Changing rooms

Packed. That is the best way to describe the last few weeks. It’s been a busy time helping more people double down on purposeful living and we have been implementing a major change at Cre8ion.

It’s like this… Bristol has been our home for many many years and will always hold a special place in our hearts. It has been the hub from where we’ve helped impact led entrepreneurs and leaders scale their influence.

Success has brought other cities into view and we have been able to extend a positive influence across into Wales, Cardiff and Newport as our reach has grown beyond Bristol.

Pandemic challenges have changed the way we work and with pioneering working practices such as the 4-day work week and embracing hybrid working, it seems that change continues to be the order of the day.

For myself, I have a strong Bristol network and Introbiz Bristol continues to enable me to reach out and connect with like hearted people. In the same way, HUM4NS and the ‘tribe’ that regularly attend have allowed us to continue to scale in the Bristol world.

However, I’m all about embracing purpose and like in 2001 when I made the decision to walk away from joint ownership of an award winning marketing agency at the heart of Notting Hill, London, I always choose to make purposeful decisions over settling for the comfortable option.

Cre8ion have clients all over the world now, from the US and Dubai to Europe and we’ve created links and connections that continue to strengthen our purposeful presence.

Our HQ in Bristol, which was the hub of our operations is no longer that same nerve centre. When we assessed our changing habits and commitment to our national and global clients (when we applied for B-Corp status) we realised that our team are completely comfortable working from home. We would still be able to gather together on a project by project basis, in hotels for workshops or on location, filming anywhere.

As for me, apart from an awesome workshop with our friends at TPS 360, I have hardly been in the Bristol office for the past 6 months. I moved to the country and our home became the perfect studio for podcasts, and even for board meetings. And with that, the need for me to be present in the Bristol office (physically) was gone.

Our team continued to move further out the city looking for a better work life balance, invested in property and took advantage of doing business online.

Out of the 14 creative people that work for Cre8ion, between 2 and 4 at the very best have been using the office regularly. As beautiful as it is, and as great as the team are at Filwood Green Business Park, the elephant in the room was… do we really need the office?

The reality? We didn’t. It took me a while to reconcile that our business no longer needed an office and after dealing with thoughts such as (are we a proper business without one, or are we going backwards) the conclusion was that as a team we had changed the way we operated. The office was redundant.

Nowadays, I’m spending more time in London, as our client base continues to build with the Hungarian British Business Alliance, or I’m travelling to visit Clarendon. My networking scene has also enlarged with both Introbiz events and Game Changers now building in the capital.

So, we took a difficult decision. We handed in our notice and now we are going fully remote. A difficult decision? Yes! A wise decision? We believe so. A decision aligned to our B-Corp values? 100%.

So are we still a Bristol agency? Yes, we are, but also a London agency, a Birmingham agency, an American agency, a French agency and a Dubai agency. Influence has always been more important than location and we believe that releasing the office has in fact allowed us to embrace a more global outlook.

Do I feel uncomfortable? Yes! Absolutely. Do I wonder what people think? Of course. But, in order to best help others, we have to make the right choices.

Cre8ion has always been about ensuring our creatives can create and we will meet together, but not just in an office. We might meet on a walk, a beach, or in a stately home, in order to imagine the greatest of stories – yours.

Since making the decision we have heard of many companies in the service world making a similar choice. In the past, having a nice office might once have been the holy grail of business leadership, but I believe that the emphasis has shifted.

The office, as we have known it at Cre8ion, has gone, simply as it is no longer fit for purpose.

As we have transitioned from one location to many, it appears that so have our team and our client base, and we believe that the possibilities are infinite.

Business will continue but not as usual! However, for us, doing business in an unusual way has always made all the difference!