Last year, I blogged a lot about business concepts. What comes next are my tales of applying those concepts into real business situations. I'll be brutally honest. I've been thoroughly tested this year (more than I'd care to admit). Our business model flipped from 80% marketing to 80% design in less than 8 months. Let me be clear, what we do on a daily basis is what changed. How we do it remains intact.
In 2009, business was easy. We were flush with capital, producing amazing results and had even hired two new full-time resources to help us build the company. We had absolutely nothing holding me back - so I thought. I mean here we were, winning at every turn, making money hand over fist, meanwhile many businesses around us were struggling to make a profit. I didn't quite understand it (nor did I care to question it either).
And so the pendulum swings.
2010 was a totally different story. I think what made 2010 so difficult was that we ignored market conditions. We relied too heavily on our past successes and not enough on building us up for future ones. We were statisfied with our growth and the output we were generating, so we became complacent. The fact that we lost a huge client over it served as a big wake up call to make some sweeping changes.
Losing a big account changed a lot about us internally. Sure, we lost a lot of capital, but we gained a tremendous amount of insight. It forced us as a company to re-think what we've been doing, and face-up to what we should be doing (a statement much easier said than done).
So we made some significant adjustments with our team. We know where we're headed and have the right people on the bus. The posts that are to follow will go more into what we're doing (and not doing) to make our company the best web design firm in Chicago to work with.
