After spending 4 years as a freelance web developer Steve Mersereau was having to turn work away so decided to enlist actor friend Richard Copestake and together they freelanced for another 6 months before starting up their business, Red Ink Creative, 2.5 years ago.

Their first contact with ECCA came when they attended an event featuring Airside. Steve says that listening to the prestigious agency talk about their business helped to humanise them. As well as being inspirational, Steve realised that "they had a lot of the same issues as we did."

At the time, all their clients were the same as when they were freelancers. They were keen to expand their client base and needed advice on how to market themselves. They booked into an ECCA advice session with Vanessa Stone who gave them some homework first. They needed to think hard about what they were offering and how they were different from other internet companies on the market.

Steve says:
"we thought hard and came up with an elevator pitch to explain ourselves quickly to potential clients. Thanks to our age and experience we're more likely to be dealing with construction businesses rather than the uber-cool companies that our competitors would target."

Steve and Richard came to their next advice session with a lot more questions. Now they had defined what they were about they were ready to let their client's know. They came away with a much more clearly-defined set of goals. As a result, Red Ink has just completed their first sustained marketing push.

ECCA has definitely helped to push Red Ink forward, "it's always affirming to talk to an advisor who listens to your needs. It's door-opening. Every interaction with ECCA reinforced that starting, running and growing a business is achievable."