This week, we’ve been contemplating the work of a recently launched organisation, Back In Business, that is “Backing small businesses & freelancers in the UK, to get them back in business. COVID-19 is threatening the existence of the UK’s vibrant freelance and small business sector. Many business owners have been left feeling frightened, isolated and hopeless, worried about whether they can keep their businesses going during this unprecedented crisis and whether, if they employ people, they will be able to carry on doing so.”
Hopefully mankind can conquer COVID-19 and get back to what was normal soon, preferably doing better on things like the environment, poverty, and stopping any new potential pandemics right at the start. However, Back In Business’s analysis that we have a sudden and profound problem with a massive impact on small businesses and freelancers is spot on. They need help and we hope Back In Business succeeds in giving the sector inspiration and a massive lift going forward.
Why does this matter to In Tune PR? We’re a small business and we work with freelancers too, but really, so what?
That story goes back to 2013 when we weren’t even around, but our founder Darren Weale was blogging. Always aware that small businesses and freelancers are important, he wrote a piece that illustrates this especially strongly. Ironically, it was a show by the massive media engine of the BBC, DIY SOS, that provided the opportunity, when they pitched up for a build near his home in Orpington in the London Borough of Bromley.
This is what Darren wrote in 2013, when restrained from revealing spoilers of the yet-to-air programme. Now it has, you can read more here on presenter Nick Knowles website:
“People think there is no community left in this country, but everywhere we go, there is.”
Nick Knowles said these words as he introduced the work DIY SOS have just done in Orpington for a family that had a desperate need for their home to be redesigned and renewed. DIY SOS has been going for 14 years and transforms 10 homes every series. So, roughly 140 episodes around the United Kingdom later, Nick’s words have real meaning.
This blog will avoid including any details of the show, to be aired later this year. However, once the show has aired I will reveal more of the challenge and the story, but not the names of the businesses that helped. BBC rules. Fair enough. Though this has also reinforced an early opinion formed while I was there. To anyone who thinks that businesses help out on the show just for publicity, think again. Some of the businesses are one-man outfits, others have a few people, and larger firms chip in as well. What they have in common is that they often devote days and days of labour and skill and long hours to help the show make life better for people in one home. Can any publicity – when there is an embargo on it anyway – generate enough income to make up for such a heavy commitment? Unlikely.
I first dropped in to the site to do some interviewing on Monday 18th March 2013.
I found a small, busy terraced house on a very small road with a bit of grassed common land behind a bigger road leading into a housing estate. The bigger road had a couple of bus stops, all the better for people on buses to look out and see the uncommon sight of a couple of DIY SOS vans coming and going on their doorstep. I found nearby a partially taped off area containing a mobile office (probably a bit grand as a title, that), canteen and toilets. There was a small awning with a hot water urn on a table; a sad, rained on profiterole in an otherwise empty steel tray; and a container of fairy cakes (fast-vanishing). There was also a small, steady flow of builders and tradespeople between the house and the awning – snacking, drinking, smoking, doing odd jobs, and coming out to ask for more materials and help.
When I arrived there was an immediate crisis, a palpable air of anxiety. Why? They had run out of milk for the tea and coffee. Thankfully, within minutes spirits visibly lifted and there were smiles all round when two, four pint containers of milk turned up. An abiding smell of breakfast sausages remained in the air. A muttered, “We must have got through a thousand cups” was heard.
Mark, the Project Manager, kindly came to speak with me. While we spoke, Mark, clearly a very busy man, was interrupted several times. Here is a flavour of the interruptions:
- “Is the disc cutter back on the van? We need boots, overalls and gloves too”
- “Order ten litres of undercoat primer!”
- “Do you have the stuff for the flooring yet?”
- “After a short break, I’ll need help.”
Here are some of his (spoiler-free) words.
How is it project managing something with so much last minute work to be done and relying on volunteer labour?
“We do it on the hoof and through goodwill. There are a lot of very keen professional tradesmen who make it easy. The tricky part is keeping up the supply of materials to keep the work going”
Why is this job being done?
(Lots of spoilers withheld here) Mark said of the people whose home this is, “They’re very loved in the community. There has been an amazing turnout for them. What goes around comes around.”
Any special challenges on this build?
(Spoilers withheld here) “The weather [there had been lots and lots of rain, plus it was very cold] is a major challenge too. The boys work through it, but with a twelve hour day it keeps the mood down when we’ve got to keep spirits up. They’re really high, this is an amazing team.”
What do you think of Orpington?
