The first thing I want to say is thank you! To our investors, clients, supporters, family and friends, to everyone who has helped us in our first three years, and to my wonderful gingerheads.
Anyone who has set up their own business will tell you that getting through the first few years is tough. But boy is it tough. It is a level of pressure unlike anything else, I would never do it again. But I would never change it.
60% of new businesses fail within the first three years. Having just celebrated our third birthday, I can honestly say I’m surprised the failure stats aren’t higher. I have seen some very good businesses go under this year. I am incredibly grateful that we’re still here.
We faced some expected and unexpected challenges. In a female-led business, two of the key team members falling pregnant within two months of each other can hit a business hard. I know some businesses / former male colleagues may have a moment of pause about employing so many women (and mothers) within a small team. I’d say to them, never underestimate the intelligence, determination and grit of women in business.
We re-focused on delivering for our existing clients, restructured our business to a smaller, but sharper service offer, closed our London office, and decided that we were going to make it work.
What we didn’t expect was the challenge of success. We’ve often said to each other ‘if we can get through this year, we can get through anything’. But when we look back, we’re amazed to see some of our best work was delivered this year. We’ve been shortlisted for 5 awards and won a further 3 national awards for our clients. We’ve also been bringing in new business every month for the past six. It has been a very exciting time.
Thank you so much to our clients for the support and kindness you showed us when we prego-waddled into your offices. We’re extremely thankful to be working with you for another year!
And to all the lovely new people that we’re talking to, we’ve still room for more interesting work. If you need help from one of our gingerheads, just let us know: [email protected]