Setting up an agency. 5 months in — a severe lack of unicorn poop and double rainbows

20th April 2018 — we had a job.

21st April 2018 — we didn’t have a job.

That’s the honest beginnings of 572 Digital. Necessity. Not pretty, not glamorous and with no illuminating fireside moment to cement the seed of our story in. But a genuine need to earn money, and by doing something we love and believe in.

The end of our previous employer wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t fair. Big client, big change, zero consideration for a business who had been a valued partner for over 11 years. Ouch. It’s an event that has impacted a lot of people — staff, business owners and suppliers and it’s something that some people will feel for a long time. Big clients are not always something to celebrate in a small company!

So, we had 24 hours to make the call, gather a team and get started…

Despite the short timeframe, it hasn’t been a leap without vision or without intent. In fact quite the opposite.

4 Months in, this article is how we got started, the problems we’ve faced, the reality checks and the high points. Hopefully it will help others looking to set up an agency or in fact any other business.

Would we have been daring enough to set up 572 if not for that event? Who knows but I suspect not. That being said, we were at the point of repositioning our previous employer so we’d thought long and hard about what we wanted the business to be moving forward, the type of work we wanted to do, the environment we wanted to work in and the people we wanted to work with. We just didn’t expect it to be starting from scratch.

Decision 1: To jump or not to jump

Not to be underestimated, this has been our biggest decision to date. Do we want to become directors, or sign up to a new startup. For the guys joining us, did they trust or believe in us enough to take the jump. did we believe in ourselves enough.

I think it was easy decision in many respects but the weight of the decision we were taking was not missed. We knew we all had to be 100% in, partners and families as well to make the commitment. But it’s worth mentioning as the idea of setting up a company/agency can be glamourised by a lot of articles and the actual reality when you have responsibilities can be very different. None of us would have held anything against anybody who decided it was too big a risk for them at that point.

A change in direction

One of the big talking points early on was what we were going to do as a business. We’d come from a branding and design agency but as a smaller team we had a strong background in software design and product development having worked on Slidecraft, FlipRSS and Timecheck over the last couple of years.

We’ve always found huge crossovers between the digital work we’d done and the branding and design work. The customer or audience always need to be at the heart of the solution and whatever is deliver, content, app, website, advert needs to add value. We wanted to make sure that what we offered was different to what was already available and that really made best use of our collective skill sets.

So we’ve set out to fuse technology, branding and user experience to help clients achieve a more successful future.

Combining these disciplines has enabled us to quickly increase revenue through reaching out to clients who we’ve worked with before but also introduce new technical solutions. This has also given us some capacity in software development to work on new products we can offer customers like Insights — a Business intelligence Gathering Tool for CEOs and Directors and an event response capture system.

Setting a purpose

Something we felt was very important from the start was that we had a clear focus for the business. We thought this would be quick and easy to define — we’d all worked together before, we all had similar values and thoughts. Yet this took a few weeks to really come together. Talking about ideas, beliefs and values was great. It helped reinforce that we were all looking for the same thing and heading in the same direction but it didn’t help define the single thing that would drive the business.

In the end we just all brain dumped into a Google Doc — what was important for us — why were we doing this and not just going to get another job — what did we want the business to stand for in 3–5 years time. Our purpose for the business came from this.

“Forge better futures”

Everything we talked about in that document revolved around improvement. Personal improvement, improve family futures, client improvement and also a wish to improve our net impact on society and the environment.

It made total sense that this would be what drove the business. However, as we’re finding it’s a challenge, and sticking to this challenges us every single day.

For example, we’d love to be more creative and flexible with our HR policies and contracts but we’re not finding time to review these. When the drive is on growing revenue so we can keep everyone paid, it’s difficult to wade into the jobs you’d like to do. It was much easier to get a standard contract and make basic amends for now.

However, the fact that these things are tabled and discussed is positive and I know when we get the right balance we’ll address these points. As a small team it isn’t always possible to do everything. I’ve certainly fallen foul of having expectations beyond capability or resource, particularly early on.

But that’s why we have a purpose — it needs to challenge otherwise what’s the point.

