Pluto Media

Founders

Jon King, Pluto Media

Profile

Jon King of Pluto Media with camera. I had almost finished my Computer Animation and Special Effects degree at the University of Bradford in 2007 and was thinking about what job to do. I saw other people struggling to find employment and decided that I'd like to set up a production company.

I started marketing my services that Summer and got my first job. It was going really well. The following month I approached Think Business for support. I now employ 1 full time member of staff and there is plenty of work coming our way.

What does your company do?

Pluto Media make corporate and promotional videos with a Web focus and specialise in promotion for charities.

We also provide a production agency service for supplying camera operators, editors and computer graphic artists.

What has ThinkBusiness@Bradford done to help you develop?

The mentoring advice and ideas from someone with experience was of most value. It's scary starting a business, but it was reassuring to know that you could talk to someone who didn't want to make money from you by giving you skewed advice.
Jon King of Pluto Media with camera.
The marketing support was also great. The face to face marketing was difficult for me, but when I got the advice and did the training I was much more confident with networking and doing direct marketing.

What's been your biggest success?

My biggest success has been building the business up to be able to take on a full time employee. It's allowed me to concentrate on what I enjoy and know I'm good at in the business and it's great that I've found someone I work so well with and is good at the job.

What's been the hardest thing you've had to cope with?

Money. It's tough not having a regular income when you have bills to pay, especially when as a new graduate you have no money to pull on.

It's also been hard sometimes keeping motivated to carry on when things aren't going that well. I've taught myself to step back and put these small glitches into perspective.

What advice would you give other new businesses?

Don't assume that everyone else knows exactly what they are doing when they start a business. It can be intimidating and make it hard to ask for help.

Always plan what you do around helping your business grow and develop so everything will still work in the future, such as systems that can be used by more than one person. This will help you take risks now that you know will benefit you in the long-term.

If you have an attitude that it will be successful, it will rub off on other people and is more likely to come true.

What plans do you have for the future of Pluto Media?

I am continuing to grow the business. I am reviewing the branding and marketing and plan to set up a newsletter and use YouTube for promoting video samples. I am also developing the website. I am interviewing for a full time production manager and intend to employ another full time person in the next few years.

In the long-term I want a full team working with me to make the business more secure. I hope to buy a building with office space to rent out to other media companies.
Jon King of Pluto Media with camera.