Alan O'Rourke - IBW2007

His site - www.spoiltchild.com

They started in 2003 when Alan was made redundant. He initially got a design consultancy gig and from there the business blossomed. Within the first year they received a BAFTA nomination and while that was good for industry awareness it brought them no business! They were too small to take advantage of the opportunity it presented.

However it did allow them to increase their prices - Alan said that as with many businesses they started too low.

They have 3 staff now and he said that they made mistakes early on - starting with students with little experience (cheap) and who needed a lot of mentoring. That did not work and now they use much more experienced staff.

They work virtually - all from home, heavily technology dependant and they all take the time out to spend time with their kids - bring them to school etc.

They have an international client base.

What would he do differently? He would have brought in a business partner early on - he (as with many designers) is not organised and needs his skills to be complimented.

He spoke about the limitations of a service business. And how they are moving to develop online products or services which can be sold in volume.

Clothing Brand
Online Wedding Planner
Email Marketing Tool
Wedding ticker

keith