In the Club
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In the Club
EP 36: Reflecting on 2024
Get in touch with us directly today
Celebrate 2024 with the ClassForKids team.
Steven and Bryan grab random people from right across the business to talk about adventures and accomplishments in 2024.
You'll hear about the expansion of our global family with new members from Romania, and our dedication to people and processes, highlighted by our ISO 27001 certification.
Each story reflects the unique dynamics and camaraderie that define our team.
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Brian, it's been a busy year, busy thought we could just kind of reflect and see about the things that we've done, the things that were good, the things that were bad yeah, busy year, busy year, big busy year we already said on the previous podcast, how many times you've been out shooting in this busy, busy year?
Speaker 2:aye the busy year. I think it was the name. That was the name of the year 2024, the year of busy. What a year it's been, that's how we start the round up innit. What a busy year here at Class 4 Kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you're not joking. I think, like you really do. Everybody I've been talking to the last couple of days sit and look back. You need to be on the top of the mountain and turn around and look back and go like what's actually been done this year. Why don't we just literally jump out there, which is the office, and grab some folk and you do some, I'll do some. We can just have individual conversations.
Speaker 2:Let's go for it. So have Heather. I'll use your Sunday name for the viewing and listening audience 2024, we're here at the very tail end of it. What's 2024? It looked like for you. Do we talk about the controversy or do we just talk about all the good stuff?
Speaker 4:uh, I would like to say the good stuff, but the controversy is what the people want it is a big cloud that's overhanging over this whole thing.
Speaker 2:He was getting grief. Getting grief on one of her tremendous YouTube shots for talking about being an empowered woman. Yeah, I was talking about health and women's empowerment.
Speaker 4:So that just shows how not to speak to fellow women yeah because that is not empowering women or your neighbour no, it doesn't matter if it's actually doesn't have to be women. Everyone you should respect, and I was sharing some good advice. At first, I said so myself.
Speaker 2:I was there, I heard you, I heard every single word and I believed every single word as well. We're talking about. Obviously, if you haven't listened, I don't understand why not or watched Hev was on our side podcast at the club in October, where you talked a whole lot about a bunch of good stuff and that was a really good episode. Good traction on the back of that, but what else? What else has 2024 looked like for you? You've had some new challenges in the past few weeks and, yeah, in class for kids at least.
Speaker 4:So I've been working with customer success and we've been putting out a lot of content around growth and how to basically increase your revenue in your club. We've talked about a lot in our spaces explore different areas and just helping our clubs and new clubs coming onto the system and how we're supporting them on top of our great support team as well. But for those customers that need a bit of extra support or, you know, franchises, like different sorts of clubs, um, we've been exploring, we've been to lots of events as well. Um, so we're just kind of getting our faces out there, um, as a kind of new team within class for kids. So, yeah, just supporting our clubs, putting out content, doing a lot of fun, planning for next year as well to do even more.
Speaker 2:Nice and you were at our very first Class for Kids dance event, the one that we hosted Shake it Up.
Speaker 4:How did you?
Speaker 2:feel that way, and how did you enjoy the trip?
Speaker 4:That was a lot of fun yeah, it was good to see all the clubs coming together. It was good for us to have a wee section in there as well was good to see all the clubs coming together. It was good for us to have a wee section in there as well. Obviously, speaking to our clubs as well about even the system some people had their laptops, um, so we could help them, um, in person. So, yeah, it was good, it was good to speak to them and be able to see the sort of impact that we are having on those clubs and the ones that aren't with us as well. That were there and have a few join us as well afterwards was good.
Speaker 2:Nice, and the last time we spoke to you, you were gearing up. You were in preparation for a CrossFit comp. Yes, what's the aftermath of that? How did that go? What did it look like? How do you feel?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I've done two since then. Good, I feel sore because it was only a couple days ago, my last one. A lot of fun, a lot of fitness. Yeah, it was good do it again.
Speaker 4:Looking forward to doing it again yeah, in a little while I'm going to take a little break and just do some fitness for a while and have fun with it, which is what we tell everyone to do, even in our clubs. The kids should have fun, and I as a kid well kind of a kid in CrossFit because I'm so new to it, I just want to have fun with it and get fit and strong.
Speaker 2:So, james, tail end of 2024, here we are. What did 2024 look like for you? How were you with class for kids inside and outside of it? Busy year for you.
Speaker 6:Class for kids inside outside of it busy year for you. Very busy, uh, non-stop um lots of customer visits, lots of events, uh, and obviously you and I were on the road for the future coaches during the summer, which was an excellent, excellent trip it was it was very much.
Speaker 2:So. Um, we had that was twofold because on the off, the back of us got to see Oli down at Sports Focus. We got him as a speaker for Future Coaches at the London event. So you and I have been road buddies quite a bit. This year we have Oli was great, future Coaches was really good as well to hit Glasgow, birmingham and London aye, but on the back of that we had some great speakers in as well. You, it's not out yet, but it will go out. You interviewed Robbie Halliday, who was also at Future Coaches.
Speaker 6:Exactly, yeah. So how did that go? Yeah, fantastic. Done a couple of podcasts. We did one with Ollie as well, that's right. So we did ah, that's right. Following up, we're just getting podcasts and Future Coaches in, obviously, not to forget with Rich. He did the full three events for us, as well as Keating from Move your Mind. And, yeah, we met London Down in Birmingham as well. So, yeah, it's been non-stop. Lots of customer visits, loads of events too many to remember, I know, I know.
Speaker 2:The good thing about that as well, the good thing about us getting to see these guys and I always kind of put it in the caption whenever we post a video, but there's just, it takes it to that next level see, face to face interaction, where the customer's building those relationships, just seeing them. Phone calls, emails are great, but having that, just that interaction in person, it just makes all that wee bit of difference, I find.
Speaker 6:Absolutely, I think. Since COVID, I think we're now seeing the shift where people want to go and meet face to face. It was convenient, it was easy just jumping on a Teams Zoom call 20 minutes but you don't really get a feel, for you know, building a relationship and I think getting back out to see our customers again is helping us do that and build better relationships moving forward 2024, year in review.
Speaker 2:Sarah, how has 2024 been for you? Let's just get straight into the juicy stuff probably the best year of my life.
Speaker 7:I'm not gonna lie. I feel like as soon as you, I was 31 this year, as soon as you turn 30, everything just kind of gets better. I think you have more clarity, you leave some of the negativity behind you kind of focus on what's important. So 2024 was all about family for me. So I got married to my partner, robert hello um, in June, which was great. We had a very small wedding, um, so that we could make one of our dreams come true and go to Japan for our honeymoon. So we did that in November, fresh back um, and it was great, really like trip of a lifetime, wonderful. So it's been a really, really good year for me so far.
Speaker 2:So far, there's still a month left so far, there's still still time left for it to all come crashing down exactly divorce on the cards in December.
Speaker 7:So, no, it's been really good. I think everything's been good with the team. Just to talk about work a little bit we've been really focused, really working on automation and just making sure that we can make things as easy as possible for our customers. Genuinely, we want them to use the software to the best of their ability. We want things to be easy because when it's easy for them, it means less inquiries for us. So it's easy for us. And you know a lot of our customers have been on the system since beginning like seven, eight years so we know them and we want them to do well. We want their business to thrive. We don't want them to be worrying about using the system or anything going wrong. So I think we're really trying to work on making it as clear as we possibly can, building great relationships with our product and engineering team so we can get things done and we understand everything that's happening with the product. So, yeah, it feels like a very focused, very good, productive year in the life of Sarah.
Speaker 2:Nice. It sounds like that's set you up for a a nice, a nice, a nice in into 2025. So I was just kind of like it's been bubbling up and you're ready. You're ready to go anything could happen anything could.
Speaker 7:It's a software company, anything could happen anything could happen.
Speaker 2:Um, only good things. I'm going to, though I'm going to put you in the hot seat right now. Sure, you lead a team of four yes, I do who's your favorite team member?
Speaker 7:who's my favorite team member? I don't have a favorite team member is like the boring answer. It depends and what. They're all my favourite for different reasons. So it depends what you mean by my favourite. They all do different things. Sophie's like my Sophie Swan is my energiser. She's great. We're both like ADHD girlies who keep each other going and kind of amp each other up. Scott's like a really nice source of comfort if you're like having a bad day day or you need help with something. He's like the team bodyguard. He's great and he's very like pragmatic. And Danielle is literally the best worker you could ever have in your entire life and really like a wonderful, wonderful, calm, great person to be around, like genuinely the loveliest, wonderfulest person who, like makes my life easier every day. Wonderfulest person who like makes my life easier every day. And then Connor's like my work BFF he's great.
