I want to let you into a little secret...

Today is Stickman’s 12th birthday…

12 years, I can hardly believe where the time has gone.

When I founded Stickman back in 2012, I had no clue about how to run a business. Seriously. Diddly squat.

Yes, I had 14 years of marketing agency experience under my belt and had worked with some pretty cool brands – BBC, Channel 4, Financial Times and so on. And what I didn’t know about boozy media lunches daaaaaarling wasn’t worth knowing.

But all that didn’t translate into knowledge about the mechanics of how to run a business.

And there was no manual.

I mean, there were some pretty fundamental knowledge gaps… what on earth was a balance sheet? What resource did I need? How in the world was I supposed to obtain paying clients? And what would I charge them if I did?! (Note ‘If’ because there were very few certainties). I was also mum of two little boppers at that stage, so it was possibly one of the most challenging times to start this new adventure, but when I get something in my craw, there’s something visceral inside me which compels me to take action.

Anyway, all I knew was that I wanted to go it alone. Do things my way. Show my clients what proper, strategic, simple but powerful marketing looked like and how it would propel them forward. Perhaps with a little bit of fun thrown in along the way.

Fast forward 12 years.

Safe to say, I now know a little more.

Now, in March 2024:

• We’re an award-winning all-girl team of top-notch school marketing consultants.
• We provide training, consultancy and market research services to hundreds of awesome schools all over the world.
• Pupil recruitment remains my favourite topic and I have to remember to curb my enthusiasm when someone politely enquires how it's going with Stickman. (My mum-in-law once made the fatal mistake of telling me she loved hearing about the business and, 200 hours of Stickman chat later, has regretted it ever since).
• Many of our clients and colleagues in the industry have become firm friends (you know who you are).
• My kids are now teenagers, and school marketing, having grown up around it, is second nature to them. In fact, many of you will know my daughter, aka Mini Stickman (one of my proudest moments ever was when she accompanied the Stickman team to the AMCIS - The Association for Admissions, Marketing & Communications in Independent Schools Conference last year as our ‘Roving Reporter’).
• Still partial to a boozy lunch (recently introducing ‘Prosecco Appraisals’ for the team).

Yes, I still glaze over when my accountant starts talking about ‘Year End’, and yes, there remain some knowledge gaps which I’m eager to fill. But I always maintain the view that even armed with 26 years of experience, every day is a learning day. So although I might know a little more now about earning a crust, there is still SO MUCH to absorb.

In a nutshell, I feel incredibly lucky to have what we have at Stickman.

It’s special.

It’s taken an enormous amount of hard work to build, but, in my book, it is so worth it.

So, without this turning into some Oscar-style awards acceptance speech, I’ll say a swift, but incredibly heartfelt thank you to everyone we have encountered across the past 12 years… you will have had an impact in some way. Plus, a masshoosive thank you to my team for being so staggeringly formidable, my husband and my children for immersing themselves in my world of school marketing, my parents for telling me ‘if you find something you love, you will never work a day in my life’, and to my long-suffering mum-in-law for her endurance. You will never know how much I appreciate your support.

I look forward to repeating this post in 2036.

Emily x