#01 - The beginning
Published: 2022-06-26 22:07:10

Hey everyone 👋

I'm Jack, the founder and owner of Pothos Digital. Today marks the first day of Pothos Digital being a fully-fledged limited company. It also marks the first day of the 'Diary of Pothos Digital' blog post series, where I'll be writing a relatively-short blog post every day - updating on the company's progress.

So first things first...

## What is Pothos Digital?

The simple answer is "a web design and development agency". We specialise in UI/UX design and Webflow development to create websites for local businesses and startups. We also offer a number of related services including site maintenance & support packages, search engine optimisation (SEO), digital marketing, branding and more.

Our over-arching goal is to provide value to our customers which means providing value to their customers. We want to design websites that will increase their customers engagement and develop experiences that will shape their opinions of the brand.

## Who? and why?

My name's Jack Brown. By trade I am a Software Engineer/Developer but have a keen interest in UI and UX design. After completing my A-Levels, I joined Vodafone UK as a Technology Apprentice where I studied part-time for a degree whilst working a full-time job.

During my degree course, I completed a mobile application module where we were tasked with building an Android app from scratch using Xamarin Studio. That is where the seed was planted. From there, I knew I wanted to be a developer who built websites and apps and after some good advice from a friend of a friend who was a developer, I started learning HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

After a few courses and tutorials, I reached out to the head of our 'Web Engineering' domain at Vodafone and asked about joining the team. I joined in July 2020 as a Junior Software Engineer working on the Vodafone Business Portal - a special web application for business-to-business customers. From there I went on a path of learning everything from React and TypeScript to AWS and API design. It's now nearly July 2022 and I'm a Software Engineer continuing to work at Vodafone whilst building Pothos Digital in my free time.

Although my background is in web development using the more traditional "code" approach - building websites using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, this business specialises in Webflow - a tool infamous for its "no code" approach.

I came across Webflow on various social medias and had originally planned to use it to only create a simple personal blog. But... as I was using it I fell in love with how fast and easy it made the development process. I found I was able to use my understanding of HMTL and CSS to very quickly - relative to the the code approach - create professional-quality websites.

I have always wanted to start my own company but never know what it would be or do, until now. I want to grow Pothos Digital to be a recognised Webflow expert and a trusted design and development agency.

## Current state

As I mentioned, today was the first day I could say "Pothos Digital Limited". The process of setting up a company was pretty straight forward and only cost £12. I also set up all the required social accounts - Facebook Page, Instagram, Twitter, Google Business - to share news and updates. 

The majority of my time recently has been spent designing and developing www.pothosdigital.co.uk which I'm hoping to have finished soon. It's also been an opportunity to further learn Webflow and all its capabilities. I'm planning on starting a YouTube channel where I'll share content on how to use Webflow and other useful tips and tricks.

Once the main website is built I'll focus on building example sites for the portfolio and marketing Pothos's services. There is a potential client who I'm in talks with and, for a heavily-discounted price, have offered to redesign and build their website to build the portfolio.

Thanks for reading! Check back tomorrow for another entry in the Diary of Pothos Digital.