Speaker 7:He's great, if you like, need a laugh, want some fun and he's really supportive. So they're all great, for different reasons. I genuinely don't have a favourite. What a team. I know. I'm so lucky there's no slackers, that's that's who you, that is.
Speaker 2:She just described who you're talking to.
Speaker 7:If you come into us looking for any sort of support, they're all genuinely great people and I'm trying to get Brian in the team, but I don't think I can afford him.
Speaker 2:I'm trying my hardest. I'm trying my hardest. If there's one thing I'm great at, it's being customer interactions.
Speaker 7:Yeah, it's support yeah, imagine it'd be great so you've spoken about your highlights.
Speaker 2:I want to hear a little bit more about this Japan trip. Do you have any personal highlights for that? We've spoken about this off the record.
Speaker 7:Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 2:I watched the movie last night about journalists. I'm all about that lingo off the record. You don't need to cite your sources. Can you give us some of the highlights of that?
Speaker 7:Yeah, for sure, oh my God. Well, me and my husband are really into like anime in manga, so we went to the studio ghibli museum, which is really fun. They show you like a short film you can only see at the museum. There's like eight of them. You get shown one and it's not published, like published anywhere else, so that's kind of fun. Um, we really enjoyed that because we're huge fans, we both have ghibli tattoos, so that was really fun. Um, we did so many arcades and game stuff. And then obviously, going to Kyoto and going to the Moss Temple and the Golden Temple and just having a bit of relaxation was really nice and the food was really good great ramen, great katsu, great everything, although I don't eat sushi. So that was a wasted opportunity. Neither of us like sushi, so you should have tried it nah, no, why would I waste money?
Speaker 7:I could spend that money on a crane game and possibly win a cuddly toy.
Speaker 2:So or you could have had sushi in Japan and then came back with it.
Speaker 7:I only eat sushi in Japan yeah, I could be one of those people that nobody likes where it's like this isn't technically sushi, um, because it wasn't prepared by someone who's Japanese. So, no, I'm not gonna do that, but yeah, it was really great. I'm really like dying to go back, but it's super expensive to get there.
Speaker 2:So Sarah needs more money.
Speaker 7:That's the whole conversation, so that I can please go to Japan again. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Knock on the door. Mr Peer Eyes, if you could answer please.
Speaker 7:Thanks, brian, got my back.
Speaker 2:Brian.
Speaker 7:Davidson too.
Speaker 2:He's great, really the best videographer in scotland, maybe the uk, possibly the world.
Speaker 7:So I would yeah, that's on record. We love brian. He's great. Also, you've been a great part of 2024, brian. I didn't know brian very well until 2024. He's great yeah 2024. Our team love brian. He's wonderful. He brings a nice energy. He sits with us sometimes we talk about wrestling and food yeah and other arbitrary things, and it's nice. My team love you, so thank you to brian duncan ross, md of the company.
Speaker 2:We've got the, the head honcho, the top dog on the podcast, with us for a few minutes, so can you just talk to us a little bit about your 2024, some of the highlights, some of the challenges that we've faced here. What's 2024 looked like for class, for Kids and for Duncan Ross?
Speaker 10:well, thanks for having me on, brian. I do think this might be the first time I've been on one of your podcasts. I'm sure that's all to do with me and nothing to do with you, though, brian, but I am willing and able if you ever need me. Of course, we'd love to talk about Class for Kids in 2024. It's been another wonderful year for Class for Kids. I'm sure you're not surprised to hear me saying that.
Speaker 10:You're a big part of it, as is the whole team, and I think the success of the business is my fundamental focus. So if the business is doing well, I'm happy. If the people are happy, I'm happy. And I thought about how to describe the year, what would be a fitting way to summarise, and I came up with three P's that I think are really important to us as Class for Kids. The first one is people, the second is process and the third is our product, in no particular order, although I would say that we probably do put people first, so I'll start with that one. You know we do live by the strapline love life, love, work, be you, and I think that's been evident again in 2024 at Class for Kids. We've brought in new expertise across the business and actually across the world, with colleagues joining our teams from Romania for the first time in our go centres over there, proving that we can be a truly global business, which has been really exciting to see them integrate with the business and start to add value to what it is that we do for our customers and for this market.
Speaker 10:And as part of the Access Group, this is our second year now, I think. With the Access Group. We've enjoyed festivals, the people have enjoyed our giving back days. So we have those days to give back to a charity of our choice and that's supported at an HR level to make sure that people have time to give back to their communities that are important to them. And we've raised money for our chosen charities and had that matched by the company, which has been great to see. And it's not just been new colleagues that we've welcomed at Class for Kids, our colleagues have welcomed new additions to their own families. We've had new bouncing babies across the business and again, it's been great from my perspective to be able to support people through the paternity pay, maternity, whatever it is they need. So we've had both mothers and fathers enjoying their time with their new families, supported both financially and with job security. And we have people on leave right now and we have people returning very soon from their leave and that's really been great to see and I welcome that every time.
Speaker 10:So to process the second of the peas, we're a very organised team, very organised business. We have to be with the number of customers that we have and I was really proud, actually, of our team being awarded the ISO 27001 certification this year. It's a real hallmark and professionalism in every interaction with our customer data and our business security. So that's been a real accolade for the business and something which I'd like us to shout about more, because it wasn't easy. And then, thirdly, to product, and without our incredible products, we wouldn't have any of the customers that we have.
Speaker 10:Our product is central to our business and informs so much of what we do across all the other departments. We're always investing in the future of that product and this year has been no different. We've released some brilliant updates right across the platform, notably in the communication space, with some great advances in our email feature allowing our customers to communicate even more effectively with their customers, the parents, and we've made improvements across the product to increase speed and security, which is hugely important given the scale that the business is at. And we've also laid the foundations for some pretty exciting stuff coming next year in the payment space. Payments is obviously fundamental to us and to our customers and we want to do a lot more in that space. So some really exciting stuff coming up in 2025. Absolutely so, yeah, overall been a great year for Class, for Kids. We're off to our Christmas party this evening where we have lots to celebrate your first full calendar year at Class for Kids.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how has it been? What's been the ups, what's been the downs? Any dramas?
Speaker 9:it's been great. It's been fabulous. It's been nice because I feel like I'm a good kind of, I feel very comfortable in the team. I feel like I'm a key player now in the support team, which is nice. We've been doing lots of different stuff. We've been working on our intercom, making our service better, so we have been basically I've built this bot essentially that's kind of automated to a lot of the stuff that's on our side very monotonous stuff. Now we've got this nice bot that does it that I built, which is nice and kind of just cleaning lots of stuff up. Obviously, before we've been like a startup. There's lots of stuff that we're like this could be better, this could be more professional or kind of streamlined and stuff. So we've been doing that, which is nice, um, and yeah, just nice, just love it, just nice yeah, you guys, you're, you're quite a unique team in here, and that's no shade to other teams but you guys like merge really well and these are all very much like different parts of the same unit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because of your personalities, your interests, your sort of that sort of thing, these all mesh really really well and you've been like a I would say, a welcome entrant to that team, even though I was in the door like three days before, oh yeah that's what that team's been missing.
Speaker 9:That's what they've been missing. Yeah, that's what they've been missing. Yeah, I think. So I feel like it's nice, I think yeah, yeah, danielle said there's a lot more hilarity now that I'm here, so I was like thank you, that's great. And yeah, I think also, yeah, like you said, even like in a work capacity, like everyone has their own stuff that they're kind of good at. Yeah, obviously, we have our manager, sarah, who's the main operation, the brains of the whole thing, and then Danielle is amazing. She does basically everything else. She does lots of stuff and she's really good at the guides. She writes a lot of the stuff, a lot of the training, of training and everything like that. She trained me and scott and basically everyone else in class for kids. Uh, scott does a lot of like operational. He knows how to like, uh get stuff sort like he's. He's good at being like. This is the the processes, these are the legalities and, um, yeah, I think I work on my toes. I'm good at being like. I work well under pressure so.
Speaker 9:I feel like when I go in, I'm like I'll fix it if everyone's freaking out. I'm like I've just it's done, kind of thing. So yeah, I think it's good. I think it's a good, a good mesh and. Connor, of course as well. He's our tech wizard, so so, yeah, I think it all, it all works well. It all gels so far.
Speaker 2:I don't know if this is a subconscious thing or just the way it goes, but that's the second time I've spoken to somebody for your team and then there has been a brief pause and then a oh and.
Speaker 9:Connor as well yeah, I don't know why that is. I feel like he's like yeah, that's not nothing, no slight to his personality. He's a very big personality in the team but sometimes you're just like, oh yeah, and he's in between, like both the tech in like product and support, so he's doing like half and half. So sometimes he's like like if we're, if it's four like me, danielle Scott and Sarah are working on something, he's like working on something else. So, but he chimes in for all the hilarity and the fun.
