Enterprise/Business Name: Docea Contract Review Services Ltd

What’s in a name?

Docea is the Latin for ‘clear’ – which is exactly what I want my contract review service to be – clear. Legal documents can be written in confusing language, without punctuation, making them difficult to read. The word ‘Docea’ combines my aim to be concise with my love of classical history. Your position?

Michelle Small – I am the owner and Managing Director of Docea Contract Review Services Ltd.

About your business?

I am a single person enterprise, recently relocated to Rhyl, after being based in Sale, South Manchester. I offer contract review and writing services, along with Property lease and dilapidations reviews, aimed at any SME who has a physical office, sells anything, or provides services.

About you!

I have worked within a corporate background for all of my working life, having various managerial roles, the last one being as a Procurement and Contracts Manager for a large independent recruitment company. During my almost 20 years in my last position, I was responsible for dealing with the property portfolio for the company along with any purchase contract, and any terms of business the company was asked to sign, in order for them to provide recruitment services. I enjoyed the variety of work I was responsible for, I loved working with people, and I loved explaining things in simple terms; however, found myself becoming disillusioned with the rigidity of corporate life.

Why? - What made you consider self-employment/starting a business?

I was offered voluntary redundancy towards the end of 2019, and decided to take it, and work for myself; however, I wasn’t 100% sure on what to focus on, as I had a couple of ideas floating around!

The light bulb moment! - how and when did the idea come about?

It was during my garden leave, that I thought about the contracts and property leases that I dealt with in-house, and realized that not many other recruitment companies of 250 staff or less had a legal department – they were all reliant on solicitors. If this were true of the recruitment industry, then it was probably true of most other industries too, and therefore set about doing some research into this. Sure enough, most businesses of a SME size were reliant on solicitors to deal with their property leases, and as for contracts, most were just signed and not read. I saw this as a gap in the market that I could fill – completing legal work for companies that didn’t have a legal team, in a quicker turnaround and without the huge cost implications.

Who is your ideal client/customer?

My ideal customer is anyone from a single person company to a large company, who needs some contract or property legal work carried out, but would struggle to find the money to pay for a solicitor. As my background is within the recruitment industry, I am more knowledgeable in this area, however, I can deal with any commercial property lease/licence or dilapidations schedule.

Best moment so far?

Securing three large recruitment companies to provide my services to, and getting engagement from referrals through social media, and also managing to survive Covid! I didn’t have my first face to face meeting until March 2022 – and I started my business in March 2020! It’s amazing what you can achieve by Zoom and Teams!

Biggest challenges?

One of the biggest challenges for me, has been the ‘selling’ side of business– I have never sold a thing in my life, and when you start on your own, you have to do everything. You have to market yourself and get your name known; whether that be on social media, networking, or through connections on LinkedIn – the process was alien to me and took some time to come to terms with.

Benefits of the Chamber Start-Up

club

since you joined?

I set up my company in 2020, however, due to Covid, I couldn’t actually attend any face-to-face meetings for 2 years – so I still feel like a relative newcomer. For me, a definite benefit of the Chamber Start Up Club is finally getting to meet other business owners in the same position. I like the variety of businesses you get to mingle with, as everyone has a different way of working and it’s useful to get a different perspective.

Lessons learnt …what would you do differently and why!

In general, I wouldn’t do anything differently – perhaps setting a business up just before lockdown wasn’t the best move – but it did give me time to research companies, areas, virtual networking groups and lay the foundations for my business. If I had hit the ground running, then I don’t think I would’ve been as prepared.