In the latest episode, iMG. Co Founders, David Coghlan & Richard Johnson talk to some of their amazing kick ass marketers who are part of the 40 strong iMG. Community.
Transcription Episode 7: Meet the kick ass marketing superstars
We use AI to record and transcribe our podcasts, so while we give it a whizz through to make sure there's nothing shockingly wrong, the below is our verbatim conversation so it might get a little odd to read in places...
Speakers:
David Coghlan, Richard Johnson, Emily Wilson, Kamila Zielinska, Nouman Khalid, Seyran Güneş and Kerry Leech
David Coghlan 0:03
Hi, everybody, and welcome to episode seven of The Inspired Marketing Group podcast. My name is David Coghlan. I am the co founder here, and I'm joined as always by Richard.
Richard Johnson 0:16
Hello, how you doing?
David Coghlan 0:16
You did it that time, normally we have a little bit of a quiet time and then you say hello. And this time on the podcast, we we've had a lot of different speakers. But today, after what do we know, nine months or nine months old, coming up to almost a year, we wanted to introduce you to some of the awesome kick ass marketing superstars that we've got in our community. So I am really, really thrilled to welcome 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 people, from our community, to talk to us about them, where they come from, what they're doing and what life is like for them with The Inspired Marketing group. Hello, everybody. Great to see you all. So should we do a bit of a like, this is like a, you know, like a board meeting right? We'll do a bit of a around the room. So, I'll start oh, I'll go across the top, Emily.
Emily Wilson 1:12
Yeah, sure. Hi, I'm Emily Wilson. I have been working for the IM Group for six months now. And keeping going and I'm a digital marketing specialist. I just started actually freelancing six months ago. So quite new to it. But most of them working on b2b projects in the past - website, replatforming, and general digital marketing.
David Coghlan 1:38
Super, thank you ...Kamila.
Kamila Zielinska 1:41
Hi, everyone. I'm Kamila. I'm, I've been freelancing for just over a year now. But working with these lovely guys, for since June, so just a few months, three months, I think now, and I'm a digital media marketing specialist, and I've been working in marketing for five and a half years now.
David Coghlan 2:06
Also, Richard, I'm gonna skip you because we all know you. Seyran.
Seyran Gunes 2:11
Hi, I'm Seyran Gunes and I'm a paid media specialist. I've been working as a freelancer for the past maybe three years. But I was also studying. So full time freelancing, I would say maybe one year, and I joined the IMG about one and a half months ago. Maybe two months, but yeah.
David Coghlan 2:34
Awesome. Nouman. Fellow Welshie. Yes.
Nouman Khalid 2:39
Hi, my name is Nouman. Based in Cardiff. I've been working as the digital marketing consultant. doing freelance work for the last 10 years more or less. But yeah, this is the first time I'm doing full time contractor gig really? With the IMG. This is my my third month. Yeah, that's pretty much it about me.
David Coghlan 3:02
Awesome. Thanks, Kerry.
Kerry Leech 3:05
Hi, I'm Kerry Leach. And I started my business about a year ago, after redundancy, got 15 years marketing experience and a specialised in demand generation. So lead nurturing, and strategic content marketing to create more leads for businesses. I'm just about to start on my third client with The IMG group. So it's been a really great way for us to kind of plug in and feed more leads to our business as well on top of our existing clients.
David Coghlan 3:38
Awesome. Yeah, I forgot you did. Yeah, you've done three with us now. Awesome.
Richard Johnson 3:42
I was trying to work that actually and I was like three, and i was like, actually yeah, it isn't it. Yeah. Wow. So Kerry is on the leaderboard in terms of number of clients work. Great stuff.
Richard Johnson 3:54
So I guess my side and I think Kerry touched on it there in terms of, you know, we've got various people that are doing more sort of five days a week, three days a week or whatever. Kerry really touched on the fact that we were always using the IM group to help to or enhanced their our own client portfolio. And I guess that's what I'm really interested in, in terms of I guess, the obvious question is, what sort of made you join the IMG community, you know, what was it what really stood out? And you've thought actually, that's worth an initial conversation and obviously going through to joining us. Anybody can go first. Really?
