It’s our 10th birthday! Founder and Chairman Jeremy Clark explains…

10 years ago, I started my own agency, having quit a well-paid, secure job at a big agency a couple of years previously, and filled that time with freelance consultancy and being a communications trainer. I had two kids under ten, a mortgage, and the world was still recovering from the financial crisis of 2008. When I first floated the idea of starting my own agency past my family during our summer holiday, it triggered a whole load of ifs, buts and maybes…Is this really a good idea? What if it’s not the right time? Maybe it’s best to get another ‘big agency’ job.

But as explained so well by Forbes, here’s the thing: There’s never a right time to start a business. There will never be an ideal moment. There will always be reasons to put it off. And so, it comes down to this: you have to create the ‘right time’. Because only you can make this happen – and if you’re waiting for the perfect moment, you just might be waiting forever. But how do you create this set of conditions that make it possible to make your dreams a reality?

Well for me, creating the right conditions meant three things: 1. Having a family with faith in me – that I could do it and would be happier for it. 2. Having clients who valued me – with real confidence that I could compete with their current agencies (some of them very big!) and deliver great results. 3. Having a remote team of freelancers supporting me – trusted colleagues that I could partner with and grow with as the business evolved. And I must have done something right, as my family, and some of my first clients and remote team members are still with me today!

The challenge of starting an agency is one thing, the challenge of maintaining a successful agency for over 10 years is quite another! It’s certainly been a journey and of course, there have been ups, as well as some downs, along the way. Looking back, the main highlights have been the great programmes we developed and implemented with amazing clients alongside inspiring healthcare professionals that were rolled out all over the world. I feel immensely proud of what the team has achieved over the last decade, as well as what lies ahead as we continue to grow. To all those clients, partners, members of the team past and present, and my family, a massive thank you!

As we’ve been thinking about how best to celebrate 10 years as a successful independent healthcare communications agency, the team came up with the idea of doing 10 challenges to celebrate the 10 years we’ve been in business. Challenges that push us out of our comfort zone – some just a little, and others quite a lot. Either way, they’re all designed to bring us together, do some good and create some memories.

So, keep your eyes peeled for our first round of challenges over the coming months and if you have any bright ideas and want to put us to the test, send us an idea for a challenge at [email protected].