This month our programme members 24 Fingers celebrated 10 years of business. We spoke to their founder, Emma Goode, about her experience over the last 10 years and what advice she has for business founders.
Emma Goode is the founder of the creative marketing company, 24 Fingers, a member of our first cohort of programme businesses. She founded the business in 2014 as a service to demystify internet and social media marketing for other businesses, helping them to take charge of their messaging online. Now working across 5 continents, we spoke to Emma about her business journey so far.
What would you say you’ve learned in the last 10 years?
“I think one thing I’ve learned is that it’s important to have the right support around you. I would have gone a lot further a lot faster if I did that sooner. Whether that’s personally or business wise, having people who support what you’re doing has been so important for lifting the business up. And sometimes that means giving over to that help and support, I think relinquishing to that sooner to gain that support is something I would advise.”
What is your favourite business win of your time so far?
“I’m very proud of the publishing background I had before starting the business and so I’m proud to be working with a lot of my previous suppliers and co-workers. Keeping those relationships and being able to build upon them and continue to work with them now through 24 Fingers has been something I’m definitely proud of. It’s been important to show those relationships and nurture them.”
How has the business changed over the last 10 years?
“Social media has changed so much and as a marketing company so have we. There’s lots more pressure on small businesses to see quick return on investment online and you can’t just rely on social media to survive, you need a balanced strategy to survive. Measurement is key, you need to measure what output is doing for you as customers have become harder to come by due to the saturation online, so you need to be able to measure true impact now.
If you only have an hour a day to work on your business now, I’d recommend spending it on marketing.”
What advice do you have to creative business founders?
“Keep being creative! Don’t lose that. People are sometimes scared to incorporate their unique creativity into their business but that’s your super power. Lean into that fear and use your creativity. Don’t be cookie cutter, it may feel safe but it’s not what makes you great.”
What qualities do you look up to in other businesses?
“Teamwork, project management, but definitely people’s customer service and support. I think a businesses customer service is so important and I look up to businesses when you can see this running through the veins of their company. In a world that is becoming more and more impersonal through AI assistance, personal care shines through for me.”
Where do you think you and your business will be in another 10 years?
“I want to continue to expand internationally. We currently run around 22 hours out of 24 due to time zone scheduling, and it would be great to be able to support companies around the clock and further afield. I want to continue expanding into the global community and growing our training arm.”
We want to congratulate Emma and 24 Fingers on 10 years in the business and look forward to continuing to follow and support their journey.
