- The first client – of course you’ll never forget your first client as an entrepreneur. This was Mobeus Equity Partners, who very simply wanted photographic assets prints and put into frames.
- The first rental contract – Marriott Harrison, who were my second client all the way back in 2013. They’ve been a client ever since, even after moving to a new office.
- The first BIG project – This was winning a £125K contract with ALDI to provide around 250 prints for three of their buildings, in Nottingham, Darlington and Edinburgh.
- The first project abroad – This came in 2022 and was for the Amsterdam office of a finance company for whom I’d provided historical photographs of Manchester. They asked me to do the same in Amsterdam.
- First work trip abroad – Miami 2019! I went on my own and met up with some friends from the Association of Women Art Dealers and experienced Miami art Week and Miami Basel in all it’s glory.
- First onsite installation in a different country – This was For Plaid’s Amsterdam office in June 2022. It’s caused some logistical headaches but the project was amazing and the staff were so happy.
- First reception sculpture – Between the covid years, we managed to install the most beautiful sculpture by Nick Hornby into the reception of Premier Place for 6 months.
- First event – I invented a team building game called Hunger Games Vs Art Attack, which I still play with clients. The first team to experience it though were Marriott Harrison, who seemed to have a great time.
- First staff member. A big shout out to Genevieve, who came on board as my intern when I was pregnant and ran the show whilst I was continually sick all day every day. She became my administrator (twice) and flew on to much bigger and better things.
- Going full time! In 2015 I managed to quite my full time job, and turned Art in offices from a side hustle into a proper business.
- Our first office. In 2021 I took on 5 Kickstart staff – paid for by the government, to get young people back into work after Covid. Suddenly I had 6 people and nowhere to put us and we had to get an office ASAP. So I shall be forever grateful to Access fertility and The Workers League for housing the team as it expanded.
There have been so many great moments in building my business. I am grateful to all of the staff who have worked for me and every single client. I still do a little “chandler dance” every time I win business. That feeling will never grow old.
