Staff retention can be hard at the best of times, but when you find yourself in the middle of a global pandemic and you are niched within the hospitality sector, just how can you hold on to your staff?

Harry Fielder, Managing Director of Umi Digital joined to me to discuss exactly how he achieved this.

Starting an agency can be a bit of a wild ride, full of stress and uncertainty but also hugely rewarding. But how do you then make a move from a creative role to becoming a leader?

We spoke to Kelly Molson, Founder and MD of Rubber Cheese to see how she made the transition.

Diversity and inclusion has been on everyone’s lips for the past few years, but our recent focus on this area hasn’t necessarily translated to the equitable society that we had hoped for. How to make our agencies diverse in a way that takes it in a new and better direction? How do we meaningfully engage with people from different backgrounds and experiences from ourselves and include them in the conversations that need to be had. In this episode, we are joined by Tomasz Dyl, MD of GottaBe! who knows more than most on this issue.

Understanding the subtleties and nuances of different cultures and subcultures can give a huge boost to any product launch, so why are so many businesses trying to create a campaign to suit a different culture, rather than creating a product specifically for that culture? In this episode, Ellie speaks to Serdar Paktin, founder of holistic sense-making agency, Pakt, to find out more about how understanding a culture can not only improve your current offerings but create new opportunities too.

In this episode, Ellie speaks to Co-Founder and MD of Social Firefly, Mel Berry, about her journey and how we can use our experiences to enrich our businesses and to support our teams, should they choose to embark on parenthood - In terms of wellbeing and practical help, including parental leave.

In this episode, Ellie speaks to Alfie Payne from Ape Group. Alfie candidly discusses his agency journey, explaining he embraced his differences to succeed and how important it is to know your own value when you start an agency. He also discusses how Ape Group are ensuring staff cohesion and well being as they grow.

Ellie is joined by Olly Fawcett founder of 303. Olly discusses, how he took the non-academic route to starting a business, the importance of creativity and personal connection in a business and managing rapid expansion in an agency.

In this episode, Ellie chats with Sue Keogh from Sookio. Sue chats about sustaining strong connections with clients and staff during times of crisis, learning to trust your gut in business and how to support staff who are struggling.

Ellie chats with the wonderful Laura Hannan from Pitch 121. Laura talks about how being a dancer gets you used to rejection. How you shouldn't be afraid to try something new and when hiring staff, never settle. Your candidates should excite you.

This week Ellie chats to Trendy Grandad, an agency that specialises in creating videos for corporate businesses that want to appeal to new audiences. Their experience spans across the last 10 years producing commercials for companies such as Barclays, Aviva & Woodfordes beer & The Big C.

The value that Trendy Grandad offers is young creative minds and a wealth of experience in changing corporate businesses output from old to new!