There are many ways to read this post. I might be writing about the power of networking and personal recommendation. It could be about the Highlands. Maybe it is more about great web development and IT support. It could be about making better choices in business. Certainly I could be writing about social enterprise.
It happens to be about all of these things.
Early advice
Way back when we had a different name, and a different website I got some great advice from Adam Bastock of Small99 – and it was this “no matter how small you are, you can make better choices for your business. Consume less, consider sustainability in everything, and support your local peers where you can”.
Two years on I think I would add; accept that in the beginning you can’t do it all alone, and that you need to do your bigger things together with others.
So when it came to changing our brand and website, clearly the choice was going to be carefully considered. I need to thank Pollyanna Chapman and Clarrie Murdoch of the Impact Hub Inverness for the recommendation to meet with David Massey of The Apprentice Store.
We may be based in the Highlands, but we have clients all over the UK and so we had many IT & web businesses to choose from. Here is what they say about themselves that really swung it for us…
“The Apprentice Store is an award winning social enterprise that was created in 2016 to assist young people who have struggled with the transition to employment into sustainable employment. The Apprentice Store has created employment for 24 people since being created and today has 7 full time employees with this only possible thanks to the support of our clients. Those people who have moved on from The Apprentice Store are still in the IT sector, allowing us to fulfill one of our secondary objectives by adding resources to the sector in the Highlands.”
What they do, and what they did
Their scope of operations is UK wide, and whilst they can serve smaller businesses like Clan Alchemy, they should be on your list for consideration if you are looking for anything from website development to full service IT support.
We could not be happier both with the quality of the outcome (we really do love our new website) but the communication and project management throughout was professional and well paced – keeping us on track (because IYKYK about writing web copy!) and we feel that we have an IT partner for life.
This post was going to be a simple appreciation post until we received this certificate acknowledging the contribution Clan Alchemy has made to the objectives of The Apprentice Store, and we are very proud of that, so here it is. A reminder we can all make great choices in business.