January Review
What's been happening at
Stable Design this month
The MUCH needed break away over the festive period already seems like a distant past. But we’re eagerly looking forward to what 2022 has in store for our plucky little corner of the world. We have come back into our friendly, firelit, animal-mad office and ready to hit the ground running with a surprisingly (but welcome) busy start to the year. In this newsletter, we are taking the time to reflect on what a year 2021 has been and what we are looking forward to in 2022.
2021 Year in Review
What a bizarre year 2021 was! To be honest, a lot of it has blurred into one long ‘say whatttt’ – in fact, I am really struggling to remember the who, what and when we have just experienced!
But let’s start with January and let’s all face it – January 2021 was utterly awful – I would love to say it had its highlights, but it really didn’t. Everyone working from home, home-schooling, dark all the time, sickness and apprehension of what on earth the next 12 months would bring. But as with everything, January did pass (bloody slowly) but it did and with the daffodils popping up came a new hope.
One of those new excitements was the introduction of Mr Blooper (aka Mr Blue) to the Stable Team. But along with this excitement also came the very sad goodbye to a dog I will forever call my soul mate, Mr Drussell-Bum . I still can’t think of him without a little tear, but by golly, he was a fabulous dog and missed by many.
Spring brought new customers, website launches and with the shops reopening a lot of new point of sale projects. We were getting darn good at zoom and with more and more people online, our Georgie was looking at statistics, Facebook pixels and all things google analytics. We also got to use our faster, bigger and better internet. There are many joys to working in deepest darkest Somerset – but good internet is not one of them – It’s a huge expense but we are so pleased with our new wires and whizzy internet!
Summer came and we were all back in the office – along with a huge air conditioning unit! With our big website project, award-winning hospitality village near Crewkerne, Haselbury Mill www.haselburymill.co.uk live we were concentration on the next big project: An e-commerce websites for the incredible Brown and Forrest www.brownandforrest.co.uk – both big projects and we are incredibly proud of both! We also had 2 enormous business park projects that needed rebranding, brochures, websites and signage. Debbie Domoney’s new website (with our very own Woodey as a model) was launched plus Wincanton print, Priory Coffee shop and so many more – so it was all hands to the decks keeping busy people cool and hydrated! With every weekend spent hiding in an Orchard and drinking cocktails from the Cider bus at Somerset Cider Brandy – we were slowly returning to normal but still very much hiding from the crowds.
Autumn and winter snuck up on us all – after a glorious September and October, the November bonfires were being lit whilst we all still had sunglasses on. One of the highlights of the Wintertime was Frogmary Green’s Festive lights – as popular as ever – Georgie, Woodey and James had the website and social media side of the event sorted. Easy booking and far-reaching posts made the event a super success. Plus, Oli got to try out the gimbal (all with a rather impressive tash) and created some fab little animations and moving graphics.
So here we are, 2022, looking at a full 6 months of work on the board – I have a feeling tis going to be a good one!
My New Years resolution
Try to delegate – I am utterly crap at it.
Convince myself that change is a good thing.
And try my darndest to get out more and spend more time outside of the office and home – I have developed quite the reluctance to leave the comfy and familiar, but every time I do I am pleased I did.
One to Remember
For me, will be one to remember! I hit some major milestones in my (some say young) life … even if I swear stress has taken some years off. I moved out at the start of Summer and started living with my other half for the first time. In Autumn, I started my new job here at Stable – where no two days have been the same and learning so very, many different things since joining.
Seeing as it is the New Year, I have given myself a small resolution for the year ahead: Answering the phones some more meaning it is not down to the same ones all the time. I have to race to beat them, as they are as quick as a flash with picking the phone up!
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2021 was pretty Unique
2021 was a pretty unique year for me, but then I’m sure it was for most people. After being self-employed for around 15 years, becoming a full time employee at Stable Design in September was probably the biggest change of the year, (and also the most exciting). After working with the team for the last couple of years and seeing the business evolve, the decision to take a full time role was not a tough one for me and they could not have made me feel more welcome.
For this year, my goals are to push myself (and be pushed) to design and develop better web experiences for people, as well as working with the digital team to streamline our website processes to ensure we meet our clients needs as efficiently as possible.
My Reflection & Resolution
Last year, I saw long-term clients (old friends really) doing better than ever or exploring fresh ideas. I welcomed a range of new, exciting customers. I loved peppering them with questions to understand their brands, industries, customers and goals for the future. (I hope they enjoyed it too!)
Together, we created memorable marketing campaigns, filled websites with captivating content, SEOed it for days and all sorts of other social media fun. There were the highs, lows, successes, and always lots of trying again.
Hence my reflection and resolution for the year: Treat it all as a learning curve. When something doesn’t work we grow, change and try again. Try better and fail better until we succeed. Even when something is a raging success, what worked? What didn’t? What could be even better next time?
That’s why I never stick to one-size-fits-all approach. Each brand, customer, company or person is completely unique: Your marketing should be too.
What am I looking forward to in 2022? Who knows! Isn’t that exciting?
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