It’s been a decade since my digital agency, Thunderbolt Digital, first opened its doors to help local small to medium-sized businesses, writes managing director and founder Saybhan Delilkhan.

We’ve come a long way since then, serving clients both big and small, locally and globally.

Now that my business and I have reached a milestone, I’d like to share my story of growth with the people of Farnham who have supported me through the years.

As a business owner you have so many roles – managing, finances, operations, strategy and, the blood line of any company, sales.

I actually started my career as a salesperson when I was 17. It was during the 80s when being like Gordon Gekko and GTIs were objects of desire.

Being an estate agent was a quick way to make money. I learned soon into my job the importance of persistence and hard work – I worked six days a week, 9am to 8pm.

With all my efforts, I eventually became the youngest branch manager in the Thames Valley for a national chain of estate agents at just 19 years old.

With sales being a very competitive field, even with my hard work and success I was overlooked for promotions and felt like opportunities were not being given to me. So I decided to create the opportunity for myself.

When faced with adversity, you look for other ways to succeed.

That’s when I decided I wanted to be a business owner.

I chose to start a company in the digital industry because of my background in selling advertising space and my experience in the digital and media fields.

I was originally selling advertising space in a small book called the Yellow Pages and then transitioned into telecommunications selling a new to market product called “Web Callback”.

The internet was just taking off and I went to head up the digital division of a traditional media buying and planning agency in Reigate before finally moving to a local web agency in Farnham. That’s when I met my now close friend Jonathan.

He was MD of the agency and the person who supported me to start my own business.

Not only would Jonathan come to financially back me, but he helped me when coming up with the look and feel of the agency.

Choosing the name for the company was a challenge.

I wanted it to embody a warm spirit and suggested the name “Helpful” so that when we answered the phone the caller would hear “hello, we’re Helpful”.

But Jonathan pushed back: “But what if they didn’t have a good experience? Then we wouldn’t be very helpful.”

After three months of disagreement, I jokingly suggested “Bolt” and eventually he said “Thunderbolt” – and like a flash of lighting, Thunderbolt Digital was born.

My years providing online marketing strategies through larger agencies made me realise I could be offering these premium digital services for a lower margin, to help small to medium businesses locally.

I wanted to be able to walk down Farnham High Street and say “I did that website” or “I know that owner”. And I’m proud to say we’ve done just that.

We’ve worked with local businesses like Tindle Newspapers, Phyllis Tuckwell and Elphicks.

Although our focus has expanded to include larger, global clients, such as Softbank Robotics, our care and commitment to our customers and the local community remains unchanged.

But, as any business owner knows, the glamour of winning clients and achieving comes with a lot of hard work and hard decisions. On difficult days, I rely on lots of coffee and a bit of cake to keep me going throughout the day.

I also remind myself that I not only need to provide for my family, but also for the people who work for Thunderbolt, who rely on me for support and their salaries.

Dealing with failure is a part of life and business, and I have realised it’s about learning from mistakes and doing it better next time.

So, what now? I hope in five years’ time Thunderbolt has grown into a larger business with multiple locations, whether that’s in the UK or abroad. I want to see my team succeed and develop, with opportunities that I would have loved as a young go-getter.

Now ten years has passed, I can thank the Farnham business community for their support and choosing Thunderbolt Digital as their digital partner.