Speaker 2:Only person I know in the entire world who has a pie breakfast as well.
Speaker 9:Crazy 8.30am scotch pie. And then he's like I don't see what the problem is. Insane, Insane, yeah, very greasy.
Speaker 2:You've also to pull the curtain back a wee bit. I've seen you very much outside of the UK this year yeah big travel, big travel guy, big travel guy huge yeah, jet setter, I've been on.
Speaker 9:I've been on so many holidays this year. It's amazing I've been to. Where did I go? I went to Vienna. I went to well, this isn't outside the UK, but I went to Liverpool for my birthday. I'm a huge Beatles fan, so I saw all the Beatles stuff. I went on a little Beatles tour. I went to Oslo. I went to Berlin I used to live in Berlin, so I was visiting friends there and I went to Ireland. We did together. We went to see Amy from Dance Concepts at. Yeah, we did together. We went to see Amy from Dance Concepts in Galway and it was great. It was good fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, on the back of that, I've been telling people grade A travel companion Sophie. Thank you we had a couple of very long drives. Turns out there is a motorway and it's not all just farm roads.
Speaker 9:Yeah, we saw some escaped cows that were on the way there. There was a lot of farm, a lot of farm roads. Yeah, we saw some escaped cows that were, yeah, on the way there. There was a lot of farm, a lot of farmland.
Speaker 3:But you know it was a nice trip.
Speaker 9:It was great. I liked the. I'm glad we went on the motorway on the way back, though that would have been horrible.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 9:It was dark but on the way there you know lovely scenery, very green here we are.
Speaker 2:This is the first time for two people on at the same time in the 2024 year in review in the club podcast.
Speaker 2:So we've got Joe Calvo hi we've got Michaela Lawson for the people who haven't seen you guys before on camera. I know, michaela, you're never on camera. You never. You like to hide away in a wee corner very shy, very little. You're never on camera. You like to hide away in a wee corner, very shy, very little. Wee like a wee shy person that doesn't like to be on camera, doesn't like to have your voice heard. What's 2024 been like for you?
Speaker 15:Full of camera time. It feels like I've been the spokesperson for Class for Kids. Everyone will be. They'll turn this off. When they see me here, they'll be like not her again. 2024 has been challenging, um, and it has been full of surprises. My team has constantly surprised me, um, as they've went above and beyond for all of our customers, um, and advocated really, really hard for them. Um, as I said, it was challenging. There's been times that you know we've been thinking, oh god, how are we going to fix this? But my team has constantly pulled us through, so it's been really rewarding watching individuals shine and being being able to manage them through. That it's been really great.
Speaker 2:Nice and one of your teams, sitting right opposite right now, Joe Calvo, the man of the moment. Monday morning. Monday morning, Joe.
Speaker 14:Yes, joe's the, and a coffee.
Speaker 2:Joe's one of the many film recommenders of the Class for Kids office. Just last night, one of your recommendations you spoke about all last week was Bonnie and Clyde with Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty classic classic film classic film. That's the the meat and potatoes of Joe and I's conversations. So, joe, what has 2024 looked like for you?
Speaker 14:well, it's been good. It's been moving on. I'm trying to fit in my role better as far as searching out deals. I'm rambling here. I have a tendency to ramble, I don't know why, but no, it's been a really good year. It's a really good year. I've been working, just really loving working with my team. They're excellent and Michaela is excellent at managing us. She finds us like a diamond in a rough and she polishes us. So that's good.
Speaker 2:Uh, that's corny anyway, but a good year. A good year, that's nice. Nice to see that there's those positive things happening here at class for kids within the different teams. I barely get to see you guys, other than coming over and having wee chats with you and Big Jimmy I've christened him. I've christened Big Jimmy. I don't know if he likes or hates that. Hopefully he hates it, but that's what we call him now. Aye, the tea gang, joe and James. Anytime I see them going for cups of tea. So what are you guys looking forward to in 2025, then? What's 2024 set you up for?
Speaker 15:So, again, another challenging year. We're getting into a bit of background on customer success. We're a very new team. We're still in our infancy, so this year has been all about bettering our processes and looking at how we can better serve our customers. So 2025 is going to be incredibly similar. We have really strong processes now, but it's just about tweaking them and we've took a lot of learnings in 2024.
Speaker 15:So, yeah, and obviously by the time this goes out, you will all know about our Stripe migration, where we're moving all of our customers onto new Stripe accounts. That's going to be massive for us as a business, massive for you as a customer, and it's going to really set us up for a better future where we can build things that will help you take payments and better serve your customers. So we've got a lot on. We're going to be very busy. Please pray for us. Um, yeah, we're going to have a lot on next year, so hopefully that brings in new talent, new ideas. Um, and, yeah, really looking forward to meeting the challenges on my team, my team of gladiators nice, that's next year, though that's way next year.
Speaker 2:Before we get to that, we're at the 9th of december. We're hitting peak festive time, christmas movies. Looking at you both, what we're watching, what have we been watching, what we're going to be watching over the next two weeks to get you right in that peak christmas oh with me.
Speaker 14:Okay, well, we're looking at A Christmas Story which is good, a really good one. It's a Wonderful Life, the Christmas Carol. A Christmas Carol, I should say.
Speaker 2:Which one which?
Speaker 14:Christmas, the best one, the 1953 one. Oh, right no.
Speaker 15:Yes, so not a Muppets Christmas Carol, because I'm sorry no, muppets is good.
Speaker 14:Yeah, that's the best but that's, you know, christmas.
Speaker 15:Carol, don't shake your head.
Speaker 14:That's top tier entertainment also another one would be did I say what one? Do I live, rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Climation, nice classic.
Speaker 2:I did not expect to bring such a hot take to a 2024 year in review podcast episode, but I detest the Muppets Christmas.
Speaker 15:Carol. Oh, what don't um right.
Speaker 14:Goodbye everyone there's only one scene in that, which is the don't Right. Goodbye everyone. There's only one scene in that, which is the snow drops onto the little guy who's at? The door of Ebenezer's crew.
Speaker 15:To be fair, it's good. So we're I've got a little boy. He's three, so we're discovering Christmas kind of all over again. It's very healing to the inner child. So we're discovering Christmas kind of all over again. It's very healing to the inner child. So we've watched the Elf. So Elf with Bill Ferrell. He absolutely adored that. He thought that was so funny, which I wasn't expecting him to.
Speaker 15:We've been watching the Nightmare Before Christmas since July. He's obsessed. He loves that. I thought he would be scared of it. He's not, he loves it. Um, and we've been watching the grinch, both versions, the animated and the jim carrey one. He likes the jim carrey one better, so but it's lovely. We watched home alone the other day and he was so shook at the fact that kevin was left home alone and he watched the entire thing. So it's and it's not so much a Christmas movie, but we watch. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids over the weekend and again I think that's just Christmas, is not just Christmas movies, but about watching movies. You've got so much time, there's so much good movies on the telly. You get cosied up in the late nights and, yeah, I'm just really enjoying reliving my youth through Alfie.
Speaker 2:Here we are once again. I've said this to every single person that's been on In the Club 2024 Year In Review podcast just catching up with everybody and as many people who will come on the podcast as we can get. So we've got Connor, we've got Scott from our wonderful customer support team. Once we get Danielle in, that'll be a full house for the customer support team. Don't know how up for it she is, but we'll get the whole college. Try gonna get the complete set. Aye, full set, full deck. Get a wee star for that. So what has 2024 look like for both of you guys? Whoever wants to go first can go first.
Speaker 16:Eh 2024 Eh. I moved house Em. My daughter turned eight. I got new jeans. Nice Pair of Levi's.
Speaker 13:Oh.
Speaker 2:Aye, levi's Not just a regular. Oh no, no, no For a new pair of jeans. A new pair of jeans, a new pair of Levi's. Oh aye, levi's not just a regular. Oh no, no, no for a new pair of jeans.
Speaker 16:A new pair of jeans a new pair of jeans like as in. Like these better last me the next 10 years and I'm gonna be annoyed was it the Beyonce advert that did it for you?
Speaker 2:did that push you over the?
Speaker 16:top it was. It was the, the laundrette that did it. I was like Cool, buying a pair of Levi's.
Speaker 2:Then Aye Do you know, I was sitting in the house Watching that one day, in my mum's house Watching that, and she pointed something out and I've not been able To get over it. My mum goes Aye, she's taking her jeans off. She's like when did her boots go? I was like what. Because one minute she's full. Levi's P his next minute. He's in socks.
Speaker 16:I mean, it'd be quite hard To take the Levi's off Without taking the boots off. Do you know what I mean? So Maybe they're in the next machine. Didn't happen on camera? So I saw in your eyes. It didn't happen, didn't happen. What about you, scott? Fair enough.
