Rock the Day
Transforming Creativity into a Thriving Business with support from The North Essex Economic Board.
Rock the Day is a creative workshop and studio based in Braintree, Essex, specialising in the design and creation of bespoke props and event styling. Originally established back in 2017, the business was founded by a partnership of three individuals with a passion for art and event design – Magda, Aleks and Laura (who later took an early retirement in 2024).
Initially, Rock the Day began as a passion project, where the three put together their skills to create bespoke props and deliver creative event styling services, particularly focussing on weddings. Over the years, they have since evolved into a full-scale creative enterprise, catering to private events and corporate clients. However, despite their creative success, the business faced significant financial and operational challenges that required strategic intervention.
Like many businesses in the events industry, Rock the Day faced a series of hardships, particularly due to the impact of Covid-19. Before the pandemic, the business was on a steady upward trajectory. Then, as the UK went into lockdown and events were cancelled or postponed indefinitely, the business found itself in a precarious situation. Pivoting temporarily by buying second-hand items to refurbish and sell, the three began to struggle with maintaining financial stability.
“From a business perspective, Rock the Day was just a hobby. We were lucky because we didn’t rely on it financially, and everything we earnt was invested back into the business. Just before the pandemic, we were able to start paying ourselves a wage and it began to take off. Then when Covid hit, we began thinking of what we were going to do. We weren’t entitled to any Government grants, so we had to think of different ways of making alternative income to cover our rent.”
– Magda & Aleks, Co-Owners, Rock the Day
Once the lockdowns had ended and day-to-day life began to resume, the post-covid landscape presented another set of difficulties. With talks of a looming recession and a shifting economy, customer bookings once again began to drop drastically.
“Someone in the media had mentioned a recession, and just like that, the phone went silent for months. We went from such an amazing year, feeling like the next year will be even better and then suddenly people had stopped booking.
The very beginning of the year is typically busy with people for Summer and Autumn weddings, but there was nothing! We tried everything marketing wise, but no one wanted to book because of financial difficulties, and the services we provide is usually the first to be cut.”
– Magda & Aleks, Co-Owners, Rock the Day
Feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place, in early 2024, Magda began to actively look for business support online. Contacting Backing Essex Business, she discovered she was eligible for a programme delivered by Let’s Do Business Group and funded by the North Essex Economic Board, she got in touch to access 12-hours of free business support, and worked with Business Advisory Manager, Ross Moran.
Let’s Do Business Group deliver a support programme jointly with the North Essex Economic Board (NEEB) that gives businesses in Braintree, Maldon, Colchester, Chelmsford, and Tendring districts access to fully funded business advice and workshops to provide the help and support required to get you where you need to be. This programme is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
One of the most significant changes which came to light after working with Ross, was the realisation that despite years of hard work and artistic success, the team had neglected critical financial and operational aspects.
“After some analysis it quickly became apparent that Rock the Day had been losing money for years and was at an inflection point, the business model needed to change, and new customer segments had to be targeted if the business was to survive”
– Ross Moran, Business Advisory Manager, Let’s Do Business Group
Working to restructure and refine Rock the Day’s business model, together they conducted an in-depth financial analysis which broke down costs, labour and pricing, expanded their audience, and begun to focus on corporate target markets and large-scale events, and embraced a business first approach whilst maintaining their creative passion.
“Ross gave us the honest truth which pushed us in the right direction. We didn’t know much about running a business for all these years, and it forced us to analyse how much we spend time on things and our admin time, and to incorporate that into the order, which we had never thought about before.”
– Magda & Aleks, Co-Owners, Rock the Day
After beginning to action these changes, Magda and Aleks have significant improvements in the business’ stability. Looking to the future, their plan for the business is to find more storage, adding on to the Studio they already call home, as well as investing in better transport to deliver their props.
Rock the Day was supported under a project undertaken with Let’s Do Business Group and the North Essex Economic Board (NEEB). The Board is a partnership of local authorities in the area: Braintree, Maldon, and Tendring district councils, Colchester Borough Council, Chelmsford City Council and Essex County Council.
This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus
To find out more about support for businesses in Essex, visit the Backing Essex Business website.