Episodes

  • The Business Village People S2 E6. "You're a cross between Gary Barlow & Jason Manford!"

    The Business Village People S2 E6. "You're a cross between Gary Barlow & Jason Manford!"
    Oct 3 2024
    This is a Pod One production. For more information visit pod one.co.uk This is the Business Village People Podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell. Welcome to the Business Village People Podcast. This is episode six of series two. In this podcast, we showcase stories from the companies, service providers and staff at the Business Village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Well, if you're ready, let's go! In this episode of Business Village People Two people who started working for themselves totally by accident. We meet a young chap who was set up as an estate agent, but not any old agent. Barnsley's first. Disclaimer. We think, but we could be wrong, there may be others. Your house is at risk if you keep the back door open. Disclaimer. Barnsley's first, possibly, personal estate agent. He reckons it's the future. I'll be asking him why. Also, we meet the motivational educationalist, teacher, author and humourist, who at times looks and sounds like a cross between Gary Barlow and and Jason Manford. His business, Create, Learn and Inspire, is based here at the Business Village. Time to meet our first guest. Owen Beasley has recently begun working for himself as a personal estate agent. Here's his story. You've got a lot of people out there, a lot of estate agents out there, that are more corporate and work on volume if I'm honest. And I think it's time now when the market is changing for estate agents, where there is that personal touch, that personal branding, where they're not working on volume and the work on your property and get it sold, because each property is different. Some will sell quickly, just because of what everything is and the price tag. Some will sell slowly if they're more expensive. And he needs a personal touch to make sure it all gets sold, because nearly 50% of properties that go on the market don't sell. And I want to put the time in to each property and get them all sold, rather than it being a flipper coin kind of thing. And that's what I bring to suppose the Barnes and Mac is. So what do you mean by personal estate agent, say how are you different? I'll take them from A to Z, so value the house, get it sold, go for all the legal process. Anyone rings me up, they've got my mobile number from 9am, 8pm, up until 9pm at night, they don't have to ring an office and be passed around the office as such, which you get a lot in the corporate side. And that's the personal touch I'll do with everything, basically, and that's that. So how did you get into estate agents, you can say? By accident, to be fair, I wanted to get into property and I was more interested in building a portfolio for the back of it for retirement. And I joined B-craft estates in One Will, and it's spelled from there, I covered the media side of it, enjoyed it. I always knew I wanted to score myself. So what you said you wanted to get into property, did you mean owning the property rather than just getting into estate agents, say, straight away? Yeah, I wanted to get into flipping properties and... What's that mean? So buy one, renovate it and sell it on for a profit, essentially. I just loved it, I saw the people doing it, I wanted to get into it, and I started off getting into estate agents, getting into an estate agent role, and I enjoyed it. And I felt, you know, there's potential for me to do this as well. Yeah. So yeah, that's how I kind of go into it, I kind of fell into it accidentally, I suppose. So what's the market like at the moment in Barnsley and South Yorkshire? There's a lot on the market, a lot more than other years, to be fair, there's a lot of choice, and I think that's two things. Buyers have too much choice, so sometimes property can sell slowly, but also on the other end, you've got interest rates that are not the lowest. I mean, theoretically, historically, it's not actually the eye. But at the same time, it stops people buying, but that's why a lot of people are selling, so you've got a lot of sellers, not as many buyers, but stuff is still moving, and, you know, the base rates dropped. That's brought more buyers to the market, and it'll continue to drop up by the end of this year. It's at roughly 4%. But it is moving, and there's a lot on the market, to be fair. And although, if you look at the property prices and you look at statistics and whatnot, across barns, stuff is still rising. People say, you know, prices aren't at the 2022 eye, but actually, it's not the prices, it's the timing. In 2022, you could sell an house in a day, in an hour, whereas it takes a little bit longer now, but you'll still get more than you would in 2022, because it's jumped about 4.5 cents instead. So it's still growing, and barns is actually one of the strongest markets across the country. Some people, some areas have dropped 8%, some have gone up 8%, in oil, and in the last 12 months, it's gone up 8%. It's crazy. I think that is. I think there's a lot going on in barns, so it's had a £200m investment into the town centre...
