Shining Bright In The North

GARY PEARSON

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owner had to say… aving started his business journey in Manchester within the Redline Promotions office, Gary Pearson is now breaking barriers in Leeds. Adaptive Marketing, one of our top-performing offices within the event promotions division, has found its feet in the new city so we wanted to hear all about the adventure so far. Here’s what the new

What a quarter, Gary! Your first quarter running the new office in Leeds - How’s it been?

It’s been really good! We opened the doors on the 28th of July to a big opening party with a lot of people from the Manchester office coming to support, and since then we’ve just been getting stuck in. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching both Leia and Irfan come into their own. They moved here with me to open up Adaptive Marketing and are both taking on more responsibilities, building their teams but also developing as individuals in business.

Has there been a particular highlight for you so far?

The whole recruitment process has been fascinating and really enjoyable. Experiencing what the city has to offer has been great too. Every day is a buzz. What were your business goals as you turned the key to your very own office?

My business focus was to increase the team to 12 people by the end of the quarter, and we’re nearly there already. Working with the British Red Cross, we knew we wanted to be hitting 100 customer acquisitions per week for them, that’s where the team of 12 comes in.

Personally, I wanted to perfect my recruitment process because it’s my responsibility to ensure my team hit their goals. Both Leia and Irfan are super keen to build big teams and they’ve been improving daily behind the scenes where running a business is concerned. so it’s important to me that I match their ambition with sufficient recruitment.

We know how all-encompassing it can be to open a new office in a new city - Do you have any insight or tips for new owners embarking on similar journeys?

I’d say, make sure you’re ready. Be super organised. You go from working in the field with your team to wearing many hats behind the scenes, so it can become overwhelming very quickly if you’re not prepared for it. I could definitely have learned more of the backend administration, and the ‘how-tos’ of running a business, and then I would have been freed up to get back to my roots in the field with the guys.

“My business focus was to increase the team to 12 people by the end of the quarter, and we’re nearly there already."

Has anyone in particular been of great help and support through these first few months?

I’ve made sure to use the network so there are lots of people I could mention for various reasons. In particular, though, I’ve recently had a baby so Rob Cotterell’s been helpful in fatherhood as well as business! And I really have to hand it to Irfan and Leia, it’s been an extremely busy period for me, both personally and professionally; they’ve stepped up and allowed me to focus.

As a new owner, what’s your favourite day of the week?

I love planning for the week ahead with my team on Sundays, we do it well. But I also love Mondays when I can get to know any new team members and do the Induction Days.

So, what’s Leeds got to offer?

It’s such a great city! There’s a really cool culture, it’s so much fun and the recruitment buzzes. If you’re heading up here, definitely head to Roxy. You can do all sorts like beer pong, table tennis and ten-pin bowling, there’s loads there. It’s always a good night. We’re going to go to Electric Shuffle when it opens too, you can have an endless pizza brunch which sounds like a great breakfast meeting to be had, and we’ll go there for crew night for a few games of shuffleboard too. It looks quirky.

“Personally, I wanted to perfect my recruitment process because it’s my responsibility to ensure my team hit their goals.”

“I’d say, make sure you’re ready. Be super organised. You go from working in the field with your team to wearing many hats behind the scenes, so it can become overwhelming very quickly if you’re not prepared for it.”