Leaving my role as commercial director at Global, one of Europe’s largest media companies, was both terrifying and exhilarating.
The salary was sizable, the pension was lovely, and the Range Rover was very comfortable, but I had an itch to scratch that I could no longer ignore.
And so, Freedom Media Group was born.
Moving from a prestigious Manchester office to the back bedroom of my house in Marple Bridge was the first real shock.
What I hadn’t anticipated was the loneliness. Those first few months were quieter than I’d expected, and there were moments where I genuinely questioned whether I’d made the right call.
But as the business began to find its feet and acquire clients, all of whom, I’m proud to say, we still work with today, that loneliness quickly gave way to something far more energising.
If you’re considering a similar leap, here’s what I’d tell you: the opportunities in this marketplace are enormous, if you’re willing to look for them. Think big, knock on big doors, and back yourself.
If you have the right intentions and great ideas, the clients will come.
Build your business on customer satisfaction and genuine happiness rather than chasing revenue, and the revenue will follow. It really is that simple, and that hard.
The journey to your first million is by far the most challenging stretch. You’re generating revenue while simultaneously figuring out what your real point of difference is. What makes you better?
Why should someone choose you? The answer to those questions takes time to crystallise, and in the meantime, the only thing you can do is trust the process you’re building and stick to the plan you’ve spent so long thinking about.
Since launch, Freedom Media Group has grown continuously by more than 50 per cent year-on-year, both across the UK and internationally, and we’ve been fortunate to welcome clients we are genuinely excited to work with every single day.
But by far the most important ingredient in all of it? Your network, no question.
I was fortunate, during my years at Global, to have worked alongside some outstanding businesses and brilliant individuals. Those relationships followed me into my own venture and have been invaluable. There are a lot of kind, generous people in this industry.
If you put your hand up and ask for help, you’ll get it.
And in return, when someone needs your support, no matter how stretched you are, give it. I can’t stress how important this is. Karma always pays its bills.
It’s an ethos I’ve lived by throughout my entire life and career, and it has never once let me down.
Building Freedom Media Group to where it stands today has been the single greatest professional education of my life.
It is a very different world from working within a media owner. It has its own pressures and its own stresses, but on balance, it has been full of opportunity, full of remarkable people, and rich with possibilities for personal growth that I simply couldn’t have found anywhere else.
I look back on what this agency has become with real pride. Not just in what we’ve built commercially, but in the team around me and what they deliver week in, week out.
I’ll be forever thankful for my time at the incredible business that is Global.
Being exposed to, working with and learning from outstanding operators like Stephen Miron, Mark Lee and Mike Gordon gave me skills that enabled me to go on to build Freedom, which this year will see many millions of pounds in revenue.
This might sound a little cheesy, but I mean every word of it: if you’ve got the itch to sail your own ship, do it.
Back yourself. Lean on and put your trust in the people around you. And give it a bloody good go. What’s the worst that can happen?
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