2019 is a year of anniversaries. It’s 50 years since man landed on the moon. Primark is 50 years old. Gilwell Park celebrates its centenary. 50 years have gone by since The Beatles stepped out on the roof and played their final public performance. Friends; the sitcom about a group of mid-twenties in New York is now 25 years old.
Whilst most of these are somewhat important to me – none of them are quite as important as this one: Genius Division – the small agency I run with James and Craig – turned 9 years old today.
Although I didn’t join Genius Division until just before their 2nd birthday, I’d been collaborating with them on projects for a while and shared an office with them when I first went freelance in 2011. James mentions that they convinced me to quit my job at any opportunity – even in his best man’s speech at my wedding!
I was humbled when they asked me to become Technical Director in 2012 – it began an exciting new chapter of my life, and has remained pretty much the one constant throughout my early twenties, meeting my wife, becoming a homeowner, and having our first child.
Being part of Genius Division has allowed me to hone my skills and forced/allowed me to learn some new ones. Luckily we’ve had more ups than downs, and have always accepted the next challenge graciously – sometimes with cautious optimism, sometimes with a little reckless abandon.
We’ve never become complacent. We’ve evolved from tongue in cheek “Geniuses” – I still remember chuckling when James told me about the geniusdivision.com domain he’d bought – into a highly trusted, safe pair of hands for brands, businesses, charities and agencies alike.
We’ve always had quite a unique set of skills for a few lads from ‘tarn – we do everything in house; no outsourcing. We can design an engaging brand. Build you a SaaS solution. Make a website that works for your business. Launch a mobile app. Consult on technical issues, servers and cloud infrastructure for your organisation. It’s not always easy, but we’re problem solvers.
Happy 9th Birthday Genius Division. You won’t believe what happens next.