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    29 mins
  • The Business Village People "My business started by accident".

    The Business Village People "My business started by accident".
    Sep 5 2024
    This is a Pod One production. For more information, visit podone. co. uk. This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm Davey Markwell, and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is episode five of series two. On this podcast, we showcase stories from the companies, service providers, and staff at the Business Village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Well, if you're ready, let's go. In this episode of Business Village People For some business, compliance requirements can be easily overlooked or forgotten due to the fact that the people are too busy actually doing the job. We meet a chap who accidentally created a website that helps hauliers stay legal. Also, a man who admits his management style is not to everyone's taste. So much so that his office is not even in the same building as his employees. Lee Pritchard took the plunge and set up his own business just as the first COVID lockdown began. In four years since, Lee has established an award winning company providing transport compliance to the haulage industry. Here's Lee's story. An interactive website, so it provides um, Features such as compliance guidance, there's industry news, um, there's networking opportunities, um, for various things. It keeps, uh, operators compliant with regulations, uh, connected with the industry. And we're developing it all the time, um, so it's one of those where we've just added, um, other features to it, which includes fleet management. Um, so, operators can send me their, um, service records, um, we upload that onto a fleet management system, so we can keep a close eye on them, make sure that they're, you know, they're, they're keeping legal and compliant. So it's, um, it's very interactive, um, but it is brand new. Um, we're, we're very sort of in its infancy, if you like. So we're adding new features, we'll, we'll keep on growing, and hopefully it'll, um, it'll provide a good platform for, for many operators in the future. So where did the platform come from? Did you create it or is it part of a franchise or? Yeah, it literally is. We, I created it, um, by mistake to be honest, and I will be honest. So originally it was a conversation with a website developer. Um, and I literally asked, um, could we upgrade in, you know, update our website? And we had a good chat for about two hours, which wasn't, you know, scheduled. And all of a sudden, we come up with this platform where it was like, Okay, we'll not So we do our current website, we'll create a new website. So we do have two websites. Um, one predominantly sort of telling everybody as a consultancy what we do. But then we have the Hawleyers Hub, which is obviously the interactive website. Um, so yeah, it was created by a mistake, but, but I love it and, and what it stands for. And, you know, we've got some good guys on there at the minute that are really seeing the benefits of it. Um, so, so yeah, that's, that's where it is. Well, it was a big mistake, but not a big mistake, if you know what I mean. Mistakes can turn out good, can't they? You know, you learn from them. Yeah, we love it. I mean, I do. And, you know, like I say, it's getting updated every day and we keep on top of it. Um, but I've had a meeting this morning and, you know. You know, a client's coming this morning. He just said, I'm loving it. You know, he's interacting with it because many operators, you see, and what we're finding is, is they're not transport people, so they struggle with a compliance side of things. And some of them are, you know, so run an operator license where they don't need a transport manager. So this kind of platform creates that kind of interaction where they can go onto it, find out what they need and they can book a call with myself as well. So it's, it's, yeah, it's, it's really good. I'm passionate about it. I love it. And, you know, especially when you see it helping people, that's, that's, that's what we're trying to achieve. Where did it all begin? What did you want to be at school? When I left school, um, I PE teacher. So that worked out really well, didn't it? You know what I mean? Um, yeah, I was always into sport when I was growing up. Um, bit of background in rugby league as well. Um, but yeah, I always wanted to do that. But kind of fell into this as you do. Um, you know, you find your way. Um, I mean, four years ago, I was a transport manager at a company. Um, but always sort of had the inkling of, What would it be like going on my own? Could I, could I do this? You know, um, You know, I had doubts, don't get me wrong, but been thinking about it for a while. And lo and behold, um, You know, I don't know what come over me, but decided to do it when COVID hit. Which I'm thinking, what on earth are you doing? And people did question it. Um, but four years later, here we are and I'm loving it. Yeah, I really do. Um, the variety is what we're after. You know, being on your own, you get into different things, you're ...