Emily Wilson 4:35
I'll go. So I started to think about going freelance in at the end of last year, around December and I have initial call with Dave where we talked about really what you guys offered for a freelancer and I eventually then handed in my notice, and started Go for it. And at the start of April, and actually, you guys call me in March and said, we've got an opportunity for you. It could be five days a week, it could be, you know, initial three month contract. And I think I finished my, like, full time job at the end of March. And then I started the next week, in a four day a week freelance gig with you guys. So it was it was pretty crazy in terms of the speed of when opportunities becomes available. And actually, you know, I hadn't really spoken to you from December to March, because you were building up clients, you were looking at the opportunities and finding when something was available. And I had a few things obviously lined up for when I was going to go freelance, but actually being four days a week with you, as meant that I've got some flexibility in the evenings on Friday and weekends to actually support with the other areas that I want to try out. And actually, I'm having a bit of difficulty, I would say now, saying no to clients, and I never thought I would have that opportunity in your first six months of being freelance.
David Coghlan 6:12
Yeah, I think the the timing of that was just absolutely perfect. Super. How about everyone else Kerry, obviously, you're running your business and doing your own thing? And I think we, dovetailed in. I think we were doing some bits and bobs. I can't remember how we connected back again. Obviously, we've worked together previously, at Experian didn't we.
Kerry Leech 6:33
Yeah, we did. And I think for me, it's like, it's about security. So, you know, I've got me in business, and we've got our direct clients, but it doesn't fill the pot. So you know, having that extra security and extra leads. And i just love, like your processes. I just think, you know, having it worked so well for me. And it works so well for your clients as well. And I think you really get that balance, right?
Richard Johnson 7:01
Yeah, yeah, I think what we did from the start, and everyone we talked to, is about making things simple, you know, we try and cut all the red tape out. And we can do contracts very easily with our clients. But actually, from a freelance point of view, making that as simple as possible, but also you mentioned the word security. And again, even to the contracts when we issue to you guys, so you know that it's legal, it's, you know, get to get paid, this is happening. You know, we don't we don't keep people to terms either, you know, we're having a conversation with someone the other day, the fact that the normal freelance gig is you invoice at the end of the month you've worked in, you then wait 30 days to get paid. So you're almost like a month or two behind i think we're paying people two to seven days really after they finish that month, which is I think that's unheard of in the freelance world. But yeah. Interesting.
Richard Johnson 7:53
Nouman, you were employed weren't you. Then you took the leap, or you you were you had a fixed term contract with somebody you took the leap to join us as well.
Nouman Khalid 8:02
Yeah, yeah, I was actually. I mean, on the last point, I was that Kerry and Emily, were also discussing on you know, what made them join the IMG. So, in my case, really, most of my past experience has been outside the UK. So me and my family, we just moved here about two and a half years ago. So we're still pretty new. And understandably, most of the clients that I had, that I was working for there, they weren't based here. So I feel that that's where IMG really was very, very attractive option for me, because it allowed me to get these full time or these big contracts to work on and take freelancing more seriously. Without having that kind of networking in place at this stage. So yeah, I've been previously I was a bit more comfortable, I felt that maybe working freelance was a bit too risky for me to you know, for lack of a better word, but yeah, ever since, you know, joining the IMG it's just, you know, the whole system, the whole process is so organised and so in place and, you know, the clients that we're working with, just you know, just feels like a very, very good option and also, you know, working with all these wonderful people and learning from them. It's yeah, I wish I would have done it earlier. But yeah, I guess it's just that hesitance, you know, you you feel that you're you know, you want to be in that comfortable little zone of working full time for someone. Whereas, you know, there's just so much more benefit of being a contractor or working full time working as freelance.
