Learning the mug politics

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Week 3 at som3

It is now our third week of trading and everything is starting to come together here in the world of som3

So much has happened since we opened the doors on the 14th January – partly helped by January being 74 days long….

We have had the usual technical headaches of getting everything working, but the hardest part has been teaching us oldies (and Chris) how to use this new-fangled phone system – imagine when you had to show your Gran how to send a text message for the first time – that’s pretty much been us.

Luckily here in Aylesbury we have our technical support company on site so they are getting used to us asking all the stupid questions and we are slowly getting there!! I actually placed a couple of them 10 years ago here, so technically they owe me.

As we are all in shared office spaces, getting used to the office nuances is a fine art – are there mug politics (don’t want to upset Greg on the first day by using his special mug!)? Who owns the butter in the fridge and will they notice if I use it? Who buys the milk? Why is this stapler called Sue?

The Knutsford office had some fancy wall art put up which really makes the office feel like its ours, and distracts from the poorly stocked beer fridge the corner – sort it out guys before us Southerners make our fortnightly pilgrimage to HQ OK?

Down south, myself and Chris have been getting in to a routine, I make the first brews, he makes the afternoon fancy coffees, we both bring in our healthy “new year new me” lunches each morning then by 11.30am are checking out the menu for the local Chinese while our salads rot in the fridge.

Joking aside, it has been a great first few weeks – starting with a completely blank database we now have over 200 clients we are in contact with, we have a healthy pipeline of jobs across a range of sectors, interviews are happening and deals on the horizon. We have new hires starting next month, our website is looking amazing, and we worked out how to do a conference call yesterday!

Soon 3 weeks, will be 3 months, will be 3 years, so hopefully everything will continue going from strength to strength and we will fondly remember our first few weeks as a new company!