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    22 mins
  • The Business Village People Podcast S2 E4 "I was a rebel at school, especially with my socks".

    The Business Village People Podcast S2 E4 "I was a rebel at school, especially with my socks".
    Aug 1 2024
    This is a Pod One production. For more information, visit podone. co. uk This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is episode four of series two. This podcast showcases stories from the companies, service providers, and staff at the business village, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Well, if you're ready, let's go! In this episode of Business Village People, we meet a woman who was more impressed with her education from a local college than the one she received from a tuition-paying university. According to the United Nations, the top five emitters of greenhouse gases are China, the USA, India, the European Union, and the Russian Federation. That accounts for about 60 percent of the emissions in 2021. We'll be discovering what help is available to you to reduce your carbon emissions in your workplace, with a little bit of help from the business village. Also, we meet the brand new members executive for the Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce. It's time to meet our first guest. Laura Fish owns Fashion Toolbox, a company that is bridging the gap between traditional education and modernity and the ever-evolving world of fashion design. Fashion Toolbox is a little bit of a long story because it didn't start out as what it is today. It started out as an idea as part of my master’s, and I was working in the fashion industry for a very, very long time. I think it was around 15 years. And when I got into the industry from university, I realized that there was a little bit of a skills gap, shall we say, and that I wasn't really prepared for everything that I needed to know within the industry. I've got to do a lot of learning on the job. When you say that, what do you mean? Because you've, you've just did a master's degree. Is that right? I did my BA first. Right. Okay. You've done your BA first. You've come out. ready to be working in the fashion industry, but you felt as though you were lacking certain skills. Yeah, I would say more like the technical skills. I did learn a lot. I learned a lot about fashion design and pattern cutting. But then when you're in the industry, industry. There's so many different roles that I felt like I wasn't even informed about, to be honest. And how did that make you feel? Because you've just spent three years and got probably into a lot of debt to come out and not be able to do the job you wanted to do. Yeah, I'm quite frustrated. I mean, I was, I did get into the job that I wanted to do, but I felt like there was a lot of learning on the job to do and a lot of upskilling, which was quite frustrating. Yes, obviously, after spending all that money, then it was a little bit of, I did courses here and there in my own time to learn, particularly in like digital skills, Adobe Illustrator is massively required within the industry. And I just didn't, I wasn't taught it. So I think I had one lesson while I was in university. So I taught myself, um, pretty much. And then, yeah, when I asked others, they felt pretty much the same way. They didn't have the skills. So when I worked in the industry for quite a few years, as I said, and then this became a real like passion project thinking there's all these people that haven't got the skills that we need to join forces and upskill. So when I went back to do my masters. I decided to focus particularly in fashion education and did a heck of a lot of research into the history of education, how it's evolved over time or not evolved. And I guess this is, um, I'm generalizing in a way because I looked majorly at the UK and the fashion education system here, but there are, um, other areas that Doing a lot more to support students and bring more innovation and digital skills on board, but within the UK I found that it was quite lacking and to be honest at that time so I built Fashion Toolbox, which was Originally, it was a podcast So I interviewed people. I'll have no more of that then, quite frankly. Yeah, so I interviewed people from the industry in various roles. Roles that hadn't really been discussed at university. I basically asked them what their role involved and tried to educate people from that side of things. And I wanted Fashion Toolbox to be a platform where people could come and learn and upskill. Okay, right. Let's just shut the back door a moment. Why fashion? Oh. And what were you like at school? I was a rebel at school. Were you? Yeah, I was, I was a rebel. I, um, got in trouble a lot. In what way? I think I probably got in trouble a lot for, uh, My appearance, more than anything, I think that's where the whole fashion thing comes from. How, how, how did you used to go to school looking like? Was it like Charlie Carolli or, or a punk or a rebel? Yeah, a rebel, I would say. Like, I, I, Emo? Wearing way too much makeup. Always dyeing my hair, which was not really allowed...