David Coghlan 10:01
That's really great to hear Nouman. Because I guess, you know, Richard, I was sort of in a similar situation, in terms of business we were working with wound up, we took redundancy, and we were just like, right, what do we do now? And I think if we were on our own, then making the leap to be in freelance is risky, you've got to be, you know, pretty confident that you can, you know, make and close deals, find clients, and I've done it before, and it was emotional, for want of a better word. And stressful. So, yeah, I'm not sure I would have done it if I was on my own. And it's really great to hear, you know, your sort of thoughts on the community, because I guess that's the thing, and I've talked about it a lot in previous episodes in terms of, we really want to provide that almost that safe harbor, a soft landing, because going out alone is just absolutely terrifying. Whereas actually, if you've got now I think, we over 40 people now, so you've got a bunch of people who can help you and even just to chat to so you know, those water cooler conversations, I mean, it's not quite the same as if we're all in a big room together. But, you know, we can share stuff and a lot of you're working on the same clients and overlapping. So yeah, that's exactly what we hope to create.
Richard Johnson 11:15
It's really interested it isn't because we talk about it. It's almost like an unwritten strapline we have, but we always talk about it, but the community is about nobody haven't figured this out alone, is that you know, all this stuff about, you know, go freelance and self assessment tax, and you know, how we start paying yourself andblah, blah, it's difficult. And actually, if you're trying to figure out that as well as trying to win clients, as well as been trying to do the work, you can quite easily get sort of lost in all of that. And we were on a call with another community member earlier today. And she was talking about payment. And she's, I've got, I've got a client I was struggling to get payment out of, and we were given her advice. And that's what the community is about, to us, it's the fact that, you know, we were telling her about, you know, how we bill and actually we mitigate our risk by by billing, 50%, upfront, etc. And it was all all of this stuff. You've never really thought about that before. To us it simple, because we've done it, but equally might have a conversation with Kamila and Kamila might tell us something? Well, we'll have pretty simple Why are we not doing that? And this is the community, it's almost it's the added benefit as well and outside of being paid to do a job as well. So yeah, it's really interesting. Seyran, you were described to us as "Where did you find her?" And my response was? No, she found as you're getting some really great feedback. So you were doing your own stuff as well. So yeah, what's your What's your story?
Seyran Gunes 12:37
Exactly. Actually, everything you guys said are all true for me as well. I started out alone. But I didn't really get the chance to do a lot of networking. Because right after I finished my master's, the first lockdown happens. And I had to start out alone. But the payments and the contracts, they were all very difficult, like getting payments and organising things. I wasn't a complete, I wouldn't say I was a professional just yet. I wasn't ready to set out on my own, but I kind of had to. So actually, I told Richard that I wish I met you before when you guys first started out because it was very difficult. Not having a community I had to figure out everything alone. All the business parts, but also the technical stuff that I was learning while working. So yeah.
Richard Johnson 13:33
It's truly amazing. That's not the first time somebody said that to me about I wish I had met me before. Anyway, move over Kamilla.
