Day in the life as... Gareth, Managing Director
Running my own business isn’t something that I ever set out to do, but I became a creative freelancer after becoming frustrated in my last employed role and before I knew it, I was outsourcing multiple projects and managing them before sharing with clients. My wife, Kelly, then started doing the same in the copywriting and proposal writing sector and this is where the CAKE business model was born!
My general day-to-day is pretty varied – there are some days where I sit at my desk and don’t move for furious typing and thinking and others where I’m running from meeting to meeting in multiple locations. It’s certainly never boring.
I’m usually, depending on my 3 young children, in the office for 7.30 am where I have a cup of coffee and fire up my laptop, having already looked at my diary the night before, prioritised my to-do list and decided what I’ll be wearing. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook and Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple who passed away in 2011 always wears/wore the same clothes to work as they say it is one less decision they have to make! I can see their logic here – maybe one day I’ll adopt this…
Once I’ve had my 2nd coffee and answered a few emails, I’ll usually make some calls as there are a few clients who are early risers and like to speak before the day has begun. The team arrive and it’s all GO GO GO! As a small agency, we’re always learning, growing, adapting, trying to put structures in place, but most importantly we’re busy. Really busy. Like, really, really, really busy… I sound like a broken record, but I always tell the team ‘it’s better to busy than quiet as it means we’re doing something right’. We’re lucky to have employed a great team who all have a great work ethic but all have the same personality and fit for us – we just work.
The rest of the day is spent dealing with enquiries or questions, pulling proposal’s together, making calls, new business meetings. Not forgetting the numerous coffees and laughing with the team – these 2 minutes here and there help to keep my sanity! From 5.30-6.30pm, I’m back on emails and picking up calls to set up for the next day before heading home to see our children before bedtime!
As Kelly is my business partner, she understands the frantic day-to-day and deliverables and what we need to do to keep the business running. A large portion of our evenings involves sitting on the sofa with our laptops open, strategising and planning. This is where Kelly’s role is pivotal to mine – we work perfectly in sync as we always have done (we met at work) – me at the forefront running the show and her in the background making everything possible!
I’m a passionate person, sometimes to my own detriment, and I apply that to everything and everyone in my life.