Choosing a name for a startup business

This may be trivial but it felt like the most important thing in the world at that time. And OK, so most people probably have more than 48 hours to dream up their companies beginnings but time wasn’t a luxury we had. All of us had mortgages due out, most of us have young families, some of us live in single earning households and we probably all shared a lack of savings as an unfortunate situational boost. So many lessons, but if there is one thing from that experience I am carrying forward with me it is to have something tucked away for a rainy day.

We had probably our most polarising experience as a team when it came to name selection. The suggestions could not have been more diametrically opposed if we’d tried. With less than 24 hours to whittle down our options before our company registration document was filed.

We’d always been good at this for clients. We had a great process and could always resolve ourselves to a couple clear winners before settling on ‘the one’. However, that all goes out the window when it comes to your own name.

We wanted a name that meant something to us but wasn’t explicit and I think that was the crux of our challenge. It had to resonate with us all individually. Normally we’d have run a workshop at that point and conducted a number of experiences to guide everyone towards collective agreement on the name and the process of getting there but we didn’t have time.

Again Google Docs was our fall back — everyone spent their evening adding suggestions to a doc and started voting — taking the ‘not a chance’ options out first and then going by popularity until we had a short list.

Next morning we picked a favourite.

In the end 572 Digital won out — a nod to the Island we live and work on at 572 km squared.

New startup administration…

I remember thinking at the time — why does anybody start a business. the amount of administration and hoops we had to jump through felt ridiculous. Not to mention the 6–9 months we were quoted to open a bank account!! No kidding, that was the timescales offered for getting a business bank account open. We managed to find a bank that had us up and running in 6 weeks. Maybe this is just an Isle of Man thing — despite what the UK media will have you believe, regulation and red tape is unbelievable here. we also opened a Revolut bank account in a matter of hours as a backup and still tempted to switch to that at some point if they get a Quickbooks integration sorted.

Anyway — if you’re setting up a new business and you’ve not done it before (like we hadn’t) — just expect the first couple of months to feel like wading through treacle before getting to the jobs you think you really set up to do.

A few things that you can expect to hit head on:

• Registering company name
• Directorships and agreements
• Registering the company
• Registering as an employer
• Registering for VAT
• Finding office space
• Update companies registry with new address
• Laptops/computers/monitors
• Bank accounts
• Stationery
• Insurances
• Registering with Data Protection
• Domain and email hosting
• Task and calendar management
• Mobile phones
• Landlines
• Broadband
• Staff contracts and policies
• Server
• Internal processes
• Registering as anapproved supplier with potential clients (Government)
• Consider personal things like Directors liability insurance, income protection, mortgage protection
• Oh and one other thing.. clients and new business.

If you don’t know it all, find somebody who does

One of the best moves we made early on was approach an experienced Director with a very different skill set to our own and ask him to come on board. This has paid dividends and Clive has continually helped keep us on track and challenge us to step up and address things before they become too big of a problem. We knew Clive well and knew he’d be a good fit with the team. I can imagine with the wrong person in this role it could be extremely difficult so for any first time business owners — find yourself a Clive.

Admin down, what’s next

So for the first couple weeks it felt like we were in business to get in business. But I guess that’s normal. After that it’s been all about clients.

Our first point of call were clients from our old agency. We knew who we’d be suited to working with going forward as a much smaller team. We also had a different service set than our previous employer so had to pick clients that could support us in our transition.

We were really lucky — the clients we spoke to all agreed to work with us moving forward and we had the support of some really great people. Had we been starting without a contact base and without a track record to lean on this would not have been so easy but we were pretty much convinced at this point we’d have enough work to pay salaries from day 1. I guess looking back that is a bit of unicorn poop right there.

Best laid plans

Nothing ever goes quite to plan and it certainly hasn’t here. The first task/project management solution we put in didn’t quite hit the mark. It was great at lots of what we wanted but lacking in a couple key areas. We changed quickly to reduce the amount of duplication we’d be required to do and settled on a simpler but more effective solution for us. I’m glad now that we didn’t bend around the first system and try and work with it — that was certainly an option we considered.

Business plans and forecasts. Oh boy — where do I start. ‘Nice to haves and guesses’.

You have to do them, banks want to see them, it’s part of due diligence for the business but don’t expect that you’ll be sticking that closely to them. Even things we were fairly concrete on have shifted dramatically. Delays with clients, changing strategies, changing personnel at clients, internal resource issues — in 4 months we’ve had them all.