Kamila Zielinska 13:44
Yeah, I completely agree with everything, especially what you just said, you know, wish I'd met you guys before. And actually, at the same time, I think I met you guys at a really good time, because so a year ago in August, I quit my job crazily without thinking about it too much. And when I thought about going freelance for a long time, but I used to think that I'd have like 20 years experience before I do that. And I used to think that's when I realised, but actually by then I might have been settled. Maybe I won't want to do that. And so I thought well, I'm quite young, I have no commitments, no mortgage, no kids, no boyfriend, and nothing. And I thought I'm just gonna do it. But it was in the middle of the pandemic. So I left my job and I went freelance and I didn't regret it in any minute. But it was so tough. It was such a tough experience. You know, it was so new to me because suddenly I had to do sales, not just my job. I had to, I had to work with clients. I've never worked with clients directly. I always worked in house. And you know it, the opportunities were that the you know, the clients the leads, they were out that I didn't really know how to grasp them yet, but I was trying. But then soon as I did, and there were issues of payments and people not paying for it and suddenly got to a point where I couldn't focus on doing my work for another client because a previous client hadn't paid me and I was struggling to pay rent. And you know, it got a bit tough. And like I said, I still didn't regret it. But I started looking at full time jobs, I started applying for full time jobs, I was interviewing for full time jobs, I wasn't sure if I would take them yet, because my heart was freelancing. But you know what, at that same time, I saw an opportunity with IMG. And at the same time, we managed to, to get in touch thankfully, and, you know, it's sort of it was such perfect timing, because it was almost like it showed up as a sign to be like, don't give up yet. You know, and, you know, and I really appreciated how things were really open about finance and payments, how, you know, not only like you just mentioned, you know, you you guys managed to you know, send out the payments really, really quickly, regularly, there's been ups and no issues with that, but also conversations around finance, and around day rates and things like that everything's felt so honest, and openers, various very often, when you talk to clients, it's a really difficult conversation to start, especially when you're not experienced in it. It's been so nice having this support. And so yeah, I wish I met you earlier. But then at the same time, I think you know, you this opportunity landed to me exactly when I needed it. And we had to stay I think.
David Coghlan 16:13
Brilliant. That's, that's amazing to hear. And I love that I love your point about honesty, because when when Rich, I mean, a lot of people say, Oh, I wish I had met you earlier, you couldn't have met an awful lot earlier, because guys have come in sort of pretty much from day one. But yeah, when Richard, I was sort of thinking about, you know, setting this business, what we wanted it to be, there are a few things that we echo all your sentiments, right, you know, we've worked client side, we wanted to be our own boss, we wanted to do our own thing. But similarly, you know, we want to do more than what we loved which is the same as you folk, and we spoke about some values that we sort of, we wanted to stand by, because, you know, it's you can talk about, and, you know, we've worked in corporate businesses where they write stuff on the wall, and I go, these are our values, and this is how we act. And this is how we, you know, everybody should be, you know, it's mostly BS, right? Whereas, and I think when Rich and I are having conversations about the business or anything with clients, we always sort of refer back to our values. And the one that we always come back to is that radical honesty. It's about you know, life is too short to be dancing around things or avoid in awkward conversations. And, you know, there's no, we're not doing a dance with others, with clients or with folk. But, you know, we want to be completely upfront and honest with everybody in our community and our clients. Because I don't want to work in a business where there's any politics, right? It's just so much easier to be honest and open. So. Yeah, that's awesome.
Seyran Gunes 17:46
I actually have one more thing to add. I, apart from all this, I actually love that you're supporting working from home and flexible hours. Because I think if you have, if you have the right work ethic, you'll be able to you'll complete the work, it doesn't matter what hours you're working or where you are, it's just that, at least for me, I'm much more productive if I'm in a quiet room alone at home and not traveling during rush hour. And I just love that you're supporting this.
Richard Johnson 18:20
And that's 100% right, we actually contracted it as well. And that's one of our USP's. And, to be fair, we've not had any, any pushback from any client. But basically, any client we contract with you, our remote workers, and if you were required in the office is not out of your pocket and out of your day. They pay, because we just want to get away from that. Oh we need them in a meeting on Monday morning. A great okay. 150 quid on the train to get them there. Oh, actually, they could probably dial in. Yeah, that's the right answer. Because, and we got Dave, I think, Dave, I don't know if you've coined the phrase, but you talked about about 10% Good idea. 10% hard work. 80% dumb lock. We knew this was going to work. COVID proved that it could work. You know, everyone had to get remote. And you know, one of our clients have just posted their results today. And they are the best ever during COVID. So it's just Yeah, you're right. Is this the way you should go?
David Coghlan 19:14
So question for the room then on that topic, because I think interesting month September, furlough schemes ending and it's going to be interested. Anybody fancy going back to the office full time?
All 19:27
No, not at all, No. Definitely not.
