How it'seeze Web Design Bristol Came To Be
I recently asked how people came up with the idea for their business and what was the biggest challenge to them, so I thought I’d tell you a bit more about what led me to what I’m doing today.
First off, this was not the career I had planned whilst at school – once I progressed from wanting to be a unicorn, my early thoughts were a nurse or an actress, but I rapidly realised I couldn’t act and loathed needles, so back to the drawing board.
Early thoughts certainly didn’t involve any sort of computer – I didn’t come across many of those until my industrial placement at university when I discovered I did actually quite like spreadsheets and databases (and to this day I still get teased by friends as I seem to be incapable of organising anything without creating a spreadsheet to plan it).
So, into the 90s, the World Wide Web had now been invented - I spent time working for ICL, a British computer company, followed by a job as a Maths teacher in a secondary school and then an educational consultant for an IT company. But then, as with many parents, my career choices were affected by my children – it was no longer practical, and to be fair I didn't want to be away from my children overnight. So, after a short period of time working self-employed as a fundraiser with primary schools, I started thinking about what I would do next. And this was when I concluded, I want to start my own business!
If any of you have created a DISC profile, and like me are a high S/C (which stands for Steady and Conscientious), you will know what it is to overthink and overplan everything and understand that I am somewhat risk-adverse. This of course affected the process.
I was also a single mum by this point and needed to make sure I could support my kids, so the idea of losing everything was not in my game plan.
This is when I thought about looking at starting a franchise – it meant I would not need to spend every waking hour setting my business up and would give me the security of a tried and tested blueprint.
I must have looked at over 50 franchises – and settled on it’seeze as it really did offer something different.
For me this was a franchisor who was genuinely invested in the success of my business and produced an amazing product. And for my clients there would be the advantage of having a local, friendly consultant supporting them, with the added benefit of knowing they had the support and resources of a larger organisation, as well as a professional website for an affordable price.
So, here we are just over ten years later (ten years in Feb 2021 to be exact). And where are we now?
Well, the following are some of the biggest things that have happened over the last ten years in my work and personal life…
Mobile and then responsive websites slowly replaced non-responsive ones (hopefully in another 10 years I will report they have all finally been replaced!)
I met some amazing colleagues and friends through my business and networking
My children grew into young adults of whom I am incredibly proud
We were finalists for the national online franchise awards in 2021
I learned that I was allowed to make mistakes in order to move forward and not to waste my life being terrified of failure
The amazing Pam Pluck started working for us on a permanent basis
We sold over 300 websites
I met up with my boyfriend from university after 2 decades, and 7 years later we have just bought a house together
I got a business coach (give it a go, it worked wonders for me).
I discovered what lockdown, Zoom, and Coronavirus all were in a very short space of time.
So, in a nutshell, that is how I got from prospective unicorn to it’seeze website consultant.
And of course, if you are interested in finding out more about our web design services, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. We look forward to supporting many more Bristol businesses with their websites in these next 10 years and beyond, and would love to help you achieve online success.
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