5 Years (and 1 month)

Today marks 5 years (and 1 month) since starting the journey of being an entrepreneur. Together with Adrian Larkin, my co-owner and founding partner of Brandesign, the past five years has been very busy.

Some Successes

We have seen some successes along the way: gaining business, gaining clients, gaining staff, growing our office space, getting new(ish) equipment and redefining and refining how we operate.

These successes have been hard won; they have involved many hours of discussion, debate, trial and error and not to mention many cups of coffee. We have worked to gain each success and we continue to push an agenda of excellence. We continue to build a business.

Some failures

In amongst the successes are the inevitable failures, we have lost business, lost a client or two, lost some staff members and lost money (due to bad debts) All of these failures though have been learning’s for us. We have become tougher in negotiating, we have become stricter on our terms and we have tried hard to maintain a professional outlook at all times. We continue to build a business.

The Cornerstones

Throughout my journey the cornerstones have remained the same: Faith, Family and Friendships have been at the centre of all I have tried to do. My Faith has helped me to place my trust in the correct place, my family have reminded me of this when times were tough and my friends have helped me to laugh when I needed to.

Some thank-you’s

To my wife, who has been a safe place for me, she helps me to carry the load and then some. Always willing to listen, always giving perspective and always affirming me. To my children, who walk this road with us and who have had to give up some of the “good things” in life, in favour of the really good things in life. I love you to the sky and back, you guys are truly an inspiration to me.

To the family members around me, who have encouraged me and helped me to get ahead – thank you.

To Adrian Larkin, for the creativity and flair that you bring to the business, for weathering the bad times and celebrating the good times! To Barry Johnson, who I have the absolute privilege of seeing grow into, not only a great designer, but a top guy!

To the rest of the Brandesign team for your commitment and energy, for working hard and for making it happen!

To my friends, thank you for the advice, for the feedback and for lending an ear when I needed to run the ideas past you. A special mention to John Frame, you are always available to me, you are an awesome source of wisdom and a genuinely good friend.

In Closing

Deciding on embarking on the journey seemed like the hardest part of the trip, in truth and reflection, the journey remains a tough one. It is not for the faint hearted and while I would recommend it to many, it will always remain the domain of a few. Nobody knows what tomorrow holds, but being able to have continued on this journey is something that I am extremely grateful for.

We continue to build a business….