David Coghlan 19:33
What about what about a couple of days a week? Because obviously a lot of corporates are moving to hybrid aren't they. So in and out of the office, what thoughts on that?
Seyran Gunes 19:41
I think I would be open to it one or two days. It would be interesting to see everyone maybe get a lot more done in terms of communication. But I guess maybe one, maybe two days, not more than that. I wouldn't want to
Nouman Khalid 20:00
Yeah, I would say a couple of days a month.
Richard Johnson 20:06
Kerry shaking her head. Not at all.
Kerry Leech 20:09
I never want to work in an office ever again. I would never go back into employment. I love it. I absolutely love it. And I've got a three year old daughter as well. So, to me the lifestyle, it's so important to have that flexibility.
Richard Johnson 20:23
And I think we've, again, we've talked about this long and hard about, you can almost make offices. And actually, one of the things I talked about is stop calling them offices. It's just an awful word. It doesn't it's not, you know, maybes working spaces, or shared spaces where you almost people get bit jealous may want to go in because there's something happening. There's a vibe about them. But yeah, to me, yeah, I can't think of anything worse than driving. yeah, driving miles to get into an office.
David Coghlan 20:54
It'd that whole thing, isn't it, it's about making it somewhere you want to be rather than something you have to do. Because if there's a reason to be there, and it's going to be valuable, then do it. Whereas you don't need to be there just to do what you can do from your bedroom, your office, your the coffee shop, or anywhere else.
Richard Johnson 21:15
An intereting thing to me and Kerry, who is almost over my shoulder and read my questions here, but it's almost like you mentioned about, I know, I never want to go back in the office again, or, you know, a step on that is around. I know, it's very easy to say that if you're if you've got contracts, and you're and you're winning them, that I'm interested in your views on full time versus freelance, because obviously full time gives you that security of you know, ongoing earnings. But actually, you know, talking from a personal perspective, I can't ever see myself wanting to go back into full time, voluntarily, I might have to at some point, but ultimately, you know, what, I just freelancing gives you that freedom, flexibility, and I just, I just want to get your views on. You know, what, what, what should use full time or freelance?
Richard Johnson 22:06
Nouman go...?
Nouman Khalid 22:08
Yeah, I like I said, that's where working for with, with the people like you, with IMG has been a blessing really. Because that was the point that I raised earlier as well, that taking that leap, you know, full time, of course, there's more job security, or at least that's what we used to think. But during COVID, you know, people getting furloughed, and then becoming redundant. You know, it's just, you know, the moving forward. And this whole COVID situation has also kind of raised those things that, you know, it's not as safe, as we sometimes used to think that full time employment really is. And then against all of that, also the rewards that you get working freelance or working as a contractor, I feel that there is more learning as well, because the contracts are a bit more there, of course, they're, they're shorter term contracts, there's more focus in the project to achieve by the end of the, you know, the six months or three months or the one year, whatever the term is, whereas in full time employment, you kind of get a bit more relaxed, and there is less learning in at least that's what I feel, you get a bit more comfortable. So there is less learning as well. So yeah, I mean, and then, just like Kerry mentioned, I've also got a toddler. So you know, the work life balance is just something which is very much attractive in freelance, you can set your hours you can there's much more flexibility, whereas of course, when you're working full time, then, you know, the rules apply for you to everyone who's working there. So, yeah, it's just you know, there's too many, too many pros really. And this whole COVID situation that we've been through in the last 16 or 17 months has really exposed some issues with full time employment, and some of the, you know, some of the, the effects you know, that if you have companies, for instance, just to give you an idea of one of my friends, he's he was working for an agency, marketing agency. That was mainly the most of their clients were in the crowd and tourism industry. And when COVID hit, they lost literally all of their clients. Now they couldn't do anything about it, because their whole portfolio was also in that specific niche. So yeah, furlough came into place, and yeah, redundancies and everything. Whereas if you're working as a contractor, There's a lot more, you know, a lot more flexibility that you have. Yeah. I would say that. For me personally, I would, I would stick with this. I'm currently enjoying it.