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    31 mins
  • The Business Village People Podcast S2 E3 "Who is Fozzie Bear?"

    The Business Village People Podcast S2 E3 "Who is Fozzie Bear?"
    Jun 28 2024
    This is a Pod One production. For more information, visit podone. co. uk. This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is episode three of series two. Here we showcase unique stories from the companies, service providers and staff at the Business Village in Balsey, South Yorkshire. Well, if you're ready, let's go! In this episode of Business Village People, we meet the mum who was so unimpressed with the quality of face painting her daughter received that she decided to wipe the wonky smile Off her face and do it herself. 14 years later, she's turned face, body and bump painting into a thriving business. We'll hear her story shortly. Working alone can be very isolating. That's one of the reasons the business village began its monthly creative collective. A place to share ideas, listen to guests and chat, and we'll get the full story of what happens at a Creative Collective session a little bit later on. Donna Godfrey's business started with a Well, if they can do it, I'm sure I could moment and has since become a thriving venture. A company has achieved so much success that she's even been invited to the United States to train people in the art of face painting. Here's Donna's story. I used to work in finance, so I was doing payroll for, oh my gosh, years. I just fell into it. But what I'd found was like, I would go into work on a Friday and then I'd be like bouncing around the office going, Yay, the weekend's here. And they were all like, Donna, it's month end, get serious. Do you know what I mean? I was like, I just don't feel like this is my place and I'm not kind of fitting in. Um, and then my daughter at the time just was into face painting. So we just queued up everywhere for it. And I thought, how hard is this? And bought a little cheap set and then. It's gone from there. Did she get a really dodgy face painting dump ones? Um, I think it, it varies where you go. Some places should have an hour. Well, I, I can do better than that. And we hear a lot of these stories with the students that come on my course as well and they get the same thing. They go somewhere and it's a bit naff and they go, how hard is this? I'm gonna give it a go. But then there is some people out there that's absolutely phenomenal. And like beautiful kind of artwork, so there's a huge variation in what you can kind of get. So what did you want to do when you were at school? When I was, when I was like primary school, I wanted to work at ASDA. That was like the huge aim. For some reason, I don't know why, but watching people kind of scanning, I was like, this is, We're going back some time. So like till then we're like high tech. Um, but in high school there was a period of wanting to be a fashion designer, which I never even went into. Um, and I don't, um, thank God I did. Cause I have no idea about fashion now. So, um, I didn't really kind of have anything specific. Um, I just, I did a lot of retail when I left school. I've worked ever since leaving school though, always worked. Um, so I did a lot of retail, worked at some car garages on receptions. Um, I've even worked in an egg factory. It was like one of my first ever jobs. So I've always worked. Go on then, what were you doing there? So it was a very thrilling job. Um, it was weekends and school holidays that I'd do it and I literally had to stand in this like booth with a curtain behind me and then eggs would come over the factory kind of belt and they would go there would be a light underneath and my job was literally to look for cracked eggs and you would pull them out and put them on the shelf if any were cracked and that was all day just doing that. Hated it. But I wanted money. That's all I was bothered about was the money. Your daughter had come back looking like Charlie Carolli, having her face done. And you thought, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this meself. What did you do next? So I bought a little, um, Snazaroo set, which everyone can kind of get hold of from What? Sorry? Snazaroo. Bless you. You can get them from like, Amazon, um, eBay, uh, some like, the range sells them. It's like the, the main at home kind of face paint that's safe to use. So I'd bought a little set like that. And I'd painted my daughter at home and I painted her as a tiger and it wasn't actually half bad. It was, it wasn't, it wasn't the best, but it wasn't half bad. But it was more the enjoyment of it. It was, I thoroughly enjoyed painting her and her reaction, Kind of after being done, just, it gives me goosebumps now just talking about it. That's the main part of our job that I love the most, is the kids reactions and even adults reactions. And it was just, it was, I just loved it. So I thought I'm just going to carry on playing. I went online and then you find there's a massive world of face and body painting that you You know, you wouldn't know unless you were in the industry. So ...
