Tom Scott launched Sheffield-headquartered Little Mesters in August 2020.
Little Mesters is a specialist social media agency that works with a variety of national and regional organisations including Sheffield Football Club, HomeCo Energy and Evogo.
Prior to launching the agency, he has a wealth of experience in the agency world working at Leeds agencies Engage and Umpf.
We found out how a recent life in his week went…
Monday
My week begins with an early start in the office. We’re based in Kelham Island, a fantastic area of Sheffield steeped in the history of steel making and other traditional industries. It’s the perfect location for a couple of reasons. Firstly because it’s now the place of choice for so many thriving businesses here in the steel city, which means we can often connect with founders and peers who have so much knowledge and expertise to collaborate with. It’s been great to see the area bustling once again in recent months and the business community supporting each other. Secondly, this is where lots of master crafters – nicknamed ‘Little Mesters’ in days gone by due to their expertise in their respective crafts – were based. It’s great to have a connection synonymous with our brand name and values.
We have our internal team meetings on Monday mornings. Today we outline upcoming projects immediate milestones and discuss creative ideas and it’s a really helpful way to start the working week. We’re a team of five now and have a mix of flexible home and office working as people need, with our core operating hours of 10am-4pm. Recently we’ve all decided to have at least one day in the office together because we enjoy a bit of banter and the chance to bounce ideas off each other.
It’s then onto a call with one of our newest clients – NAFIIA- to share the metrics and evaluation for their latest project. At Little Mesters, we’re very much values and results driven and ultimately we want the hard work going into every bespoke social media strategy to generate new business for clients. These calls are helpful to utilise what’s worked best and to understand how that aligns with other activities planned and undertaken. This approach has led to both Evogo and Mike Brewer Motors recently expanding the services we provide for them. We pride ourselves on being an extension to client teams so it’s always humbling when collaborations really take off like this.
My day ends with a tasty meal at home with my fiance and daughter; cooking helps me to unwind. Then it’s off to bed early ahead of a busy week!
Tuesday
I take my daughter to her Nursery every Tuesday. I thoroughly value being able to spend this precious time with her while she’s still young – being an active parent is crucial to me and a massive part of my work/life balance.
Myself and a colleague then head to a client production meeting at Sheffield FC. We ensure all of our clients have monthly production meetings, giving us the opportunity to capture the required visuals and creative for the month ahead and get their feedback. This collaborative approach means we can plan and schedule well in advance in order to secure the best results.
In recent months, we’ve started to undertake some pro-bono work for an incredible Sheffield organisation, Flourish, and we’ve chosen them as our charity of the year. We’re supporting Flourish with social media strategy and implementation, helping to drive new enquiries and profile alongside their objectives. It’s a really fun project for the whole team to be involved with and it’s great to offer our expertise in this way. Today, I have a planning meeting with the MD and find out that there’s lots of fantastic opportunities in the pipeline to elevate their presence online.
Afterwards, I have a three-month review with a team member. While we’re a small team and are in touch regularly, there’s no substitute for one-to-ones every quarter to discuss their personal development opportunities. After a productive day, I head home to relax with my family.
Wednesday
We’ve recently started working with a red brick university to deliver social media strategy and implementation workshops to a cohort of staff. Today, I’m presenting the latest workshop and the subject is how to use social media from a commercial perspective. Delivering workshops is an area of the business I’ve been wanting to develop for some time but needed to have the team behind me in order to have the capacity in our work schedule. It’s been really insightful and enjoyable to work alongside this new client and I’m looking forward to developing this area of the business in future years.
Afterwards, I get my head into the delivery of a few projects and have a call with a potential new client. I like to join as many client calls and keep involved with projects as much as possible because I love what we do as a team.
For the last few months, I’ve been playing at ‘Football for Foodbanks’, which is a Sheffield based community football group supporting a fantastic cause and attracts hundreds of participants every week. Every Wednesday is a chance for me to get out on the pitch and have a kick around with likeminded people.
Thursday
Today I’m in the gym early doors. I get married in the autumn (after a few rescheduled dates due to Covid restrictions!) and am putting the extra miles in on the treadmill in advance. In recent months, I’ve carved out Thursdays as being ‘meeting-free’ in my diary so afterwards I head home to work at my desk. This allows me to concentrate on the tasks I need to complete for the business itself.
Today I spend time working on the business plan for the next three years. I consider myself lucky to have a great group of advisers who help me to see the bigger picture for the strategy of the business. I’ve really enjoyed the first two years of operating and growing Little Mesters and now is a great time to take stock and steer forward.
Sheffield Wednesday is also a big passion in my life. I’m a co-founder and board member of the SWFC Supporters’ Trust. Tonight is a board meeting, which is a hybrid of online and in-person. Believe it or not, we have board members right across the globe! I thoroughly enjoy being part of local and regional community groups wherever I can. It may sound cheesy but I genuinely want to be able to give something back to the place where I live and work so that future generations can benefit.
Friday
I’m a firm believer of advocating for the career specialism you choose. For the last couple of years I’ve been hosting a podcast called ‘I Started An Agency’ and this morning I take the chance to batch record three episodes for season four and plan content for the future – including the (brave!) idea to take a microphone out onto the streets of Sheffield. I decided to do the podcast to provide an honest tale of why and how I started Little Mesters, and what I hope it becomes in the future. My hope is that it is a useful resource for anyone no matter what stage of the journey they’re on. This covers steps I took from conception to launch, including all the bits I think I got right and especially the mistakes I made. It’s definitely not a how-to guide but a ‘things I did.’
Afterwards, I record a TikTok for my own social media accounts. I’d estimate that I spend an hour a day on the combined social accounts for Little Mesters and myself. Those connected with me on Linked In or Twitter will know how I like to add my voice to a few different subject matters.
Everybody is in the office again today, which allows us to get together for an impromptu creative session and get final approvals on various pieces of activity. We add a few more things to the ‘to-do’ list but it’ll add even more finesse to upcoming work. Then we all head to the Sawgrinders Union, a brilliant independent restaurant and bar next door to our office, for a Friday evening drink.
