It’s our fifth birthday today!

I can’t believe that five years ago today, little old me threw open the doors to printing.com in Guildford. And as five years is a bit of a milestone in any small business’ life, I thought a little bit of navel gazing was in order.

Caroline was my first member of staff, and has always been a key part of the business. I guess I’ve been pretty lucky in finding that gem from the outset, recruitment doesn’t always work out that way. But Caroline has truly flourished in this business, and we make a great team. Caroline is cool, calm and collected. She’s creative but truly practical at the same time, and she’s a great people manager. In fact, we complement eachother’s skills nicely!

The first year in business was pretty exciting. Like any first-time entrepreneur I was fired up and determined to make my mark on the business. I’d worked as a Regional Director telling other franchisees how to make a success of their businesses and I had a lot of eyes on me waiting to see whether I could practice what I preached. Well thankfully I did… We beat our initial targets and became one of the fastest growing startup franchises within the network. And although I was working 70 hour weeks, I did always manage to take a Wednesday off.

I can’t believe how young we all look! As if starting a business at the age of 26 wasn’t enough… Ellie was just 15 months when we launched Guildford printing.com; and I was getting married to Pete in September! It was an exciting time! I was featured in the local press a few times that year; as a young mumpreneur and also for scooping a design award for our brochure design for local wine merchant in the December.

2006/7 saw more growth for the business in January we moved across the river and into our own premises. Gone was the business centre (quite literally I think in the last couple of years…) and the nightmare of a car park. We’ve always had a great response to our studio: homely, quirky and inspiring, it’s a lovely place to work and clients like it here too.

Another highlight of 2007 was Rob joining the business. He’d come from a glamorous TV graphics background, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Ben Shepherd of GMTV no less! Rob, our resident fruit bat (he is never without a bag of Julian Graves nuts or dried fruit on his desk…) has always had strong illustrative skills, and over the past few years his web skills have truly blossomed as well.

Of course we were warned of the flood risk before we moved in, and it wasn’t long before the elements decided to show us what they were made of. Thankfully the water has never come in, but you can see from these images just what we were up against.

I had really thought that 2007 would be the year that we made serious money. It was all going incredibly well, and then bam! Overnight, people stopped spending money. That was October 2007 and I had many a sleepless night, wondering what we’d done wrong. Of course a few months later it became clear that we’d been hit by the recession early. And whilst that was reassuring, it did little to pay the bills.

What did help, however, was my focus on our brand and marketing strategy; and my refusal to give in. Sure, what we’d done before had worked fine, but I realised it wasn’t enough. We started getting serious (and confident) about our position as the business branding experts. And yes, it was harder work to get people to see beyond the name “printing.com”, but it worked really well for customer loyalty and as a point of difference. And to be honest, there was nothing that we could do about the name at that point.

2008 saw a deepening of the recession and in many ways, me maturing as a business owner. I was learning to take tough, commercial decisions and really push myself out of my comfort zone. We launched Grow Your Business with the Webster Partnership in May and had our second child, Jasper, in the September.

Chloe joined us in the July as a Junior Graphic Designer. Always passionate about brand identity (she’s joined the right company then!) she has also developed her web skills and become hugely proficient in her knowledge of design for print.

I took maternity leave from August- February 2009, and left the studio in the very capable hands of Caroline and her team. Being away from the business during a recession was certainly challenging, but the team handled the clients exceptionally well, and although I kept in touch via telephone, I did manage to spend quality time at home with the baby and recover. I know that’s something that many mumpreneurs struggle with, having heard many tales of mum being back in the office within weeks of the birth, and I’m very proud of the fact that I didn’t need to do that.

I’d hoped that 2009 would see the start of “green shoots” and we certainly did see some in the last quarter of the year. But it was hard work. Going back to work two days a week in February was emotionally and physically exhausting. Added to that various staff changes, the volatility of the economy and a young family and looking back, I’m delighted to have got through the year. But things started to get exciting in August when we were given the opportunity to renegotiate our franchise agreement… Flourish had begun to be born (although like most gestations, it was a good period of time before we were ready to launch).

Anyway, enough of the moaning. From a business perspective, 2009 was the year I got serious about workshops. I invested in decent facilities, put an enormous amount of time (and money) into creating attractive workbooks and slides; and made sure I created some excellent content. The workshops are one of the best marketing activities I do to date.

2009 was also the year I published my first book, Exhibit! And I’ve had some real successes with it; having sold 100 copies to an exhibition organiser; seeing it on Amazon and a rave review in print. Would I write another one? Absolutely! I’ve already planned out the branding book, I’m just waiting for some time to write it.

Izzy and Ian joined us within a couple of weeks of eachother, and quickly settled into the team. They’re both lovely to speak to, super organised and have given me the confidence to “let go” (slightly) of the responsibility for our sales.

I’ve documented the launch of Flourish pretty well, but it still makes me smile. I finally feel like my business has grown up. We’ve expanded our team to six plus various associates and the brand truly represents what we do best. This year has been tough too; we’ve had some fantastically profitable months, and we’ve also been hit by the snow (who wasn’t?) and it feels a little like election fever is tightening up the purse strings again. Who knows. Let’s hope a successful world cup will bring about some positive change in the economy.

I’ve run this business through 2 1/2 years of good times and 2 1/2 years of recession. Like most business owners, I’m tired of the recession. I’m tired of working sooooo hard all the time and worrying about our big overheads. But we’re still making a good profit, and I’m still paying myself a good salary. And despite the fact I do work lots of hours outside my 3 days in the office, I do have a semblence of a work-life balance.

I do still get time to bake, garden and make rhubarbtinis. And there’s even a little time to knit and sew.

I absolutely love what we do, and I take a huge amount of pride in seeing how we’ve positively benefitted the clients we work with. It’s lovely to walk around Guildford on a Saturday and think “we did that” when we walk past a cafe or shop. And I still get a huge buzz out of working directly with clients on their branding and marketing.

And yes it’s hard work, but the rewards are incredible. Seeing a client’s face when they see their new logo in print for the first time; watching a delegate at a workshop have a lightbulb moment over something that’s going to help them drive their business forward; working directly with a client on their marketing strategy. All of these things make for one of the best jobs in the world. And when you combine that with a fantastic team and some really lovely clients, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I realise this is getting a bit schmaltzy, but this is my big chance to say a big thank you to you. And I might not get a chance for another five years, so I’m just going to go for it. I’d like to say a massive thank you to You, my blog reader that spurs me on when I’ve had a hard day. You, the lovely client that’s supported my business through thick and thin. And You, the friend who has encouraged and supported us (although if you tell me you don’t know how I do it one more time…).

So now I’m off, to make a toast over a glass of (weak) bucks fizz. Happy birthday! And here’s to you: thank you for all your support and encouragement.

Tagged as in Flourish Stuff