The Business Village People EP 12 "Craig's unique approach to leveraging Linked In."

The Business Village People

This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is the podcast. This is series one, episode 12. This podcast showcases unique stories from the vibrant community of companies, service providers, dogs, and entrepreneurs at the business village here in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

We celebrate the success, encourage collaboration, and highlight the diverse businesses that call the business village their home. Finding previous episodes is easy. Just search for the business village people on your preferred podcast platform, and we should show up straight away. Click on the subscribe button and you'll never miss our episodes again.

Okay, let's go. In this episode of business village people, we have the privilege of meeting Craig Burgess from genius division and delve into his unique approach to leveraging LinkedIn. Try. We talk to HR consultant Trudy Morris about the upcoming changes to employment law that may affect you. She'll also provide you with details of how you can receive free human resources advice here at The Business Village.

Our first guest is Trudy. It's Craig Burgess from the Design and Marketing Agency, Genius Division. I asked him why the company chose the business village as its base. We were here before, and we liked it. Then we wanted a bit of a change, we moved somewhere else. And then we wanted a little bit of a change and came back here.

Primarily because we like community, and there's been a hell of a lot of change here. It's renovated, been renovated a hell of a lot. It's totally changed since we last came. It's a much nicer place to be now versus Seven years ago or something like that when we were here tell me about genius division.

How did it start? What's the same? Well, we started 14 15 years ago now in James's back bedroom when there were just two of us I've always wanted to run an agency so as James and We both got a thousand quid together and we lived at home with parents at times We both have a thousand quid and we said should we quit as jobs and we did and then every month since then for 15 years We've basically said well when we run out of money, we'll just go get a real job And it hadn't happened yet.

That's genius division. So what were you doing before you got into this game? So I were a graphic designer and a web designer. So were James. In fact, James was more famous than me. He used to design Arctic Monkeys websites. So he used to work for Arctic Monkeys. But we've both been tinkering with websites, branding, design, etc, etc.

Since we're both about 15 years old or something. Much older than 15 years old now, um, and we just always wanted to run his own agency We had we thought we could do it better. You know that Bolshee Teenager young 20s thing we thought we could do it better than everybody else and can you yeah, we're not bad What have you learned over the years that you've been working for yourself?

What I'm trying to say is I went to a The meeting where you were talking, you were talking about customer services, and sometimes it's important to not work with certain people if it doesn't feel right, and I just wondered where all that came from. Well, when you work for yourself, you quickly realize that every bad client you have is a lesson that you should learn.

And when at that talk you were talking about, where I was specifically talking about how to handle clients, and not necessarily bad clients, but how to handle clients better, it all just comes from bad experiences. And not wanting to repeat those bad experiences with other clients, you know what I mean?

So I, I think when you, when you're running your own agency, when you're running your own business, that your first job is not the job that you advertise that you're doing. So I, you know, I call myself a, a graphic designer to my mum and dad because they don't understand what I do for a living. My job as a designer is not my first job.

My first job is actually, you know, doing a good job for clients, customer service and dealing with customers, because if you don't have customers, you've got no work, you've got no money. So it all just kind of. Came from that you know knowing that you have to do it You have to do a good job because that's how you get more business And that's really how we've grown genius division over the last 15 years We've literally done no marketing until very recently and it's all been doing a good job for a good client Them telling somebody else And then them telling somebody else, et cetera, et cetera, for 15 years, and it's, it's gone alright.

What are the current trends at the moment in digital design? Well, we're gonna have to talk about AI, aren't we? Because that's the thing that everybody's getting their hands on. Specifically, shout out to EBT. Uh, it's the latest new hot thing. And, you know, I saw this repeat, well, I didn't see this repeat, because I am a little bit younger.

That I probably sound when design started becoming a commercial thing when we used to call it commercial art computers came around particularly apple macintosh And everybody were crying the death of a designer at that point Everyone's going to do it on their own computer And ai is now doing that for a lot of a lot of creative industries not just design not just websites So people are now writing their website content with ai people are writing job applications with ai people are People Making images with AI.

I mean, they just launched Sora the other day, which you can make video now. You just type a couple of commands. Please show me a Ferrari driving down a country lane in a rainy England and it makes a video and it's pretty damn impressive. So, AI is the, you know, AI is the thing that everyone's talking about, but I don't see it as a particular Threat to what we do because people come to creative agencies for ideas.

And the problem with AI is that you already have to have the idea in your head. You already have to know that you want a car in Rainy Britain, in England at at some point in 13th century. If you don't know that, you still need to come to an agency. And also you don't want it to look like everybody else's stuff.