One thing we did early on was appoint an accountant — it’s not one of our strengths so was kind of a no brainer. This has been incredibly useful for cashflow forecasting and getting on top of our outstanding invoices. I guess for a small business you could do this yourself but it’s given us one less headache to worry about and I think has been a sound investment for a team of creatives.

Have your opportunity net ready at all times

Opportunities come at the most unlikely times and from the most unlikely sources. Although we’ve only been going 4 months we’ve had new clients, testimonials and increased business when we’ve least expected it. Never underestimate contacts you have and don’t be afraid to ask. This is something I’m trying desperately to apply myself — it doesn’t always come natural.

It’s a reminder that doing good work opens the door for more good work. We are pushing ourselves constantly to improve what we’re doing and get better results. I think this will pay off. I think our clients will appreciate this too.

20 of the biggest lessons we’ve take from the first 4 months

• Starting up a business is not a ride in the park
• If you don’t like admin you’ll hate the first two-weeks
• Running a business is a privilege
• A small team has limited time — use it as wisely as you can
• Forecasts are guesses — keep an eye on your bank balance
• Invoices do not equal cash
• Don’t be overly optimistic about early revenue
• Don’t be overly pessimistic about early revenue
• Find expertise where you need it
• Running a business is all about people.
• It’s never too early to look for new clients
• Find your purpose as a team
• Be true to your values
• Learn to say ‘no’ when you need to
• Not all business is good business
• Be open
• Expect challenges and face them head on
• What you ‘do’ defines your culture
• Talk.
• Walking solves problems

So where are we now — 4 months in

4 months, that’s all. Man, it feels longer! A lot has happened in a short space of time!

It’s not all been unicorns and rainbows that’s for sure. Is it what I thought it would be? Nope. But I wouldn’t change it for anything.

We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get this right early on and this has put us in a strong position. We know our purpose, we know where we are heading and we have a clear plan for acting on that. We have new customers coming to us and we’ve already started doing more development work for clients.

We still have challenges. We reached a plateau about 3 months in. We’d signed up all the businesses we’d hoped to sign up, we’d developed the systems we’d wanted to develop and we we’d waded through all the admin. A couple projects moved and we had our first cashflow blip. Genuinely don’t think it was something we could have predicted or done anything about but it was a timely reminder not to sit on our laurels. At this early stage we’ve got no reserves but we’ve still got bills to pay.

We decided early on not to push the business externally beyond the clients we wanted to approach directly. The idea being to bed in the early clients, get used to our new workflows whilst developing our processes. This has definitely been worth it but now we need to switch into another gear. It’s time to get out there and it’s time to start moving the business in pursuit of better futures. We’re clear on where we are, what our capacity is and the sort of business we need to be working to attract.

As well as being a team journey it’s also a very personal journey. It will have been different for each of us in the business. What I’ve struggled with somebody else will have breezed past. It’s certainly pushed me and put me outside my comfort zone on a number of occasions. But if we want to create better futures we need to go beyond our edges. Things I worried about 4 months ago I no longer worry about — I have new things to worry about now. It’s kind of like having kids — every stage brings delights and challenges. Some days you’re catching poop in your hands, other days you’re taking your first steps towards something exciting.

Today we’re taking steps.

Follow our journey here and we’d love it if you shared any thoughts or tips with us in the comment below.

572 Digital in a nutshell

572 fuses technology, branding and user experience to help clients achieve a more successful future.

We are a business that’s not afraid to challenge itself, or its clients, to constantly improve. Getting there won’t always be easy, but through being a strong, pro-active partner, by crafting outstanding user experiences, by being committed to our purpose and through continually evaluating our impact, we’ll succeed.

We are not just strategists, developers, copywriters and designers — we have skin in the game. We are continually learning, testing and refining, gathering knowledge and skills we can share with our clients. We develop and market global software products in use by prestigious international brands. These include online presentation software, a multiple RSS automation tool and Timecheck, the world’s first outdoor timing solution using Beacons. Understanding technology and finding value and real world application is a core part of our ethos and enables us to provide fresh thinking and innovative solutions for our clients.

If you think like us, we’d love to catch up. Your place or ours? Coffee or tea? Pick ’n’ mix or chocolate? Let’s start the conversation…