Who we are... and how we try to be different?
When I moved away from the town Mum and Dad live in, they kept telling me they wished I'd write down how to use the PC in the way I used to explain it to them. Several other people said much the same. That's why...
...I then wrote Computers One Step at a Time. Since then literally thousands of people have tamed their PCs with this book and The Internet One Step at a Time.
As a business, I believe we can be successful and treat our customers well. We aim to send out all orders the day we receive them (or the next day if you phone after the post's been picked up). The phones are answered by actual human beings (mainly Louize, Georgia and Laura - or one of the rest of us if it's very busy!), not machines. And we don't pass on your details to other companies for them to contact you.
All in all, we try to live up to our name and be helpful.
But who actually are we all?
Tim is the one who wrote the books in the first place. Since then he's written several more, recorded some videos and also writes a twice-a-month free email newsletter giving tips, advice and help about computers. At the moment he's got extra large bags under his eyes due to...
Tim's baby son, who arrived in July 2010. He gets a mention from time to time in the newsletters He also stops all work at the offices every so often when he's brought in and everyone crowds round to go "Ahhh"
Tim's wife doesn't actually work for the business - not officially. But she helps out with website design, the odd bit of editing, design of some covers and so on. A tip to anyone setting up a publishing business: marrying a professional editor first can be very handy...
Laura is in charge of customer services (which means she gets the flak if we get something wrong - luckily that's not too often!) Often to be found running around madly making sure all the orders get out into the post the same day we get them as well as answering phones to take orders in the first place.
Amongst other things, Claire makes absolutely sure we never ever run out of any of our books. She also organizes the adverts we run in magazines to make sure people know about our books in the first place. Her job description also lists "Make sure Tim doesn't act on any of his more insane ideas" (which might explain why we don't have a go-kart track in the building next door...)!
If there was an award for "the nicest person on a phone when you ring up any company" (snappy award title…), Lou would be a good bet to win it. If you ring up, you're more likely to talk to Lou than any of the rest of us - and she's great at it. (Little known fact: she's also a brilliant silversmith and makes great jewellery)
I'm sure Georgia won't mind me saying this but she's a bit of a geek. A proper techie. But unlike most techies, she can explain what she means in normal language. So she handles most of the technical questions we get from members of the Inner Circle. Her face lights up whenever there's a new technical problem she's not come across before. She also helps with answering the phone and is a dab hand at that too.
