As we have now officially moved into our first office at the Ideas Factory I thought it would be a great opportunity to kick off the blog, documenting our experience with building Indigo Illusions for those who may be interested in our journey as young entrepreneurs!
It certainly hasn’t been the easiest journey so far and things have proven a lot harder than we ever expected. With the three of us specialising in animation (not business or marketing) it’s safe to say it’s probably been the biggest learning curve of all of our lives. We’ve completely and totally thrown ourselves into the business world learning a whole range of new skills and studying it like it’s a whole other degree in itself. Saying that, we have been incredibly blessed by those around us, various business owners, creative agencies, legal professionals, and business innovators that have been very keen to cheer us on and give us any support and advice we need. It’s been truly amazing to see the positivity within the business and creative industry in Norwich that has come our way since starting up Indigo Illusions.
Finishing university and graduating with a degree in the creative industry is actually quite a surreal and tough experience that I don’t think is talked about enough. I was lucky enough to befriend a wonderful girl in my home town who had actually graduated from NUA a few years previous to me. This was just a few months after I graduated and only then did I hear for the first time that things will be a little rough after the university experience. She gave me the best advice and I felt fully equipped to deal with what we call the “post-graduation slump,” but only wondered how the others on my course were dealing with not being in the safety bubble of university anymore. I feel like myself, Jake and Heather’s coping mechanism was to just 100% dedicate ourselves into this business and craft.
Getting things moving wasn’t particularly easy in the first few months. Myself and Heather had both taken on new job positions. Also for the first time in three years, the three of us were living spread apart an hour between each of us. Of course living in the digital age means each of us working from different homes but still as a team, makes it some what possible. And a few people along our journey have recommended this the most to save on unnecessary overheads. However as a group we found this personally couldn’t work for us. With each of us working completely different hours/shifts and all living completely different schedules, we knew things were just not going to be able to go forward like this.
We all collectively decided at once that we needed to make some changes, so with that we decided to rent an office space that we could all work together in during the week days, and then all work our part-time jobs over the weekend. This has been very exciting for us and in terms of the business and commissions, things have just started to fall into place at the exact right time.
A very important person to us told us that the difference between making or failing it in the business world is purely your emotional grip on life. The only way to survive this venture is to just never give up. The three of us have already been through so much together and that has really strengthened us as a team so we feel fully prepared for the waves ahead.
We are very much looking forward to the journey; and already flourished and learnt so much since we moved in. We’ve started working on a handful of exciting projects we can’t wait to share with everyone. The last few months since graduating have been a very quiet but important learning season that we have all needed. It’s like we have been in ‘preparation hibernation’ busy learning away behind the scenes, but now we are really exciting to venture into this new journey!
- Lucy
P.s - we are beginning to dive into the world of business and motivational books so I will try to give some good reading recommendations as I release blogs.
I am currently reading ‘SOAR!’ by T.D. Jakes which was published in 2017, and Jake is reading ‘Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win’ by Jocko Willink, published in 2015. Both of these no.1 New York Times bestsellers I would highly recommend to anyone who wants a bit of a push with business or just life motivation. They are very inspiring and encouraging. I will just finish this post off with an extract from SOAR which I absolutely loved and may inspire or empower someone out there reading this:
“There’s no greater, more satisfying feeling in the world than giving birth to a dream with strong wings. If you have never done this or if you have done it many times before, you know there are risks involved. But with any endeavour of value, risk is requisite for reaping rewards. Yes, there will be a wave of anxious fear, which is a healthy caution. Just imagine what the Wright brothers must have felt as their craft left the ground and kissed the clouds! Surely it was a heart-racing, head-spinning moment of jubilation unlike any other. And you can feel it, too - that thrill experienced by every visionary when their abstract ideals and figurative fantasies materialise and take flight. So buckle up and fasten your seatbelt because objects and ideas overhead are definitely about to shift! Whether you are twenty-six or sixty-six, this feeling of liftoff makes the hair on your head or the sweat on your bald spot tingle! Already you can start to feel yourself break away from the gravitational pull that keeps gazers on the ground. Your feet are itching to rise into the air and ascend as you make your vision a reality! This is the pivotal moment of decision that creates the exhilaration of entrepreneurs, a high that is beyond anything you’ve ever experienced. Are you ready? Are you willing to leave the safety of where you stand now in order to soar in the limitless skies above?”
- T.D. Jakes
