When starting my design business 16 years ago, I was only worried about paying the bills and had no idea how to run a business. If I could just make what I was earning at my previous job, all would be well. Now fast forward to today, I still don’t know what I’m doing and finances are still a concern. Running a creative business is hard work, exhilarating and very rewarding.
There have been some major hurdles along the way. Over the years, I’ve had a heart attack, my wife Stacie was diagnosed with stage three Breast Cancer and the design studio was robbed. Every piece of computer technology was stolen ( I will save that story for another blog). There have been a lot of great additions and happenings as well…I teamed up with Jeff Richards who is my business partner and my brother in spirit. Then we added five additional employees who are talented, smart and young! We even purchased a building, no small task for a couple of small town boys living in the rural midwest. Through all of these changes, additions and blessings we have remained “True”.
What I mean by “True” is our belief that Creativity is a competitive advantage for our customers and for IronGate. We strive to do the best possible work we can with every job. We want to have fun, treat people well and always keep it about the work. We are always mindful of the IronGate brand — no matter what life has to throw at us. We guard our brand and do our best to maintain that integrity.
We hope you have some time to spend with our new site. Our entire staff has worked hard on it and we’re thrilled to have this tool to show our work and better tell all of our stories. In upcoming posts, I’ll continue my thoughts on brands and how that might just apply to you and your business.