Hilton Brighton Metropole 14 - 16 July 2020

Insight:Inspiration:Networking

DESIGN

ART

AUDIO

BUSINESS

CODING

ROUNDTABLES

INDIE

Discoverability

Blog Guest Blog - Growing a business without growing a business

Posted: 5th May 2016

On a crisp December day in 2014, I sat in a tiny cafe on Golden Square, eager to sample the pastries declared by my friend Tracey* as “the best cinnamon buns in London”. But while the aforementioned buns were one of the reasons I was looking forward to the meeting, it was another goal that was making me excited and trepidatious in equal measure.

My fledgling business was less than 18 months old but already I’d met a host of inspiring, friendly, supportive and thoroughly decent new friends and allies. Tracey was pretty near the top of that list, and I had an important question to ask her.

Working for myself after 20+ years in bustling offices had proved liberating and isolating in equal measure. I loved the freedom to follow my passions, but missed the perspective and sanity-checks that only come from trusted colleagues. But I’d decided on the perfect solution – I needed a mentor.

Luckily for me, Tracey immediately agreed to take on the role, but with one caveat – I had to do the same for her in return. And so it began.

Fast forward another six months and I’m sitting nervously in another eatery, just around the corner from the aforementioned pastries. This time I’m waiting for another fellow games PR who’s also vying for a chart position on the list above.

My first couple of years in business had gone better than I could have hoped and I’d quickly got to the point of having to turn people away. While it’s always a nice problem to have, I’d never enjoyed what felt like the counter-intuitive process of turning work down. Luckily I’d run into Sam** from Decibel-PR a little while after I’d started up, and had been able to send work his way when I couldn’t take it on myself.

Plenty of people had told me to expand or hire someone else, but I wasn’t in any rush to take on the overheads and risks of staff and premises. Talking to the ever-wise Tracey at our regular mentor meetups, and after a year of hearing nothing but glowing praise about Sam, I slowly began to realise that maybe there was another way.

So as I sat in a Japanese restaurant in mid-May 2015, I asked Sam to become my ‘partner agency’. We both had established businesses and established clients, but we also both had finite time on our hands. By teaming up to share someclients, and pooling our collective skills, contacts and experience, we could both expand our empires, without expanding our overheads.

We were growing our businesses without growing our businesses.

Within a week, Sam and I had signed our first 12 month contract, pitching our shared abilities to a developer that needed more than either of us could have given on our own. We’re still working on that project today, and our collaborations and opportunities have continued to expand. But it didn’t stop there. Nine months later, the whole thing grew again when Tracey joined our merry band too. We still mentor each other but now we work together too.

The future of this industry is in working together and not against each other, but unless you get out from behind your monitor and push yourself to ask those scary questions in the first place, that collaboration won’t ever be possible. We can build our futures while maintaining our independence, all through the power of collaborating, not competing. If you’re open, honest, generous with your time and your support, and prepared to seek out what you need to hear and not just want you want to hear, then joining forces with others can be a powerful driver to success for you all.

Natalie Griffith, Press Space

* Tracey McGarrigan, Ansible PR & Communications & ** Sam Brace, Decibel-PR - official partner agencies to Press Space Limited

Share this page

LATEST NEWS

6 Game Trends for 2020 16th January 2020

Develop:Brighton 2020 Speaker Submissions Now Open 14th January 2020

The Question with Jack Attridge from Flavourworks 27th June 2019

Guest Blog: 5 tips for avoiding prototyping mistakes on your next game 21st June 2019

Develop:Brighton Announces Finalists of Ninth Indie Showcase 18th June 2019

The Question with Kevin Agwaze from Game Workers Unite UK 13th June 2019

find out more

There really is a huge mix of people at Develop - loads of peers that you can learn from and the perfect blend of every element of game development as well.

Alex Moyet

Curve Digital

Develop is a very important place – it’s one of the few developer focussed conferences we have in Europe and that makes it very valuable.

Rami Ismail

Vlambeer

Develop:Brighton is especially unique - it’s by the seaside and there’s a lovely relaxed tone that goes with that.The talks are cool, the networking is cool and having the opportunity to catch up with people – that’s always the excitement for me!

Sean Murray

Hello Games

There’s really something for everyone at Develop and the experience of being around like-minded people is really useful.

Grace Carroll

Creative Assembly

A lot of the opportunities that come from being here are speaking to other developers who are doing exactly the same thing as you. And there are some good parties – it’s very much a pleasurable work experience!

Gemma Foster

Dlala Studios

I really like Develop, I really like the intimacy of it and I love the location.. there’s a good diversity of talks going on so there hasn’t been a time when there’s nothing I want to see.

Brenda Romero

Romero Games

I’ve been to every single Develop in the last 12 years. One thing you get here is networking - you will meet the most amazing individuals in the video games industry.

Kish Hirani

Terra Virtua

It’s really nice to see some of the younger people in our studio come to Develop, interact with other people in the dev community and make new contacts. I think it’s really important to learn from other people.

Abbie Heppe

Media Molecule

Develop is an excellent way of catching up with people – there’s a really nice community feel here.

Mike Bithell

Mike Bithell Games

I absolutely love coming to Develop, it’s a brilliant, brilliant conference – you just know you’re guaranteed to meet everyone.

Jo Twist, OBE

Ukie

Get involved today!

There are many ways you can be part of Develop:Brighton 2020 - including speaking in the conference, taking a booth in the Expo or becoming a sponsor.

Find out more