The Business: Then & Now

Image: LondonMet

As something that is so integral to our family life, I'm surprised I haven't written more posts on our business. Maybe it's because I've been somewhat out-the-loop for a while. For those who don't know, David and I run our own PR business: one that specialises in contemporary furniture, lighting and home accessories as well as design exhibitions. It all kind of happened by accident. We didn't both sit down one day and decide our dream was to set up our own PR agency. No, not at all. We grew it from scratch seven years ago and today we're still working hard at it. It's not an easy ride having your own business; the pressures can be huge, particularly when it has to support your family. But this far down the line, I don't think either of us could see ourselves working for 'a company' again.

For the last two-and-a-half years, I've taken a back seat: a rather over-extended maternity leave. Of course, in some ways I've not left; David brings work home and we've sat up into the early hours on many an occasion working through a press release or on a proposal for a potential new client. When Lily was born and before she went to school, we would effectively job-share. We split the business and the childcare 50:50. But by the time Arthur came along the business had changed some what and our 'flexible' set up wasn't an option. The work we carry out these days is much more involved; it wouldn't be time productive to constantly be 'handing over' to one another. So we decided on David handling the business full-time while I focused on running the home, looking after the kids and everything else that makes up family life. 

Since then our client portfolio has changed quite dramatically. Go back two-and-a-half years and many of our clients then had been with us long-term. Despite David and I running the business 50:50 from the very early days, a few clients had the false preconception that I was slightly higher up than David. Maybe it was the fact I had a PR background (Conran and Urban Outfitters) some years back; maybe it's because I started out on my own for a very short time on a freelance basis under the name PR-Girl.  When we became a limited company we kept the name as it was gaining a good reputation and we didn' want to jeopardise that. It used to really grate on me when a client would request that I attend a meeting rather than David or that I took the phone call. People, friend's even, would joke that David worked for me and that at the end of the day it was 'my business'. David never seemed that troubled by it: he knew that we both played an equal part in the business and that we were both integral to it.

So it was interesting when we announced that I would be stepping back for 'a while'. Clients excepted it. Has me not being around made any difference? No, not a bit. In fact, under his own steam, David has taken on several new clients: real mover's and shaker's in the industry. I doubt I would have had the confidence to take them on. Despite a recession, he has grown our business and achieved astonishing results for many of our clients, enforcing our worth in the industry ten-fold. I'm so proud of him. I think he's actually a better 'business' person than I am. He takes gambles and works like a dog to make sure they pay off. He has the right personality for the job. He is genuine and hard working and people see that and respect him for it.

We now have some handsome clients in our portfolio; Tent London, Origin, Design Event, Home, Pulse, Mini Moderns, Surface View, The Lollipop Shoppe and Michelle Mason to name but a few. He has essentially been doing the job of 2 - 3 people for the last couple of years. Apart from our week holiday and a few days at Christmas he has had no time off. He gets home late most nights these days, usually after I've put the kids to bed. After dinner, it's not unusual for him to turn on the laptop and catch up on some work to make 'tomorrow easier'. From what I see it rarely does. Being on the receiving end I can find it tough at times. His line between work and home is often blurred. I can feel like a single parent Monday to Friday, but it's hard to voice your complaints to someone who is working hard for you and your kids. After all, it's the kind of life one subscribes to when running your own business. I need to get the 9 - 5 thing out of my head: much like company pensions, sick pay and an annual holiday allowance, they are not part of our employment package. Our business is what we make it and it's what we have to do now that we have our family to support.

With Arthur now settling into playschool, I will be returning to the business for three mornings a week. Due to the limited time I can commit to the business for the moment, I will take the desk at the back of the office (so to speak). I will work on any press releases I'm needed for and will look after other projects that will hopefully enable us to grow the business further. I'll be  doing all the stuff David just hasn't had time to do; setting up our company blog, keeping the accounts up-to-date and I'll be working on our new company name and re-brand. Yes, seven years on we do still have the official company name of PR-Girl. It isn't really fitting anymore don't you agree?

