You don’t have to go to University to learn a skill or become competent at it. As Tuition fees increases, the demand for formal education decreases. Nowadays, you can become self-taught with a click of a button.
I invite Mark Edwards, founder of PlayBigMedia, an independent creative design agency as he shares his story.
Hi Mark, Thanks for doing this. How are you doing today?
Not a problem – I’m great thanks. Hope you are too?
I’m great Mark, thanks for asking.Can you give us some background information about yourself?
I'm 23. I didn’t go to University to learn my skills; I am completely self-taught. I always knew I wanted to run my own company, but at an early age I wasn’t yet sure what industry it would be in; although I think my conscience knew.
I first developed a reputation working in events management with nightclubs working alongside line-ups involving national artists. This soon progressed and I was referred to a London based events company where I became the city manager for my local area.
Tell me how you initially got into business?
Growing up I always dabbled in ideas to make money and start a business. I always held a keen interest in technology and from a young age developed small hobby websites in my spare time.
During my run in events management, I also developed a few websites for promotional purposes. It wasn’t until I started working with a company in London that I had a chat with one of the artists we had booked, and a few weeks later we launched his new website.
This was still in the early days and I traded under a different name and I’d like to think the quality has drastically improved since; surely. Through this project though, I began working for another artist, which a few months later was signed to Geffen Records under Universal Music Group. The artist wanted to continue working with me and therefore I started working with the digital teams both at Universal and Sony Music. Through pure hard work, dedication, and a fast turnaround time with everything they threw at me, it wasn’t long before I was working on multiple projects with several different Account Managers at Sony.
Soon after, we independently approached Justin Biebers Official Tour DJ; DJ Tay James, which we work very closely with too this day developing his online video series and the WeKnowTheDJ brand across multiple platforms.
A year and a bit later and we have graduated too work with clients across the UK and America spanning from boutique leather designer goods, urban clothing brands, restaurants and food and drinks brands, too independent upcoming artists. And we continue to do our best to provide a service like no other to every customer.
How did the idea for PlayBigMedia come about?
PlayBigMedia came about as an effort of building a reputable company name that clients could trust with quality and service. It was also the start of transforming the “old” name into a professional brand.
What is PlayBigMedia?
PlayBigMedia is an independent creative design agency based in the UK providing beautiful web design and development, social media, and mobile solutions to an international clientele.
Our aim is to provide ever-increasing quality and service to our clients.
About the first few months, how excited were you, tell us about how those months felt, what happened?
The early days were interesting as it was the first time I had completed work for a monetary value and with a client that wasn’t locally based.
Being an ‘Internet’ based company our overheads were very low so funding luckily wasn’t much of a concern. I have been lucky enough to be introduced to some great people, who all in their own right have guided me and provided support.
Always striving for better is the ethos I followed. Sure, every project got every ounce of detail, but it wouldn’t be healthy if I didn’t believe I could progress with every project I encountered and strive to provide better service, quality and detail, and still keep learning each and every day. To this day it is an exciting time, as the company is constantly improving year on year.
How did you initially get traction?
By providing the best service possible with a great turn-around time. Many many hours of hard work and incredibly late nights.
What are the most crucial things that you have done to grow your business?
Always making sure the client is happy. Word of mouth is the strongest form of promotion and recommendation. Many of the clients we work with have got in touch with us that way. If you strive to make sure every client is happy and provide the best service possible, your clients will tell their friends, and maybe their friends will tell their friends.
Don’t always focus on the monetary value. We regularly contact companies or individuals we‘d like to work with when just travelling the Internet in our spare time.
What would you say has been the highlight of your entrepreneurial journey so far?
I am lucky enough to meet and work with some amazing people. Being a part of the core team of another company’s success is a highlight in itself. Establishing and expanding a clientele in the USA would also be a highlight. But there are so many more to come..
What should we be expecting from yourself and the PlayBigMedia team in the next coming months?
This year see’s the company moving into new areas of interest. The foundations of the company were built in the music industry, and many of our clients are based in the music industry.
However, we want to show our potential clients that anything is possible; we work with everyone, no matter what area of business you are.
We are working on several projects in several different areas such as PR, Fashion, Food, and Lifestyle, which will begin to show our diversification and open-up new opportunities in new areas of interest we haven’t yet worked in before.
Lastly, what three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?
Never let anyone say you cant do it ! Don’t let anyone put you down and keep persistent. Keep your team small to start, quality is always better than quantity, and a smart and skilful team will prove that. A smaller team is easier to quality control.
View our work at http://www.playbigmedia.com . Join us !
Thanks for your time Joseph.