David Coghlan 25:20
Sounds like there's some spaceship taking off. One question for you guys. Obviously, you lot are all working in with our clients. What's the? Do you get any sort of chat from the staff in terms of the full time employees? Are they talking to you about what life is like being a freelancer or you don't have to name any clients, obviously, or any people, but you had any sort of anyone had any conversations with you about making the leap?
Seyran Gunes 25:49
Well i actually had this one, lots of them thinking about freelancing. But some complaints, and I hear this from my friends as well. They always say that they lose so much time with long company meetings, where they talk about solutions. But at the end, they raise more questions, then they come up with solutions. So they say that they can't work on the things that they want to work on. They can't really do what they're passionate about. So I always say that one thing. So, I think we're lucky that regard.
Richard Johnson 26:26
So, as in you don'y get dragged into those meetings, you're there to do a job. And actually both probably goes back to what Dave said, it's not politics, it's all the stuff which happens in a corporate world. And you just get focused on the task, rather than having to do the dance of what goes on, and all hands meetings and all of that kind of stuff. .
Kerry Leech 26:47
And I think that has its pros and cons as well, because it is a lot more intense, it's much more hard work, isn't it, because you don't have that time where you can just sit on a call and listen for an hour, and you're still getting paid for it. It's an intense day of work. But the benefits far outweigh that. And I think the learning curve that I've gone through in that last year, I feel like I've developed more as marketer, and I've ever done in the last like, 15 years. So yeah, it's brilliant for that reason.
Richard Johnson 27:18
I think as well, sorry, Emily were you going to say something?
Emily Wilson 27:22
I just gonna say, um, I was I was kind of worried going into freelancing that I might not be as emotionally involved with the, with the project, because every website project, I certainly have. Yeah, you know, I love the site, I'm so invested in how it's working. I, you know, I'm up all hours checking it's live and the right time. And I've been working with different countries. So it's been a global thing. And I was kind of worried that I might lose that. And it might get into just doing actions and activities, and literally just checking things off for people. But it's absolutely not the case. And yeah, I think you don't lose anything from not necessarily being a full time employee. With the company, you're still well, with the clients that I've been working with, with you guys, I still felt like I'm in the team. And I key part of the team. And in terms of conversations that I'm having with maybe my ex colleagues, actually, I think what I found is an in house, when I was in house, as a marketing manager, I struggled constantly to find short term people who are recommended, who I didn't have to worry about and who weren't, you know, a totally random online find, who then had to worry about setting up as a supplier on the finance system. And I'd be responsible for that. And, you know, checking their work. And all of that, actually, that they're kind of coming to me saying, I and that's I've recommended a couple of people to you guys, because it's so quick to get someone in, actually on the project. And sometimes some people that you've recruited to have been, you know, briefed on a Wednesday, and they start working on Monday after. And that's the kind of stuff I was really struggling to find, as a marketing manager to find to maybe have a brief by someone in the team. You know, that loads of work was coming my way next week and how is it going to work on it? I had a maybe some budget for a freelancer but no one that I could hire permanently, where I was going to spend the time recruiting that person when I had all this work to do and actually training that person up. You know, I was never going to get around to that. And I've had lots of feedback from people that I've talked about you guys to that it's completely, you know, fixing that problem for them. And I wish there was someone I knew when I was an in house marketing manager because it fixes so many issues.
David Coghlan 30:06
And I think you've nailed it there. Because actually, I guess part of the, the purpose of this podcast really is to almost get some real people talking about this, because obviously, we can talk about it. But actually, some of the feedback we've had from people on that pace thing is from we will speak to somebody and say, you know, we've got this opportunity starts on Monday, and it's going to be X 1000 pounds. And they're a bit like, hang on. Really? Who that Who are you guys, wherever you come from? What how has this happened so quickly, and there's almost a bit of sort of disbelief that these these projects can land so quickly, and we can move so quickly, and clients can move quickly. But like you said, the need, the clients of got is just so keenly felt. And as a community. Now, as we grow, and we've got more and more skills, and more people involved in our community, we can make those problems go so quickly. And obviously, for you folk, it means that I can, you know, have a conversation Rich or I, and be starting a new gig on Monday. And you know, you're then set for three months, and you've had to do no business development, no sales, no awkward conversations about a rate. So yeah.
