So……this is where we begin.

Two cups of tea, or coffee, whichever you prefer, one conversation, and a story that surprised even me.

There I was, mid 50’s, my idea of being technical was getting 2 screens up on my laptop at the same time. I was looking to sell my business and go off travelling to tropical climes, but life had something else in store for me…..

How I Got Here.

I didn’t start out in tech. What am I saying, I’d never been in tech. I was utterly non tech in any meaningful way.

I started out in retail, like a lot of people do, with a Saturday job that quietly turned into a full time life. Somewhere between house, family and the general swirl of adulthood, my husband and I decided we should try something of our own. We ended up in stationery, gifts and greetings cards. Which, yes, means I’ve come full circle now.

We loved the card industry. It was simple and human. Helping people stay in touch. Watching them choose something thoughtful. Seeing how much care went into sending their message. It was a happy time.

Over the years we’ve built a couple of businesses, mostly because I kept bumping into problems no one else seemed to be fixing. Nothing dramatic. Just the everyday faffs that make life more stressful than they need to be.

When you spend enough time around people at different stages of their lives, you realise we’re all dealing with the same little hurdles. I’m the sort of person who spots one, sighs, stares into the middle distance like I’m in a BBC drama, and then decides to sort it out myself.

That’s pretty much how I got here, telling this story.

The Morning Everything Changed.

One morning, something strange happened. I woke up at 5am, which is strange in itself because I’m usually awake at 3 either dashing to the loo or pondering my life choices. Anyway, I digress.

So I wake up at 5am with the idea for greetful right there. In my head.

I know why it arrived. For a while I’d been learning about AI and technology in general. Not because I fancied becoming the next tech mogul but because I’d been thinking about how this new wave of tools could help us as humans in everyday life.

I’d also had one too many moments that should have been marked that slipped straight through the cracks. I talk more about that in my blog post “The moment I realised connection was becoming a lost art”.

With that in mind and apparently my brain deciding that the time to schedule life changing moments is pre sunrise, it was 5am on a Friday morning when I woke up with greetful in my head and I couldn’t ignore it.

The idea, was simple. People care about each other, but life gets in the way. We forget birthdays. We forget to check in. We don’t know what to say. We mean to send a message and then suddenly it’s 10pm and we’re scrambling around trying to send something, but now it’s awkward.

The intention is there. The follow up is not. That is what I wanted to eliminate. That follow up getting lost. That is what greetful is for, that was the idea that had woken me up.

Before I’d even had caffeine I was looking up apps, websites and something called no code, which sounded friendly until I realised it did still involve quite a lot of code. It was all over my head. But, me being me, I kept digging and little by little I wrestled, pushed, pulled and eventually brought greetful to life.

Using everyday tech and keeping it human in midlife.

I’m not here to reinvent the world. I’m here to make it a little easier.

I like using everyday tools in ways that feel human. I like solving small problems that quietly make life better. And I like building things that help people feel more connected, not more overwhelmed.

I get frustrated when I’m on these sites that make everything so much more difficult than it should be. They’re ambiguous, they’re overwhelming, they’re asking me to do the same thing four times. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Tech doesn’t have to be loud or complicated. It can be gentle. It can be helpful. It can sit beside you like a friend who knows when to speak and when to stay quiet.

That’s the space I’m building in.

If you like improving things, or you’re curious about building something of your own.

If you too are midlife and thinking about a change of direction or if you just enjoy a good chat over a metaphorical coffee, you’re in the right place.

You can wander into the blog, explore greetful, or simply stay here with me for a while.

And if you’re here because you pressed the wrong button, thanks for staying with me till the end, and you’re still very welcome to stick around.

MHR