How we run Aetha - learnings and tips from the past few years
It’s difficult setting up and running any business let alone a design consultancy. Aetha was born in 2018 with zero clients and -0 pounds in the bank. We often talk about the journey, the struggle of the early years but to be honest this is when you learn the most in any company.
Recently we have been asked for some advice from some of our clients and colleagues about how we managed the early years, how we got our first clients and we feel is important in running Aetha. So over the next 2 weeks, we thought we would write some tips and learnings down in the hope they help someone who is thinking about taking the plunge and leaving their job to start a business, design a product or even start a design consultancy.
Here are some tips and learnings from Aetha’s first 4.5 years and what we as a team have learned from the brands and people we have worked with on how to launch (or not) launch a business/product. There are no secrets in here - it’s all pretty much common sense but sometimes it’s good to remind ourselves of why we are here and how we got here.
We make reference to books we recommend reading if you are looking to start something - in case you don’t get to the end of this post here are the books: Company of One (Paul Jarvis) / The Lean Startup (Eric Ries)
Phoebe (taking in the view) in the studio on Poole Quay
Be lean - in every sense of the word.
Aetha started as a one man band on the kitchen table with Tom in March 2018. With zero clients, less than £0 in the bank and no money to spend on software/equipment, you can imagine the slight sense of “this has to work”. You hear other stories of founders getting a hand out from an old business acquaintance or leaving their job with the business they worked for as their first client. That is not how this story started. Sophie ran a small events business at the time and Tom and her used that money to fund the early days of Aetha (and to pay the mortgage) it was tough but meant that things that weren’t absolutely necessary didn’t get brought and it was a very lean start-up.
Aetha after a couple weeks moved to the garage (we made B&Q basic kitchen worktops into the desk benches) and only in February 2019 did we move Aetha to it’s first premises - an old foundry in Poole. It was a big step up for us (although rent was silly cheap - it was still rent. The foundry was single glazed, freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer) to be honest it was a bit of a dump but it was our dump and we loved it. In August 2020 we moved into our current studio. In summary, it took us to outgrow every space in terms of size and a need.
Tip: Unless you really need an office/space - try and avoid it and work from home or a shared office you can pay by the day.
Clients are more than ever happy to video call or meet at a shared workspace where you can rent a room by the hour. We found clients were happy we weren’t spending their design fee on hefty rent bills. We still work with some of our clients who met us for our first meeting at a shared workspace where we rented a room for an hour.
Same goes for equipment - we haven’t brought new items unless we absolutely had to - this includes computers/laptops (even Sophie’s recent ReMarkable) are all either second hand or re-furbished. You save money and also it’s good for the planet. We see businesses get investment and the next minute they have spent £10,000 on getting the team a Macbook pro each which is great if a) you can afford it and b) if there was no other choice but to go brand new. More and more companies/brands are realising that “nearly new” or “refurbished” is fine and actually better for the environment. Finisterre/Apple/Remarkable all offer this now where you can buy clothing/equipment/hardware which has been sent back and fixed at 40-50% of the the normal retail price.
The only things we aren’t so lean on is our team is the amount of ground coffee, cereal and teabags we go through.
Learning: Watch the pennies, it sounds so obvious but it should be the basis to how you work.
Have two types of clients but just one level of service you offer them.
We work with a varied range of clients including global brands; Osprey, Acro and Lily’s Kitchen and then on the other side of the scale, startup’s including; Cupple, Evenly and Photogram AI. We work hard each day to ensure all our clients are happy with the service we provide to them. We don’t have varying design fees depending on how big a brand is, we don’t give a client special treatment if they spend X vs. Y with us. If you are working with us, you know Sophie and Tom by name and face and our whole team is invested in your project.
Our team have all worked for big corporates including Dyson, M&S, ITW and the Met Police so we know the red tape, we know the advantages of having a big name on the door which is great but for us we have managed to work with global brands by being who we are, doing what we say we are going to do and being transparent. People respect it more and they know good value.
Tip: Look after all your customers/clients, even the small ones because in the future they will be the ones that matter and will be your best marketing advocates.
Don’t do work for free (know your value)
It is quite worrying how many brands, companies and people ask us to do work for free. We have been asked to “just sketch this out” or over a beer can we “suggest some manufacturing partners” and some the best is when people ask us to prototype something without giving is any CAD.
Learn from us, if you are starting a business or working in a particular service - don’t do freebies (unless you really really want to) and please know your worth. Bradley Harper recently got industry insiders to sign up to a pledge about paying interns at least the minimum living wage which we are 100% signed up to. The fact that designers and creatives are constantly being asked to work for free is trickled down from businesses and brands asking them to do work for free. The promise of work in the future does not pay your rent, payroll today so trust us on this one. What you think you are getting from the contra vs. the client/customer might be different so if you are tempted have something in writing.
