Moving Home?

Yesterday we went and had a look around the soon to open Boho 5 in Middlehaven (or "over the border" for us older folk). It's a great new building for the creative industries and we are seriously contemplating moving there despite the large increase in rent that would form part of the move.

Why?

We are a relatively big fish in the Redcar web pond but what that really tells you is how small the pond is. We have some great clients there, a great view from our office, some great people we work with and it's been our home, between the Wilton Centre and Palace Hub, since the company was formed. We have got to where we are as a growing and ambitious company by being in Redcar.

But that is also the problem - we remain ambitious and want to grow more and Redcar, I believe, is becoming a limiting factor. Larger clients who are not from East Cleveland won't come out here and even for local clients I regularly have to travel to Middlesbrough, Stockton and Darlington for meetings. That is partly due to the poor communications where as Middlesbrough is close to the A19 and has much better rail connections.

Then there's the building and the council. There are some lovely people working for the council including the staff at the Palace Hub. But it's run by the council, the water regularly goes off, the Internet is at times ropey, any changes take an eternity as the council run it how they want it not in a way that meets the needs of the creative businesses in there and THERE'S STILL NO PARKING OVER 2 YEARS SINCE OPENING (but of course the council are still looking at that one - I repeat OVER 2 YEARS SINCE OPENING). The building is also empty and it seems it will get even emptier soon regardless of whether we move or not.

So a move to the thriving Boho Zone of Middlesbrough is being considered very seriously. There would be a big increase in rent to go with the recent extra outlay on staff, hardware and software but it's starting to look like a wise move.

So watch this space, we have declared an interest in a specific room at Boho 5 that has great views of the Tranny, Riverside Stadium and Cleveland Hills (You couldn't get more Teesside). Now to find exact costs, Internet speeds, removal costs (if you're reading this Mr Burridge do get in touch) and costs associated with changes to stationary, phone, etc

No decision has yet been made but the scales are tipping toward moving.

Growing

Blooming heck!!

Good job we've teamed up with Laughing Beards to dedicate a day, probably two, next week, as we've got a lot on. We also need Michael the week after.

Not only are we busy with existing jobs, a couple of which have deadlines at the end of the month but we got an extra £9k of work in last week. Would be nice to get that every week but I'd need a few more staff.

One of those jobs has the potential for global sales following on as the company we are working with will introduce us to their worldwide clients and partners to sell on for a 20% commission. As the difficult bit, the background software, will have been created this makes it a very viable proposition.

We also have two other web applications that are close to completion that have some good potential for selling on to others and partners who will help with that.

The last few weeks have also been great for both developing our BNI business network in Middlesbrough that will I'm sure lead to great income and a support network for all involved and we now have in place partners for a great set of associated services that will allow us to offer our clients a lot more at top quality which now includes (top 6 in house):

• Web design - responsive for all devices of course
• E commerce solutions
• Mobile apps
• Bespoke software design
• Software systems integration (making different software packages talk to each other)
• Branding and graphic design
• Film quality video
• Professional photography
• Pay per click advertising
• E-marketing via SEO, social media, etc
• Network and hardware installation
• IT Support
• Signage design and integration

That's a pretty comprehensive set of features and we also work with great accountants, financial/mortgage advisers, physiotherapists, insurance brokers, scaffolders and historic building restorers and many more/

Let us know how we can help you.

Investing in Growth

I remember my last blog entry, just, where I think I promised something about blogging more regularly but that was in April.

In the meantime Tad Web Solutions have just been stupidly busy and other than a cheeky long weekend away and a trip to Wembley (#IStillBelieve) there's been little time to do other stuff and blogging has, rather unwisely, been put on the back burner. Now, having the odd week where you are too busy is fine but a couple of months is something of a habit - looks like we need more staff!

So here's the cunning plan ...

Next week we team up with Laughing Beards, purchasing their services one day per week in our office to increase and improve our graphics and branding capability. We have been outsourcing a lot of our graphics for a while and but are looking for consistent high quality and greater integration with our work. I'm really looking forward to working with them and taking a step forward in output and quality. Over the coming months we will review this and hopefully look to extend the dedicated support time.

We also have Michael, a year-long intern, starting with us on 22 June. Michael comes via the University of Teesside and it is a work placement after year 2 of his degree. The internship is the start and if all goes well we will convert that into a temporary contract some time before the end of the year and offer a long term post at the end (it would be up to Michael to either finish his degree part-time or defer the post for a year at that point). 

Its a great scheme by the Uni, that gives students experience and some money but gives businesses a cost-effective way of seeing if the person is right for them making it more likely that a graduate can get a good level of salary when they finish their degree..

I'm feeling very confident about the future and intend to go to the next level for the business in terms of turnover, project size and client size. That needs an investment in terms of staff, money and time and it's the right time to do that.