This week it’s Robin Skidmore, CEO of Journey Further. To suggest another senior media or creative figure for A Week In My Life, please email david@prolificnorth.co.uk.
Monday
Like most weeks, Monday started at the gym with my personal trainer. I’m a firm believer in healthy body, healthy mind, so however busy things get I always try to prioritise exercise.
Then straight to the office for Monday catch-ups with our MD, Finance Manager and the sales team, confirming priorities for the week ahead.
I spend the first part of the afternoon focusing on a new business opportunity. This would be a really strategic win and would definitely help push us forward in terms of reputation and capability (and personally I just love taking on the bigger agencies!)
Later in the day we have our monthly sales and marketing meeting. Charles dials in from our London office and we agree roles and responsibilities for the new plan that will deliver the number of opportunities we need to hit our year 2 targets. Too often sales and marketing teams are at odds with other, but we’re working hard to live up to our value of being together, ensuring we are all pushing in the same direction.
Tuesday
Another early start for office yoga with Taylor from Yoga Hero. Many of the team who now come every week had never done yoga before. It’s been great to those type of lifestyle changes and it has an incredibly calming effect on the day.
I met with a new potential technology partner for Google Shopping, a real area of focus and growing channel for our retail clients. It was an interesting meeting for the business but also for me as an active angel investor and non-exec director.
Then I caught up with our Head of Biddable Media and Marketing Manager to discuss the launch of the Journey Further Academy. So much of Leeds’ best talent leaves for London, so we are working with the University of Leeds and Leeds City College to nurture the next generation of marketers right here in Yorkshire.
Two old colleagues dropped into the office to have a chat about us launching a new venture together under the Journey Further group. This is really exciting and looks like it will get off the ground sooner than expected. Our vision is to build a group of companies that are specialist in the areas where clients need most help, but symbiotic so we can offer a fuller service without diluting our message.
I then grabbed an hour with Shane, my old business partner, to talk babies and business in pretty much equal measure!
And to round off a busy day, it was time for a board meeting. We try to do these a little differently – always outside of office hours and incredibly focused, just discussing a dashboard of key business metrics.
Job done…cocktails and tapas at Iberica.
Wednesday
My turn to drop the eldest off at nursery this morning, followed by a few hours planning Thursday’s Clarity at Speed workshop. When we started Journey Further, we spent a lot of time identifying why we exist and how we live up to that. This was personal for me too – if I was to get back into the agency game, I wanted to make sure I had a true sense of purpose.
After a quick new business meeting, I sat down with our Community Manager who runs the Journey Further Book Club. Building this community has put us in touch with some of the biggest brands in the world, which is incredible for such a young company. Taking a side step from selling PPC and speaking to people about something they’re interested in and we’re really passionate about has worked wonders. We are over 100 members now, including the likes of BMW, Virgin & Farfetch.
Finally, I caught up with the team who work on the Matalan programmatic account ahead of a busy shopping weekend.
Thursday
Nursery run again! But fresh coffee and breakfast from Laynes was waiting for us in the office, a nice treat for the team ahead of a big day.
Airtasker is another one of the clients I stay close too, so I caught up with that team for an update. They are a really exciting Australian startup investing millions in their UK launch this year and we’re extremely proud to have been selected to help them do it!
Another meeting about that new venture and it’s midday already – time to kick off the full team Clarity at Speed workshop.
We all shared lots of creative stimulus to fuel a series of brainstorms, exploring what our mission and values should mean for our clients, ourselves and the industry. What came out was 4 key initiatives, which we will make a reality this year.
To finish, we took everyone to see what will become our third Leeds office in just 18 months – a 5,000 sq ft space on Leeds Dock. It’s a completely blank canvas at the moment and I’ll be handing it over to the team to turn it into somewhere we’re proud to call home.
A short, busy and very productive week complete. We head into town for pizza, beer, Patrón and the bright lights of Call Lane.
Over and out!
