Why I do what I do!

I and my husband set up Animated Technologies in 2017, and since then we have grown to the point that we became employers in December 2018. And, we won our first award as Animated Technologies last Friday at the FSB regional awards ceremony in Cardiff. Winning Micro Business of the Year. This isn’t the first award that we’ve won, but it is for Animated Technologies.

It all began back in 2015 when I was due to go back to work from maternity leave, where I was a graphic designer for a medium sized jewellery brand in North Wales. But I really didn’t want to go. I loved working with the people and some of the jobs that we had were great. But then there was a lot of monotony and office politics.

I think that another reason I wasn’t totally happy was that I wanted to make changes to the way we did things and I didn’t have the final say. It would either come down to money, whether it was in the budget to do it, or because it wasn’t necessarily a very dynamic company, they just didn’t want to do the things that I wanted to do.

Along with my feelings for not wanting to go back to work, my husband really wanted us to set up on our own, so that is when he finally convinced me. We set up a design studio called White Wabbit (Tom’s invention and somehow connected to animation I think).

So, we started on our journey creating White Wabbit Design Studio, which offered the services that we both knew how to do. Wed design, animation videos, branding, graphic design etc.

To be honest, though we didn’t really know how to run a company or build one. It was very much a learn as you go process. We didn’t have any savings or a back-up plan. It was just getting on and do it.

When we started we would do work for anybody! We didn’t have an ‘ideal client’ in mind. We didn’t have a target market. We just went to as many networking events and connected with as many people as we could. All while juggling a house and baby!

There were plenty of really tight months and some that were just horrible, where you are so low thinking, why have we done this. We have NO MONEY! How do we pay the mortgage!

I’m not sure when it happened but I knew that we needed to get professional help from a business coach to make us better. So that’s what we did. By chance, Tom connected with a coach called Una Doyle of Creative Flow who really brought us up to scratch and made us look at what we were doing from a business point of view. She really taught us how to do business so we could get on with doing what we really enjoyed which was the design and animation services.

Animated Technologies was born!! From working with Una we re-branded to Animated Technologies to appeal to the audience that we felt we could help the most. Working with companies in engineering, technology, science and manufacturing that would gain the most from using animated videos in their marketing efforts.

Since then we have grown and made real leaps forward in our business and the way we manage ourselves, and our team.

So why do I do what I do?

I love working for myself! I have a million ideas of things I want to do and I just have to write them all down and get to making them happen.

I concentrate on building the business with social media and making connections to generate leads for the business.

When we first evolved into Animated Technologies and found that my duties would be more ‘Sales’ then graphics I was petrified!! I have always been a shy person to people who don’t know more. But to people who do know me then I have been quite outgoing and life of the party so to speak.

When I started to take on this role for the business, I had to face a lot of fear. And it’s the scariest thing to do. But when you do it you realise it’s not that bad. When you realise that getting up in front of a room and talking about what you do isn’t that bad. You are just talking to people. It’s no different from talking to one of your friends. That’s how I now see it. Don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty that intimidates and scares me, but it’s a role that I am evolving with and developing as we go along.

One part of what we do that I love is making that initial connection and bringing it through to doing a roadmap meeting. Then developing a strategy for the client, implementing that strategy and then seeing it develop and work. Bringing the client results from your efforts for me is what it’s all about. And I think that is true for most marketing professionals.

I also love the subject matter that we deal with. I’m a bit geeky at heart (always loved star trek) and my father is an engineer, so I have an interest in technology and engineering. 

My History

Ok a brief history of me involves me doing a degree in Cumbria Institute of the Arts in Graphic Design. After this, I moved to Edinburgh to live and work with my now husband Tom who did his degree in Animation at the Edinburgh College of Art.

I did some graphic design work, but mainly just low paid bar work or catering jobs. I then moved to Manchester and found a production job for CBS Outdoor working in their regional department, which I loved! And looking back I had the best manager anybody could want for. Then after a few years working hear I worked in an agency in Marlow, which I was fired from (it’s the worst feeling in the world to be made redundant), but if I’m honest with myself I really didn’t like the job anyway, which is probably why they fired me.

Then I was in such a desperate state to get a job I got one as an Office Manager for a company called Bottle PR. But really, I was just admin. Apart from my design work I’ve always been quite practical and can do all the admin/planning stuff of project management. Plus, I can type!!!

I can credit some things from working here, it taught me some valuable lessons. There were some lovely people there, but it was also quite a stressful place to work. I remember just hating the job, day in, day out. And then having the directors as my managers, they were a nightmare. I think maybe because I wasn’t doing something that I loved I wasn’t great at it.

It’s funny now having my own business I can look back at how they ran their business and what they did, and I can relate to how they did things.

So, in summary on my post. Why do I do what I do...

I love to build brands and build on a company’s performance. Building strategies that will work when you put the right steps in place to create a ladder to your goal. I also love connecting with people and building relationships with our clients. I like our clients and I hope they like us to.

The part of graphic design that I love the most and do my best work in is branding. I guess it’s the same as building a strategy for a client and then launching it for the first time. Building that brand and then seeing how well it’s doing is a great feeling!

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If you'd like to know more about what we do then feel free to book in for a strategy call to find out more about us!