28 Jul The World Has Changed – So Must We

One of the biggest mistakes I feel many people have made during this pandemic has been doing the same old, even when the world around us is changing and shifting so dramatically.

I learned early on how varied all our individual responses to the pandemic have been – and continue to be – and how essential it is to respect these differences. I also started to think differently myself about how I wanted out of work.

Pre-Covid, our clients were typically UK logistics, retail, construction and education organisations. This worked well for us as a business, but it didn’t always work well for me as a person. I have seen more than my fair share of ups and downs through my life, but until recently I hadn’t realised just what an affect that had had on me. I didn’t know just how much I wanted to do more.

Then Covid hit and, as so many of us have said, it put everything into perspective. I began to realise what I wanted to do – what I have always wanted to do. And that was to make a difference – to work with clients whose objectives I admired.

Not everyone agreed with my shift in direction. “You’re crazy,” I was told. People advised me that moving from the more lucrative national companies to the regional not-for-profit sector would be damaging to my successful business.

I’m not going to lie – these concerns almost made me doubt myself. Add on top of that a whole world of anxiety (quite literally) about the pandemic, and I had to dig deep to find those buckets of courage and commitment. But I found them. And I am so pleased that I did.

Today, almost all of our clients are charities (including Teamwork Trust, pictured here), social enterprises, are in the creative sector or are SMEs with a passion for making a difference and having a positive social impact. Exactly like we are.

Step one in this new journey was to set aside time and budget to practice what we preach. We invested energy into our new website, we began regular blogs and press releases, we’re about to launch a podcast service and are working with charity leaders, both with their personal branding and to develop communication strategies for their organisations.

Increasing our own profile quickly paid off. As an example, in February, we got our first enquiry from Europe. The founders of  www.story.one, a story sharing, online community and platform, got in touch and asked us to come up with ideas for a high-profile UK launch of their community.

We tendered for the work, won, and ended up even ended recruiting two new interns as a result – one is now our marketing assistant (Harriet – posing here in our office). Lots more to share with you on this project – we’ll keep you posted.

Reflecting on covid I have also learned that the key to retaining and recruiting during has been respecting the fact that we all react and feel differently. What suits one person may not suit another, but if we are all united, excited and fired up by the work we do and the clients we support, then all will be not just well – but EXCELLENT.

Are you working in the same way or have you too made changes and shifted your outlook and business approach? We would love to know.