Ted and I both used to work at the same school, him in his IT department and me in my DT dept, and if you had told us back then that we would end up running a husband and wife web design studio from our home in Suckley, we would have laughed at you. But that is exactly what happened. When I left teaching to design websites full time, the work snowballed so quickly that I was drowning in all the different hats a small business owner has to wear, and about two years later Ted handed in his notice too and joined me. It was amazing.
So yes, we are a husband and wife team, and to be honest it is one of the things I am most proud of about Bear Left Studio.
How the work split between us
The split happened really naturally. I am the design and branding side, the one sat upstairs sketching logos on paper, listening on discovery calls and building websites during the Design Intensives, because that creative one-to-one work is where I come alive. Ted took on everything else, the finance, the hosting, the onboarding, and thank goodness he did.
When I talk about the business I still mix up my ‘we’ and my ‘I’, but I think it really is a ‘we’ now. Ted is so integral to how everything runs that I honestly could not do it without him, and more importantly, neither could our clients.
What Ted actually does
Ted manages the finance side, takes care of all the hosting and onboards every new client personally. If your website is coming over from another host, he is the one who moves it across, sorts out the complex setups and gets your email working properly, all those fiddly bits and pieces that make most people’s eyes glaze over.
He is also really personable, and people like talking to him a lot. He goes above and beyond in terms of helping others, even when he doubts himself sometimes, and as he says, if he rambles on, it’s because he really cares. That care shows in everything he does.
What it means when something needs sorting
When you have a question or a problem, you email Ted and he answers it himself. There’s no AI chat bot, call centre in Outer Mongolia and no waiting on hold listening to tinny music (we have all been there and it’s just horrid). Ted’ll make sure that he helps you and sorts out whatever problem that you have, whoever you are, and he will not forget you either.
The reality is, when you work with a husband and wife web design studio like ours, you reach one of us directly every single time. You’re talking to us. The person who built your website or the person who looks after your hosting, and both of us know your business, your setup and probably your dog’s name too!
That relationship is why our clients feel so looked after, and it is why so many of them have become proper friends over the years. We do care, we want successful people, and when your website is in the hands of two people who actually know you, things get sorted quickly and kindly. It’s the whole heart of how we work.
Two people, one lovely little studio
So that is us. Becky on the design and branding, Ted on the hosting and the care, both of us former state school employees who swapped bells and marking for building something of our own. It is a really nice way to run a business, and we would not change it for anything.
If you like the sound of working with two real people who will actually look after you, drop me a message on WhatsApp or pop over to the contact page and we will take it from there.