Learning: If someone doesn’t value your skillset enough to pay you, you are either learning from them or earning from them.
4. Work hard. Go home early.
We run a creative design consultancy so we know long hours and harsh deadlines is a short fire way to lose team members. Gone are the days where people want to burn out - they want to live so we encourage that. We try and keep standard hours in the studio to give the team a framework but we never ask them to stay late and we don’t ask them to work weekends. We give them days off at short notice and every second Friday is FIKA - a chance to do something creative or learn a new skill that isn’t their normal day job.
We always wanted to run Aetha from an office by the sea where we could cycle, run or paddle board to work and that is what we now do. We have enough experience of working for both good and bad managers/companies which has given us a great foundation of knowing what works and what doesn’t when it comes to having a small team.
We have worked in the past at offices where you only left once your line manager or the founder left which on a Friday in central London was not where I wanted to be after 6.30pm and it always made me realise that it’s toxic and no one is there because they want to be there at 7pm, they are in fear of looking not committed. Some of the most committed people I have worked with have never worked a minute past when they needed to and that’s because they were good at their jobs. Staying late doesn’t show commitment, doing a good job and going home (having a life) shows commitment to both your work and personal lives.
In Switzerland they encourage the team to go home on time to ensure they eat dinner with their families each evening. We have heard it’s normal practice in a number of countries in Scandinavia too and we want to encourage that at Aetha.
Tip: Work hard. Go home early.
5. Have a plan (but know it might change in time)
We measure things mostly by our clients feedback but our accountants would say the trust is in our profit and cash flow. We had a recent chat with a local design consultancy owner and we both spoke about having enough cash in the bank for a few months without work “the runway”. This plan reduces stress load, reduces getting desperate for work and also allows your team to be fluid. In product design, timeframes with manufacturers move, prototypes don’t always go to plan and sometimes funding gets pulled from a client who thought it was in the bag. That is life - nothing is certain.
Learning: Have a plan, be motivated by it but also know when to change it to suit the environment and external considerations
6. A studio isn’t a studio without a dog (or two!)
We are very lucky to have Pheobe and Pepa (both rescues) as our studio dogs. Will (one of our designers) quite often can be found on one of the dog beds getting his dopamine hit with hugs from Pepa. Dogs work well as a nice small distraction plus they are normally pretty good judges of character so if people come in and they don’t like them well….
Tip: Always look to work with people who like dogs. Not to mention the benefits of love, attention and lunchtime walkies with the team.
7. Sweep the floor.
We are only a small design team so we don’t spend money on cleaners but all the team help with the bins/prepping for design reviews and making coffees when clients come in. We try and lead by example so if any of our team are in a design meeting, the person not in the meeting make the coffees for them and the clients (doesn’t matter if it’s Tom or I). Sometimes I turn around and one of the team will be literally sweeping the floor to help clean up. It’s a really good ethos to have and one we are proud of at Aetha. We want our team to be proud of where they work.
Learning: We don’t want a bunch of children we have to clean up after working with us, we want adults who take pride in a clean workspace, an organised workshop and contribute towards that.
8. Don’t forget to celebrate.
Now this one, we are rubbish at. We always said we would have a 4 year birthday party, we didn’t. We also said we would celebrate when we got a project with our dream, we got so busy that we didn’t. Life moves quickly and often in an agency or startup environment you forget what was once a target or dream when it becomes the reality. This year, we have been trying to actually take stock and enjoy the win’s - even the really small ones in the studio.
Learning: Write down your goals and aspirations and look back at them over the years. Celebrate often - life is too short.
9. The work might not always be sexy.
In the early days we had to take on most projects that came our way even if they weren’t really the sort of projects we wanted. Why, because we had people’s salaries to pay (not ours I would add) and a mortgage to pay every month.
Now, we don’t have to take on every project - if we get a bad feeling about a project or we don’t think it is feasible then we kindly decline the project. We are very grateful to be in that position but it took at least 3 years to get there so if you are starting out (especially in a consultancy) don’t feel unmotivated by the projects you are getting, not getting. Just work hard, do a good job and the rest will come.
You will rarely see design consultancies shouting about the projects that aren’t sexy - but trust me there will be some. Nowadays, we all have a chat in the early days of speaking to a potential client and talk about their motivation, the product and what we all think about it and if the majority of the team are saying “we should avoid this one” then we do. It is a privileged position to be at this point but one where we know might not always be the case (which always relates back to Point 1 - be lean.)
