As we celebrate the beginning of our fifth year of business, and in light of our new brand and website launch, company Directors Patrick and Russell have taken time to reflect on how it all began.
How long have you known each other?
Our lockers were next to each other in the first year social area at secondary school, so since then!
What is a memory from your friendship that stands out?
There are many too mention but it has to be the first day opening the new agency on May 9th 2009, not having a clue how things were going to pan out.
Also messing about in music class, pulling faces in the grand piano and playing the blues.
Did you always stay in touch after leaving Guernsey for university or did you reconnect after moving back to the Island?
We regularly went to either London or Bristol for nights out if we were DJing and for each other’s birthdays.
The first version of the Indulge website was sketched out on a train going up to Pinner in North London for our first client meeting together a few months before the agency started. We managed to sell them an eCommerce website, a logo and web hosting that day.
What experiences led you to consider starting up your own company?
We were both looking for a change in our jobs and the timing was right.
Russell: “My grandfather ran his own business in Guernsey and so did my father, which has always inspired me and continues to. I was looking for a new challenge in my career but moving back to Guernsey from London did not appeal to me because there were not many opportunities. The chance to start a business however was far too tempting to resist!”
Pat: “In my in previous job I was slowly but surely getting drawn away from the technical side of the business, which is what I really loved. Even though I had started off as a web developer, I had built a career in product management. I had always enjoyed web development more and as such, Russ & I had been kicking around the idea of starting an agency for some time. The day we finally made the decision to hand in our notice and commit to Indulge was definitely a memorable one!”
Within a few months of starting Indulge, you hired your first full-time employee, Andy. Now, on Indulge’s fourth anniversary the team has grown to include three more developers, one designer, a digital marketer and a project manager. Did you ever think Indulge would be at this stage within the first four years?
Not in our wildest dreams, we didn’t think we would have this caliber of clients and have such a great team.
Media House is the place where it all began, but we’ve now said goodbye after having outgrown the office space. What are your best memories there?
One of the best memories in Media House was finally moving back into a renovated studio after spending 12 months in an undecorated flat 2 floors above. At one point we had a bath in our meeting room!
What has been your biggest accomplishment as a company?
I think this has to be gaining and maintaining ISO accreditation. It takes constant management and devotion to keep our certification and a huge initial shift in the structure of the company's management processes, which has allowed us to grow the company in a controlled way.
Looking back, what is one thing that you’ve learned the hard way that you wish you knew sooner?
How important it is to keep clients in the loop and build customer relationships. You cannot simply hand a client a set of designs or expect them to keep on coming back. The production process should be 2 way and long term client relationships require dedication to be fruitful, just like personal relationships.
What stands out the most about 2013 so far?
It has to be the office move. Things were just too crowded at Media House and the new place gives us a chance to take onboard contractors when we need them. Also, the space here is just epic, we have enough wall and floor space to fit this out into a really cool agency while keeping more than enough workspace per employee. The location is also really amazing. The High Street has real buzz about it at this time of year. At the moment there are loads of street performers, and we can enjoy their music without even leaving the studio!
What are you most looking forward to in the company’s future?
We’ve got some big plans for Indulge. We’re going to be looking to expand our business further afield and add a couple of additional revenue streams. This kind of thing is always really exciting.
And of course there’s always the excitement of new web technologies. The pace of change on the web is just frantic. For example, one of the developments we are looking forward to is how web experiences can be produced on wearable devices (i.e. a watch!). No-one’s quite sure how the community will tackle this one, but we’re putting some thought into it and it will be really interesting to see what comes out.
