Posted on Thursday 7th July 2022
A Cannock entrepreneur is growing her business with county council backing and helping her to work flexibly around busy family life.
Adele Feeley started her company Adele Assists in December 2021 – providing virtual administrative and creative support to other small businesses, enabling them to fully focus on their main operations.
Now she is looking to expand her business with the backing of Staffordshire County Council’s Get Started support scheme, which is delivered by the Staffordshire Chambers of commerce.
Adele Assists provides essential support including proof reading, research, diary management, event management and report writing, in addition to creative tasks such as social media content, video/audio editing and writing blog posts. Through the Get Started programme, Adele has been able to benefit from marketing support and completed a digital skills course.
Adele, who has over 15 years’ experience working in the corporate customer service sector said:
I have seen time and again how frustrated business owners and professionals get when they find all of their time is being spent on tasks that can easily be done by someone else, but they don’t know who they can trust to get it done.
Business was slow to begin with. I was very much trying to go it on my own – doing a lot of research, looking at videos and articles online and finding out about other people who are in the virtual assistance business, trying to piece together how best to make my business work.
But since joining the Chambers of Commerce, everything has come together, and I have managed to get the ball rolling thanks to Get Started.
You get lots of contact with the Chambers team when you first sign up. They tell you about all available support and everything you can access. I can’t recommend it enough.’’
Adele is one of over 200 people to approach the Get Started scheme from the county council for fully funded accountancy and marketing support.
Phillip White, Staffordshire County Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for economy and skills, said:
Get Started is a fantastic scheme that has so far supported hundreds of start-ups across Staffordshire.
It is helping people like Adele to start up a business that lets them work around existing responsibilities, such as having a family. We recognise that people would love to start up their own business but do not have confidence in themselves or their skills. The Get Started scheme really assists in making business ideas flourish.
It’s great to see the difference this support has made to Adele, and we wish her every success in the future.”
People can find out more about the Get Started scheme at by emailing: getstarted@staffordshire.gov.uk calling 01785 277375 or visiting the Get Started and Grow web page