Caroline welcomes Jane
There’s nothing like a Big Birthday to focus the mind on what happens next. Looking back over 20 years of my business Effortmark, I realised that I wanted to do better in future about keeping track of what I’ve been doing – but I wasn’t going to be able to do that on my own.
Luckily, that thought happened just as Jane Matthews mentioned to me that she might be interested in a role within Effortmark. So you’ll be hearing her voice on this blog – and first of all, I’ll hand over to her to introduce herself.
Jane joins Effortmark
It was my good fortune to be in the right place at the right time, when Caroline decided she wanted to bring new resources into the business.
We’d worked together some years back at the OU, where my mission almost-impossible was to coax a team of ex-journalist communicators, brought up on newsprint, into the online age. As an expert consultant Caroline was always careful to sweeten her tough love approach to helping us create usable websites with regular gifts of homemade cake.
Fast-forward a few years and I too have my own freelance business supporting organisations as various as The Parks Trust, Milton Keynes Museum, Natural Building Technologies and the OU, with social media, websites, authoring and media relations. Plus an important sideline in personal development workshops and authoring self-help books.
Caroline’s invitation to join Effortmark on a part-time basis, to help get her websites into shape and various book and presentation deadlines met, came at the perfect time. Much as I love freelancing, I also love the energy and ideas that come from being part of a small team.
All of which is by way of introduction, and by way of explanation to those of you paying enough attention to notice different names – and rather different authoring styles – on the blog.