So AI certainly is the thing. That's the hot topic on everybody's lips at the minute, but. I'm not scared of it. Well, I'm not. I, I mean, I'm, I'm quite dyslexic and, and it's really helped me a lot. I, I, I write things initially, then I bang it into someone else and say, well, wordily, actually. I use wordily a lot, which I've discovered.

And for somebody like myself, it is absolutely fantastic. Absolutely brilliant, you know, and I've got no fears about it because as you've said, you've got to have that initial thought, that initial kind of creative spark to, to, you know, even think about what words you want or what, what can you see in your head?

And I've got. I've got no problem with it. I noticed on your website, one of the jobs that you've got advertising, it's a don't use chat, GPT, will know, how, how, how do you know people have used it? Because it looks very generic, um, so basically you can use it to scan a job ad and then write a job application.

Then it's basically I've not thought of that. Chuffy now, fire. All them years crying. So it basically just says stuff like, Oh, I'd really love to apply for a job at Genius Division, and based in Barnsley in the UK, with your seven employees, and one female, and, you know, like that, basically. So you can just read, you can read it and you know it.

It doesn't sound human, obviously because it's mostly robots writing it, and I think that's the big differentiator with AI. Right. That it, it removes that human touch. It's alright if, like you, you've written something already, and you're using AI to polish it up, because ultimately a human wrote it. But if you're starting from the beginning, where it's all written by AI, or created by AI, it's like that Uncanny Valley thing.

You know, the, the way that animation, they purposefully make animation not look like humans, because people know that it isn't a human. And I think, in truth And instinctually people know that something written by A. I. is not A. I. At the minute, although I listened to a guy who'd recorded a podcast with A.

I. the other day. Was it a good podcast? Well he'd used it, he'd done it as a test. Basically, so he uploaded four hours of his own podcast that he'd recorded to an AI model and then he spat out a 15 second, um, example of what it can do and I couldn't tell the difference. What does worry you in your game?

Well, to find new work, to find new work, to somewhat grow to some extent because that's how people see quote unquote success. And obviously we're coming out on the other side of a recession, even though we've been in a recession a long time but they were just calling it a cost of living crisis. So all those kind of things make you worry.

So constantly you're thinking where's next job going to come from and things like that. But that's why I've kind of started pushing marketing. Because for 15 years, like I said, we've never done anything. And now for the first time ever, I'm actually trying to do something. I know it sounds cheesy to say I don't really worry about anything.

But I think. If you have that attitude as a business person, that you are worried about these things, or at least you show it to people, you give off kind of a desperate vibe. And people can detect it when you're going for work. If you're desperately trying to find your next client, they can detect it. And somehow, I often find they don't want to work with you at that point.

You have to just understand that industry, like all others, is ebbs and flows, and you just have to You have to ride it, basically. That sounds really cheesy, doesn't it? No. Yes, it does. How do you deal with, like, the stuff I see on LinkedIn? It just does my head in. Because it's like a different world where everything's perfect.

They've had the most wonderful meeting and I can't believe we've sat down with such and such and exchanged business cards. It's been amazing. How do you deal with that? Because it just drives me crackers. In fact, I've had to come off LinkedIn. I deleted my account. I've, I've reset it up again, but I'm trying to be more professional.

How do you deal with it? What, playing thought rugby and things like that? Is that what it is? Is that what you call it? How do I deal with it? Well Because you seem like a normal, balanced lad to me. You know, you, you, you're not full of BS, I don't think. Or maybe you are. I was watching the American business channels.

We've got this It's this entrepreneur woman, a British entrepreneur, and she said, you've just got to be honest with yourself. And when I see a lot of the crap that people put on LinkedIn, I think, that's not honesty. I wouldn't want to work with you. For a long time, at least when we first started, you struggle with confidence in yourself and that manifests as this fakery that you put out online.

And everybody goes through that point, but, like I said, we've just started marketing ourselves a bit more, and I went the complete opposite way. So I started making videos where I am just me, and I swear on them, and it's me talking in this exact same voice, and I don't pretend to be Alan Partridge or any of that thing.

And Everybody who's seen them, loves them because I am being myself. Good. Because ultimately people do want to work with people who are themselves. Everybody sees through this, it's the biggest lie in marketing that everybody tells themselves. That there's this, this idea of professionalism, quote unquote professionalism.

That professionalism is wearing a shirt a certain way or wearing a shirt and tie and talking a certain way and all that thing. But really professionalism is doing a good job and turning up upon time and doing what you say you're going to do, that's what professionalism is. I think you've got to just separate yourself by taking the Michael out of it.

