I need a completely virtual solution to an office phone system. Even though my current system is a vast improvement over what I had before, it’s still too much. Too much hardware, too much money every month. What I’m looking for is an online solution that allows me to manage multiple phone numbers (i.e. MWI’s main phone number is 801.495.4110…
Managing an Agency
I’ve been managing a web design firm since 1999 and have collected a bit of experience along the way. If you’re thinking of starting an agency, my thoughts and advice might not make you wildly successful, but they may just help you stay out of trouble and make it long enough to stand on your own two feet.
One of our search engine optimization clients is an eating disorder treatment center located near Logan, Utah. They’ve been with us for years, and one of the reasons we work extra hard to keep them happy is that they pay us so darn fast. Case in point, we invoiced them yesterday, and we received the check in the mail today. And…
My web design firm has been using the project management tool Basecamp for a few years now, and I’m not sure a better tool could be created, at least not for our needs. We primarily use it for centralizing communications, as a file repository, and for storing contact information. It has many other features such as time tracking, milestones, to-do lists, and…
Many of you have expressed interest as to how the move to a virtual office has gone. Now that I have completed the move and have been able to experience it for a full week or two here are my thoughts:
Pros
1. The bathroom is closer.
2. If anything I’m getting more work done.
3. The phones work just like the phone in our…
I bet that title has been used for some other article already, but I promise I came up with it myself.
It’s official, MWI is going virtual. After seven years of having an office we have decided to leave it. Though we love it, there are a number of reasons why having an office doesn’t seem that important or necessary.
1. Email, chat,…
Dear Mr. Steimle,
I come from a creative marketing/media background and recently went back to school to get my MBA degree. The final project involves creating and implementing a business plan for an integrated creative marketing agency such as MWI. I was hoping, if you have time (if not I understand) to give me some insight into your world. Since I…
I’ve been inspired once again by SEOmoz’s open attitude and I too feel like sharing. Rand does it because “it fits with our philosophy and with our goals - to be as open as possible about everything that we do” but that’s not necessarily my reasoning. I figure it will be interesting to do, I’d love it if all my competitors…
I like to think that most of those who have met me think I’m a decent enough guy. I try to smile, I’m generally not very sarcastic, and I refrain from spitting, swearing, and burning flags. But I’m sure there are a few people out there who think I’m an absolute crook. I’ve come to believe that if you run…
Over the years I’ve had mostly positive experiences with clients, but I’ve had a few that were ugly, and a select few that were disasterous. I can’t claim that I or my firm were completely innocent in every case, and in some times we helped client be “bad,” but in most of the serious cases I can confidently say that…
If I had known how much work would be involved it may never have launched, but MWI’s new website design is now live.
Why the new website? Read on for the full story.
I’ve got another question for the masses and would appreciate your candid responses.
We’ve got fairly nice office space here at MWI. It’s about 3,500 square feet, newly built out, nice conference room, four offices, receptionist area, open space, big sign on the building where it’s highly visible, etc. But for a long time I’ve been wondering whether it’s worth it,…
Lately I’ve been doing some hard thinking about profitability. In the web development/branding/marketing/advertising/design business it can be difficult to figure out how much money you make on a job without instituting controls that make projects less profitable, the company a less fun place to work at, and your agency a less agreeable agency to do business with. That is, detailed…
At my former firm I had a business partner who, whenever something wasn’t going right with the business, would say “This business model stinks!” This always put me on edge because he would say it with true frustration in his voice, loudly, and in front of our employees. But in the seven years I’ve been running a web development firm…
12
Jul
Whither MWI?
While anyone who is reading this blog is well aware that I myself am alive and well, some people might be wondering exactly what MWI is up to. After all, the MWI website is a bit stale, we haven’t posted new press releases since last year, and if you used to see me at networking events before then you may…
MWI is moving up in the world. We’ll be moving into new office space within the same building, except this time it’s on the second floor. The new space will give us more total square footage, a true break room (finally), a friendlier floor plan, and a larger conference room, amongst other things.
If manage a design firm, ad agency, or web development firm and you haven’t read The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
If this blog were a gun and Intuit were a person there’d be a smoking hole in the wall somewhere above their left ear and I’d be brandishing for a second shot. It’s a good thing there aren’t waiting periods for creating new posts on blogs, because I’m angry now.
Alright, I’m not really that angry, but I am perturbed, annoyed,…
Just read Just Say No to Discount SEO by Lee Odden.
Lee gives some simple and effective advice on how to respond to clients who want you to discount your search engine optimization services, but the principles apply to any services, not just SEO. This is somewhat related to a post I wrote last year about how the clients who spend the…
Whenever we win or lose a job, we almost always ask what we did right and what we could have done better. Sometimes we get answers we’re used to, and sometimes we’re surprised. We were recently surprised to find out that a client chose us, at least in part, because they liked our proposal. That is, they liked the actual…
I just read ShoeMoney.com’s post entitled My tips for buying domains that are taken.
