Founders of The Joyful Office administration service grow their company organically by sharing its values
The Joyful Office is a new virtual working administration service. In its first twelve weeks of operation, the company gained over 600 followers on Instagram, where it received its first client, and over 400 followers on Twitter.
The company’s founders, Sorcha Rogers and Bren Bangalao, live by the philosophy that “We attract in our lives what we put out to the universe”. They believe that by simply sharing the company’s values – kindness, humanity and creating a positive impact – and focusing only on the aspects of running a business that bring them joy, they have been able to grow their company organically. In a 2014 study by the Edelman Group, 64 percent of customers cited a 'shared value system' as the reason for having a good relationship with a brand, and when asked to rank the aspects of ‘trust’, the results showed that customers valued ‘engagement’ (how brands treat their employees and their customers) and ‘integrity’ (a brand’s ethics and values) as the most important attributes.
“We followed our own values of doing the side of the business we adore and outsourcing the rest and by living by our own values we quickly started attracting customers who resonate with them.”
Sorcha, who previously ran live entertainment company Sorcha Productions, and Bren, who previously handled company's back office, knew marketing would make or break their new business (according to research carried out by CBInsights, 42 per cent of businesses fail due to poor marketing strategies), but realised they would not enjoy promoting their new business over social media, living to their values they hired a social media strategist to do the work.
“Having had to close my other business due to the pandemic, I saw this as an opportunity to use my 30 years of business experience to build this new one from the right foundations of values and relationships,” Sorcha said. “The area I least like doing myself is marketing but I knew good effective marketing would make or break this new business, so I followed my own advice and found a freelancer who loved to do social media marketing. And that’s where our first product grew from plus a harmonious workflow.
“It just shows that even on a micro/nano-scale startup, you don’t need to lead with a product, just to know that there’s something really valuable you have and see what it turns out to be.”