Over the past couple of weeks life has taken me all over, emotionally and geographically. Bristol, London, the East Anglian coast, happy, frustrated, and darn right pissed off (on more than one occasion).

Let’s start with Bristol and work our way to pissed off…

Because we are a call answer service, Factotum has me travel the UK meeting new business people through exhibitions and other networking events. Phone lines have no bounds. This month I went off to the beautiful city of Bristol for the Sterling Business Show. I didn’t get a chance to do the grand tour, but we had a great view from the M Shed. It was our debut event for our new branding (see fabulous cookie photo) and banners. Unfortunately, or fortunately if you’re me, my phone was ringing off the hook with sales leads while I was shaking hands trying to find more. The team back home saved my sales neck that day! I don’t know about you, but there are few harder decisions to make than taking a sales call while speaking to potential client face to face. I always stick with the face to face because my momma taught me manners, but it’s hard letting that call slip through my fingers. Yay teamwork! Not a call was missed.

London was only a short trip to pick up a friend (the happy part), but the trip around the East Anglian coast was much, much… much longer. Or at least it appeared to be. This is where the anger and frustration come in. As mentioned in previous blogs, I lost my mind a while back and signed myself up for a 180 mile bike ride to raise money for the West Suffolk Hospital Rainbow Ward. It’s a great cause, right?  Right. I did a fair bit of training, not enough, but fair nonetheless. Also, I decided to do it all on my mountain bike. I’m pretty sure the rest of the team thought I would die before completing the ride on ‘the beast’. They were only half right, but I could not have been with a better crew! Everyone encouraged me, gave me tips, laughed, complained with me, and gave me that extra bit of umph I needed exactly when I needed it. I had to sit out here and there due to my shoulders simply not being prepared for that amount of pressure. (There is a visit with the masseuse in my very near future.) Then there was the ‘bone rattler’. Thanks to a teammate trying to air my tyre, the air went out. Ha. Thankfully, there was a spare bike to use till we could find a place to fix my valve. By the end of that particular leg of the ride, I was saying words that would make a seasoned pirate blush. The ‘bone rattler’ earned its name that day, and I earned some ibuprofen. Totally unrelated, trying to calm yourself down from a cursing fit while out of breath makes you look like a crazy person. That same leg ended in Cromer, a gorgeous coastal town. It was a welcome reprieve from leaning on, peddling, and cursing at my bike.  The next day was fairly smooth sailing. I had to hop off for about 5-7 miles again to give my shoulders a break, but I was able to finish strong with the rest of the crew riding into our hard-earned BBQ. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and the team I rode with was a major part of that. My rough estimate of total mileage is somewhere between 115-120 miles. Just to make myself look good, the whole team had to shave off about 20 miles to make it before night fall. I totally could have done that extra 20! :-O

As a team, we raised £10,333 for the charity, and I think that is darn fine.

Having a team to raise money, give you encouragement, and man the fort while away is an invaluable treasure to have as an individual and a business.  That is exactly what Factotum adds to your business. Having a professional call answering service is worth more than sifting through unwanted calls. We are here to organize your day, make your clients feel they are in good hands, and to help your day run smoother with the knowledge that you won’t be missing any important calls. We’re a team!