Emily Wilson 31:15
And also, I will say is, you're, you're not recruiters, you also head to marketing. And so when I've been talking to you, let's say about recommending someone I'm not just talking to you about, you've got to find someone to them on Monday, it's actually what do they need? And where could they grow? It's almost a bit of strategy involved as well, because that's what I was always worried about when speaking to other freelance recruiters is they just want someone on your books, and they can get you anyone really quickly. But actually, do you know really what I need? Maybe? I don't kno it yet
David Coghlan 31:54
You had exactly that, didn't you Rich? With that, we've got that opportunity for a paid media play. And you, you said the client said, I want to speak to this person. And Rich said, I can set that up, and I'm happy to but actually, this person is better. And it's about because like you say, because Rich and I've worked on that side of the fence, we know, you know what's going to work, what sort of even what the sort of personality and the culture of the client is, so that we can almost have a team fit.
Richard Johnson 32:23
That's it. 100%. And I think what we need to almost, you know, what we again, the, the idea is actually quite simple. What we came up with is basically, because we've done it, we've sat in the businesseses for 15 or 20 years, and exactly what you just said, Emily, I wish I had that when I was there. And actually, we don't have a same situation on our last business, we, we almost proof of concepted, The Inspired Marketing Group in our own business. And it was like, actually, that's what we need. And actually, if we need that, and clients, we know other clients will need that.. And actually the simple premises, your marketing plan changes, you know, use the write marketing plan. And whenever your finanical starts, Excel, howeever you did it. This is it. It looks brilliant. And actually two months into it, you chucked it away, because it's completely changed. But your people are fixed. And actually what this concept is, have brilliant people who are permanent. And when your plan changes, or your need changes, bring in the best people don't be constrained by 20 mile location radius of your head office, bring the best people in to to get this. And actually, you know, Nouman's already said this that he's in Cardiff, he's working for a business based in Loughbrough, Seyran you're based in London, everyone's all over the place. It's about it's about the right people. And that's it's a simple concept, but it works. And is that is that need now, and we spoke to a different client of ours. And they were like, I'm so used to having a conversation where someone gives me a problem either, right? I'll get onto that. But within 24 hours, actually the conversation is I heard you and I've got this as a solution. Do you sign it off? And it just completely changes the conversation? And it almost disarms the challenge because you've almost put the issue back in their court because you've resolved it quickly, you've got a solution, rather than spending weeks or months to get there.
Richard Johnson 34:24
So, I'm interested and we were really short really short of time actually, what why I'm interested in as well as but against some of our not competitors, but different sort of models of what we're doing. The vast majority don't charge to be part of community now we do. And you know, using radical honesty, some of you join prior to us actually adding a membership. It was free. Some of you have joined since we've since we've added the membership. What what's your views on you know, paying that £9.99 a month to be part of the community is it worth it? Honestly, basically tell us what you've what you think.
Richard Johnson 35:05
Silence?
David Coghlan 35:07
That's not a good sign is it? That's really noy good,
Richard Johnson 35:11
Nouman and Seyran are on...everybody is on mute, I think you've muted eberybody Dave.
Nouman Khalid 35:17
Well, what I would say it makes sense to be paying subscription fees monthly I, I really don't feel that there is. I mean, I don't really find any issues with it to be honest, I understand there is a, you know, there are admin fees, and things that you have to do at the back end anyways. And considering the benefits of being part of the community, like, like you said, and also it's not just the ongoing stuff, but also the initial work that goes into getting these clients and having those negotiations in terms of locking in the the daily rates or the terms of the contract and all of that. Yeah. I mean, I don't really find any issues with it, to be honest.
