For the last eight years i’ve worked in a fairly normal job, I was a manager at a manufacturing company. All of my freelance video/photography and website work has been done on the side in my free time.
Manufacturing in the UK hasn’t been pretty over the last 10 years. Since 2008, the recession hit really hard. We worked in the steel industry which was hit harder than most. We were undercut by other countries dumping steel in to the market causing the price of our stock to fluctuate. We diversified to minimise this and add value to our product, but ultimately it wasn’t going to work. My bosses consulted with me and we collectively decided to close the company down. I stood by the decision and told them that i’d be there until they no longer need me.
So as of the 1st April, I was made redundant and that section of my life came to an end. My old bosses allowed me to retain my office (we had a good relationship) to help me start my next chapter. I’ve been working freelance under the name rogr.net for around 5 years now, but wanted to put everything under one umbrella to look more professional.
Enter neat.
Neat or Neat Media is the name I chose for my company, some like it, some don’t, but I guess opinions will always differ. I’ve rented a small studio in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter and have carried most of my work/clients forward under the neat banner. I offer a variety of digital services with the aim to sell packages to small businesses that require a website and all its content. It’ll probably be a while but I do hope to employ others to work with me and push neat forward.
I taught myself to code whilst at uni (studying for a music degree that I never got) and I’ve turned my hobby of filmmaking and photography in to a successful side career over the past 8-10 years. This puts me in a fairly unique position to be able to offer full package websites at very competitive rates.
Whilst I love doing all of this, my real passion is making short videos/films (whatever you want to call them) and putting them out there. Whether its tutorials on YouTube or a holiday video/travel vlog, I just like making content and telling stories through video. So i’ll be doing that when i’m not crazy busy with neat things.
Anyway, that’s my story so far. Check out the Neat website and give neat a follow on social media. (Instagram/Twitter)