I think it's um, you're holding a mirror up to it and people appreciate that, but it requires confidence to be yourself. It's that weird irony of it all, isn't it? When you're making a podcast or making a video or even writing something online, you become You become all of a sudden very aware of every single syllable that you're saying and you dance, say certain things.

You think, oh God, well I say that. Well that holds a light to what I'm saying, and X, Y, or Z client might think I don't wanna work with him anymore. Yeah. But it makes everything that you say very generic then, and nobody's listening. So you have to put your head above the, yeah, put the head above the pulpit, so to speak, and be different.

Not, not even try and be different just. be you. I think that that's what's more important. Just, just being the same person who you are in person as you are online, which is the thing that ironically that everybody struggles with. But then if you do that online and then somebody meets you in person, they go, Oh, yeah, you're the same person.

If you do the opposite of that, they meet you in person like, who's this? I'm going to swear again. Who's this Alan Patrick? Who's this person who I saw online who seemed like someone I'm not, you know what I mean? It's, it's more complicated than it looks, I think. Okay. What, what have you got lined up for the future, Craig?

Uh, I think I'm going to have some food in about an hour or two. No, I'm thinking in the next six months. Uh. Get more jobs. Get, get more jobs, uh, make more money, do a good job for clients, um, that's about it, I think. How can people get in contact with you? Uh, you just go to geniusdivision. com It's probably the best place to see the kind of work that we do.

And if you want to find me online, um, just go onto LinkedIn and search Craig Burgess. He's a wacky guy. Yeah, cringey this bit. You'll find me if you want to find me, that's the way I'll put it.

Good morning, The Business Village. Holly speaking. How can I help? Upgrade your workspace and boost productivity at The Business Village. Our modern offices are designed to meet your needs, from solo entrepreneurs to growing startups. You'll have access to high speed internet, conference rooms, a bistro, and a thriving business community.

With networking events, workshops, and collaboration opportunities. Contact us today to schedule a tour. Call 01226 249 590. That's 01226 249 590. And start your success story at The Business Village. This is The Business Village People Podcast. Trudy Morris. This is an experienced HR consultant. She'll be providing a free drop in session for companies located at the business village later this year.

But I wanted to find out more about the upcoming changes to employment law. Well, there's a lot of employment law changes coming up from the 6th of April. There are a raft of changes that, that, um, companies need to be aware of. There's um, new carers leave that's coming into force. There's neonatal care.

There's amends to the Redundancy Protection of Workers Act. Um, there's a Workers Act coming in towards the end of the year. And also, uh, changes to the flexible working rights to request flexible working. There's also been some big case law last year, the Harper and Brazil Trust, um, case, which changed the way in which we calculate holiday pay, and that's coming into force as well.

From January that's already taken place for some roles, so there's quite a lot of change actually this year. Companies are looking at pay issues around pay, obviously nationally. There's the cost of living crisis and people wanting more pay. There's also, um, a lot of issues around flexible working as well.

People still want to work a little bit remotely. Companies are now wanting to get back to the normal before the pandemic. So, so there's, there's a little bit of challenge there for, for a lot of companies as well. And as a. human resources consultant. What's the hardest kind of issues that you've had to deal with?

I mean, obviously don't give us names and numbers and things like that, but there must be some pretty difficult cases sometimes. Absolutely. Yes. I've, I've supported, um, on a number of really difficult cases, you know, not least having to attend the employment tribunal. We try, we try and avoid going there, but of course, you know, inevitably there are times when, um, you know, some cases do go to the employment tribunal and it's about, um, putting the, the, um, side of the organization's case together very succinctly so that, um, they get the right outcome for it.

But I think, I think for me, I've always been, um, someone that wants. managers to manage people. I'm very passionate about managers managing and putting managers in the driving seat and making sure that they have the skills and abilities to manage their people in the right way. So, um, my company Truvala is, is based on kind of the first part of my name, True, true day.

Um, but Valar is, stands for values, engagement, leadership, and relationships, because for me, that's what human resources is all about. You know, we, we should be, um, role modeling in, in our company, our values, um, engaging our people, leading them. And obviously developing relationships along the way, which is crucial to the success of any company.

So, so I suppose some of my challenges have been around the kind of upskilling some managers that actually, you know, perhaps would rather HR manage the situation for them. Um, and, and sometimes, you know, that can, can get a little bit. challenging in, in some parts. Um, but inevitably I've got a very good robust training program for managers that they can go on and they can come and attend, um, people management essentials that gives them all the skills, technical skills, um, to, to be able to be a little bit more confident in the way that they, they handle situations so that we, we don't get to the employment tribunal really that we, um, you know, we, we manage people, um, effectively, proportionately and fairly.

