A leap into the unknown

Some might say, it has been unusually quiet on the Eastwood front and to be fair, I am not known to be a shrinking violet but this is because I have been rather busy.

It has been a funny old year 2018 so far and after more than 15 years in the media industry it all came to rather an abrupt end. Wine was drunk, goodbyes were said and tweeted and it was off into the great unknown for me.

And so Eastwood Digital was born. My baby. My first business and today, here is my first blog to tell you how it is going so far.

Thanks to a great deal of support from friends, family and indeed many fab business and community contacts I have met along the way (you know you are) I had the confidence to stick my neck out and take what I have learned over my extensive media career and go it alone.

So far, so good. Week one of the new challenge and work was secured with the NHS locally and it has been really great to learn about the inner workings of public sector comms over the last few months while helping them see how they can also meet the demand of an ever changing media landscape.

We just had our first #YourHealthGlos Day with a full-on multi-media approach which was essentially taking the Annual Review but tackled differently and it went really well, take a look.

On top of this, there has been further client building to do alongside the flurry of organisation which comes with starting your own business  such as bank accounts, accountants, Companies House, websites, invoices and insurance – all of you fellow start-ups will know exactly where I am coming from!

But with each of these things ticked off my to do list came a sense of another milestone achieved. Another step away from my old life and towards a new exciting one filled with lots of possibilities.

Of course, I would be lying if I said it had all been plain sailing but I have so far navigated the choppy SME waters one day at a time.

Eastwood Digital allows me to do what I love best which is communication. Yes, I am a talker – but it is also about listening first and foremost to find out from a prospective client what their hopes are for their business and how I can help. And the thing is, I can help in many different ways it turns out.

Years in the media industry has made me far more of a Jackie of all trades than perhaps I realised and actually a master at some things too. Worth remembering for any journalist wanting or facing a change of career – our skills are very transferable and hugely valued out there.

My leap of faith into the unknown is paying off and I look forward to sharing more of my Eastwood Digital journey with you.