Inspirational Display using Gallery Systems Traditional Picture Rail hanging system
www.thegallerysystem.co.uk www.thegallerysystem.com www.facebook.com/TheGallerySystem
Hi, Jillian here again! In Part #1 I gave you a bit of insight into the origins of Gallery Systems and how the whole idea and business came about.
Bruce as the inventor of the products employed me some 24 years ago as his assistant. He actually employed me so that he could spend more time travelling and move away from the business. Well, that didn’t really happen as he just loved working and inventing things which meant he rarely went on holidays at all.
His mind was always working and thinking up ideas. He even invented some products that he never marketed to the public. I used to call them our ‘secret products’. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself here; this is another story. My purpose today is to give you insight into how I became excited about Gallery Systems!
Back in January 2001, I moved from Central Queensland to the Sunshine Coast, along with my husband and three beautiful children (13, 10 and 2 years of age at the time). Before this, my husband and I had our own business. I ran a swim school while my husband was a teacher. Anyway, after moving to the coast we decided that I would not look for work straight away so that I could settle the children into school and then start looking for a job in a few months (not sure I was ever the ‘stay at home mum’ type). Anyway long story short, we settled the kids in, and then I started looking for a job; something in an office. Didn’t want to work for myself for a while, just leave the stress to somebody else. I had skills, right? I could just transfer them to any business really, or so I thought. I was applying for job after job with not one interview after three months of looking! Well, that was a bit discouraging.
Anyway, one day, after three months of applying for jobs, I got a phone call from a gentleman called Bruce from Gallery something or other asking me if I would like to come in for an interview for a job as his office assistant. At this stage I didn’t actually quite hear what the name of the company was so I asked him again. The second time around was no better, I still didn’t understand what he said. I heard the word Gallery Systems but really didn’t understand what that actually was. I thought I had better take up the offer of an interview, but was hoping that the whole business was above board so to speak!
The day of the interview came,and I dressed myself in my best outfit. Which I might add was not that flash as, don’t forget that I ran a swim school before this where the uniform usually consisted of swimwear, shorts and a hat!!
I went for the interview and met Bruce for the first time. Unfortunately, after the interview was over I was still not sure what a Gallery System was!! Well to my amazement Bruce phoned me a couple of days later and offered me the job to start on the 3rd July 2001. By the way the business did seem to be above board and quite interesting really. Working for an inventor could be fun!!
I was actually thrown into the deep end. The previous assistant gave me a quick rundown of everything in the office, and how the factory was organised over a couple of days, but before I knew it I was on my own in a one person office. Bruce was the inventor, marketer and product developer not a lover of anything in the office. On my first solo day he said to me ‘if there is anything I don’t know about what happens in the office, don’t ask him as he had no idea! Ha!
Before and after shot of the Gallery Stainless Steel Cable system with lights!
So there was my introduction to Gallery Systems, the company that manufactures hanging and lighting systems for art. Over the years I set up systems to get everything working smoothly (I love systems). I became integral in the development and redevelopment of all of the company’s products, the development of new machinery, and the manufacturing processes. I became, a marketer, office manager, production manager, and really ‘chief cook and bottle washer’ so to speak! But there was never a dull moment. I learned things that generally were not ‘girl stuff’. I could tell you more about stainless steel cable than most people would ever know or want to know in a lifetime.
Around 2007, Bruce made noises that he would like to retire someday. That got me thinking that this could be a good opportunity for me to buy the business. Unfortunately, this was just before the GFC. I was not willing to take the risk of going into debt to buy a business during this worldwide economic downturn. So I had to wait!!
What do they say; all good things come to those who wait. Fast forward to 2016 and Bruce became more serious about hanging up his inventors hat and retiring. After about a year of negotiation, and you aren’t going to believe this, on the 3rd of July 2017, exactly 16 years to the day that I first stepped foot into the world of manufacturing gallery hanging and lighting systems for art, I took over, along with my husband, as the brand new owners of Gallery Systems.
Since then we have been hard at it, making this thing work! It has been a journey of excitement and nervousness all rolled into one! But here we are, serving our customers to the best of our ability.
Since taking over we have fine-tuned manufacturing processes with the goal of reducing our costs. This is the budding accountant coming out in me. Oh I forgot to tell you that in there I finished my accounting degree which I had started in 2013 (sorry forgot to mention that earlier). So while running a small business, studying and trying to learn to be a marketer it has been a ride.
So where do we see ourselves in the future? In the short term, we have some really exciting emerging international markets starting to take shape, and we are going to start marketing some of Bruce’s secret products! How exciting is that!
In the long term, well you will just have to wait and see!
… talk soon! J
