Adam Patel founded Smart & Slick in 2020 to help entrepreneurs and small business owners with an increasingly complex area that no modern business owner can afford to avoid: their digital presence.
Increasingly, an outstanding digital presence is becoming a cornerstone of success for nearly any type of business. Because in the vast majority of circumstances, a business's digital presence - particularly their website - is the first point of contact with a prospective customer. In other words, a business's website IS its first impression on most prospective customers.
While Adam holds no formal qualifications in the fields of web design, computer programming or marketing and advertising, he does have years of self-taught experience to call upon. And don't they say that a real expert is somebody who's made every possible mistake in a particular field?
Adam Patel first showed an interest in web design at the age of 15 when the Internet was very young. He built his first website on Microsoft Frontpage, a now extinct program that used to be part of Microsoft Office. Between then and his early twenties, Adam developed a keen interest in web design and digital marketing.
When Adam was 19, he started his first enterprise, writing eBooks and selling them on eBay, improving his web design and copywriting skills ultimately justifying an increase in product price of 100%, and subsequently making enough money to buy his mum her first laptop.
"That was really lesson one", he says, "How you market and package a product or service can drastically influence how much the market is willing to pay for it.
In 2020, Adam made the decision to leave his current business as an NHS contractor and attend Makers Academy, an industry-grade software development bootcamp, with the aim of upskilling his coding skills to a professional level, something he felt he needed to do before pursuing any sort of career in the digital space.
His initial plan was to seek employment at one of the growing number of tech companies, however his role at Smart & Slick utilises his wider skillbase, bringing together and allowing him to pracise computer programming, web design, copywriting, graphic design and many aspects of brand building and business strategy.
Throughout his adult life, Adam has been involved with a wide range of entrepreneurial ventures and experienced varying degrees of success and failure.
"Most entrepreneurs", he says, "Wouldn't tell you about their failures. But when you fail a lot, you learn a lot. And I'd say it's my failures, more than my successes, that qualify the most to help other businesses."
Adam knows - first hand - what it's like to be an entrepreneur and business owner. He understands your worries and what keeps you awake at night. As a result, he's built Smart & Slick not just to develop websites and marketing assets, but to help entrepreneurs and business owners sleep.
You can read Adam's Blog right here on Smart & Slick.