Family Weekend & Night Shifts ....

Well, here's to the start of another new week. It's promising to be a busy and eventful week with a good dose of happy times. Lily turns six on Thursday and we're throwing her a party on Saturday. My parents are coming to stay for a few days and my really good friend will give birth to twins (on Lily's birthday!).

We had a weekend that was packed to the brim for both work and play. Friday night was a rare treat; David and I had a night out together. We hired a babysitter and headed out with friends for a few drinks followed by a bite to eat at our local Thai restaurant, The Giggling Squid. It was a great evening - the kind that passes by all to quickly and you end the night saying in earnest, 'we really ought to do it more often'.

Saturday was a day of chores and more prep for Lily's party. I made some chocolate chip cookie dough for storing in the freezer until later this week and had a big clear-out in the children's bedrooms and toy cupboard. I've got a few big bags of old toys that I will donate to Arthur's playgroup and now I can rest-easy knowing that there is room for any new toys that may came our way this birthday week.

After such a busy day, I was ready for an evening in front of the TV and an early night, but David and I had to turn our weary heads onto work mode. We stayed up until late planning-out and wording a client press release. Day-to-day in the studio, David is pulled in all directions with press requests and can struggle to find time for such things that require a bit of focus and thought, so they sit on a to-do-list in hope of attention soon and if the forecast looks grim, they comes home to be done after-hours.

Sunday was, for most parts, a breath of fresh air. We actually had a proper family day out. Like our evenings out together, these days don't happen as much as they ought to, what with chores, commitments and work eating into our so-called leisure time. We packed the kids up with a good supply of breadsticks (they won't travel beyond the end of our road with them!) and a few toys and took a sunny morning drive to Dulwich to visit the Mid-Century Modern Fair that was held in the grounds of Dulwich College.

David and I share a fondness for mid-century modern design and we had a few friends such as Mini Moderns, Michelle Mason and Zoe Murphy who were exhibiting their fine wares so it was fun to pop along for a gander. The fair was full of desirable pieces to tempt the purse strings, but with a one-year-old on reigns in tow there wasn't much time for a leisurely browse. It was more a case of keeping a constant eye on Arthur, particularly as we went by exhibits of beautiful glass and ceramics. I found it a bit crazy that they market the fair as a family-friendly event (there were plenty of children there) yet they don't allow pushchairs into the building. Had we had a pushchair, Arthur would have taken a nap and we could have had a more relaxed experience. At one point we were witness to a heart-stopping near collision involving a toddler (not on reigns) and an artfully stacked shelf of ceramics. Still, maybe they will revise their pushchair policy next year.

Once done at the fair we looked for food and an open space. We went to Dulwich Park and lunched on sausage and chip. Arthur slept in his pushchair and Lily explored and played in the swing park. Then before leaving we stopped by at the ice-cream van. It was a beautiful crisp and sunny day full of the promise of spring. Blossom, Bluebells and Daffodils signaled that perhaps the long cold days of winter were now behind us .... that put a spring in all our steps.

Back home, once the tired children were tucked up in bed, David and I again devoted an another evening to work. This time we worked on a complex proposal for a design event we may be promoting next year. This evolved into a gone-midnight exhausted discussion on the huge unbalance that exists in our world of being self-employed. When people ask what I do for a living and I tell them that my husband and I have our own PR business, they think how lovely it must be not to be committed to the nine-to-five job working for someone else. The reality is an unrelenting and immense pressure to get results so to bring in the money. It completely steers our quality of life and that of our children.

It's a livelihood that we created ten years or so ago, as a means to get by at the time. We didn't see it as the structure which now supports our growing family. We're so busy that we don't have time to think about it, but when we do it can be scary to think of all that relies upon it and that it is solely our actions that keep it ticking over. We need to find the time from somewhere to look at growing our business and increasing productivity and balance; seven days annual holiday is pretty poor. I remember an old accountant of ours once telling us of a business phase for people whose work takes over their life without much financial reward and he called them 'busy fools'. That has always stayed with me.