2 June 2025

Lessons from three years in business

As I near a big birthday, it feels a good time to reflect on how life and work has changed since Distinctive launched three years ago.

When we set up in 2022, the country was in chaos. Boris Johnson’s resignation, Liz Truss’ mini budget meltdown, and soaring interest rates all happened in our first three months of trading.

Not a great time to start a business. But three years and four Prime Ministers later, we’re still here and proud of what we’ve built. Our third year had its challenges and some tremendous highs, supported by a team delivering great results with real-world impact.

After the toughest of starts, this year felt like we found our feet as a team – and our voice as a business. That helped us progress towards our vision to become a top employer and an award-winning consultancy that makes a positive impact

PR with purpose

It’s impossible to summarise every high point across the year. But the team did a great job of putting the headlines from year three into this infographic, which speaks to our vision.

Doing great work is a given. But it’s the impact on places and people’s lives that makes it purposeful.

Three learnings from our third year

With progress comes loads of lessons, some of them hard. I was asked in a recent interview about what I’d learned on the journey, and if there was advice for others contemplating setting up a business.

Beyond work hard and look after yourself (don’t get hit by a bus), I suggested three things:

Prioritise ruthlessly: Lots of people have advice, and much of it is valid and well meaning. There are plenty of things you could do, but you don’t need to do it all. Beyond the day to day, what are you striving for? Defining that is key and we’ve spent a lot of time on this over the last year. If that DM or voice on your shoulder is urging you to do something that won’t help you achieve your vision, don’t listen to it.
Nurture your network: I hear business owners say leadership is lonely. This is true, but it needn’t follow that you’re completely alone. Family, friends, former bosses, mentors and fellow business owners have all helped me along the way, particularly during dark times. Perspective matters, even if they don’t understand your business.
Pay it forward: We’ve tried to be generous with our time, allocating five days of volunteer leave for each colleague over the year. And while some may take advantage, we found most don’t. And the relationship dividend makes it worthwhile.

Facing the future with optimism

And that brings us to today. It’s still challenging, for sure. Business confidence remains fragile, fuelled by uncertainty around conflict and tariffs.

The hype around AI raises as many questions as answers. Will the bots take our jobs? Maybe not yet, but we’re seeing the disruptive impact of AI across white collar roles, in areas like media relations and content creation.

But it’s not as challenging today as it was at the start for us. We have a track record and are blessed to work with clients who value human comms and bring the best out of us.

For all the talk of AI and automation, I’m convinced of the value in working with businesses who care about doing things well. Colleagues who hold each other to account, answer the phone, respond to emails and hit deadlines should be how things work anyway. Think about your interactions with businesses and you may find it’s increasingly rare. Despite the tech advances of the last decade, there’s merit to comms that engages in a human way.

As we head into year four, our sweet spot is working with organisations that want to do things properly, for the right reasons.

Thanks to everyone who’s backed us, challenged us, and worked with us along the way. Massive appreciation to the A team, for what they’ve done, and how they’ve done it.

Here’s to growing together, whatever challenges come our way.

Photo in header is by Possessed Photography on Unsplash.

Written by

Ben Lowndes