Richard Johnson 36:13
Good to here
Nouman Khalid 36:14
I've got, I've got bigger issues with paying subscription fees for, for instance, for the CIM, and all the trainings and everything. But yeah.
Seyran Gunes 36:27
I also agree with that, by the way, the CIM, I totally agree, I feel like I'm not really getting much out of it. And with IMG I like, once again, I agree, because I believe you guys are doing so much. I actually tried to apply for full time jobs as well. But due to my visa, I can only work as a contractor. But I still wanted to get the experience. And I know the whole process, it literally takes three to four weeks to get a job because you have to pass the stages, you have to pass the test, then talk to this other person have another interview, it is very long, it's slow, they don't know you, you don't know them. It's like you guys are doing everything for us. You kind of know us and you know the you know everything about digital marketing, so you know who would go who would be a good fit for that company. And you just kind of eliminate all those steps. And I love that.
Richard Johnson 37:33
I think somebody described the look, you really have described as where their handler, and it was like, I'm not quite sure if that's the right word, but there we go,
David Coghlan 37:42
Super, right where you need to wrap up. But just one last question. So obviously, really appreciate your time guys be really, really great to have you on. And thanks for the kind words, I'm really glad that, you know, our little idea that we came up with is working for you all. I guess my last question is kind of what is what does the future hold? So what does the future look like for you folk? Now that you run your businesses? You're freelancing? What does that what does that mean for you.
Seyran Gunes 38:06
For me, because of my visa, I will be with you hopefully, for at least another three years. But to be honest, because of you guys, I started thinking, maybe I just want to continue this way, even after I get a residence card. This is actually much better than getting a full time job. So I'm hoping to stay
Seyran Gunes 38:07
Brilliant... Emily...
Emily Wilson 38:07
I think for me it's flexibility, I can't tell you that I'm going to be doing this role for you know, this, this, maybe this contract with you forever. And these opportunities that come through is I can I have the opportunity to apply for them. And you can recommend them to me, but it's however I'm feeling at that time in my life, I'm looking to travel. So I might want to take three months off in the future if COVID allows. And actually then come back and see what you have available. But yeah, I think the flexibility to be able to do that is quite amazing that I don't have to have a, you know, two year plan.
David Coghlan 39:23
Nice. Freedom isn't it.
Richard Johnson 39:26
Kerry..
Kerry Leech 39:28
I think for me, as a business owner for the future, I want to massively scale my business. And I think we already had an initial chat with Dave about this, but also using IMG to help with our clients as well. So using the community within our business, to try and scale. So it goes both ways, I think and I think it's going to work really well for us
Richard Johnson 39:49
And that is a really good point actually and that is something we don't utilise a lot but it's a lot of conversation we're having is the fact that yeah, if you're running your own business, you can use the community to help do that as well. So yeah, it's a win win for everybody.
Richard Johnson 40:03
And Nouman, did we get to Nouman, i don't think we did.
Nouman Khalid 40:07
Well, yeah, the future for me would really be all about reclaiming your life really. And having that work life balance, not having to worry too much about securing the clients and focusing more on the project as well as you know, enjoying other things. And not just, you know, like you guys mentioned, you know, just going through office for the sake of going there. Just having meetings for the sake of having them just being part of this very, very good, productive, overachieving group of people really. Yeah.
David Coghlan 40:44
Awesome.
David Coghlan 40:46
Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. And thank you everybody, for listening. I hope you've enjoyed it. If you want to find out some more about this, then you can visit TheIMGroup.co.uk. If you'd like to join us if you are a kick ass marketing superstar, then go to TheIMGroup.co.uk slash join. And we fill in some details and then we'll we'll get in touch with you and get you on board.
David Coghlan 41:08
Thanks very much. We'll see you all on the next time. Take care. Bye