Speaker 11:Kind of the same. Actually. I moved, moved home, got my first flat.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 11:Roughly what would be a bit a year ago. So I'm cheating a wee bit, but it kinda ran over. You know, once everything's moved in a lot of gigs I was about to say what's been the gigs.
Speaker 2:Gig highlights of 2024 gig highlights.
Speaker 11:You're really pushing me now, eh. Pop punk band the story so far. Seen them, one of my favourite bands, so it's the second or third time I've seen them and they played SWG3. Just amazing really really good night, good fun, what else?
Speaker 2:so are they. Is that like the best they've been? How would you rank their gigs from this time against the last time you?
Speaker 11:definitely getting better sort of moved away from higher energy stuff to more Oasis-y type performances alright not as much jumping about being silly. I think everybody's got to that point. They're like I'm 30 plus now knees are too sore.
Speaker 16:Knees are getting sore, aye nah you've got to see it is.
Speaker 2:It's a young man's game externally, but if you can internalise that, just I've said this before and I put I'm all elbows, so that's Elbows up, that's what keeps you young, aye, spinning like a beyblade.
Speaker 16:Too right, nice, love it.
Speaker 11:Aye Jeans. I've moved away from jeans Cargo's, now Nice.
Speaker 16:You are exclusively cargo's. I've seen your jeans in years.
Speaker 11:Honestly Revolutionary. I've seen the light and so many pockets.
Speaker 16:Absolutely good. What is in your pockets?
Speaker 11:but nothing it's just comfort.
Speaker 8:I can have whatever I want. That's a power move that is my phone, my keys, whatever, sorry.
Speaker 2:I've not made that jump yet. I'm 99% of the time, I'm a chinos man, so we've got jeans chinos cargos in here representing all three food groups.
Speaker 11:The big three Aye.
Speaker 16:I do like Aye, yeah, I like Chino's. But Gene's man, he's kind of A classic. It's a A working class Thing. You know, get a good pair of Levi's on you. Get a good pair of Levi's. Do some ship building, do some rivets.
Speaker 11:That's what we do here innit Aye.
Speaker 16:Aye, I built this table.
Speaker 2:I'm forever here and the rivets I've left in my pocket Is good with the washing machine.
Speaker 16:It's alright, that's what I do in my last bell.
Speaker 2:I go on my high beach in my house sometimes, but youse guys were involved In some cracking, cracking games. Youse boys Like your games and we had Glasgow Wrestling.
Speaker 16:We did that was. That was really good. We were prototyping these new board game. It was incredible actually how quick they had got it. We were saying it was like 6 months or something From then until now and it played really well. Risk free wrestling.
Speaker 1:I have with us Tracy McBain. It is McBain still. Yes, yes it's just in your emails remember when we first transitioned across to Axis. I know what was it.
Speaker 18:McBain Franks. Mcbain Franks, that was odd, but do you know what I think it's? Yeah, I could be a spy, I think, just for the variations on all my documents with different names.
Speaker 4:Really yes.
Speaker 18:That's what happens. Like you know, I've been married for 20, I think we were just talking about this Mark and I, 22, 23 years Crazy and I never changed my name officially, and so I kind of just make things up as I go along. So when the kids were younger, it was kind of nice for them to think that I had the same name as them so anything medical typically is Frank's, so the kids and I are the same. And then other documents. Sometimes it's McBain, Frank's.
Speaker 1:And so that's what's on my passport. Maybe we are dealing with a spy here. It could be. The more I think about it, it could be.
Speaker 18:And actually am I really an MI5 operative? So I've been here coming up for seven years. Okay, so started on the 18th of January 2018. I remember that very specifically. The weather was terrible. It was one of those periods when there was awful snow, but I remember coming in my first day, getting into Glasgow, and it was like there had been no bad weather.
Speaker 1:Oh really, oh yeah, because you leave where you live and it's all nice and snowy and it's all high like oh my God, how am I going to actually brave it in?
Speaker 18:How do they always do that?
Speaker 1:You've got New York films and the snow. The snow's always. Really. It wouldn't be like that, would it?
Speaker 18:It would be like sludge, yeah, sludge dirty sludge on the side of the streets but I do remember my first day coming into St Vincent's Street and Nicky greeted me and Duncan greeted me and Don as you walked, as you walked in and then, and then. Doug is like keep your eyes and straight away. Day one not quite day one, but it was great. It was great. You know just that sense of you know we were a much smaller business then. I think maybe I was employee 11 or 12.
Speaker 1:I love that these are numbers.
Speaker 18:And then I kind of put things into batches which I just to humour myself Okay. Example I kind of think I was. Maybe depends how generous I'm being. Sometimes I nudge myself into batch two, okay, if I want to make myself sound a bit more with it, but maybe in reality batch three okay so just kind of you know, aligned to times of joy, how many years?
Speaker 1:ago, seven, seven years ago, right, okay, so fast forward to now, to this year, because this is a bit of a recap on the year. How has 2024 fared for you now that Class for Kids is now part of the Access Group and everything's kind of went.
Speaker 18:Yeah, well, you know, I think everybody it's non-stop, isn't it? It's non-stop, but it's growth, and the thing with growth is, you know, we're very much aligned on that from a business perspective, we understand what it is that we're here to deliver, but, but I just see growth across everything and everybody. You know, and if I think about back to 2018, to the people who were there now to, to the people who joined us through 2019, 2020, all those years, if I think about them as where they started, and for the people who are still with us, and even the people who've come on the journey and have left, they are the jobs and who they are are so much more developed than when they started.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you know? Oh, no, I would agree. Yeah, particularly like being in, that I would say probably I was like the middle. I wasn't an OG, but I was like the middle.
Speaker 15:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was a middle batch of watching everybody.
Speaker 18:What batch were you then? I was?
Speaker 1:20, 20. I started and then went into lockdown.
Speaker 18:Yeah of course that's right. It was very worrying. I remember you came on the Christmas party didn't you Christmas? Party, and then I did.
Speaker 1:It was very fun. It was very fun I think there's three people that I started with that are still here, but every one of them has crawled up. Well, not crawled, ran, ran, I can't run it running on ladders. Climbed, climbed, climbed climbed and developed.
Speaker 18:I think it's development and I think sometimes, when you're in the moment this is what I kind of think about life generally when you're in the moment, you can often forget how far you've come.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 18:But actually, if you just take the time to stop and look back and reflect and it can be a year, as you say, or it can be a significantly longer period than that but if you look back, I think for yourself and for others, then that kind of sense of personal growth and personal development is something that should never be underestimated.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's ideal, a good way to wrap up this little catch up as well, because that's something that everybody can do. Everybody can do, everybody can do and anybody listening. You can kind of take a look back. You might be in the weeds at times and you might be in the thick of it, but yes, we've come a long way. We've come a long way with you at the helm most of the way Tracy employed me. So everybody out there has got you the nonsense that we've put, that they've all put up with from over the last few years. But thank you for catching up with us at the end of 2024. You are our designer here at Class for Kids, but you're also the designer for a different team now, which wasn't the case at the beginning of this year, but now is, so there's a story of a year for you. You've transitioned from Class for Kids into Central Team, central Creative, into central team, central creative team yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, access, yeah how is that and how did that come about, and are you enjoying it? Tell, all, tell all em.
Speaker 17:I first met the creative team in January, right when the marketing team went to.
Speaker 2:Nottingham was it? Yeah, that was in January, wasn't it?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, last year or this year, wasn't that like right back from Christmas, you're going down south.
Speaker 17:Yeah, yeah, right at the start of the year and then when I met the team there, yeah, I just thought it would be a good opportunity for me to kind of move into like a new team, to like kind of get more.
Speaker 1:I don't know but more, I mean, you get like a variety of projects you get to work across everything now because we Also you're working on multiple things right across the access group.
Speaker 17:Yeah, aye, all the different divisions.
Speaker 1:Within those things, not class for kids. What have you managed to get your teeth into? You were like I really like this.
Speaker 17:I quite like the hospitality. It's quite fun. I like cooking and stuff. I like all that sort of industry, so I think that'd be quite cool.
Speaker 2:So, looking back at your 2024, what are some of your biggest learnings that you think you'll take into 2025? Either processes or creative things that you've seen from other departments or other creatives that you think that would be something I can implement in my work going into 2025, do you have anything that rolls off the top of your head with that sort of thing?
Speaker 17:I think, comparing from how I previously worked with Classwork Kids, my new team teams more like, especially because there's more designers and there's more like people doing animation and stuff like that. So then it's kind of like there's more of an environment to bounce ideas off each other, but also, in a way, like that's like relative to your industry, if you know what I mean, your skills. So if, like, we're not like shy for feedback and that's always open, like that sort of like. What do you think of this? What do you think of this?
