It’s the 6th of June 2022 and Candle & Bell is now 9 years old.
This past year has seen us make videos and content for castles, science labs, libraries, historic houses, dance performances and museums. Through our collaboration with tiny dragon and Sunderland Culture, we’ve flown into space and now we’re developing a new Virtual Reality idea. We’ve added really exciting projects to our film and tv slate and we’re about to launch a new original true crime horror podcast. We’ve had one of our most successful years to date and as I type this I am working on a business plan for a new and ambitious phase in the life of this company. I know this might sound boastful or even self-congratulatory, but the truth is I hardly believe it myself and I am a little flabbergasted that we’ve survived the past two years let alone the last 9.
When I first founded Candle & Bell, I was woefully equipped to be a business owner or film producer. I would search the internet late at night, usually in a panic; reading article after article on business advice: how to keep a creative business going, how to scale or grow a creative company, how to increase turnover- the list went on and on. There are so many cautionary tales about how businesses fail in the first five years (or is it three years?) how businesses should be in debt, or should never be in debt. The contrasting opinions kept whirling round my head making me more and more anxious. Now, the conflicting advice that used to keep me up at night no longer does, because I’ve learned the answer to my anxiety driven question.
I am not trying to be simplistic or undermine the achievements of Candle & Bell. I think there is much to be said about staying in business through austerity, followed by an EU referendum, followed by a pandemic - all of which caused a different kind of economic crisis. I don’t want to downplay how hard it is to be a woman in business, or a creative business in a region of the country that is chronically underfunded, where few people even know that a video production company exists in Gateshead.
The conflicting advice that used to keep me up at night no longer does, because I’ve learned the answer to my anxiety driven question. The only way for a creative video production company to survive is to always know why you provide the service you do. The rest is chance and things way beyond your control.
Over the last few years Candle & Bell has expanded it’s video production services, offering clients more than stand alone videos, but also branching out into podcasts, event cinema, remote filming, even immersive and aerial / drone video. We recognised that each of our clients needs a creative media strategy that is entirely custom made to suit their needs and their customers. This is our ‘why’. This is what Candle & Bell was formed, to give businesses and brands a creative experience tailored to them, rather than a standardised product made in a rush.
If I have any advice to offer other business owners it’s this:
The only way for a company to survive is to always know why you provide the service you do. The rest is chance and things way beyond your control. The biggest threats to your business are the unexpected crises that happen on a rainy Tuesday evening at 8.30pm when you’re having your tea. If you feel like you’re failing cut yourself some slack, if you feel like you’re a golden god unstoppable in all things then you have my sincere congratulations; but never forget why you started this business journey in the first place.
As I write this blog post I’m on a train to Bristol, heading to the inaugural Female Founders Conference by Creative UK. Working with Erica Wolfe-Murray from Female Founders has changed me as a person and as a business owner. The process has reaffirmed to me the importance of ‘WHY’ : encouraging me to embrace what makes me different from other people, rather than feeling self conscious about it. It’s the reason I’ve recruited staff and set Candle & Bell in a more ambitious direction. It is why we’ve started collaborating with some fantastic partners to create projects for broadcast.
As with all things in business, you need to temper excitement with pragmatism, but at the moment, on this 9th birthday, I will allow myself to appreciate what has been achieved, and dream of what will be achieved with the right people, the right approach, and the right reasons Why.