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    30 mins
  • The Business Village People Podcast S2 E2, "The Old Chuffer, Inspired An International Style Guru".

    The Business Village People Podcast S2 E2, "The Old Chuffer, Inspired An International Style Guru".
    May 27 2024
     This is a Pod One production. For more information, visit podone. co. uk. This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell, and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is episode two of series two. Here, we showcase unique stories from the vibrant companies and service providers of the village. Based at the business village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Well, if you're ready. In this episode of Business Village People, we meet a clothes designer who would not be doing what she does now if it wasn't for an old chuffer puffing about at a railway station. Plus, we chat to the Business Village's new chief executive, Martin Beasley. He was all set to join the RAF and possibly fly helicopters. But that dream ended when they found out he was from Rotherham. Hello? David? What? It was just a joke, Kevin. Yeah, I know. Okay. Okay. Bye. I've been advised to point out that the last bit is untrue. He wasn't allowed to play with the choppers due to a sports related injury. I just thought my reason was funnier. Time to meet one of the newest clients to join the many companies at the business village in Barnsley. In saying that, she's run her own designer clothing business in Barnsley since the late 1960s. Since then, Rita Britton has become renowned around the world as a straight talking business guru. A few years ago, she retired, but now she's back. I asked her why. I think it lasted, well, probably a month, but I was seriously thinking after about four days this is, this is a big mistake. I think me and my other half. Or I probably would have killed him for not moving his breakfast pots off the table and putting them in the sink. So yeah, I thought, get back to it. Worked since I was 15. You know, you can't turn it off like a tap. And the other thing that you can't turn off, talking of taps, is creativity. You can't, you know, you've only got to look, I was listening the other day to the playwright. It looks like David, David Hockney. What's his name now? Alan Bennett. That's it. And he was in Westminster Abbey. And, you know, he must be eight, what, eight, five, eight, six years old. And he, it's the same there, isn't it? Can't just turn it off. It's still there, it's still interested in who those people were in those graves and what their lifestyle was like. And it brings it to life for you. You know, you just think this is wonderful. And David Hockney, you know, I think in Yorkshire we're an incredibly creative people. I really do think, maybe it's to do with adversity, I don't know. But, um, When I used to work at the paper mill, which I did from being, what, 15, 16. And the girls there were incredibly creative. We used to go to jazz festivals at City Hall in Sheffield and, you know, it was just wonderful. So yeah, it were, it were great. I think creativity is knocked out of people as they get older. by organizations and businesses and things like that and they're frightened to actually have a go at making something or creating something or drawing or coming up with a creative idea. Yeah, I mean, I, I, I have come across that. But then on the other hand, um, I was working with a young student from Barnsley, but she's now working in London at Westminster College doing fashion. She came to see me in the shop and she wrote, a mother with her and she brought her work with her and then she, I looked at her work and I thought, you know, this is good. This is really good. And she wanted to work with one of the London designers, a designer called Simon Rocher. And one of my guys who used to work with me as an assistant buyer. Oh gosh, I could go on and on and on and on, couldn't I? He was from Glasgow, right? And he was a real Glaswegian, red hair, fiery temper, the old lot. He is now one of the most successful men in New York, James Gilchrist. He works for He's virtually second in command to, there's a source called Dover Street Market, I don't know if you've ever heard of them, but they are the most avant garde stores on the planet. And he works for them. So I sent her his work and he said, yeah, what, what, what she want to do? I said, she wants to go and do a placement with Simone Russia. Two days later, she got the placement. And I did it with a jewellery design and then I thought the jewellery was gobsmacking. I mean, no one could have sold it here. It was like, uh, It's at about 10, 15 grand. And I sent it to James and said, what do you think of this? It's now in the New York store. So I'm still, what I find is that the people that I trained, and what he said to the jeweler who went to the store to place their jewelry in, he said, if Ree says, listen, or look at it, that's exactly what I do. And I thought that was great because he's so loyal that if I say, look at this. So I do work with young people and people that I've worked with in the past, buyers. Um, I mean, lovely stories I have to tell. The first buying job he ...
