So, I left the BBC about six months ago. Blimey, that went fast.... Well, actually, for a long time it has felt as if it isn't going at all. Time has been behaving very badly for the last few months, primarily because of the lockdown I suppose. That period from mid-December through to mid-February lasted around four years. But the last six weeks have passed in a blur. Because Things are Starting to Happen.
Starting your own business is a bit like building a house (something which I have done, and I'll bang on about that at length another time...) in that people only notice what you're upto when the brickwrok starts going up. And then they say "Blimey, that's gone up fast!" - not realising that you've spent months and months doing exciting things like contacting the council, and digging trenches, and working out where the water and electricity and gas pipes will run. Serious, tedious, necessary hard work - which doesn't look like it adds up to very much at all. But then the brickwork goes up, and all of a sudden, a house starts to appear! Well, I feel like in the last couple of weeks, after a prolonged and sometimes dispiriting period of laying groundworks, the brickies have turned up, and started mixing up mortar, and actually putting something onto the foundations. Look - here's a video to prove it!
It's a short film to showcase a smashing small business I know in Medway that creates bespoke engraved glass - www.kentglassengraving.com - and they're trying to grow their business at the same time as trying to grow their family. Take a look, its great.
So, after months of zoom calls and networking, conversations, setting up websites, buying new bits of kit like cameras and tripods, and (hopefully soon) a massive upgrade to the PC - Wild Rover Media is actually making some films and putting them out there. That feels good to say.
There were moments in the dark dismal days of January that it seemed like nothing I was doing was adding up to anything, and that leaving the safety of a huge corporation like the Beeb was a big mistake.
But - in the last few weeks I've worked with a financial planner, a distillery, an education recruitment agency, an employment law expert and a chap who makes beautiful handwrought knives in his shed. They'll all appear on here in due course - and there seems to be more work in the offing. Exciting times! It really doesn't feel at all like a mistake now - just the opening few scene setting pages of an exciting new chapter.
The thing that all those businesses have in common is that they want to grow - and they all know that video and social media is the way forward - and they just need a bit of help in achieving their aims. Which is where Wild Rover Media comes in.
My intention with any film is to tell a genuine story - and the quirkier, the less "corporate" and the more personal that story is, the better. The reactions to Ben and Heather's story has already been amazing. If you want a bit of help creating some video that will let more potential clients know you exist - just give me a call :)
The first few rows of bricks are just above ground level. I'm really looking forward to seeing just how big this house is going to get to be!