What are your job duties and/or what does your company do:

RB Design Studio is a website and graphics design company started in 1998. That was the time the internet, as we know it today, began changing the face of communication and industry. Seeing and understanding the possibilities of what the internet had to offer and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I structured and began producing with my company after the demand for my work became the focus of my activities.

We provide website design services to businesses, churches, ministries, realtors, small to mid-sized businesses and any other situation in which a professionally designed website, at a reasonable price, is needed. We are experienced in every aspect of website design and can take even the novice computer user all the way from buying a domain name to setting up hosting, designing the website, and then optimizing and submitting the site to the search engines so the website can be found. Our goal is getting and keeping our websites ranking near the top of all the major search engines on a consistent basis. RB Design Studio has recently partnered with several other independent contractors to provide services such as database programming, magazine publishing, hosting and other services in which my personal experience has been limited. I have learned to expand our client base and provide many more services necessary for a complete website design package by finding experts in relating fields. I also am a member of several online networking groups which provide me with information necessary to do quality work. I also provide advise and expertise to other web designers or virtual office assistants.

Our company is also experienced in simple projects like creating customer banners for advertising, coordinating your website to flow with your current marketing materials, or creating brand new innovative marketing materials to coordinate with your new website.

RB Design Studio has created ads for some of our clients that have been used in print advertising for newspapers and other publications. We offer services to Realtors (both locally and virtually) such as creating and printing brochures for their listings, custom postcards for mail-outs, maintenance of their MLS listings, virtual photo tours of properties, and much more.

How long have you been at your job:

I have been designing websites since 1998. Before that I had 25 years of clerical/administrative assistance experience with a local mechanical and electrical consulting engineering company. That work experience laid the foundation for the business end of developing and running a company, as well as the experience gained in the use of Microsoft Office Suite products and other vital computer programs.

What do you like best about your job:

There are many things that I like about my job making it difficult to identify any one particular thing. I love the freedom that being self-employed has given me to work when I want. Working on the internet also affords me the freedom to be able to work where I want to work. The only tool necessary for a working environment for my company is an internet connection and a computer. I have created website updates from clients’ offices, from the public library, and from my church office. I have the flexibility to attend networking meetings when I desire, and work at 5:00 a.m. in my home office if this is necessary. I am free to attend family functions or other personal appointments without having to worry that I am “on the clock” and my supervisor is going to be upset with me for not being “on the job”.

RB Design Studio has allowed me to discover new creative talents that I didn’t even have opportunity to use before. As I begin a new website, I feel much like an artist feels when looking at a blank white canvas. This allows me to fulfill the never developed desire I have to both draw and paint. With the graphics programs available today, I am able to bring to life a picture or concept with my mouse and/or graphics tablet that a pen or a paintbrush could never achieve. Having the ability to portray the wants and needs of the client visually requires time, trial and error, and creativity. This is the purpose of our company. I have learned to present a first design and then listen to the client in order to catch the concept they have of their own business. Often, this first design is the one the client likes the best and is the one we publish to the internet because I really listen when my client talks and I want to learn as much as I can about their business. This gives me insight into what it is that they do, and how they work with their clientele, allowing me to better present that format on the internet.

Inspiring thoughts for others:

I love a quote which states: “When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.” -Henry J. Kaiser (author).

When I first found this quote, I thought, “How arrogant!” Now, I understand that the demands of this concept is the driving force behind RB Design Studio. I demand the best from myself and my company and thus I give my clients my very best. I always treat each one of my clients as if they were the only one! I treat my clients the way I would want to be treated. I have a goal to practice that toward everyone I come into contact with as an individual and as a company.

Another quote I found recently says: “Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” (author unknown). Frustration and the urge to give up are part of any successful company. This is the time I come to my senses and get back to work, realizing that running my own company is a lot of work, but the rewards far outweigh the difficulties.

Someone once told me, “Your vision is your future – where there is no vision, there is no future.” My vision is to provide my clients with my very best and no less. I believe I am succeeding in doing that. As life handed me very low self esteem and the thought that I could never be anything special, I found a mentor who made me believe in myself. This mentor planted in me the realization that I am only bound by the limits that I impose upon myself. In each of you, there is something that you love to do, or think you would love to do, I would encourage you to “just do it!” You will not regret it. If you fail, pick yourself up by your proverbial boot-straps, and say “Next!”. Accountability simply means borrowing the discipline of someone else until you can develop your own. Find a mentor and borrow his discipline until your dream comes true.

Meet the Team