Another quarter gone. And honestly? It flew by.
There’s a lot to unpack here—animation projects that demanded way more than expected, new service launches, technical wins that actually felt good, and some pretty major personal milestones. But there’s also something worth being honest about: a lot of this quarter was spent finishing work that dragged over from 2025. And while getting things done feels good, it also meant less time for fresh ideas and new projects.
That’s the reality of working with clients sometimes. Projects stretch. Feedback loops happen. You roll with it.
But let’s get into what actually happened.
The Reality of Q1: When Old Work Eats New Ideas
Before I dive into the specifics, here’s the thing: How much of your own growth gets delayed because you’re managing someone else’s deadlines?
For me, it was notable this quarter. Continuing work from 2025—the ongoing stuff that needed finishing—took up real estate in my schedule. It’s not bad work. It’s necessary work. But it meant less space to experiment or launch new ideas with the same energy I’d like.
If you’re juggling client work and your own projects, you know the feeling. The question isn’t whether it’s worth it—it’s about recognizing it’s happening and planning accordingly next time.
Brace Media: When Complexity Beats Deadlines
The Battery Animation: A Study in Scope Creep (The Good Kind)
We had an animation project for a product that cools and heats batteries and motors in electric vehicles. The deadline? Originally hoped for before Christmas 2025.
That didn’t happen. Here’s why: the product is technical. There’s a lot to demonstrate, and early on, it became clear that rushing it would mean missing the point entirely. Add in multiple rounds of feedback, and suddenly you’re not just animating—you’re rethinking the entire flow of the demonstration.
The original storyboard got partially dismantled and rebuilt. Scenes got rearranged. The order of what happens on screen changed. It was time-consuming. There was a lot of rendering time. A lot of hours.
But here’s the thing: it made the final animation stronger. Because when you’re explaining something complex, the order matters. How you reveal information matters. And sometimes you don’t realize that until you’re deep in the work.
By the end of Q1, it was still in client review. Goal: finish ASAP in Q2. We’ll get there.
The Camera Animation: When Your Updated Product Updates Your Timeline
The second animation project is a study in unexpected revisions.
This one was originally due around February or March 2025—right around when Laszlo was born. The client seemed in a rush at first, then… went quiet. They had other priorities. The project paused.
Then in Q1, they came back with news: the product they’d had us animate was an older prototype. They’d since designed a final version. And they wanted the animation updated to match the new design.
So: new CAD files arrived. New 3D models to update. New animation to re-render. It was a smaller revision than the original project, but still—it was surprising. Four main shots re-rendered. (For context: this animation is visually complex, which means it renders slowly. Every re-render is a time commitment.)
It’s done now. Waiting on their feedback. Hope to have it wrapped in Q2.
The lesson here? Client timelines aren’t always about urgency. Sometimes they’re about their own shifting priorities. Can you stay flexible when that happens?
Growing the Service Offering: Web, APIs & Infrastructure
The Ad Agency Website: Rebuilding What Works
We’ve done web and WordPress work for 15+ years. But this ad agency in Birmingham? They knew us for animation until last year.
Now we’re on our second web project with them. And this one’s for their own site—which means it matters to them differently.
The scope turned out bigger than we first thought. More layers. More complexity. But their design team did solid work, and the site looks good. Our job: rebuild it to be faster. Newer, smoother experience—both for them on the backend and for visitors (and Google).
It’s in final review now. Q2 completion target.
The Boiler Company Database: When the Real Solution Arrives Late
For the same ad agency, we’ve been managing an ongoing project with a large boiler company. They have a warranty registration database where customers can look up their warranty periods and serial numbers.
Initially, we imported all those records (tens of thousands of them) directly into WordPress. It was a short-term fix.
The real solution? An API connection to their database. When someone searches for a serial number on the website, we request it from their servers, pull the data, display it, and offer a PDF download. All without storing massive amounts of data in WordPress.
We built that in Q1. And it just works. It was straightforward to implement. The requests hit their servers perfectly. WordPress runs lean again. The client is happy.
Sometimes the delayed solution is the right one. Have you had that experience—where the “proper” fix took longer but made everything better?
Empire Base: Launching Services & Adding AI
Service Pages: Finally Making SEO Visible
Empire Base had been running all services under one umbrella page. Functional, but not ideal—especially for search engines trying to understand what we actually do.
This quarter, we launched dedicated service pages. Each service gets its own space. Better for visitors in London. Better for Google’s understanding.
I’m particularly proud of the SEO service page. It’s something I genuinely believe in: an all-in-one, all-encompassing SEO service that delivers real results for a reasonable budget. Not breaking it into five separate charges. One service. Proper scope.
The Chatbot: Eating Our Own Cake
Since we were building these pages, we also added an AI chatbot to the site. It helps people figure out what they might need, steers them toward the right service, and generally encourages good business thinking.
