Well Hello 2014!

I’m willing to acknowledge that there’s nothing original about reflecting on the year that’s passed and thinking about the year ahead. But I’m going to do it anyway. And I’m doing this not least because 2014 marks a significant milestone for Park Lane Research.

It was twenty years ago this month that I decided the time was right to start my own business and twenty years ago this month that I set up shop at 352a Park Lane. In that time we’ve gone from renting an adjoining ‘shack of dreams’ (see below) to owning the whole building, and in that time we’ve worked with an array of amazing clients, some of whom have supported me from the start to now.

It seems strange to consider that the time at which I set up in business was potentially quite precarious from a family point of view. There was I the main ‘breadwinner’ selling the idea to Claire that of course everything would be fine with the new business. I’d worked out a ‘survival budget’ and once we’d passed that, it would be plain sailing…

And there was Claire, coming to terms with cutting back her working hours in order to cope with our first baby. That was baby Sophie of course, who has recently joined me as a Marketing Executive in the business. That was baby Sophie who we forgot we had one night and nearly ended up going out for a meal forgetting she was upstairs asleep.

It’s easy to say now but from my first day in business, there has never really been any looking back to a time when I might not be working for myself. I remember the first groups I ran in Norwich in my first week – driving home and rather than bemoaning my misfortune at another late night, thinking this was my choice and this was how I wanted things to be, this was for me, this was for my family.

So it’s not always been plain sailing and starting a new year has always felt daunting. Will anyone ever want to work with me again? Will this year be as good as the last? These are questions that continue to haunt my January days.

And so far the phone has continued to ring; the jobs have continued to come in. But that doesn’t stop you wondering, and doesn’t stop you being grateful to those who do still recognise you’re committed to what you do – and appreciate you’re pretty good at what you do too.

So here’s to the special year for us which is 2014, and you’ll be hearing more about our anniversary celebrations in the coming year.

In the meantime, I genuinely hope this can be a successful year for whoever chooses to read this blog too.

Cheers! Barrie

Regular readers will be aware of my interest, if not to say obsession, with my attempts at putting across what I do for a living.  I’ve tried ‘market researcher’ and the images conveyed are of clipboards and streets and of being avoided even by people you know. 

I’ve toyed with the idea of ‘marketing research consultant’ but again I figure that would lose me more friends than I can afford and would still not really convey that I’m doing anything particularly special or interesting.

But now I have it and now I’m wondering about a change in business card and an update to my LinkedIn profile.  Because from now on, if anyone bothers to ask about my occupation, I’m going to stand tall and announce that I am… an artist.  Maybe I should explain.

This revelation came following some groups I was conducting last week.  I have to say that they did go rather well, to the point that the first thing a somewhat cynical observer did at the end of group one was to apologise to me for previously being a ‘non-believer’ in ‘focus groups’.

In fairness, this person had made it fairly clear prior to the group that he was already willing to dismiss anything that the group might say on the basis that this method might be ‘expensive’ but it wasn’t really going to tell us very much about how people really choose and buy certain products.

To say that I was somewhat proud of this person’s conversion following his observation of the first group would be something of an understatement.  But what followed from another observer who has seen my work before (note the artist referring to his ‘work’; I was tempted to use the word ‘canon’ but thought that might be pushing things slightly) led directly to this new reflection on my occupation.

“It’s quite an art, isn’t it?” he said, turning to the newly converted person to his left.  And the cynic agreed, looking down at his feet and wondering what to say next.

This exchange led me to ponder on previous compliments I have been paid over the years when clients have seen groups conducted in a way which has impressed them.  And many of these comments have revolved around the word ‘art’.  So this has included comments like, ‘that’s quite an art you have’, ‘there’s an art to how you did that’, ‘where did you learn that art’ etc.

So that is that, the pieces now fit together and perhaps I’ll stop being so obsessed with what to call myself.

‘Market researcher’ no more, ‘marketing research consultant’, never in a million years.  ‘An artist’, oh yes, bring it on.