Jo Barnard runs the industrial design consultancy firm, Morrama. He talks about her love for designing items since her childhood. The passion grew while she was a university student.
At one point, during the early days of her company, she almost made a mistake. Morrama almost closed down. She got her first job as a designer but didn’t secure the contract to follow the instructions. This brought a negative picture to Morrama’s design consultancy,a report by BBC.
The design journey
Barnard started Morrama 7 years ago. Its headquarters are located in eastern London, at Hackney. Their main aim is to come up with new appealing designs for a variety of companies. After getting the contract, they work with the related company from the concept stage to commercial production in the market. The company has a total of 10 board members. It mainly focuses on helping young startups on gaining traffic in the market through awesome designs.
While having an interview with BBC News, she talked about her first contract. Morrama had run for six months, working on ordinary local jobs. By good luck, they managed to get a huge offer from an American client. JO and her team were to design a suitcase. The contract brought some success. She engaged one engineer with the other two designers to come up with a unique product. As we know, the main reason behind designs is to attract customers.
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That single project made Jo Benard decide to work on designs as her full-time job. But the worst came when the Morrama co-founder left the company. This management brought in more pressure. She had to manage almost every task in the company. Jo manages the work behind the scenes in the office as she plans future progress. As a young startup, you must have ambitions, despite a hard time.
CEOs’ hard moments
Jo Barnard had this to say. “I was left being the managing director, creative director, and the project director . At the same time, i was still trying to on-board three members of staff who had just started working for me”. She ran from left to right to ensure everything was in order. The lady stayed focused to ensure the company delivers its main goal to the market.
But as time went by, she realized that more effort was put into the project rather than other activities. This meant she was doing less when it came to the CEO role. As CEO, you need to win new orders from various clients. Other companies have to gain your trust. There is a need to write emails to them and advertise your name.
After the company had run for 16 months, people thought that Morrama was thriving. But they didn’t realize the suitcase contract supported them all this time. It was a single contract that brought all those praises to Morrama. But now the project has come to an end and the company has to look for more contracts.
Pressure on financial difficulties
After designing a product, the company rarely pays you immediately. Jo proceeded, “You don’t get paid after that, and there was nothing for the designers to do. I had completely forgotten what came next. We had two and a half months’ of money left before we ran out, and that would be the end of Morrama.”
Time is essential, Benard took some of the company’s remaining amount to hire a studio manager. They had to come up with some new business ideas. This helped the company to secure two projects. This brought some limelight to the company. That episode opened up her eyes as the CEO.
From that moment, every upcoming lead was to receive a warm and careful maturing process. They had to share ideas to obtain many deals. She was not good at making more deals, but the rest of the people did it. As the CEO, you have to do everything despite your poor knowledge in some activities. Everyone in the company is looking at you.
Everything needs a plan
“The main learning was that planning can never be left until the last minute. It’s so, so important to know what comes next”, Jo Barnard said. From the beginning, you must think about planning. Be careful while sending out emails, following-up process, balancing the team, giving roles, and having a future mind.
It’s good to be in the limelight. Attending events related to your specialization also helps to gain trust and generate new leads. Completing the first job should be followed by the next contract. That’s the only secret.
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