A Darlington entrepreneur who turned redundancy into a business opportunity is celebrating a decade of success after growing from a single desk in a shared workspace to a thriving media agency.
Adam Walker founded Hubspoke Media in 2016 after his redundancy from a local authority role was confirmed on the very day his second son was born. Faced with the uncertainty of starting over while raising a young family, he decided to take a leap of faith by launching his own marketing and communications business.
A decade later, Hubspoke Media has become an established name in the North East business community, providing marketing, PR, video production, podcasting and digital communications services to organisations across the UK.
The company’s growth has been closely linked with Business Central in Darlington, where Adam has been based since the very beginning.
Starting out in the centre’s coworking space, the business has physically grown within the building as it has developed, with Adam progressing into his own office before expanding into a larger suite as the company grew to a team of four.
Today, Hubspoke occupies significantly more space than when it began and has expanded further with the launch of Darlington Stream Space, a dedicated podcast and content creation studio based within Business Central. In the last 12 months alone, the studio has produced over 160 podcasts and welcomed 150 new guests to Business Central.
“When I started out, I didn’t have a grand plan,” says Adam. “I just knew I wanted to create something that could support my young family and give me control over my future.
“There were times when it felt uncertain and in the early days, I was just trying to make ends meet. So, to now have a fantastic team around me, lots of plans in the pipeline and be celebrating a decade in business is something I’m really proud.
“But I honestly don’t think the journey would have looked the same without Business Central. Every stage of our growth has happened under the same roof and we wouldn’t call anywhere else home.”
While the physical workspace helped support Hubspoke’s expansion, Adam believes the people behind Business Central have played an equally important role.
Like many first-time business owners, he experienced the isolation that can come with launching a company alone. But being surrounded by other entrepreneurs and a supportive facilities team helped provide encouragement during both the highs and lows of business ownership.
“Having a place where other business owners are facing similar challenges makes a huge difference,” says Adam.
“And the Business Central team have always been there to listen, offer advice, celebrate success and help put things into perspective when challenges arise. They have played a huge part in helping us to get where we are today.”
Over the years, Business Central has provided access to business support programmes, networking opportunities and growth initiatives, helping Adam build new connections, develop new ideas and identify ways to take the business forward.
Through the North East BIC Ambassador programme, Adam was also introduced to experienced business mentor Steven Armstrong, who provides an additional sounding board as Hubspoke enters its next phase of growth.
Over the last decade, the agency has weathered challenges including the pandemic, economic uncertainty and changing market conditions, while continuing to grow its client base, expand its services and create local jobs.
And Adam believes the environment created by Business Central has been key to that resilience and success.
“It’s easy to think of a business centre as simply somewhere to rent an office, but it’s so much more than that. It’s the community, relationships, opportunities and the people who genuinely want to see you succeed.
“Business Central has been part of our story since day one. We’ve grown alongside the centre, and I genuinely see the team there as an extension of our own team.”
Owned by Darlington Borough Council and managed by the North East BIC, Business Central celebrated its own tenth anniversary last year. Along neighbouring Innovation Central, it provides a connected business community at the heart of the town’s Central Park development, offering a choice of coworking, office and lab space along with meeting rooms, events and shared services designed to help today’s entrepreneurs to innovate and thrive.
Nicole Johnstone, Centre Manager Business Central, said: “Adam’s journey is exactly the kind of success story Business Central was created to support. The team here has had the privilege of watching Hubspoke grow from a one-person start-up to a thriving agency, and we can’t wait to see where the journey will take it next.”