Today we’re celebrating a special Purple birthday as Jess has now been with us for a whole year! It has been a busy 12 months for our Digital Marketing team as Emma worked to pass on her skills to Jess who has been jugging lots of client work as well as her apprenticeship qualification.
It’s wonderful to see how far Jess has come from sitting in on client meetings to now conducting her own! Jess has been sharing her journey along the way through her apprenticeship course but today she’s letting us in on what the past 12 months have really been like aside from her studies.
When I look back at all that I’ve achieved over the last 12 months, it’s hard to believe that I’ve done so much in what feels more like 12 minutes - it’s completely flown by! It feels like yesterday that I joined the Purple team up on the Aske Estate, yet here I am celebrating my first Purple birthday today!
Joining Purple was a learning experience from day one. Although I had a rough understanding of my role and what it would entail, there was so much to learn to ensure I was able to complete client tasks properly. Using social media on a personal level is one thing, but for business requires much more thought!
I’ve since been so busy learning lots of new skills and helping businesses to expand their digital presence, all while working on my apprenticeship with Apprentify too.
What I’ve Been Up To
In the first few months of starting with Purple, it was a complete whirlwind - but a wonderful one! I was learning new skills left, right and centre, getting to grips with new tools and software, as well as heading out into North Yorkshire to meet with clients that I’d soon be project managing!
One of my favourite parts of the role was popping in to visit clients to see them in their natural environment, learn how their business works, and generally have a good natter over a cup of tea to get to know them better!
All that came to a halt very quickly though, in March 2020 - as it did for many businesses worldwide.
When I wrote my first blog post upon joining the team last year, I don’t think I ever could have expected my first year at Purple to pan out the way it did - with over half of my time spent working from home!
Despite having to relocate and take my PC and phone home, I’ve still continued to learn in many ways and have gained some invaluable experience that I may have otherwise lost out on. Working from home for the latter 8 months has allowed me to take ownership of both my learning and my clients, as well as gain more independence, and figure out how to strike a work-life balance while having my dining table as my new office - it’s been a learning curve for the whole team I’m sure!
Working from home has meant our digital marketing workshops as part of the Digital Advantage programme, that we would usually deliver on location all over North Yorkshire, have had to go virtual. Back in June, we hosted our first online workshop via Zoom, which gave me my first chance to deliver a segment of the session! Despite not being in person, it’s still been a fantastic opportunity to offer help and support to local businesses on all things social media, graphic design and email marketing - especially at a time when taking your business online has been so pivotal!
What’s Next
As I complete my first year at Purple, I am approaching the end of my apprenticeship too. I’ve still got my portfolio to submit and a 4-day synoptic project to complete, but I hope to qualify as a Level 3 Digital Marketer before the year is out - no pressure!
I am now at the point of conducting solo client meetings and taking on new clients by myself - Emma is still there to help when required, but I have developed the skills needed so that I can take on new projects from day one. This feels like a huge achievement considering I had no idea how to welcome a new client just 12 months ago, nevermind win the project and complete the work! So, looking ahead into the New Year, I would like to continue to work with Emma to build our repertoire of digital marketing clients, in the hope that we can soon bring another member onto our team to make a Marketing Trio!
Another of my goals for 2021, and I’m sure is for the rest of the team, is to finally get back into the office! A huge part of my enjoyment over the last 12 months has come from working with such a wonderful team, and I can’t wait to get back to working together in our little hub of creativity.