It's nearly a year to the day since we (Esther and I) both received redundancy letters from our previous employer. Not great timing but over Christmas 2009 we did have time to think and we decided to go into business for ourselves.
Somewhere during this period GeekyCreative was decided upon, and though it wouldn't be later in the year before we were set up and running, 2010 saw the start of a remarkable journey.
To be honest I don't think that it would be as hard as it has, if we'd have known how tough it is physically, mentally, emotionally and of course financially then maybe we might have chosen a different course. However, we wouldn't have know how rewarding it is either - there's nothing like positive feedback and a cheque from a happy customer.
Running your own business is great, as hard as it is, the positive aspects far outweigh the negative. Now, nearly a year on from one of the biggest decisions that we've ever made, we can look back at how far we've come in just 12 months.
We released our first ever iPhone App which we covered in a previous post here. This has been quickly followed by a second App for Malvern Theatres this time; and early 2010 will see us release Apps 3 & 4 as well as produce applications for Blackberry, Android and Windows SmartPhone. Watch this space for more info on what seems to be an ever growing part of our business.
We've had the privilege to work with some great clients this year. Newline Computing asked us to integrate their website with their software delivery process and we learnt a lot from them as we combined online and offline development for the first time.
We released websites for www.sdwenergyassessments.com, www.theultimatenightout.co.uk and www.beautylistics.com early on in the year - great clients who found us early on and helped massively when we needed it most.
Social media played it's part as well, Twitter delivered a huge surprise in September when we answered a Tweet looking for an iPhone developer - a few DM messages, emails and phone calls later and we landed Shropshire Council as a client. To say that we were pleased is an understatement. Maybe we shouldn't have been surprised, early in the year we were found online by www.collaboratus.co.uk and produced our first ever WordPress theme for theme and helped shape some briefs for further projects.
Luckily, we've also been remembered by old contacts who have been generous with their faith in us. Because of this we can now include The Herbert Gallery, The Royal Shakespeare Company and My Property Advert as valued clients.
We've grown in 2010, the late nights, steep learning curves and immense pressure have been rewarded with inclusion into the local business community and acceptance amongst our peers. We're looking forward now to 2011 and we hope way beyond. Our plan is simple, keep doing what we are doing. We want to carry on working for the clients that we have and hopefully find some more as well.
We already have some great projects in the pipeline for 2011. As well as the Apps that we mentioned there's a huge social music site to look forward to, an ecommerce site about to launch and a property site with a twist. Some old clients are having some updates and we have a charity website to build for an amazing good cause. All this and we're barely a year in - which brings us up to the present. This time last year we had some bad news, now things are looking a lot more positive. Thanks to all those that have been there for us this year. Merry Christmas everyone, we hope that 2011 sees you happy and prosperous.
