An SME’s Perspective

Peter Borcherds, Founder and Owner of Wolf Rock Media and Red Squirrel IT Support based at Bray Business Centre, chats with Zeb Kidd about work and the future.

By Zeb Kidd, September 2020

Hi Peter, great to meet you!  Would you please tell me a little bit about yourself and how you started your businesses?

Hi! So, I’m originally from South Africa but I have been living here in the UK for the last 20 years or so. I started out as a web designer but changed about a decade ago and went into IT support. Since then, I’ve combined my hobbies of photography and videography to create a business – which is how Wolf Rock Media was born. That business is focused on aerial photography and I’m looking to ramp up the development and marketing on that this year.

Could you tell me a little bit about the kind of work you do at Red Squirrel IT Support and Wolf Rock Media?

Red Squirrel IT Support deals with the day-to-day IT support needs of local SMEs. Around 90% of my clients are SMEs who either work in an office space much like Bray Business Centre, or from home. The majority of them used to work for bigger companies but have since started their own businesses and don’t have the luxury of phoning IT support anymore. I do everything from software installations and computer maintenance to recommendations for Wi-Fi networks. 

Wolf Rock Media is an aerial photography company. I wanted to spend more time outside doing what I enjoy – photography and videography – and have always liked remote controlled gadgets! Although I’ve not had much chance to market the service, I’ve done some work for a local landscape gardener. Recent work has included aerial progress photos of a landscaping project at a private house in Marlow and a sustainability project at a local 5-star hotel. Being able to see the intricate designs from above gives a really stunning perspective of the gardens and I hope to be doing a lot more of it this year! I’ve also invested in a new drone recently – it’s quite exciting!

Describe to us a typical working day in the life of Peter…

It really depends – no two days are the same! Usually, I get into the office around 9am and begin working on my clients’ computers or do home visits. A lot of IT support businesses tend not to do home visits, but I find it much simpler to do the job at hand if I can see everything in front of me.  Recently, I’ve concentrated on doing more local jobs so that I spend less time travelling and can get out to see more clients. 

I understand you’ve been a tenant of ours for a while!  What is it about these offices that makes you love working here?

Yes, its been about 9 years now! To be honest, its really nice to get out of the house. I was initially working from home when I first started up but being at Bray Business Centre gives me a place to put all my clients’ computers and have a space to store all my equipment without cluttering up my house. Its also great to have such a community here where we all help one another out. I’ve done the IT support for a few of the SMEs here and they all help me out as well, so having that family feel is really important for me. Its also great to know that when I lock the door at night, I can go home without having to worry about work anymore. I used to spend my evenings working, sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning when I worked at home, and I don’t have to worry about that anymore.

How have you found working life following the pandemic (office hours, flexible working, office or work from home etc.)?

When lockdown was first relaxed, I wanted to get back into the office for a couple of days a week. Its important for me to see the people working here and to ease myself back into the routine. More recently however, it’s been absolutely manic! Having been down around 50% during lockdown, I’m now catching up on past work and trying to keep up with new work. I’m back full time in the office and trying to find time for all my work.

What’s next for Red Squirrel IT Support and Wolf Rock Media? Is there anything new and exciting we should be looking out for?

Red Squirrel IT support is much of the same, but Wolf Rock Media has some exciting things in the pipeline! As well as working with more landscape gardeners, I’m hoping to develop my work with local golf courses. A lot of courses don’t have much imagery of their course on their website which is where I feel I can help massively. We’re trying to get a niche and build up from that as opposed to doing lots of things without knowing what we are focusing on. Lots of people are following the Instagram page, which is great, but I still want to get more engagement. I’m also part of a local networking community, so I hope to get some work out of that.

Where can people find out more information on the services you provide?

My websites for the companies are;

• Wolf Rock Media https://wolfrockmedia.uk/
• Red Squirrel Support https://www.redsquirrelsupport.com/

If you want to see examples of my aerial photography or connect with me to find out more, my Instagram and Facebook pages are;

• Instagram = @wolfrockmedia
• Facebook = Wolf Rock Media