Speaker 1:it was interesting because you're working on something just now that we briefed in, and I said this to you already, but you held a kind of mirror up to it because I was like, oh, it's just got to be this logo yeah but you're like yeah, yeah, but what else and where else?
Speaker 1:and blah blah, like 10 other questions. I'm like I fully appreciate you need to know the answer to these to move forward with this. Yeah, whereas at the beginning it's kind of like I'm just asking for a logo. Oh no, I'm not really. I'm asking for something that might have to be used, and this on print and um digital. It might need to be animated, um. So it's all really interesting stuff that you feed back, that you've obviously learned along the way as well yeah, and in those, those sort of projects as well are good because they can be planned.
Speaker 17:In that they're like staggered, so it's like, oh, the first part is just the logo, but or like exploration of logos, and then it's like the next bit, we're going to see how that works, and then we want stand designs, so it could be all like split up and then that's all like planned and that's how a few other people do it.
Speaker 17:So then you've kind of got the stages and you're kind of like freaking out to kind of get it all done at one time, like you can kind of stagger it, and then it's over the course of like maybe like two or three months, and it means as well, there's like room for feedback. So you're like well, this, there's one round of feedback and then you can get that, and you can get it by, like say, from multiple people and and the team as well. Like even, I'll have like round of feedback that I can send to, like the other designers yeah, see what they think before I send it to stakeholders, which is good.
Speaker 1:Well, I just wanted to wrap up with because I was going to ask you your kind of proper highlights of the year. It's not a highlight maybe, maybe for you but it's one Fest.
Speaker 17:I got to see Natasha Bedingfield awesome, she has guns. Razorlight aye, aye, razorlight, they were decent as well.
Speaker 1:I'd have went straight for Razorlight, that would have been the cooler no, but Natasha Bedingfield was like a dark horse you didn't expect her to be classy and she was right.
Speaker 1:Good, yeah, she was amazing awesome and that was a good opportunity to create people from the creative team and all that go there as well yeah, that was kind of actually one of the first times we actually hung out because we all worked remotely. That was kind of one of the big times where we all were there that's a really good thing for the company to do, hopefully, I mean, I don't know. If they're going, then it'll be.
Speaker 17:I think it's 25. The big break, the big break again.
Speaker 1:That might be fun that might be fun again back to Barcelona, aye, back to Barcelona, and we'll leave it there, I think. Thank you very much, christopher thanks for having me for being on the podcast and have a good 2025. Thank you, you, too. We've got more than one thing in common, and we're going to start with the obvious. This is Colin, and we are both wearing really nice wintery woolly jumpers.
Speaker 19:Christmas jumpers are on boiling in here. Today, though is it? It's been freezing recently, oh really have we got in this morning?
Speaker 1:no it was very hot. Duncan's like he's on the rampage whenever heating. There's anything wrong with it. We have to get in touch with London. Yeah, which is very weird. If anybody can help with that, please get in touch, send, help, send help.
Speaker 1:But we've got this in common. And the other thing we've got in common is we both started the same day. Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that. Yeah, and we are now the only. Not that we would have killed everybody else, but that day I think about seven pokes started and we're the last of them. The last, that's crazy.
Speaker 19:What have we done to deserve this Five years in January?
Speaker 1:So, aye, it's been a long five years it has and it hasn't.
Speaker 19:It feels like it's been dead short, Like it's been a bit of a whirlwind Ah, whirlwinds definitely.
Speaker 1:I mean because we started in January 2020.
Speaker 19:Yeah, right before COVID.
Speaker 1:Right before COVID. So probably like me, immediately we were like we're not going to have a job long. Yeah, right before COVID. Right before COVID. So probably like me, immediately we were like we're not going to have a job long. Yeah, because we worked for the kids activity sector and everything seemed to shut down with that, obviously, yeah, so that was a worry, but we've kept on, keeping on and we're through it.
Speaker 19:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And yeah, it's been. It's a crazy place. That's Password Kids for those that are prepared to strap in and survive. How have you felt the last years gone? How has it been? Not any specifics about different projects and stuff, but just how the company's kind of continued to go in your respect.
Speaker 19:I think it's always hard, my concept of time over years. It feels like yesterday and a long, long time at the same time. I think over the last year it's been a year, another year of growth another year of growth.
Speaker 1:Do they ever stop the growth? Never stops, never stops yeah, growing and going.
Speaker 19:Yeah, it's been fun. It's been. I'm in the RevOps team so it's a lot of fun data stuff.
Speaker 1:So we've had, we've unlocked, a few things that have allowed us to do a lot more data analysis which is I'm taking this in the most boring possible, but I think that I mean that's, that's, that's enabling the entire company to do a lot more, even even, like in my space, when we're kind of there's a bit of data mining required, when we want to go into marketing campaigns, we're going to go to this location, what can we expect here? And like it all kind of tails right back to you guys and your team. There's only three of you, is that right?
Speaker 19:only three of us, three people three people juggling this entire company.
Speaker 1:Bye. So what single like I don't know if you'll be able to name it Is there a process or a new thing that you've introduced that you're like that has really helped change everything, and are we able to talk about it on camera?
Speaker 19:every day are new solutions to different problems. Um, even something we do sort of like a few months ago, we'll we'll look at again and be like is this still valid? Do we need? To really look at this again do we need? To evolve. Yeah, exactly, so nothing really sits still for long. Um, there's, there's not many things that were, say, put in, uh, put in place in january that are still exactly as they were. They would have been changed a few times.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's always changing, it's always evolving, always growing right across the business we're getting similar answers, which is it's always changing. We spoke to Hayley from Marking she's the GTM manager now and it's about we always enter the year thinking we've got a solid plan. And we do have a plan, particularly for the last two or three years. I know what I'm doing in January and I know what I'm going to be doing right up to December. The plans still remain in place, but there's multiple layers constantly headed across it because of the industry we're in. We are an industry that's we've got competitors. We're also an industry that changes often and it's, as such, just a continually evolving pivot, pivot, pivot.
Speaker 19:Yeah, I think when we're always looking at stuff like goals, we always look at what's. Not that we don't plan for the long term, but because things are changing so often, it's almost always the short term. It's like how do we make this look good for the next month, six weeks, two months, I think?
Speaker 1:what I'm taking in the event space. I kind of need to know where I'm going to be, because you book these well in advance, but I'm now just starting to look at things in a very access way in quarters and just go right, okay. Yes, I know I'm going to have to book things here, but let me just focus on this, because something's going to change here.
Speaker 19:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, and then I can adapt it more if I'm not fully planned.
Speaker 19:Yeah, exactly, exactly. Especially in events, there's always that one thing that doesn't go right, and then you can relax it always happens to us.
Speaker 1:Nah, I'm not kidding, right. Okay, back on to like more jovial. This is going out at the end of the year. This will probably hit, I think, christmas and New Year, but we can still talk about Christmas. So what is your go to Christmas film?
Speaker 19:oh Jingle, all the Way easy oh right, arnold Schwarzenegger yeah, yeah, right okay, no, that is good.
Speaker 1:I've not seen that in years. Mega man.
Speaker 19:Ultraman, that's really bad. I've not seen that in ages either and Hayley Joel had Sixth Sense Kid you put me on the, you put me on the spot. What is the name of the guy I'm not going to? I'm sure it's Ultraman it's something man Turbo, turbo, man Turbo man. There we go.
Speaker 1:We were in between it, but it's Hayley Jewell, isn't it the guy? Yeah, I see dead people yeah, alright, okay that's a good one. We watched. What did we watch? Deck the Halls with. Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito.
Speaker 19:I've not seen that.
Speaker 1:I've never seen it and I think it's pretty old. I thought I'd seen all the films. It was fairly good, but mine is always and always will be National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation oh, ok, you seen it.
Speaker 19:No, not even heard of it, right?
Speaker 1:this is going out after Christmas but you need to watch that it's on Prime. Ok National L Christmas vacation here we have Call From the sales team. Call's never been on anything I don't think we've ever done, maybe some of the social stuff. No.
Speaker 5:Some of the social stuff, yeah, but never like a Proper, like podcast.
Speaker 1:Or anything like that.
Speaker 5:No, proper lighting, proper cameras, proper lighting no events or anything like that as of yet.
Speaker 1:No, well, I hope to change that.
Speaker 5:I know, I know.
Speaker 1:It seems to be.
Speaker 5:Whenever, whenever there is an event, I'm always.
Speaker 1:I'm always on holiday and you're always somewhere fancy on holiday I always am where were you last on holiday?