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    38 mins
  • The Business Village People S2 E1: “How I Performance Manage My Husband”.

    The Business Village People S2 E1: “How I Performance Manage My Husband”.
    May 2 2024
     This is a Pod One Production. For more information, visit podone.co.uk. This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell, and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is Series 2, Episode 1. Here is where we showcase unique stories from the vibrant companies and service providers based at the Business Village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Okay, let's go! In this episode of Business Village People, we meet the woman who set up her business on her twins first birthday. And now 20 years later, she's got the privilege of line managing her husband. And as for her twins well, they're going to have to fend for themselves. Plus, the Story of how circa 7,000 ambulances and control rooms across England, Scottish, and Welsh Ambulance Trusts are getting upgraded digital communication technology systems. All of these things are being delivered by a team based here at the Business Village, and we meet Dubai Bound Georgie Green. She's a PMO Analyst, working with the MDVS Team at the Ambulance Radio Programme. And talking of acronyms, FCS Associates is a consultancy practice with substantial expertise in public, private, charity, and society. sectors. The clients include Sheffield City Council, Barnsley Council and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. The business was set up 20 years ago by Rachel Fletcher, registered the company on my twin's first birthday. So it was a very bad mother and didn't do anything with them on that day because I was busy working. Uh, but I'd left my old consultancy company and decided that I'd stay. I don't know, I just wanted some better work life balance, and I thought, stupidly, that having my own business would provide that. I would say, since then I've been busier than ever, but equally, you're in charge of your own destiny, and you're in charge of what you want to do. And so that's why I like my job. Having my own business, because it allows me to do the things I like to do. Why consulted? How did you get into that? I just fell into it, to be honest. I was very lucky. So, when I left university, I was going to join the police. I'd got a training, a place on a training programme. I thought, that's fine. And then my dad found this very small advert in the local Sheffield Star. And, uh, they wanted consultancy. They wanted people to join a consultancy company in Sheffield that worked a lot with the European Commission. And my dad said, you like to travel, why don't you do that? So I wrote to them, got an interview, as you did back then, and got the job, and it was amazing. On the first day, well not the first day, the first week, I was travelling business class to London, going to meet some people. some, uh, people at that time who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture to talk about grants. And I worked there for ten years, I became MD, uh, really enjoyed it, did loads of travel, uh, did lots of work for the European Commission, I was, learnt a lot of stuff, you know, just worked with lots of different types of businesses on research, because I'd loved, I loved, I did a science degree, so I'd always had a love of science. And then, uh, I had twins and thought, can't really, or don't want to do this anymore. Want something different that will fit round my life. And, and so decided to set up my own business. And, uh, my brother said, sort of seemed to be family related. Never mind, I do get advice from others. But, uh, I was saying to my brother, I don't know what to do. And he said, well. You've done, you've run that business, why don't you set up your own, you know, contact a few people who you think you could work for and see what happens. And I was lucky, the first guy I got in touch with, he said, do you want a consultancy contract? Do you want a job? And I said, no, I'll do consultancy. And he said, set up a business and we'll give you a contract. And that was my first contract. And I worked for them for 18 months. And then that went on to lead to other things. And, and I'm still doing it. What would you describe is the role of a consultant? I think there's many descriptions, some positive, some negative. Um, I think it's listening, it's helping, it's supporting. I suppose it depends what you're consulting on. So when you're working with small businesses, which I do a lot of now, it's provide, and particularly small businesses who often don't have others to talk to. If you're senior in a small company, it might just be you, or you're in charge. So you can't show your insecurities. You have no one to bounce ideas off. And so I think being that person who they can talk to about what they want to do, where they want to go, and give some honest advice, because I am honest. I do, you know, I don't, I don't always say what people want me to say. say what I do think is right, which has worked for me so far, um, sort of, uh, but um, but no. So I think, I think it's listening. I think it's helping. Uh, and then ...
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    27 mins
  • The Business Village People EP 12 "Craig's unique approach to leveraging Linked In."

