Having traveled back and forth to my boring and rather un-fulfilling job as a legal secretary with a major firm of solicitors in the city of Norwich (England) for over 20 years, I finally decided in 2003, at the grand old age of 43, that it was time for a change, spurred on by the fact that the firm was rather ageist - once you hit 40 you were made to feel ever so slightly unloved and past your sell by date.
I'd been brought up in a lovely rural village in the heart of the Norfolk Broads and, having met my partner, Adam, in 1984 while he was serving at the local RAF base, we were forced, due to financial constraints, to move into Norwich. We lived there until 1998 when we found we were then able to afford a house in a village about 5 miles north of Norwich. We fell in love with the house immediately - a bit of a "doer upper", but backing onto the most wonderful water meadows, and overlooking woodland and open countryside, plus it had the benefit of being well away from the main road. It was close to a main bus route so I was still able to commute into Norwich each day.
By the beginning of 2003 I had become increasingly disenchanted with my job, not only due to the fact that I was being made to feel like an OAP and fit for the scrapheap but also because I was sick and tired of being stuck in hot and stuffy buses, being whacked in the face by students' knapsacks as they passed along the gangways and being coughed and sneezed over particularly in the depths of winter. On top of that, I could see that my life was slipping by and I was losing so much valuable time in the city which could be better spent in my idyllic little village. I wanted more time in the fresh air rather than breathing in the city fumes and, as I adore gardening, I wanted more time to develop my veggie growing skills.
I took a week's holiday in the Spring of 2003 and found it a real wrench when I had to return to work in Norwich so I began trawling the web at the weekends looking for alternatives. It was by accident that I discovered that OutSec, a digital typing agency within my home county, was looking for legal secretaries to work from home. Needless to say, I went to their website and discovered that, provided I invested in the right software/hardware, it was exactly what I was looking for.
I decided not to be too rash - there had to be a catch in there somewhere, it was just too easy - so I deliberated for a month or two and then took the bull by the horns and contacted them. I spoke to Tracey who instantly made me feel "at home". She was very open and honest - I may not make a fortune in the first few months but the ability was there to earn a reasonable income; the equipment I'd need wasn't cheap; I would have to become self-employed.
By this time I was well fired up, so having discussed the position with my partner who already worked from home as a PC technician, I decided to invest in the necessary equipment at the beginning of Summer 2003. I ordered the required headphones and software, downloaded it all and contacted Tracey again. She then sent me a trial file by email which I completed and sent back to her, again via email. She decided that I was up to the mark and said that she'd be delighted to welcome me to the band of happy workers but that I should seriously consider the implications before I finally made up my mind.
I took a couple of weeks' holiday from my city job in the July and asked Tracey if I could do a "trial run". She was happy for me to do so and, over those two weeks, sent me various odd jobs to do - some legal work but also some "fill in" surveying and estate agency work as some of the girls were on holiday so she was short staffed.
I found that I took to the surveying and estate agency work like a duck to water and, at the end of the two weeks, Vanessa, the Managing Director phoned me and said she'd be thrilled if I could join them but understood that it was a big step to leave the security of a job as a paid employee and take the plunge of becoming self-employed.
As summer moved towards autumn and the days darkened, so did my self esteem (and, according to Adam, so did my mood.) so, in October, I handed in my notice. I can still remember the utter relief - the prospect of no more hanging around waiting for buses in the snow; no more knapsacks in the visage, no more office politics and, even more of a relief, no more dealing with awkward clients on the phone, filing or archiving of old files
