This week, Ellie chats to Samson Owolabi, co-founder of animation and video agency 'Bearded Fellows'. In this podcast, he talks about the importance of a diverse workforce, taking on projects just for fun, and focusing on positivity.

Samson has built his business with a purpose to grow and develop a creative network that encourages empathy, creativity and collaboration. 

The podcast is a lovely 20 minute listen - grab a cuppa and enjoy :-)

SQN, an award-winning integrated marketing communications agency working in tech sport and automotive. We use the power of sponsorship to help our clients drive revenues, build relationships and enhance their reputations globally with their key audiences. We work with some of the worlds’ largest brands such as Toyota and Hyundai but many smaller, challenger brands too.

In this episode we speak to Gavin Willis - founder of the PPC agency Search Seven. They are based in Brighton. They are a 'profit for good' type business and their mission lies in their name. Listen to the podcast to find out why. Also check out their #share77k initiative: https://www.searchseven.co.uk/share77k/

In this episode we speak to Simon Lucey - the founder of student marketing agency Hype Collective. This time of the year is usually the busiest for universities with 1000s of events to attract potential students - however COVID has had a massive impact on the higher education sector. Simon and his  agency had to adapt quickly within his niche. We talk about their product innovation and how he found ways to keep his agency pushing forwards.

In this episode we speak to James Hakesley - co-founder of Cube Video. An award winning video production, animation and photography studio. They believe the best way to tell a story online, is through beautiful, relatable, insightful and compelling content that resonates with your target audience.

For more information about The Agency Collective: www.theagencycollective.co.uk

In this episode we speak to Jenny Stanley the founder Appetite Creative - a creative technology agency. With a team of 23 people across three offices in the UK, Spain and Madrid - she is used to travelling 4-5x a week. However due to the current situation and the quarantine strictness in Spain, Jenny has had to shift like many of you to a purely remote working model.

Topics we cover in this episode:

Starting your agency with a 3 year old and the added drive to succeed that comes with that

Running offices from another country

Communication of teams in three different locations

Relationship with employees friends vs. manager

Creating a diverse workforce

This episode is a recording we did on 29 April. Hearing back this episode reminds us how far we’ve all come in only two months. We speak to Scott Jones, founder of Illustrate.

Something that really stood out for me in this interview and has been a ‘make or break’ for a lot agencies during the pandemic outbreak:

1. The value of niching especially when it goes your way

2. Illustrate are an amazing Wordpress agency with a team of 15 people, that has a niche particularly in the FinTech sector

Scott shares some really good insights on how their agency continued to grow throughout COVID.

Today we’re talking to Sam Booth. He’s the founder of Just After Midnight. A team of 35 highly skilled people with a unique type of set up that focusses on providing 24/7. Managed cloud services, infrastructure and application support and DevOps.

Unfortunately Sam was one of the first official 250 people who was infected by COVID. Thankfully he’s OK now.

The topics we cover are:

The physical and mental impact of living with COVID for a month

The impact of it on his family

What kind of things they’ve put in place to support their team of the past months?

Productivity of staff

The changes he’ll take with him into the future

Our guests this week are Sophia 'Puff' Story and Duncan Cook - the owners of 3 Sided Cube - an app development company and digital tech agency. They champion tech for good and work with some of the most well known organisations in the world doing good for our humanity.

Topics we cover:

- Success guilt

- Their successful project with Red Cross

- The impact on your team’s mental health when working on purposeful projects - especially when negative news surrounds you everywhere

- Their changes to working in the office

- How to inspire the next generation of women to run their own agencies

In this episode of The Agency Collective Tales Podcast we talk to Sally Maier-Yip, founder of UK-China luxury lifestyle PR & Comms Agency - 11k. We are curious to find out whether there is such a thing as the 'new normal' in China - or if everything is back to the way it was before.

Topics we cover:

How to overcome the fear of public speaking and build self-confidence as an agency owner.

What are major differences between the luxury sector in the UK and China?

How her luxury retail clients have adopted to the current situation?

And finally her top tips for women running agencies or looking to start her agency.