10. Remember people do business with people.
Aetha is a small group of creative individuals. We all challenge each other in different ways but one thing we try to do is be personal. We know everyone’s favourite biscuits, how they take coffee/tea, what restaurants they like/what they like to drink in the pub. We never want to be a machine of an agency where we don’t know every team member this way - it is not our intention. The same goes for how we treat our clients, we try and find out as much about them as possible. We went mountain biking in the Lakes with one client and discussed the project over lunch in the bike cafe (the client said it was the first time they had done that with a supplier) but for us it was about showing that we are normal people, who all use the products we are helping the brand design. Another client who recently had a baby said they are finding it hard to get childcare while they are in our studio for a design review - we offered to have their baby while they were in. It’s the small things which are often personal that mean the most to both your team and the clients.
11. Be mindful of Instagram.
Instagram can be a guilty pleasure and a source of inspiration however it can also be a time warp. We try not to spend loads of time on it personally or as a business.
We don’t have anyone dedicated to marketing/PR/Social media as we feel it’s not what we are about. Consequently, we don’t have loads of followers or loads of time to constantly be uploading work/renders and images. There is this underlying feeling at the moment that “to be relevant, you have to be seen” not only personally but professionally too and that is a bit of a contradiction to us. When Aetha is at its busiest - we do not have time for socials.
Concentrate on what you are doing, your work, your clients and IG can be an after thought but not the main thing. Our advice in general to anyone is less time on IG = more time for real life. Instagram is a great source of inspiration and to connect with people/other businesses but it is also a massive “rose tinted glasses” and can leave you feeling demotivated.
Tip: Instagram is a time warp. Unless it is your job to be on it - get off (I keep a 10 minute limit on a day)
12. Stay independent.
It is important to be in control of your future and the future of the business. We have no private investors, no family who gave us some inheritance to put into Aetha and no one who can tell us what we should and shouldn’t do. This is important and often when startup clients of ours give away equity early on we always ask them to seek advice legally and really think about the short term benefits vs. the long term risks. We often suggest they look to raise capital investment either personally, via crowdfunding or pre sales first if they can. We have had clients who have done contra’s with other businesses etc. to get a service they need in return. We have never seen people spend money quicker than when it is not their own money…
Where there is an obvious place to partner up or contra - then talk about it. We took 10% of one of our client’s business after working with them for a year and in return did design work and ran a crowdfunding campaign. We still love working with them today.
Tip: Try and launch a product or business in a lean way. We have had clients raise up to £250K through Kickstarter and Indigogo without giving 1% away and getting a bunch of pre sale backers who are your best form of marketing. You can thank us later. Read Company of One (Paul Jarvis) / The Lean Startup (Eric Ries)
13. It will be HARD.
This isn’t anything new - starting a business from scratch is hard. There will be tears, mountains to climb and a lot of people telling you no! We had no friends getting us meetings with the companies they work for to design products. Then again, if it was easy - literally everyone would be doing it. People see the Aetha now and the views out of our studio and find that an attractive agency to own and run. What they don’t see is the years of hard conversations, not paying ourselves, missing friends weddings due them being overseas and too expensive to go to, getting turned down by mortgage companies…the list could go on. it is MUCH safer and easier to work for someone else and get a monthly pay check. TRUST US but when your product launches or you get that dream client it is one of the most amazing feelings. We never feel that we are at work - when you find something you love, you generally don’t feel like it’s work. If you want an easy ride - don’t start your own thing.
Tip: Know it will be hard, prepare for it to be hard. If it’s easy for you…let me in on the secret.
14. Be a generalist.
We have debates in our office about whether we should have a niche or not and we flip flop whether a niche in design would work for us. Someone once said to us, “but how do i know what you’re really good at. How do I know which type of clients to send your way?” and our answer was “the design process is the same for designing a lot of different products” and we still feel that way. Why limit what you will /won’t work on? We know it works for other agencies and we respect that but just because we all run, cycle, are sports mad - does not mean that we only want to work with sports products and equipment. We know our team love to work on a varied mix of products. Same with our teams skillset, we want our team to be comfortable in the workshop on all the equipment, experienced in DFM drawings and also able to present their work and speak to clients. It makes them well rounded designers and hopefully it helps them in the future if/when they choose to move on.
Learning: Not having a niche isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
15. Ask for advice.
Although our senior team have all either owned their own businesses and/or worked for large brands, we are aware we don’t know it all. There are problems, challenges and also times when we have zero idea on what to do or say so we have learnt to keep a small number of people around us who are wise, respected and balanced. We either pick up the phone or go for a coffee and discuss the issue/problem or situation together with them. We never did this in the early years as we thought it would make us look inexperienced but now it’s the first thing we do. So our last tip would be “always ask for help.” & thanks to those wise people we have asked in the past…we promise one day we’ll host the party!
Tip: Pick up the phone and ask for advice