This week’s interviewee is Angela Roche, Co-founder and Creative Director of Design by Day, a brand-focused design & digital agency based in Manchester.

1. Biggest mistake you made in the last year & how you fixed it?

The biggest mistake I made by far was taking on a project I really shouldn’t have. I was somewhat dubious about it at the time, and in hindsight, I should have listened to my gut instinct.

Unfortunately, I can’t go into detail but the project turned out to be pretty costly for the company, incredibly time-consuming and worst of all affected the morale of those team members involved – including myself.

There was no real ‘fix’ except to do what we agreed and see the project out until the end, learn from my mistake and be more selective about the projects we take on.

Sure, the whole experience completely sucked, but there have many so takeaways and learning opportunities throughout – things that I would still be naive to if it wasn’t for this project – so in a way I’m grateful!

2. A lightbulb moment

When trying to win work in our early days we poured most of our efforts proving how great our work was and how creative/technical we were!

A lightbulb moment for me was the realisation that there’s so much more to winning new clients than a great portfolio of work. Most customers want to know what to expect from working with you; your processes, your team, customer relationship management, communication protocols as well as the all important outcomes.

3. Tip for tomorrow

Listen to your gut!

Want to share your advice?
NWB confessional style interviews are posted every Monday from people in the business community. They are not self-promoting, or carefully selected quotes to make you sound good. They are full of useful, actionable insights from experience, not egos or bravado. If you like NWB’s style and have something useful to say, we’d love to interview you. Tweet @nowankybollocks or email katie [at] subjectconsulting.com.