Jonathan Hirshler
Having lived an interesting life as a political consultant, I left the buzz of politics behind me to start up Score Designs in 2002. From politics to web design, how did that happen I hear you ask? Well, the transition wasn't as crazy as it sounds. Having graduated from Uni with a degree in Politics and Contemporary History, I started working for a public affairs agency called APCO-UK. Part of the Grey Advertising Group, this US-owned firm had offices in every major capital in the world and provided public affairs advice to some of the biggest companies in the world. It was apparent that some of these companies were so big that they didn't know their left hand from their right and what they were saying to the traditional media was in some cases completely opposed to the message being spouted by their own website. An opportunity had been spotted and my more geeky / techie tendancies nudged me into a global practice group whose role it was to redress this imbalance. As a founding member of APCO's Online practice group I became immersed in the more intricate aspects of the web, which, whilst still very much in its infancy, was becomming a poweful medium. I went on courses, read as much material as I could and then started playing around with some design software with which I was tasked with building a multi-lingual reference site for the Department of International Development. My tastebuds were well and truly moistened... In my spare time I found myself building community websites for local charities and sporting associations when all of a sudden, the people whom I was doing this for started to offer me money for this service. Score Designs was born. I took the leap from paid employent to self employment and have never looked back since. Score has grown in four years from me and my home desktop, to a dedicated team of six and a larger network of specialist consultants whom we draw upon when the task requires. In 2006 we changed the company name to Score Communications to reflect the step into Social Media consultancy services and we believe that this offering will help us to really make a name for ourself. Above all else, we all genuinely enjoy what we do for a living and we have a great laugh in the office. In my previous jobs I never realised it was possible to enjoy your working life - my view on that has now changed, however, the blood sweat and tears we've been putting in to get things to where they are has not been an easy sacrifice at times.
