I would highly recommend Viewvo to anyone looking to change their current career path. In fact, I already have!
Prior to having my children I had a long career in the Financial industry. However, I’ve always been passionate
about interior design...but had so many questions and doubts about how achievable this would be and what my next step
should be.
After discovering Viewvo at a careers fair and noticing that Rachel Laxer was one of the mentors I saw this as an
opportunity not to be missed - and the fee goes to charity so it was a win win.
Rachel is a fantastic person to shadow, a real inspiration having made a hugely successful career change into interior
design from a prior career in Finance.
Rachel later invited me to be involved in the amazing interior design breast cancer charity event that she is
co-chair for, Holiday House which launched in London this month. Through helping out at Holiday House I have
met a number of other designers and professionals within the design industry so it has been an immensely rewarding
process.
I spent a day with Ali which I thought went very well. I was really concerned about spending £450 but I’ve spent more than this in the past… Ali has helped me focus on my brand, the vision for my business and my target customer. All of this makes me realise the mistakes I made with the investments I’ve made previously – in a way, I wish I had met Ali earlier as I now feel I’m on the right path.
She’s been really helpful and given me some contacts in the industry who might be best suited to my vision. I wasn’t sure previously how to price my products, so she’s talked me through how she does hers and has also given me a template business plan which we worked through, so now I have a much better and clearer idea of what I should be charging. All in all, to learn from someone who you know is successful is really reassuring. The fact she believes in what I’m trying to do and gave up a whole day to help me get there is great – consequently, I would happily recommend others do the same.
If you have a dream and you want to implement it, it's a risk free way of getting experience without getting hurt. The sorts of things I got help with were how to staff, what sort of ratios you need to work to, I've revised my business plan after we went through it. I'm hoping to open in a few months!
‘The call was brilliant! Sheryl is so awesome and her energy is just infectious. Using Skype worked really well as I’m a mum of two, so we were able to have a break for baby feeding/lunch in the middle. I learnt so much – I have 6 A4 sides of notes and loads of action points to take away. Sheryl shared so much knowledge and I’m definitely reassured that I can go and do this! I can't wait to start my business.’
*Update* 1 month on from Anna's shadowing opportunity with Sheryl, she's setting up her website and has already met her first potential client!
I'm a self-published author whose book is available in ePub and printed. I wanted to meet with Todd to learn some insight on how I could market my book and increase sales, as currently the public interest is rather limited. I was also looking for advice on publishing another book and wanted to know if it may be better for me to do this through a renowned publisher, rather than self-publishing. The meeting with Todd was really productive – he also bought with him 2 editors and they provided some in depth advice and feedback on my first book, and how to breakthrough in the industry in general which has certainly helped a lot. The advice they shared was really valuable and I’m working through the changes they suggested. I’d definitely recommend this opportunity!
What ViewVo offers is a really cool way to get behind the scenes, to see the bits that you would never get to see as a customer or as an outsider. I had the opportunity to spend the day at the stables and ask all the questions I had but wasn’t sure who to ask. I’ve had a great day and it’s been really helpful – I would highly recommend job shadowing and being able to meet a mentor.
Lorraine Rees
Short Survey
Tell future employers how best to support you through a career change. This survey will take 5-10 mins and we'd like to follow up with you in 2-3 years.