And we’re off…
The first official week of Layers is over.
I say official as we’ve obviously been working hard towards this for some time, but the main thing is we’re open, we’re working and we’re super excited. So while we’re still riding the buzz of this new beginning, we thought we’d log some of these early experiences and maybe even inspire someone who’s thinking about doing the same thing: Setting up on their own.
First off, let’s get the intro over with. I’m James Hanson, the Co-Founder and Creative Director at Layers Studio. On day one it was all about getting down to the nitty gritty with the bank. We met the person dealing with our account face-to-face, that way if we ever have a problem we’re real people with a real working relationship. Although, this might have been Mark’s way of saying he thinks I’ve got a scary face and it would be useful for them to see it.
Our first client meeting went really well too. Financial advisers who have flourished while many have wavered or vanished completely (there are only 4% of chartered financial advisors in the UK compared to 10 years ago). Their secret? Well it’s similar to our notion of meeting the bank — making it personal.
People often say ‘don’t make business personal,’ but it depends how you mean. A financial adviser working on someone’s wealth management really should appreciate that this is something that really matters to them. If you can care about it as much as they can, then you’re much more likely to get rewarded with a fully committed and satisfied client.
When it comes to Layers, we treat our clients the same way. We take on projects and become part of that business. We put ourselves in our client’s shoes, drill down to the core of meaning; discover the goals and watch-outs, why they’re/we’re doing it? What would success look like? How do we get there? And when it comes to how it looks — well that’s the final problem.
Intercom put it perfectly in their recent article when they discussed the four layers of design and we firmly believe this is the way to structure any project. To help a client appreciate this, we like to involve them in the decision-making process from the get-go, way before we get to the visuals.
Anyway, back to the first week…
Working from home for a lot of it was actually plenty more productive than was suggested in an article by Suzanne Bearne for The Guardian. But there were distractions, suddenly my dog (who I love very much) couldn’t quite calm down enough for any decent level of concentration to percolate.
This meant moving Layers Studio into a shared space, which had immediate benefits. This new home of ours is called Campus North. It’s in Newcastle and it’s an inspiring environment because we’re surrounded by other startups and people who are at the forefront digital. It means that until we get properly settled and find our feet, we’ve pitched ourselves right in the heart of a great vibe that’s fizzing with hard work and good ideas.
When it comes to updates for Layers Studio, there’s been a lot of work taking place, not least on our own digital presence, and we look forward to sharing this with you soon.
Until next time when we do just that — thanks for reading.
James
