Happy birthday to us! As Big Bee Content celebrate our first birthday, we reflect on a buzzing first year in business.
I’ve learnt as much about bees this year as I have about running a business. I’m surrounded by them. They’re the subject of my birthday presents, my random WhatsApp messages, my ‘well done’ gifts and my personal reading material.
When I launched Big Bee Content this time last year, I had no idea what would come of it. But if becoming a walking encyclopaedia on all things bee related was unexpected, being shortlisted for the Digital Women Awards was inconceivable. Yet, bloomin’ heck, that’s what’s happened! (Look, there’s a pic to prove it and everything…)
We've helped over 100 organisations this year...
On our first birthday this week I’m taking the time to reflect on all that we have done in this pandemic-tormented whirlwind of a year.
While we were just launching, the global economy was being churned as everyone tried to find and maintain their space in this new digital landscape. It was immediately clear that content was fundamental in staying ahead.
Big Bee duly made our presence known and throughout the year we’ve worked with nearly 40 clients across a whole spectrum of content. We’ve edited chapters in books about the body, created guides about agile development, blogged about everything from the fibonacci sequence to semen analysis and written and designed over 200 website pages.
We also smashed our early target of helping over 100 organisations by producing and editing blog content that supports a thriving small business community. As well as the countless businesses we support through our own blog.
Digital Content with Social Purpose
What I’m most proud of though, is finding our authentic direction. This time last year, I launched Big Bee with all the confidence of a first-time business owner – very little! I felt my way, with a vague plan of helping people to communicate better with their audience and an unspoken desire to specifically help organisations that are doing good in the world.
Slowly, throughout the year this ambition solidified. I found my voice in the sector and communicated my message effectively and, more and more, Big Bee started to attract clients who are helping society.
We’ve supported businesses creating financial wellness programmes, national charities providing vital mental health services and tech companies helping police forces to secure robust evidence that prevents miscarriages of justice.
Today I’m so proud to be able to say that Big Bee is producing Digital Content with Social Purpose. We’re actively reaching out to organisations working towards a better world and we’re playing our part in helping them to do it.
Apps for Good
From the beginning, I was keen to ensure that my business would give back. I’m pleased to say that we’re doing this both in our direct work and through financial support. Earlier this year we announced our partnership with Apps for Good who are levelling the playing field for kids to get their foot in the door of the technology sector.
Their free courses for primary and secondary age children give the practical skills and theory of app development to young people from all backgrounds. Their awards recognise the talents of these young people, building confidence and also encouraging the development of apps with social purpose.
I’m absolutely delighted to have donated our first £1000 to Apps for Good this week, helping to ensure they can continue their excellent work. We’ve committed to donate 5% of all of our profits this year to their cause.
Building a community
If there is one thing that this past year has taught me, it’s that in business as in life, we are better together. I launched as a sole trader but I have never once felt like I’m alone. Throughout the year we’ve built a network of highly talented, trusted creatives with skills from photography to branding, website development to camera confidence training.
Our ‘Hive’ have shared opportunities and insights with each other, supported each other throughout the year and will continue to grow in strength through our mutual partnerships going forward.
A thank you to friends and family
From a personal perspective, as with any small business owner, this has been a challenging and exhausting time in the context of a global pandemic. No-one who launches a business is under the false impression that it’s going to be easy. But to do so at a time when support networks are no longer an option, when anxious children have been removed from their childcare routine, and family and friends are under many and varied intense pressures – well, it’s certainly tested the limits.
But despite all of the trials, the support of those same family and friends has been boundless and I count myself extremely lucky. In fact, it’s those friends and family who have furnished me with the many bee-related nick-knacks and paraphernalia I spoke of before.
A book about bees was one of those gifts and there’s a passage that seems to sum up this past year for me:
“A honey bee in flight creates a flow of static electricity, which attracts pollen and helps it stick to her hairy body. By pumping up the power, she’s able to carry a maximum load and pollinate other plants as she goes.”
Download our birthday graphic to see what we’ve put our energy into this year and keep in touch as Big Bee Content pumps up the power this next year.
About the Author
Niki May Blane is founder of Big Bee Content – our ‘Queen Bee’.
She can most commonly be found buzzing around her computer, delivering virtual workshops, creating copious amounts of copy and drinking coffee to combat the ill effects of non-sleeping children.