    The Business Village People EP 12 "Craig's unique approach to leveraging Linked In."
    Mar 26 2024
    This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is the podcast. This is series one, episode 12. This podcast showcases unique stories from the vibrant community of companies, service providers, dogs, and entrepreneurs at the business village here in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. We celebrate the success, encourage collaboration, and highlight the diverse businesses that call the business village their home. Finding previous episodes is easy. Just search for the business village people on your preferred podcast platform, and we should show up straight away. Click on the subscribe button and you'll never miss our episodes again. Okay, let's go. In this episode of business village people, we have the privilege of meeting Craig Burgess from genius division and delve into his unique approach to leveraging LinkedIn. Try. We talk to HR consultant Trudy Morris about the upcoming changes to employment law that may affect you. She'll also provide you with details of how you can receive free human resources advice here at The Business Village. Our first guest is Trudy. It's Craig Burgess from the Design and Marketing Agency, Genius Division. I asked him why the company chose the business village as its base. We were here before, and we liked it. Then we wanted a bit of a change, we moved somewhere else. And then we wanted a little bit of a change and came back here. Primarily because we like community, and there's been a hell of a lot of change here. It's renovated, been renovated a hell of a lot. It's totally changed since we last came. It's a much nicer place to be now versus Seven years ago or something like that when we were here tell me about genius division. How did it start? What's the same? Well, we started 14 15 years ago now in James's back bedroom when there were just two of us I've always wanted to run an agency so as James and We both got a thousand quid together and we lived at home with parents at times We both have a thousand quid and we said should we quit as jobs and we did and then every month since then for 15 years We've basically said well when we run out of money, we'll just go get a real job And it hadn't happened yet. That's genius division. So what were you doing before you got into this game? So I were a graphic designer and a web designer. So were James. In fact, James was more famous than me. He used to design Arctic Monkeys websites. So he used to work for Arctic Monkeys. But we've both been tinkering with websites, branding, design, etc, etc. Since we're both about 15 years old or something. Much older than 15 years old now, um, and we just always wanted to run his own agency We had we thought we could do it better. You know that Bolshee Teenager young 20s thing we thought we could do it better than everybody else and can you yeah, we're not bad What have you learned over the years that you've been working for yourself? What I'm trying to say is I went to a The meeting where you were talking, you were talking about customer services, and sometimes it's important to not work with certain people if it doesn't feel right, and I just wondered where all that came from. Well, when you work for yourself, you quickly realize that every bad client you have is a lesson that you should learn. And when at that talk you were talking about, where I was specifically talking about how to handle clients, and not necessarily bad clients, but how to handle clients better, it all just comes from bad experiences. And not wanting to repeat those bad experiences with other clients, you know what I mean? So I, I think when you, when you're running your own agency, when you're running your own business, that your first job is not the job that you advertise that you're doing. So I, you know, I call myself a, a graphic designer to my mum and dad because they don't understand what I do for a living. My job as a designer is not my first job. My first job is actually, you know, doing a good job for clients, customer service and dealing with customers, because if you don't have customers, you've got no work, you've got no money. So it all just kind of. Came from that you know knowing that you have to do it You have to do a good job because that's how you get more business And that's really how we've grown genius division over the last 15 years We've literally done no marketing until very recently and it's all been doing a good job for a good client Them telling somebody else And then them telling somebody else, et cetera, et cetera, for 15 years, and it's, it's gone alright. What are the current trends at the moment in digital design? Well, we're gonna have to talk about AI, aren't we? Because that's the thing that everybody's getting their hands on. Specifically, shout out to EBT. Uh, it's the latest new hot thing. And, you know, I saw this repeat, well, I didn't see this repeat, because I am a little bit younger. That I...
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    26 mins
  • The Business Village People Podcast Ep 11 "A Freudian slip is when you say one thing and mean your mother."

    The Business Village People Podcast Ep 11 "A Freudian slip is when you say one thing and mean your mother."
    Feb 29 2024
    33 mins