I’m so pleased with the results from JAK Inc this week. We have won two major contracts and looking to get these started from Monday. One is an events company in the region and the other is a business in London that we’ve been talking to for a few weeks. Both business wins have created a buzz around the office and gives us an opportunity to showcase our creative skills, social media and overall project management. A challenge everyone is up for. Its been a great team effort and we are grateful for the opportunity. If we can secure more of these contracts we will be in a position to scale up our creative team that would be good for the region. If you know anyone who is interested in graphic design we would love to see their CV Vacancies
Another success story this week was achieving national TV coverage of some of our design work with a Charity based in London.
On Monday I headed back to the London office for three days. Whilst its hard separating from the family I always look forward to the buzz of London and seeing the sights. No wonder its one of the worlds most visited cities. Usually I don’t really get time to do any sightseeing however on this trip I couldn’t help it as appointments took me past some of London’s finest landmarks. For example, on Monday evening I was walking back from an appointment and heard some church bells chiming. As I headed further along the street in the distance St Paul’s Cathedral was standing tall. What an amazing sight it was and I couldn’t help but stand there for a few moments to appreciate its architecture and beauty. I thought of all of the events that have taken place there. Charles and Diana’s wedding, Queen Victoria’s silver jubilee, Sir Winston Churchill’s state funeral and of course the old lady from Mary Poppins singing ‘feed the birds’ that I needed to reenact on a FaceTime call with my wife. Silly!
After an appointment on Tuesday at Greenwich village I saw the Cutty Sark for the first time before catching the Clipper boat that took me along the river all the way to waterloo. It was around a half hour journey and I took in some amazing sights including London Bridge, Tower of London, Shakespeare globe theatre and loads of cool waterside pubs. I would highly recommend taking this trip next time you visit London.
After three very productive days I headed back North for a day of meetings around Teesside.
My first one was on Thursday morning with one of the regions biggest expanding brands and a very forward thinking Managing Director who ‘gets’ business and has seen major growth since he re-positioned the business after a rebrand and started focusing on the culture of the business setting him apart from the competition.
I also caught with another fast expanding software business E-Max Systems who we have been doing some branding and printing projects for. Zeynl Badak is someone I have been working with for quite a few years and he is one of the most passionate people I have met. The business has expanded so much in the last few years and its no wonder as they offer some very good software solutions to make businesses more efficient. Great effort Zeynl and the team. You can view their business here
Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any better I still had one meeting left with a good friend Myk Baxter who I hadn’t seen in over three years as he re-located his business to the Far East. Myk was in top form and its great to have him back on the scene here in the North East. I’m sure we will be joining forces with some projects very soon.
On Friday I joined up with Gary Lumby and most of the team from Focus On Success (FOS) where we presented our services to Clive Owen in Darlington and on the afternoon met up with Paul Jones at the Agile Group in Stockton. In previous blogs I’ve mentioned that I have dedicated one day per week to FOS and I’m currently looking to join a business as a non executive director. Here are some of the things we offer:-
- We help business leaders look for business growth opportunities and create a growth strategy
- Act as an extension to the team offering specialist advice. In my case marketing
- We give directors an external view of the business
- Coaching of senior and lower managers
- Help businesses save money by sharing our network of contacts
If you know anyone interested in a free diagnostic audit of their business I would be grateful of a recommendation a.knowles@jakinc.uk
If you like my blog you may be interested in my tweets and can also follow me @andyjknowles
Have a great weekend.
Anything is possible,
Andy Knowles
Managing Director
