The 10 Year Journey of Ashbridge Partners – Juliet Ashbridge
2022 was a big year for all of us. At Ashbridge Partners we celebrated our ten-year anniversary, and it gave Mark and I the opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come as a family business. So much has changed in the last ten years – we’ve lived through the aftermath of a global economic crisis, Brexit, and then of course the pandemic. This decade certainly hasn’t been an easy one for many businesses. We’re grateful to be here, a stronger team than ever, and to have helped so many of our clients weather the storms too.
Reflecting together
Mark’s own reflections include the highs and lows we’ve navigated together with our clients, and I’d like to take a moment here to recognise Mark’s commitment and dedication to getting us all to this point in the Ashbridge Partners story. We have grown together as a family and as a family business, and we are so proud of our exceptional team that has grown from our strong foundations and evolved in ways we couldn’t have imagined.
Our 10-year anniversary cake photo was viewed 4000 times on LinkedIn!
Our values
I am so immensely proud of the fact that our growing team embodies our family and business values of trust, care, respect, and honesty in everything they do. Equally important to all of us is the enjoyment of what we do every day and understanding and appreciating the impact of our work on our clients’ lives and livelihoods. Community is so important, and our location right in the heart of Stow still means so much to us and the team. We’ve built many local connections that we are grateful for, and we love playing a part in Stow’s developing story as a bustling, connected hub for visitors and locals. We are so proud to have helped the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) raise £200k in the last 5 years. They provide valuable research into wildlife habitat and Mark’s role as the GWCT County Chairman has delivered this result through fundraising and sponsorship.
New locations
Somehow it feels like London and Stow are closer together than they were ten years ago. Our team interchange between our two offices easily, and we enjoy the best of both worlds provided by our rural and urban office locations. We believe in working flexibly and not attaching hours to a clock. The trust we have in the team means that balance and flexibility are key components of all our weeks. If one of the team has an important family event, we believe in helping them to prioritise it, and the whole team rallies to ensure that nobody misses sports day or a nativity play. We encourage everyone to take exercise in daylight hours if they want to, and we’re passionate about sharing food and a cup of tea together (we all work best fuelled by homemade biscuits!).
Our family business
Looking back on our journey together, there have been some challenging times (like two weeks of maternity leave!) as our family has grown along with our business.
We now have three children who seem to be taller every time we look at them. Inca our black Labrador looks forward to her lunchtime walk – Pine House in Stow is only ten minutes from our family home – and we have found balance now between family and work life, just about. I remember the intensity of those first few years together. Mark and I covered everything – not a small task as a start-up in a regulated market. We were so surprised at the relief that came as we took on our first team member. Every time we add a new person to our team, we still feel that same sense of great relief.
Now we’ve got a team to care for, to support and challenge as the world around us continues to change and we continue to grow. It’s a different kind of intensity now. Our wonderful team have taken on so much, and our own roles have evolved into those of leadership and support. It really feels like from our roots, the team has grown, and now the branches are beginning to bloom.
As founders, we share the strategic challenges and discuss issues as each other’s sounding boards. I have lost count of the times I have reminded Mark to stick to the plan and not waiver in confidence, and this is now a key part of my role with the wider team – building their confidence and reminding them of what’s important to us all as a business.
One thing is guaranteed in life – the wheel of change will keep on turning. Through everything that the last ten years have brought us, our core values have remained the same and I’m so proud of that. I’d like to thank our entire community for all their support – our clients, partners, friends old and new, and of course our exceptional team.
To get in touch with the team, contact:
enquiries@ashbridgepartners.co.uk
01451 830223
Follow our journey on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ashbridge-partners-ltd/people