“It’s a good community. We’ve enjoyed being here, apart from the weather! The immediate neighbours have been fantastic, we’ve walked through their gardens and taken stuff through.”
Any surprises and shocks on this job?
“I’ve been on this show for eight years and I’m shocked at how much people put into it when they don’t know and have no connection to the people in the home we’re working on. They come and do a twelve hour day and it’s a shock every time that they do that.”
Do you get much feedback from people you help?
“We get such positive feedback, knowing what helps. We help people into a positive working, living environment that is a home.”
Your best experiences on the show?
“Working with the amount of people we do with huge hearts – seeing people help out. The building trade doesn’t always get a good press and has cowboys, but this gives me faith in mankind and the building industry. We do ten shows a year and have an average of sixty tradespeople help out every day. Some do turn up for the publicity, but literally inside a couple of hours they’re like the others.”
Progress today?
“OK today. Not too bad, but we’ve got to stay on top of it.”
Now for a few remarks from the tradesmen that have made such wonderful efforts, very many based nearby and working alongside friends and neighbours of the people at the property, and others from across the breadth of the United Kingdon, gathered together by emails, telephone calls, and even Twitter.
Barry, the builder in a woolly hat which came over his ears, who was pleased that it kept out the elements when it was “cold and blowing” (and hailing on Wednesday!).
James, from a tiling company, “We get a high from helping and knowing this is a good cause and we’re like-minded people all cut from the same cloth you are.”
Pat, a plasterer, “This is an absolute buzz. There was a tiler last week, got out of his suit and started digging.”
Charlie, a painter and decerator from Biggin Hill, when told he might be in photos the next day, “I’ll get my hair cut tonight.”
Rob, a carpenter, “I’ve done a couple of days, will do a couple more. It’s good to give to local people. I’ve never done anything like this before. Normally on jobs where people are close together there’s a bit of friction, but here everybody is trying to help out, quintessentially, people help as much as they can.”
We had to stop Rob there – we suggested a tradesman using words like quintessentially might break a stereotype or two. He smiled, “Me and my crosswords. I do like a crossword.”
Jules, a stalwart of the show, came by then with a bucket of plaster, and I cheekily asked if all the food and cakes people in the community give the team mean they put on weight while filming despite the hard work? He said, “I was twelve stone with hair on my head fourteen years ago when I started with this programme. Now I’m nearly nineteen stone, with no hair.” The funny thing is, Jules doesn’t look that big. Maybe he should change his bathroom scales or stop carrying bags of plaster on to them.
Thursday 21st March was ‘Reveal Day’ when the home occupants see the results of the work. Again, I can’t reveal spoilers, but it was good to report it was not raining! It was cloudy and dry, with hints of sun and a gentle breeze.
It was wonderful to see that everyone who worked on the build individually introduced themselves to the people they’d worked to help by name and told them exactly what they did.
One amusing film sequence (wait for the show!) was re-shot. As Nick said, that was due to “the unexpected arrival of the sun.” A clue? It was an uplifting moment. Twice.
Talking of unexpected, one local lad still at sixth form who had helped out was offered a job while I was there by one of the firms he had helped. As he said, “I helped [spoiler] on day one, which was out of my comfort zone – getting them [spoiler]. On day two, “I got engrossed in [spoiler] and loved it.” After being offered the job, the young man said, “Now I feel great.”
To close, a couple of great, but approximate, facts and statistics:
- Notice to occupants to move out while the build went ahead – just 2 weeks
- Tradesmen involved over the 9 day build – approximately 600
- Meals cooked – 744, not including breakfasts
Thank you to DIY SOS and all the Cool Locals and Cool not-so-locals involved in the success of this build. And, as the show will reveal, it was a success with lots of tears and laughter and smiles at the Reveal. And some builders trying to convince each other that they hadn’t cried, not really, or that it was specks of dust in their eyes.
DIY SOS’s website is here, and Twitter @DIYSOS.
That was it from 2013. This is what marketeers call ‘evergreen content’. Whether DIY SOS is still going or not (and at time of writing, it is) this illustration of what men and women in small businesses and freelancers can do remains as powerful now as it was then. Thank you, DIY SOS and all those tradespeople. May your milk never run out, and may Back In Business take off as it deserves to help and involve those people. Back In Business is also on LinkedIn and on Twitter @business_backin and has a podcasts here and You Tube here.
Do check out our Spotify In Tune PR playlist. It now includes a track by The Beautiful South, ‘Perfect 10’.It is a song about different sizes and diversity and love, with a touch of innuendo, and it fits the theme of this blog post.
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