Julie King
Julie King is one of the Co-Founders of 4FX, an established design and development agency based in Milton Keynes.
Celebrating more than two successful decades in business, Julie is passionate about developing her team, adapting to the digital landscape and learning from experience to deliver the best client services.
- Tell us a little bit about your business…
We began as a graphic design, web and marketing agency, offering a range of client services.
Over the past twenty or so years, I guess you could say we’ve evolved into a tech company. Now, we offer a full range of on and offline services, from graphic design for online and print, websites, apps, web and cloud-based systems, website domains and hosting, search engine optimisation and much more.
While design is still at our heart with User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) always a priority, we offer digital skills across a wide range of services to help our clients reach their customers more effectively.
- How did you get into the industry?
My background is in design, having worked as a technical illustrator and then an advertising designer, designing print and digital ads for blue-chip companies.
I’ve always been interested in typographic design, for example, how things sit on a page and that translated well for digital – UI/UX is still something I’m passionate about.
- What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
The pace at which the sector moves is phenomenal, and keeping up with new technologies is always a challenge but it’s something we’ve got used to over the years.
To be successful in this industry, you have to keep adapting and evolving to deliver the best service to your clients – mostly these changes are for the better.
- How would you describe your leadership style?
I like to think I lead by example and am encouraging, giving people the confidence to develop. I genuinely care about the team and see my role as far more than just a job.
- How do you get the most out of the people who work for you?
I think it’s important to give people the time they need to work on a solution and provide them with the right tools to get there. I’m also proud that everyone in the team supports each other, offering advice and a sounding board for technical issues – that really helps produce the best results.
- What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful?
Teamwork! For me, people develop by being interested in what others in the team are doing and learning from each other. By teaming up and working together it can result in a better outcome.
Our team is everything, which is why we’ve stayed small and bespoke, harnessing the best talent in the business that shares a passion for delivering a good client experience. We’re also lucky to work with some great clients, which always helps.
- How has the past 12 months been for you?
It’s certainly had its ups and downs, but that’s the nature of the business. On the whole, it’s been positive, but there are always challenges along the way.
As a small business, there’s a constant juggle between having too much work and not enough but we’re proud of the skills and passion within the team for design and development, as well as their tenacity in problem solving. It really means anything is possible and has been a constant driving force.
- What will the next 12 months look like for your business?
We’re looking forward to growing the team and developing the software development and app side of the business further. We have huge expertise and experience in the office and so often we are not allowed to talk about the tech, so we’re looking forward to shouting about this a little more in the future!
- What are the highlights of your career so far?
Starting 4FX was such a big step for me. I’d come from being in a large international company to a start up with just myself and my colleague, Chris, but it was exciting and a new challenge – it’s been the best thing we could have done!
Keeping a business going for over 20 years is a huge point of pride for both of us, along with the fact that we set up right at the start of the digital transformation. Everything is digital now, and we really feel we caught that wave. We were working with mobile devices before most people had even realised their potential.
The launch of our first app was monumental, as was and winning our first £100k project. We still get a buzz from seeing the complexity of the systems we’ve built and how they benefit the client or end user. We build some clever stuff, but we can’t always shout about it, so seeing one of our apps featured in The Times Educational Supplement and on TV’s BBC Click was extremely rewarding.
- What’s the biggest business mistake that you’ve learnt from?
Not everybody wants the same thing from a job, so you need to listen to employees and understand what makes them tick.
We’ve been employing people for over 20 years, so it really does come from a place of experience.
- What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
Whichever industry you’re in, you need to be adaptable. Business is constantly changing, so you need to be prepared to evolve with it. To succeed, you must learn from mistakes, and embrace new technologies and trends – it’s something we’ve always done and will continue to do.
