Big Welcome to Our Office Manager
Please join us in welcoming Shirley Rhymer, our new Office Manager at Vision Design Build Remodel. She has been working for VDBR for two months now, and I am so pleased at what a difference she already has made in our company. Right now, Shirley works 8 am to 5 pm out of her office adjacent to her home. When our VDBR office building in Lenoir is completely remodeled and officially opened for business, she will be setting up her office in our beautiful new building. Then you will have the pleasure of meeting Shirley who will be providing exceptional service to our clients as well as helping to keep everything running smoothly.
Today Shirley lives in nearby Hudson, but she is originally from Bristol, VA. As a high school student, she always dreamed of becoming an office manager. She took every available class that focused on business management, from bookkeeping and short hand to learning how to operate business machines, such as a 10-key calculator. After she graduated, she got a job as an insurance adjuster. “That wasn’t my planned occupation,” remarked Shirley. “I just fell into the job by accident—and then stayed there for 24 years!”
After that, Shirley became a deputy clerk in the Circuit Court House of Records for 14 years. Then she moved from Virginia to Sevierville, TN and worked as a bookkeeper for a civil engineering firm for 15 years.
Her most recent move brought her to North Carolina to be close to her beloved daughter, son-in-law and grandson who live in Granite Falls. She came without a job, but Shirley did not let that dissuade her. She kept searching and eventually gave me a call. “I knew Cody for a long time,” explained Shirley. “I knew he was remodeling a separate office for his business—to get his business out of his home. So, I called Cody and asked if he needed an office manager, and he realized it was perfect timing!” Vision DBR actually built an addition on Shirley’s home back in 2012, so she knew how smooth the process could be for herself.
Shirley’s position with VDBR is very similar to her previous bookkeeping job, except that she works with me in person, rather than over the internet. She keeps the books, writes the checks, pays the bills, receipts the money, and scans paperwork in order to go paperless as much as possible. I’m still answering the office phone at this point, but once we move into VDBR’s new office, that will also be one of Shirley’s responsibilities. She will be our initial client contact person when you call.
“I enjoy working with Cody very much,” enthused Shirley. “He makes my job so easy by showing me exactly how to do his work. What I like the most is knowing that I’m helping him move along in his business. I’m interested in doing my part, so he can be free to accomplish the things he needs to do.”
We feel so privileged to have Shirley as our Office Manager. She brings to VDBR tremendous expertise, perseverance, loyalty and enthusiasm for our business.
Outside the office, Shirley places priority on spending time with her precious family. Her hobbies include quilting, reading books, and working outside in her yard. A portion of her small office is set aside for her sewing machine and quilting materials. She likes to make t-shirt quilts, and has just completed one for her grandson for Christmas. It includes his little boy t-shirts and baby clothes. Shirley loves to read novels by Danielle Steele. She owns every book Steele has published, and in fact she subscribes to Amazon so she gets the first edition of every new novel as soon as it comes out.