Speaker 5:I think it was, I can't remember. I've been on so many Zandvoort for the F1.
Speaker 1:Oh right, ok, yeah, yeah, so that was the last time. Is that in Amsterdam? Yeah, my friend used to live there.
Speaker 5:We stay in Amsterdam but Zandvoort is just on the sea, yeah.
Speaker 1:I know it's so efficient there.
Speaker 5:They run everything really really smooth. He was a mechanic.
Speaker 1:He moved out to be a mechanic for a couple of years and that's where he stayed, Because we thought, oh you're in. Amsterdam. He's like no, I think he called it Zandvoort.
Speaker 3:Did you know that might be pronounced that?
Speaker 5:I think you're probably right.
Speaker 1:My friend is a bit thick. Yes, it's all good, right, okay, but before that, I'm sure one of the events I was asking you about earlier in the year, were you not like, oh, I've got to go, were you not in Dubai?
Speaker 5:The Maldives, the Maldives.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's fancier than Dubai.
Speaker 5:So I go there with my family sometimes, not always to the Maldives, but going on holidays with my family, nice. They pay, they pay for those ones. So lucky for some very lucky for some. If it wasn't that way, I would not be going okay did they take like close friends or colleagues? No, unfortunately not. No, but it's. It's really nice, obviously. Just I've moved out this year, got my first flat, so right, let's dig a bit more deeply into that right. So what age are you? I'm 22, 23 next week 23 next week okay and you moved into a flat.
Speaker 5:Yes, how far from the home you grew up in so 8 minutes away, exactly right, okay, that's the fastest I've done it in in the car and that was to get your washing done that was to get my washing done. No, I've been doing that myself, to be fair, but I just wanted somewhere. I felt like it was time to move out, but I wanted to be close to the family as well, that's good.
Speaker 5:You seem like a close family, yeah, we all are Genuinely my grandparents, my parents and all our cousins and stuff like that live within probably a proximity of 20 minutes of each other. Right, okay, so me moving away to Liverpool, as I almost did last year, probably would have been a little bit of a disruption really so that was on the cars was.
Speaker 5:It was that you were going to move, so I was. I was debating it just last year or the year before before I joined, when I obviously met my my kind of girlfriend. Yeah, she's from Liverpool. She was from, well, she was from here, but she moved to Liverpool to work with Lululemon. Oh right okay, but it was a bit kind of in between, and then we decided it would be best if she came back. All her friends are here, so she's now moved in Liverpool's a great city, though.
Speaker 1:I love it. Yeah, it's really nice. Yeah, I absolutely love it. Well, so you've been here now six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. How many months?
Speaker 5:so just over a year and a half really. I think about that yeah the time in here.
Speaker 1:Honest to goodness, we're just coming up to it. That's a lot longer than I thought, but I'm just like pretty much everyone we spoke to has said, when you said, what's your highlight of the year and I'm like I've not had time to stop and think and it's the way I feel about people in here. It was the same with Sophie, sophie's like I've been here nearly two and a half years or something like what I literally remember going hello nice to meet you yeah very, very strange.
Speaker 1:What would you say then, right over your time here this year? Maybe it's a, maybe it's a customer you've brought on, maybe it's just something that you've done, maybe it's a highlight of yours.
Speaker 5:See, I'd probably have the same reaction to everybody else. I don't know if I've really had time to pinpoint a specific highlight. I think this year has been, I mean, as every year does. It has its ups and downs, but just I think more than anything this year, the biggest highlight for me is how kind of close the team have been together, Yep, and I think that's really positive. I think, like obviously building that it obviously reflects on then customers as well when you're speaking to them and just learning about kind of different industries as well. So we obviously don't just work with football or we don't just work with dance, we work with kind of everybody across every industry. So having that insight into not just how one club runs but how each individual person runs has been really good as well what their terminal.
Speaker 1:This was my first couple of years here. Was that the understanding? Yeah, we might, we've not. We've got five different types of customers yeah very different business mindset to have, so you need to learn how they speak what they call it, because you can't call a dance school a dance school, oh no do you call it? A dance school or an academy, it's not a club.
Speaker 1:It's not a club, yeah and then there's all these different languages that, in marketing, we need to try and learn for all the different verticals, as we call them. So, yeah, so you've been in the learning process with that. Was this your first sales role?
Speaker 5:So, no, I worked for four years at kind of like an outbound sales company, calaverde, who worked with different clients, but this different clients. But this was my first kind of end-to-end sales role so in terms of actually speaking to the customer, booking in a demo, then actually taking the demo and kind of bringing them on board with ourselves as well and passing them over to the, obviously, activation team as well.
Speaker 1:So but it's been good, good, and you're looking forward to next year.
Speaker 5:I am looking forward to next year. When do you finish?
Speaker 1:This will go out between Christmas and New Year's, so by the 28th. So you're finished by that point. Yes, but when do you finish for Christmas?
Speaker 5:I finish right at the end. So the 24th, 24th, oh that's good.
Speaker 3:I'm working all the way up.
Speaker 5:I've used all my holidays to go to Maldives, dubai, all these other things. But yeah, I finish up on the 24th and then back in from the start again on the second Second.
Speaker 1:Oh right, okay, you need to get those leads. You need to get those leads. Well, you hear first, if you're phoning at that time of year, it's going to be call that you're going to be speaking to or he'll be phoning you. Hayley and I have known each other now for four years, maybe more, maybe more, maybe a bit more. That's right, you were an OG. We spoke earlier on to Tracy who was almost an OG.
Speaker 13:Tracy didn't witness the first year of Class for Kids that I did. We've heard a lot about that first year yeah, I like to describe it as five people in a box room for a full year the office didn't have any running water amazing.
Speaker 13:I had to share toilets with. I mean, it was from the 40s. No, it was really good. So actually to go from like that level of start up for like a full year and then into a new office, tracy coming on board and it just growing and growing to what it is now, it's been amazing because I've been here for 8 years.
Speaker 1:8 years, right, okay, yeah, because Tracy's what she was saying seven, so that would make complete sense. 2024 class for kids how has that been for you?
Speaker 13:a whirlwind whirlwind and it's funny because when you grabbed me two minutes ago to say that's how we roll in here you're getting um asked to be on the podcast and talk about 2024. My mind kind of freezes like I go into like a. I don't know what's happened in the last year but, I, think that's like representative of how fast we move in here.
Speaker 1:I don't know how last week we pivot.
Speaker 13:We, you know it's just chaotic, but in the best way. Yeah, because we're just trying to do so much, and so much of it we do actually get done. But if you're to ask me how it was 2024, I couldn't tell you anything. That happened two months ago, because of how fast I know you mean.
Speaker 1:I completely know what you mean. There's things that, um, I'll tend to use my phone right as an almost like a place marker, because anywhere I go will end up taking photos. So I'll be like yeah, and I'll kind of scrolling back.
Speaker 1:Well, that was that year, that month, yeah, but yeah it is. It's like it's it's a mile a minute, um, and particularly like our market changes all the time go to market, you know. So we need to move with that. It's literally it's always been the same and I always thought one year we will be able to plan everything. And the thing is, guys, we do plan as much as we possibly can, but inevitably there's changes in everything we do yeah, and not just the things that we're doing, the people as well, like our marketing team we've had to.
Speaker 13:I mean, it's just constantly moving. I mean it's people going off having kids, isn't it?
Speaker 1:we've got two right now as of time of um, as at the end of the year, we've got two off um, nicole about to have a baby. Yes, rebecca just had a baby. I know, and this is me just announcing it, rebecca had a baby. I won't say I won't. Did you just say the name? I just said the name, sorry, noah. Welcome, noah, he will one day be on the podcast.
Speaker 13:Noah is adorable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so they're off now, so we are in flux and team as well.
Speaker 13:And Seema's coming back, so we've got someone coming back in the new year as well, so, like that's been great, though, and I think what I've found is just how welcoming we are, yep, how tight our processes are now, because it hasn't felt as I don't want to use the word painful but for anyone new coming in having to introduce them to our well-working the people the culture, all of that.
Speaker 13:It hasn't felt as pained. I don't know if it's because we're getting so practiced in it or it's just because we are. We're improving what we do definitely.
Speaker 1:I think that, like we, we were given such a I mean, it was a gift to be able to almost make the way that this team worked. Yeah, but what's good when people externally come in? Maybe a year or so ago they were a bit like, what are you doing and why he's doing it that way. Yeah, I think we're so up to speed with the industry and locked in the industry standard ways now that people can just go okay, so right.
