When we wrote the business plan for tent on a laptop from a poolside sun lounger back in summer of 2005, little did we think that ten years on we would both be working in this thriving little business, working from our own office (AKA The Shed) and enjoying the varied and interesting range of projects that come our way!
Dom had previously worked for 11 years in design and advertising, often with large national or international clients and he wanted a new challenge and the opportunity to give smaller businesses the same creativity, care and attention that large companies commanded from their agencies.
tent started in October 2005, firstly with just Dom, operating from a small office in a business centre in Gateshead with just one client on the books. Undeterred by a complete lack of experience in running a business and finding and keeping clients, Dom threw himself into the local small business community and through a cunning blend of networking and targeted creative mailers he quickly found a wealth of new projects and clients.
The business quickly grew and in November 2007, Sarah jumped ship from her ‘proper job’ and 13 year career in cultural marketing to become the marketing arm of tent, offering our clients not just creative branding and design but sound marketing expertise. Working in the arts meant she knew how to deliver effective marketing on a shoestring and was well placed to help smaller businesses to succeed. Within a month the business was generating enough sales to support both salaries and we have continued to grow ever since.
So what’s next? Well a lot of more of the same and perhaps some new exciting projects thrown into the bargain! We are already working on another business to run alongside tent and have a couple more up our sleeves just waiting to be born…