that they would sell off all the show home furniture at a bargain price, the downside being that the furniture was always half the size of normal so that it made the rooms look bigger to buyers. The majority of my time was spent on a typewriter with carbon paper; the remainder attempting to navigate a SAMNA word processor. Different times, for sure.

The pub, a large part of the reason for my poor O’Level tally. You can tick off pretty much every 80’s hair trend here.

Fast forward 35 years and I could never have imagined that my work life would look the way that it does today. Mostly because a lot of what I do for a living - content creation and social media - were not even dictionary words back in 1989; my early working years functioned with barely any technology at all. Although to be fair, we spent a lot of Fridays in the pub from lunch time onward and no one could call us as there weren’t any mobile phones #everycloud.

Today, I work full time as a writer and content creator from my own home, alongside brands and businesses that employ me to create advertorial for social platforms. I talk on panels and publications about interior design and social media; I’ve written a book and I’ve even lectured at a University about my specialist subject (my Dad passed away 15 years ago, but he would have been delighted and, indeed, gobsmacked about this, seeing as I obtained an Unclassified in my Home Economics O’Level). A far cry from the expectations that I had of myself after the 1987 Exam Results Debacle.

So how DID I get here? Here’s a run down of my ‘career’ path to date, mostly for comedy purposes but also to show that it doesn’t matter WHAT age you are, your life can take any turn that you wish if you try hard enough.

The Early Years: The Hotel Industry

1988, and I decided to leave the 60’s industrial block that was Prowting New Homes Head Office for the streets of Mayfair, the Holiday Inn just off Berkeley Square. I was employed as Personnel Assistant in an office comprising mostly of me and Bob, the Payroll Manager who bore more than a passing resemblance to Brian Blessed and who smoked like a chimney. He also was prone to bursting into song at any given moment, most commonly Magic Moments which I can still never hear without thinking of Bob and his eternally overflowing ashtray. The 80’s was a good time to be in the Hotel industry; London was always busy and there were Hotels popping up everywhere. A year or so later, I accepted a promotion at the newly opened Holiday Inn Kensington as Assistant Personnel Manager, excellent timing as I was on the road to sabotaging my burgeoning career after throwing myself into an illegal affair with my Mayfair boss, the Personnel Manager. I know, I know. We live and we learn, readers. Anyway, the affair turned into a marriage; we moved to Milton Keynes and I started working for…

The Fitness Company Where I Managed Not To Step On A Machine In Four Years.

1990, and after temping for a number of months (temping was BIG in those days), I secured a role as Office Assistant at StairMaster UK. No, not the lifts that take old people up the stairs (a common misconception) but the fitness step machines. It was an American company, just arrived in the UK and my boss was only 26 - the majority of the six staff were sales people so I spent almost all of my time on an industrial park in Wolverton Mill alone. I wisely made the most of my isolation, entering all the competitions in Take A Break magazine (I sat right next to the franking machine for ease of postage) and listening to Simon Mayo on Radio 1. It was so monotonous that sometimes at lunchtime I would actually go into the conference room, shut the door and have a snooze. Things came to a head when my boss refused to sign off my holiday plans so in a fit of pique, I handed in my notice, we moved back to Harrow and I entered…

Living the new home dream at Prowtings at 17; Bob, myself (with full on Kylie perm) and my friend Roisin inexplicably in witches hats at the Holiday Inn Mayfair.

The Wonderful World Of Fashion Retail

I returned to my Personnel roots and took a job as PA to the Personnel Director at TopShop TopMan which was then part of the Burton Group, based on Berners Street. This was the mid 90’s and the only role that I’ve ever had where my First Class shorthand was given its moment to shine. Summoned by Stuart Rose (who was then CEO) to take minutes at a board meeting, I rose to the challenge, only to find that unfortunately (for both me and Stuart), I couldn’t read a single bit of it back. Godammit. The fashion floor was a brilliant places to work, full of creative people and, more importantly, endless supplies of samples which were sold off monthly during lunch breaks. My next move was upwards, as PA to the Managing Director of Country Casuals, a brand that many of you may not remember but whose sample sales made my Granny very happy. Part of my job involved dealing with customer complaint letters, of which 99.99% contained accusations of badly pilled knitwear and to which I sent back an endless supply of £10 gift vouchers which sat in my desk drawer on a roll. Living the dream. Handed my notice in, ditched London for the glory of Uxbridge and took a job in…

The Super Fast Arena Of High Tech

From Granny jumpers and tweed two pieces to the tech revolution, I became an Executive Assistant to a Cisco Systems Vice President. This was a GREAT job. It was 1997, tech was booming, the share prices were going crazy and working for an American company was the height of cool. Forget pilled knitwear; we had free snacks next to the lift, could wear fleeces to work and had laptops and routers AT HOME. Unheard of. We went to San Francisco for kick offs, partied at ranches in the Napa Valley and went to Europe for day courses. 3G was well on its way to transforming the world as we knew it. Spurred on, I decided to transform my OWN world, left the husband who made me miserable and met Joe. The downside of this new life meant that I was now commuting from Reading which often took two hours in traffic to get home. After one traumatising incident - I was desperate for a wee whilst being stuck solid in the fast lane of the M4 and was forced to utilise a copy of the Financial Times - I decided enough was enough, cashed in my shares and laid some nice new decking in the back garden of our new build. Notice handed in, I temped for a while before embarking on…

Sue, Susan and I in California on a Cisco kick off. Yes, fleeces are comfortable but, it has to be said, not very flattering.