Speaker 13:Yeah, that's the practice I've been using and we can, and I actually think that's what's helped. Being part of access actually it's having everything standardized and like a set way of doing things. Um and yeah, no, I think that's helped massively, even like getting to standards like the size of accreditation, like when we think about, you know, all the other sort of systems and platforms out there, like nobody's at that level yet. So I think we've just been part of access, like we're having to level ourselves up, upskill and get to that standard, and it's just meant actually now, looking back, that there's so many things that we did before that's easier now, like just because we're used to that.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I think we used to do a lot of stuff with sellotape, and now we've got I mean there's still elements. Now we've got like yeah, there's a bit of sellotape kicking about the place.
Speaker 13:Yeah, so it's been good. Yeah, when.
Speaker 1:And you've had that. You've had in the personal space quite a year because you've been moving house, but not just moving house, building a house, well, not building a house.
Speaker 13:Yeah, I bought a house in October of 2023.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 13:So actually it's been kind of 13, 14 months of renovations, but I'm finally moved in Excellent.
Speaker 1:Have you got?
Speaker 13:your tree up. It is up, yes.
Speaker 3:Okay, excellent.
Speaker 13:Have you got a tree up? It is up. Yes, okay, I think that's the only thing. Actually, I say that, but I have went mad In the fairy lights outside Just to make it look A bit festive outside. Nice but yeah, that was a full year Of staying at my parents.
Speaker 1:Which is great At our age Well, not my, our age. I'm so much older than Hayley.
Speaker 13:I've just thrown you Like a whole ten years on, you, there yeah, no, it's been great and I've been appreciative of all the support in that space, but it has been a year of. Are you in your house yet? Ah?
Speaker 1:but has it not been a year of? I've done your washing, here's your dinner yeah, no, it hasn't.
Speaker 13:I can't say that it hasn't so yeah so a wee shock to the system after a year of having a fitting done for me to go back to independence well you're.
Speaker 1:You're independently entering 2025 um, and I hope it all goes well for you. I'll be sitting right beside you a lot of the time but thank you very much hayley thank you how have you found the last year class for kids?
Speaker 12:um, and you can speak freely and candidly it's been, I'm trying, been I'm trying to find the best. I just I can't use like a one sentence to describe it.
Speaker 1:No, no you can use multiples. We've had a lot of ups and downs and all arounds.
Speaker 12:You're right, and it's like it's been amazing, like if I'm saying like honestly, it's like fairly like it's a new industry I've joined in my career and like I have like skilled up a lot since I joined the team like there's lots of like cross department kind of engagement you seem to be involved in so much.
Speaker 1:That's what the term I was going to bring up was cross departments. You seem to go from sales marketing rev ops.
Speaker 12:You're right across everything, yeah, kind of yeah.
Speaker 1:I think you need a team. Hey, she needs a team give me a team and how do you find that then? Because a lot of it like it's only in the last, I would say, six months when I've been dealing with you and really asking for a bit of data mining and things like that, that I've appreciated how, across everything, you absolutely are. But yeah, I mean you've become pretty essential, which is a good position to be in again. Team um to everything. How do?
Speaker 12:you how?
Speaker 1:you enjoying that side?
Speaker 12:I like, honestly, I enjoyed it and that's because I feel like one thing I love a lot is like it's called, like what's it called? Like problem shooting, like fixing issues and problem solving things. So like I love the sense, like when people come to me and ask questions and like, even if I don't know at the first place, I'm just like give me two seconds, let me figure out how it works, and bring the answers to people and be like but then that's another feather in your cap, that's another learning.
Speaker 1:So that's what you're saying you feel like you're solving these problems, but on the way that you're learning and upscaling yourself exactly.
Speaker 12:I think that's like I knew.
Speaker 1:I knew nothing from the beginning, and that's not what you said at your interview. Did you hear that?
Speaker 12:yeah, just like with these, like question being asked kind of thing, you're like kind of like force yourself to like, yeah, find the answers, like someone needs to know the answer and answers is something like it's somewhere and if anybody in here has the answers, that's the thing, though.
Speaker 1:It's like that should be the. If anybody in here has the answers, that's the thing. Now, it's like that should be the. If there is a department, the name should be the answers, because I just see everybody coming to you now for answers. I think you've definitely carved out a space in here. That was absolutely needed for a start.
Speaker 11:You can imagine.
Speaker 1:If we didn't but, imagine, right, we had none of this in place. These like even the workflows and all that you're involved in automation that was in place when we were a start up. You know it was quite like okay. Thanks, angie, for getting this structure.
Speaker 12:Oh, do you know what?
Speaker 1:Angie gives a shout out. She was always fighting that corner. She was always there as a solo doing that. But it's amazing to see it all kind of finally come together and to kind of just us be able to track things the way that we're tracking them. Yeah, that's what I would come to you for, as you know, yeah, I'm like are we tracking that event early? Yeah, everything.
Speaker 12:Nah, we need to do this.
Speaker 1:But just having all the dashboards you're building for all the campaigns so that we're able to improve upon ourselves. So you are learning and growing and becoming a better version of you all the time. And by doing that, you're helping us become a better team, because we're learning from mistakes that we make, through you and your data analysis as well.
Speaker 12:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So yeah, the more I say this, I think this might be a pitch for a new position or role for Shinsen, because come on. I hope they're listening. So what will you do over? This will go out between Christmas and New Year. What will you do over the next coming weeks when you're going to have a bit of downtime?
Speaker 12:do you mean like during the holidays period? Like what am I doing during Christmas holiday? I'm not going to do nothing. That's like the like, my ideal kind of holiday look.
Speaker 1:We're sitting here with Lee Lee Masterson, who is my manager and in fact manages this entire department.
Speaker 20:Yes, this whole joint.
Speaker 1:How do you feel about that?
Speaker 20:How do I feel about it? It goes by so quickly. I'm not even aware. I'm managing.
Speaker 1:Everybody that we spoke to said that things happen so quick that it's only when you turn around and kind of reflect and go look what we've done and the amount that we've done over the course of a year.
Speaker 20:Yeah, it's very tricky, like I should actually keep a diary, I think.
Speaker 1:Well, you've got your nice wee notepad now.
Speaker 20:So I do. We've just had a meeting. You just ordered it. Did you use Amazon. No, no, no, not mine, yours. I'm saying oh, my iPad, aha, right, okay, what did?
Speaker 1:you think it was going to be In the notepads that we've ordered for merch. We've ordered lots of merch for the start of next year, which is going to be good. This will go out in between Christmas and New Year, right? So we're looking back across this year and reflecting on how the year's. But yeah, how do you feel that? Your contribution to Class for Kids and Access, how do you feel about that? This?
Speaker 20:year. I feel like I have learned a lot this year. So obviously I have really only been a head of marketing. Is this two? How many years have I been a head of marketing?
Speaker 1:The second. This is my second. I only know because, when we're talking to everybody else, the likes of Melly and Shinsen, brian's only two years in the door. Wow, and you were the head of marketing when he joined, weren't you?
Speaker 20:Oh my God, they've stolen my life. So two years head of marketing and I wasn't a head of marketing before, so obviously it was a brand new role for me. So this is the first year where I suppose I have felt fully in the role.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 20:Also, there's been a lot of change Lots of babies.
Speaker 1:Lots of babies, lots of babies. Yeah, we've addressed that as well. I don't know what's happening in our team, but it's just. Are we just all the same banter? No, no, no, no, no. This is different. This is higher class than Shinsen's.
Speaker 20:Yeah, lots of babies. I don't know what avoid any kind of tap water to make sure it's not catching. But lots of babies, lots of change. But I think that we're leaving the year in a good place. I am excited about next year. I think we've got lots of connections to make. Connections to make, lots of connections to make.
Speaker 1:Partnerships to forge.
Speaker 20:Lots of partnerships, you're right Relationships to nurture and leads to get.
Speaker 1:Yeah, leads to get leads to get. I mean, that's the brass knuckle factors.
Speaker 20:We'll be chasing leads yes the whole year, but in the creative way that we do it, it's entirely up to us and yeah, the big thing is like having fun along the way yeah, that's what you want to hear from your boss before you go off for Christmas.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, so I like that. Okay, what is your go-to Christmas film? Christmas will have passed, but I still want to know.
Speaker 20:Oh, my goodness, Well go-to. I don't really have one. Let me think about this what's been on Netflix recently? I do watch Amazon Prime and other channels as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, we watch a lot. No one is endorsed, unless you want sponsors.
Speaker 20:Oh man, it has to be Home Alone. I think that that would be it, or Beetlejuice, although I know that's not a proper Christmas film.
Speaker 1:No there's not even a hint of Christmas. I watch it at Christmas, okay, are you? Thinking maybe of Edward Scissorhands yeah, okay, tim Burton, nightmare Before Christmas Nightmare, yeah how did you know? You're a nightmare before Christmas. Okay, very lastly, go to a Christmas song.