It’s fun to interact with. It’s smart. And it actually works. I’m excited about it because it’s one of those tools that feels genuinely useful rather than just… there.
Pollux Technologies: The Payment Processor Saga (Still Ongoing)
This is the one that’s been eating at me for 12 to 18 months.
We have a campaign that needs card payment processing in the US. Sounds simple. It’s not. The industry is considered “high risk,” which means only a handful of payment processors will touch it.
We got close to approval. But then we discovered the missing piece: the company needs to go through a certification program. It costs money. But once we have it, Visa and Mastercard recognize it, and approval becomes much clearer.
We’re working on meeting those criteria now. Why am I mentioning this in a personal recap? Because persistence on something unsexy—backend infrastructure, certification processes, payment systems—is unglamorous work that’s absolutely necessary. And sometimes it takes longer than you’d like to discover what the actual blocker is.
Tax Time + AI Win
On a lighter note: US tax season means gathering expense documents, bank statements, everything. I signed the company up to an AI-powered tool that correlates all of it—documents, statements, expenses—and exports ready-to-use files for our accountants.
It saved a lot of time. It actually works. And it’s another example of good AI integration—solving a real, repetitive problem.
Brace Media: The DCP Cinema Format Work
One of my favorite short-burst projects: preparing independent films for cinema release.
Cinemas don’t accept random video files. Films have to be encoded in DCP format (Digital Cinema Projection Format). It requires specific knowledge and tools. Not many people do it.
This quarter, I handled one for “Jo in the Water“—a documentary-style film about a woman holding UK water companies accountable for sewage pollution in the sea. Powerful stuff.
When the DCP files are approved by cinema projectionists and distribution teams, the filmmakers get excited. Because it means the film is actually ready. That last hurdle is cleared.
There’s something satisfying about that—technical expertise solving a specific problem for someone doing creative work.
Supporting Others: When Your Skills Help
I also worked with an old friend from sixth form—still in touch after all these years. He’d written his second book and needed cover artwork and layout for Amazon publication.
The work: model a 3D caveman, 3D axe, position and light them, then design and lay out the book cover and back matter. The book’s about a caveman named Ozo from the Alps.
He handled the content. I handled the visual presentation.
His books get good reviews. He’s a self-published author doing well for himself. It’s nice to sometimes help people level up their projects, even in small ways. When was the last time you used your skills to help someone else reach their goal?
The Real Wins: Laszlo’s First Steps & Life Shifts
But honestly? The biggest things this quarter weren’t work-related.
First Birthday & First Steps
Laszlo turned one in mid-February. We took a few days away to a five-star glamping site—a little caravan, some time to recharge after a chaotic first year, time to reconnect as a family.
On his actual birthday, he took his first proper sequential walking steps. Before that, a couple of wobbly tries here and there. But on his birthday? He just… started walking across the living room.
A week later, he was walking in S-shapes around the lounge. The adoption of confidence and strength is genuinely remarkable. Kids develop fast when they decide to commit to something.
The Little Milestones
During that time away, he went swimming for the first time in an indoor pool. He loved it—splashing, seeing other kids, exploring.
Since his birthday, he’s learned to point. And with pointing came communication and intention. We’d ask “Where’s the cat?” and watch him think for a moment, look around, and point directly at the cat, or “which balloon do you want to play with?” …. pause… point (with a cute grunt!).
He’s also helpful—unpacking shopping, moving items from A to B, understanding requests without being able to speak.
And his first proper shoes came this quarter, fitted properly at Clark’s Village in Somerset. First time in a proper shoe shop. A bit wobbly at first, then confident. Couldn’t stop him walking around the shop floor checking out other children.
As a parent, watching comprehension and capability develop that fast is genuinely humbling. What’s something your child (or someone close to you) did this quarter that surprised you?
The Car
After much deliberation last year, I finally took delivery of a brand new 2026 model car. Bigger, safer, designed for transporting all the stuff a young family needs.
We’re genuinely overjoyed with it. It drives beautifully. It levels us up in practical ways.
I’ve never possessed a new car before. There’s a real sense of achievement in that. It represents a lot of work and consistency coming together.
Wrapping Up: Busy, Productive, Tiring, Amazing
Q1 2026 was all of those things at once. Old client work eating into new ideas. Technical problems taking longer to solve than expected. But also real wins—sites launching, services going live, an API implementation that actually made things better, and watching my son learn to walk and communicate in the span of weeks.
The balance is hard. There’s never enough hours. But looking back, I’m proud of the quarter.
So here’s my question for you: What did your Q1 bring? Did you finish something you started last year? Did you launch something new? And what surprised you most—work-wise or personally?
I’d genuinely like to know. Drop a comment or reach out.
