Episode 13: Growing Your Business Podcast

Paul and Marcus are going to discuss, with Jeremy Keith from Clearleft, topics relating to “growing your business”. Clearleft is a design agency that has been established for 10 years.

It may sound strange but it turns out to be easier for Jeremy to answer what he did than what he does, which was front end development, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. But over the years his type of work changed as it demanded less and less of a hands-on approach. The company hired junior employees for that kind of work. Now, Jeremy’s role is in mentoring and teaching, which is completely new for him, but he enjoys his new position. Besides that, Jeremy presents some talks from time to time. By the way, when he started to speak about his favorite science-fiction books during this 'growing your business podcast', it sounded like an improvised talk.

Jeremy confesses that, notwithstanding the fact that he is one of the co-founders of the Clearleft, he takes more interest in science fiction than in business. Then he tells an interesting story of how Clearleft has become a prosperous web design company.

The next question Jeremy is asked is when did he appreciate that there was a right time to hire somebody else over and above the three initial founders of the company?

The previous question is followed by hiring motivation issues. Paul raises the question of what constitutes a good personnel choice for Jeremy. During the course of discussion Jeremy notes that being in the same room is very important for company success. However, maybe they will change company policy and start to develop remote working. When the staff number is growing it’s easier to miss something even being in the same room.

The guys move on to discuss the situation where the company becomes so large that you feel that you are losing control. And what benefits is Clearleft hoping to get by growing in size?

After a while the guys wrap up thanking their listeners and suggesting they make an appointment to meet again next week.

Have a nice listening, this podcast will teach you how to grow your business, we are sure you'll be a success!