Speaker 20:Mariah really.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're like the one that's got it on from the minute it's December 1st not purposely, I don't have to just switch on the radio, it's just always on.
Speaker 20:It's always on, like you put it, on a radio channel.
Speaker 1:Okay, we had somebody in an office I used to work in that would literally sing it. She was very good at singing, but it would come the 1st of December and she'd be like my Okay, and you're like, oh yeah, that's too early for me, but it is the one. Well, I hope you get to hear Plenty of Mariah and that you watch Beetlejuice.
Speaker 1:Yes, we are very privileged to be sitting here with Melly, who is part of the marketing team team. Melly, welcome onto the podcast. Thank you for having me. You are very welcome, pleasure and a privilege. We have wanted and tried to get you. He's been elusive but we've got him. We've been trying all year to somehow get you tied up, to get all had to. How many drinks did I have to buy today? Three, was it?
Speaker 3:Um, yeah, I think it was three three old fashions, and then he's here.
Speaker 1:Obviously not.
Speaker 3:No, Boulevardier's.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I remember. Oh, what was it called?
Speaker 3:Boulevardier.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 3:So it was a cocktail consistent of Martini orange and, I think, whiskey.
Speaker 1:Oh, right, okay.
Speaker 3:I may be wrong.
Speaker 1:That was nice though, so that was the one we had there. We were on a planning day. Last week we went on a marketing planning day to a nice kind of hipster joint I would call it Vega which had a disco lift, a disco lift. Explain the disco lift.
Speaker 3:How do you explain the disco lift? You have to experience it you can't explain the disco lift.
Speaker 1:I'll try and get it put on the socials so that people can see the disco lift.
Speaker 3:You should record your next episode there, the whole.
Speaker 1:thing with ViscoLift Mellie. You've been with us now how long Since?
Speaker 3:March.
Speaker 1:March, april, may, june, july, august, september. Nine months, nine months, nine months.
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness, time flies, doesn't it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you could have a baby in that time. Some have actually yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Our little world has been falling apart, with everyone leaving us. It's been a it's been a falling apart.
Speaker 1:Build back up in fact that is. It's quite an interesting thing for you and your team because it's a lot around. Your team has quite been different and changed from when you first started and how have you found? Obviously there's a lot of change involved in your year this year how have you found the year in general? It doesn't need to be about specific projects or anything, but just class for kids in general and you can say crazy and things, because the place is nuts.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean it's been a very eventful year. Actually I was just telling Brian, I got this job when I was in Japan, right, and I had my first call with HR when I was in Vietnam, actually, and I was really nervous because my internet connection wasn't really stable, but it went fine and I was supposed to have my first interview when I was in Kyoto in Japan, and then Lee cancelled last minute and I'd spent the whole day like stressing in the, the hotel room, like not going out, not doing anything, and then after that, like I travelled to, I think, three other locations.
Speaker 1:Was there a reason for the cancellation?
Speaker 3:Her train was cancelled. At least that's what she said, but I didn't hear back from her for days. So like you can imagine how stressful it was for me because I was like I was certain they'd found someone else okay and that kind of ruined my holiday.
Speaker 1:but like in the end I think we owe you a holiday.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean lee said she owes herself a japan holiday, which is a good point, but um well, maybe she could take you yeah, because true, true we could get together.
Speaker 1:Um, I know how you. I know exactly the the feeling of holiday. Um, I went holiday once and somebody asked me to do an interview oh and it was like I did. It was only the third day of the holiday and it ruined the entire holiday. I managed to do it virtually and then the whole holiday. I just worried about it yeah, I didn't get it in the end. So maybe, maybe. Well, you did so. You've done better than me, not bad.
Speaker 3:I don't know. I mean, you did say I was the fourth choice. That was a joke.
Speaker 1:I can genuinely tell you that when Lee, however, she was missing trains and all that. When she came off the phone, she was very much like we've. I think her and Rebecca were like we found this amazing guy and I'm going. Where is he? He's just making that up.
Speaker 14:That's legit.
Speaker 1:So were you always coming to Scotland? Then Were you coming here? If you hadn't got the job here? Was this destination planned Because you were travelling, yeah?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I did want to live in Glasgow because I visited it and quite liked it and I was specifically applying for jobs here. And yeah, I guess the stars lined up for once.
Speaker 1:Well, by the time this podcast goes out right, it's going to go out between Christmas and New Year, so what will have happened in that time is that you will have received your Secret Santa gift.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Melly's been quite specific with the. Secret Santa gift. From the moment that we put Secret Santa as like, put your names in the hat, what have you been specific about?
Speaker 3:So Stephen's a bit of a rebel because, like, the arrangement is that everyone needs to create a wish list so that they're only given things that they actually want. But Stephen thinks that that beats the purpose of it being a secret.
Speaker 1:I don't think Stephen thinks this is polarising. This is like down the middle. If we had a vote on this podcast, I would say, if you're Secret Santa, you're just meant to go like, alright, okay, I've got somebody that I don't know, I'm going to really try and work it out. And then you need to ask secret questions and find out, do a bit of investigation.
Speaker 3:but Mel is like please stick to the list, please stick to the list, guys, and if anyone who doesn't like, anyone who doesn't have a wish list will get a book. You've been warned.
Speaker 1:I think I don't know who you've got, but I think you've got me. I think that's you telling me this on camera. By the time again this comes out, we'll know, and by the time this comes out, I hope you get a nice book from your list because if I got you and I've not, I would be getting you socks. Thank you very much for your time, mary have a good 2025.
Speaker 3:Look forward to working with you next year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Speaker 1:I am joined with Saoirse and. Sophie sounds like a girl band really.
Speaker 16:Saoirse and.
Speaker 1:Sophie, saoirse and Sophie, how have you been this past year? Brilliant, brilliant, so cute, absolutely brilliant. You too, exact same. It's been great. Okay, how long have you been with the company now?
Speaker 13:I'll be a year in January.
Speaker 1:A year in January. Yeah, that feels like ten Thanks. How long have you been?
Speaker 8:here A bit too late I'm joking A bit too late Two and a half.
Speaker 1:Two and a half years, two and a half years. I've worked with both of you now at different events throughout well, you, throughout this year In fact, we bookended the year started Perform Ireland yeah, that was my first and that was in February. Yeah, I was a month in and then you just done one of these. Was that a month out?
Speaker 20:you just bookend yeah, this is like one dance event each.
Speaker 1:One dance event each you've been at two this year you were at Move it and Musical Con.
Speaker 8:I was there as well, I was at the Blackpool Cup as well, two this year.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, you were at move it, move it and musical con.
Speaker 12:In fact, you've both done yeah, yeah, you've done three yeah, I was at the blackpool cup as well.
Speaker 8:Jeez, oh, that's four. I feel like I've been more places really you telling anybody you're going? You're just going there because I feel like, yeah, your wee secret trips secret trips secret trips see clients and customers I'm on a client call, maybe not.
Speaker 1:These guys are in the sales team, as a lot of people know, so yous are the first port of call, our second port of call Once the lead's been generated, they give you a phone or you give them a phone. It would be great if they phoned you. What has been a good highlight of the year for you in your role?
Speaker 8:What has been a good highlight of the year for you in Euro? Probably the podcast.
Speaker 1:I did with. I thought you meant now no.
Speaker 8:Oh, sorry not the podcast, the webinar? Yes, of course, with Amy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was good.
Speaker 8:And then, oh, Birmingham. I knew it'd been somewhere else.
Speaker 1:Birmingham, of course, the Birmingham event move it, shake it. That was a highlight yep, that was really good, and the podcast you're talking about was Amy from Dance Concepts, yeah, who won her level up, but that was really good. No, you've done a really good job. Yeah, that was a highlight. Give us a run for your money.
Speaker 8:Birmingham was a highlight and also maybe like talking to all of Louise's customers and making us that day every every one of your highlights is involved.
Speaker 1:Um, something that I've planned. That's quite good. There you go. There's a bit of a bit of a connection there. Now let's go to this side of the room, do you know what?
Speaker 20:that, that trip was probably one of my biggest highlights, because that was so fun it was good fun that was so fun and I'm amazed we survived
Speaker 1:that was a lot, particularly you survived, but that's a story for a different time. I'm a trooper, honestly. Okay, then. I think I have taken up enough of your time. I can hear that leads are piling up through there, so you need to get on those phones and do exactly what you've done there for our two really tricky customers we had.
Speaker 8:Really tricky.
Speaker 1:Really tricky. Have a good 2025.
Speaker 8:Thanks, you too, stephen, you too Stephen. Bye, see ya.
Speaker 1:Well, I think there's only one thing left to do that I really want to use this prop for. Is that okay? Go for it. Yes, 2024,. It's a wrap.