Okay, listen, I've got a little scenario that I've written and imagine I've turned up from my company, Podcast One Limited, and I say to you, Trudy, I've got this guy who works for us. Strangely enough, he's called Tarquin, which is not a very popular name in Barnsley, but Tarquin's joined us from a rehabilitation scheme.

for thieving scrotes, right? I know it's all made up. Yeah. And he works in our stores department. Now two of his colleagues have, have been to me separately and they say they've seen Tarquin nicking stuff. But there's also friction between the three of them. Two against Tarquin. What, um, what should I do?

Okay, so, I think initially, um, it probably warrants a little bit of an investigation to find out what evidence there is of the, the thieving, you know, the nicking. Um, because it might, it may well be made up if they don't get on. Um, but equally, um, it may, it may well have happened. So what other evidence is there?

So initial fact finding, an initial investigation into, um, you know, kind of what, what's happened and what's occurred. Um, ACAS always says that we should deal with everything at the lowest level. That's fair and proportionate and best practice. So is it something that warrants, um, Some kind of suspension.

Well, until we've done a little bit of fact finding and we really know what exactly has happened and we've got our evidence, um, to, to, to suggest that it has or indeed if, if it is, you know, a little bit of vindictive, we need to find that out first before we pr proceed and, and do any kind of suspension.

But then it may well be, you know, we do need to do a suspension, it does look like it's happened and then we need to do a full and thorough investigation, taking any witness statements and, you know, understanding the context of the relationship between the parties as well along the way. And it may be once you've done your investigation that there's no case to answer.

And suspension is always, you know, just preliminary, we don't rely on that as it isn't a sanction in its own right. It's to, um, aid, you know, um, an unhindered investigation so that, so that the person is taken out of the equation. If we can move them into another area, we might well consider that. But for something that's, um, potential theft, then I would say, you know, it's, it's right to, to, to suspend that person if there's enough, you know, information and evidence to point to the fact that Tarquin has actually done a bit of nicking.

Out of that, is it okay to like, have cameras fitted, spy on people without them knowing? No, really, without them knowing, they should know that the CCTV camera, camera is there and they should be there for a purpose, not to spy on your employees, but if they are there to monitor the building and, and also to, to monitor what's happening in the building, then, then, then that's fine and proportionate.

In a lot of the schools, of course, you know, that I've looked after, they, they have CCTV and the, and the, that is there for the benefit of the, of the children. Children that are in school, um, and, and obviously, you know, on that, you may well pick up that there's been some allegations, um, around a member of staff and a, and a pupil, and you can rely on your CCTV footage as part of your evidence of, um, as part of your investigation, um, but, but yeah, and that's where you really, you would have your CCTV footage and you need to have a meaningful reason for it.

So basically what you're saying is I should sack them all, sell up the business, and go and live in Minoka? That sounds great! Yeah, it does, it does. I could just do that now. You've got a couple of sessions coming up at The Business Village that people can get some advice off you. I have, yes. So they will be the 2nd of May.

So we're going to have them as Trudy Thursdays, um, so the 2nd of May, the 6th of June. And the 4th of July! So I'll be in the, in the bistro, um, courtesy of, of Kevin, obviously he's, he's, um, enabled that to happen. And, um, yeah, I'd be happy to see anybody who wants to come and have a chat with me about any, any of the upcoming legislative changes that they might need some help and support with.

Um, anything about, um, People, any issues, concerns, um, have been doing quite a lot of work recently with small businesses on updating company handbooks, employee handbooks and rewriting some HR policies and procedures, particularly the ones that lead to dismissal, where there needs to be a procedure in place in order to affect a fair dismissal.

I think that's particularly important for small businesses. Okay, Trudy, how can people get in contact with you? So I have a website, so, um, trula.co.uk, so www.trula.co.uk. There's a contact, um, page on my website or my telephone numbers on there as well. Um, or hello. at truevolar. co. uk is my email address.

For all the latest news from the Business Village, subscribe to our free newsletter at business village. co. uk. That's it for this edition of the Business Village. Village people podcast for more information about the village and how it could boost your organization. Visit business village. co. uk. Thank you for listening and special thanks to my guests, Craig and Trudy.

And if you've enjoyed your time with us, hit subscribe and share the podcast with your friends. Your support helps us grow and reach more listeners like you. I'm David Markwell, and this is a pod one creative audio production.

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