A year in the life of self-employment.

August marked GLR Digital’s first Birthday and what a year it’s been.

For those of you who know me personally, I made the decision to resign from my full time position shortly after the birth of my son, Myles. Crazy...I know.

In the last 15 months I’ve; become a father, resigned from my full time job, started my own business, moved homes and now working through a tough economy due to the global pandemic we’re all currently facing.

Having worked in digital for various companies throughout the UK over the past 11 years, I’ve worked many hours and travelled many places and the decision to resign wasn’t taken lightly as we all have financial commitments. Going solo had been something I was thinking of before the arrival of my son as working late and working away from home was becoming increasingly less attractive. I wanted to ensure I was around when needed and to see those precious moments of Myles growing up. 

Friends have often joked that I’m playing at the park all day or lounging on the sofa watching Disney films but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Starting a business to be successful during all of this has been incredibly difficult and required a lot of hours but one thing I can take away from it all is that it is my own. The hard work, the hours, the highs and lows are all for my passion of working within digital and I can be proud at the end of each day knowing I’ve helped other small to medium sized businesses achieve their goals too. It provides me with flexibility to work the hours I need to with a new family whether that be taking my son to nursery, a doctor's appointment or going out for a walk with the ability to then work late and catch up on my projects.

Working with a lot of startups and small businesses, has given me the opportunity to meet lots of hard working individuals with enormous passion for what they do and to work in all kinds of industries from fashion, leisure, travel, hospitality, food and so many others which has required a knack for adaptability to understand new markets quickly and to be able to achieve results fast. I help businesses with all things digital and put as much of my own passion as they do in to building high converting websites, optimising a sites SEO to rank higher, drive leads with Google Ads or bring in product sales through Google Shopping, helping to establish CRM systems to help them stay organised, create email marketing automations so they can focus time elsewhere and so much more. The variety of what I do each day is so important in staying educated and passionate in my field.

I’d like to thank all the businesses that I have worked with over the past 12 months and continue to work with on a regular basis. My services offered are growing with copywriting and graphic design now with a great support network team behind me - we’re ready to tackle the challenges that lie ahead with you and I look forward to working with many new businesses in the months to come.

I would also like to thank my wife, Laura, for her unconditional support throughout these past 12 months and my son Myles, for giving me all the motivation I need to wake up each morning to work hard.