The Estate Agency Years

…a position I eventually landed via a lot of temping, two kids and a year long job at the Royal Berkshire Hospital where I worked on the night switchboard. This role came with HUGE responsibility and I spent almost all of my time trying not to be left alone by my colleague so that I could avoid the big red Crash phone in the middle of table which signified disaster/emergency and which terrified the SHIT out of me. Post the birth of Max, I entered the world of sales and took a job at Walmsley Estate Agency in Caversham as Office Manager, enabling me to hone my administration skills and, rather unfortunately, develop a lifelong fury towards all other Estate Agencies who don’t do the job as efficiently as I believe they should (apologies now to any Estate Agent who has ever had the dubious pleasure of my business). I spent four happy years compiling brochures (ah, the good old days), chasing feedback and organising office parties before once again becoming pregnant, swapped career yet again and nabbed…

The Home Based Transcription Dream

Of all the jobs I have had, THIS is the one I am asked about the most. It was 2009 and a job working from home was as rare as hens teeth; a job where you worked only the hours you wanted to was the Utopia of admin jobs. After forcing the pushchair through the doors of Manpower Reading, I started transcribing interviews via audio tape (see, those secretarial qualifications coming up trumps again), eventually signing up with Essential Secretary, an online transcription service based in Leighton Buzzard. I would put Leo down to sleep, whack on the headphones and listen to the dulcet tones of interviewees that included Simon Callow, The Libertines and Paddy Doherty from My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. We moved to York and my job came with me, until I started posting pictures of my poor decorating attempts on Instagram and became…

An Author, Blogger & Social Media Content Creator/Influencer

WHO KNEW? Certainly not my family, who would shout at me regularly for spending all of my time pushing them out of the way of my camera lens so that I could take the perfect fairy lit/cactus strewn shot back in 2016. Oh, how they used to laugh at my #shelfie; the first time I went to meet an Instagram friend IRL they were worried I was being groomed. These were the good old days of Instagram, where the only posts were static ones; there were no Stories, no video and the feed was chronological so you could like and comment on every single account that you followed with 100% reach. Interiors was up and coming - the Instagram demographic had been beauty and fashion strong, but these users were now starting to rent or buy their own homes and were growing with the platform. I received so many decor questions that I started writing a blog - again, those fall back secretarial qualifications came to the fore and my transcription editing meant that I was my own worst critic when it came to my writing, a bonus all round. I started earning a salary from posting back in 2017; with no payment structure (this was a new world of marketing), I made up my own fees, doubling them after every job because why not? There were no limitations.

Soon, the earnings on my platform equalled what I was earning transcribing so I ditched Paddy & Co and focused entirely on social media. I started working with big brands on large campaigns, ran courses on styling your home and building a social account, wrote a monthly column for Real Homes magazine, talked at events about interiors and social media and in 2021, I published a book called Resourceful Living talking about how to decorate and style your home. In 2022, I launched a Create Academy Masterclass video course on the same subject.

I worked hard to grow, but 99% of my new career success was due to truly loving what I was doing. Talking about interiors with an audience who were as passionate about it as I was invigorating; I can walk into a party and not meet a single person who would get excited about a cushion or a fabric but head to Instagram, and I can immediately engage with thousands who love it just as much as I. As a social platform, Instagram grew from 440m users in 2016 when I first jumped on to over 2bn in 2023, and with that grew the opportunities for self employed work, with no limitation as to what you could achieve, whatever your background, age or experience. I am, and always feel, eternally lucky to be here.

Taking photos and writing for a living. Literally count my blessings daily.

35 years ago when I left school, I had no aims, objectives or qualifications of note but as I head (faster than necessary, IMO) towards 53, there is nothing else that I would rather being doing than what I do today. Except perhaps be doing it in a Spanish finca with a table of tapas and litre of cold rose in front of me, ha. So back to Leo and how will he be spending his work experience week? With me, of course. Teaching him to film, edit, write and most of all, CREATE. Because who knows where the world will be in 35 years time?

Thanks so much for reading. If you like what I write, I would be so happy if you would comment, subscribe and share with your friends.