Over the years I’ve been asked many times where the name of my agency MWI comes from. You can get the short story on that from MWI’s February 2005 newsletter. As a follow up I’m also often asked where I got the mwi.com domain from, which is a…
I just interview nine students from Neumont University last week, and I just read this BusinessWeek article last night.
I was chagrined to find out the first “stupid question” on the list is one I asked all nine of the students and which I frequently ask interviewees.
“I’m disappointed in you” were words my dad could use in a calm and direct way that was more powerful than any physical punishment or tongue-lashing I can imagine. In fact, I’m pretty sure my dad only had to use these words on me once, because the first time was enough. Well, there was the other time he used those…
Full-time Freelancing: 10 Things Learned in 180 Days by Cameron Moll.
Cameron came to my office and we talked just days before he took the leap of faith he talks about in this post. Frankly, I’d love to have the guy working for me and I told him that when he came by, but I bet he’s making more money freelancing than…
I recently read The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and quite enjoyed it. In case you haven’t read it, it’s about an old man in Cuba during the 50s or so whose wife has died, he apparently has no children, and he has a small boat in which he fishes. He’s had a string of bad luck…
You know, I think I’m a pretty reasonable guy. I don’t yell, I try to be reasonable, I’m seldomly paranoid, etc. But one thing I’ve noticed after five years of running an agency is that there seems to be a direct relationship between how much a client is willing to pay and how easy they are to work with.
…
“More than you can afford” is what I should start telling people when they ask. But I’m nicer than that.
Since 1999 I’ve been asked about how much a website costs more than a few times. The first response is usually “it depends” because it does depend on what the client wants. Do they want a one page website or a…
Full text available at: http://www.mwi.com/about/newsletter/newsletter_february05.html
Normally this newsletter contains helpful information related to advertising, marketing, design, or web development. However, just this once, I’m going to depart from the usual content and answer once and for all the question we get asked more than any other, although I doubt it will stop the question from being asked.
MWI provides Parvus with new database-driven Web site
Salt Lake City, UT - 07 March 2005 - MWI, a brand management and Web development firm, today announced it has launched a new Web site for Parvus Corporation, the US arm of the Eurotech Group.
Hey, MWI got its website ripped off today! But they didn’t do a very good job. Now you might say “But these websites look almost nothing like each other!” True, they only bear minimal resemblance to each other now, and perhaps the sin is forgivable for that, but the design is a ripoff nonetheless. If you need proof, read on.
We…
Joshua Steimle Elected into 2005 Class of vSpring Capital’s 100 Top Entrepreneurs
Salt Lake City, UT - 01 February 2005 - Joshua J. Steimle, chief executive officer and founder of MWI, Inc., a Draper-based Web development and brand management firm, was named one of Utah’s top 100 entrepreneurs by vSpring Capital, a Utah-based venture capital firm.
www.mwi.com. Check it out y’all. Not a redesign, but a fairly comprehensive update of our site. New featured work section, new navigation, white papers, newsletters, yeah.
This is from a letter I wrote to the faculty of the Visual Arts Department at Brigham Young University.
___________________________
Hello BYU faculty, I’m the owner of a firm in Draper that provides graphic and web design services. I get a lot of resumes, emails, and phone calls from recent BYU graduates and students of the design program. Although we do have…
David Ogilvy said “Managing an advertising agency isn’t all beer and skittles. After fourteen years of it, I have come to the conclusion that the top man has one principle responsibility: to provide an atmosphere in which creative mavericks can do useful work.”
Full text available at http://www.mwi.com/about/newsletter/newsletter_january05.html
Are you the kind of person who fixes your own car, or do you pay someone to fix it? I never learned how to fix anything on a car growing up, even though my father spent most Saturdays behind our 1969 VW Camper-Van and tried to teach me something about its finicky engine. When I got…
New site powered by MWI’s content management system
Salt Lake City, UT - 03 January 2005 - Strong and Hanni Law Firm, a Salt Lake City law firm since 1888, has launched a newly redesigned corporate Web site as part of the firm’s rebranding process. The new site, designed and developed by MWI, a Draper-based Web development and brand management agency,…
MWI to provide search engine marketing, graphic design and Web development services for Salt Lake City personal injury law firm
Salt Lake City, UT - 14 December 2004 - MWI, a brand management and Web development firm, today announced it has been contracted to provide marketing and Web development services to Siegfried and Jensen, a leading personal injury law firm…
Full text available at http://www.mwi.com/about/newsletter/newsletter_november04.html
Do you hate it when creative-types with messy hair and thick-rimmed glasses talk about “branding” in a way that leaves you wondering if they’re talking about your company’s logo, your advertising, your business cards, or something more ethereal? For all those who have ever felt confused about the word “branding,” we offer this brief and (hopefully)…
Full text available at http://www.mwi.com/about/newsletter/newsletter_october04.html
ALL ABOUT FLASH
Some people hear the word “Flash” used in the context of a website and the first thoughts through their minds are “What about people who don’t have Flash?” “I hate those Flash intros–just let me see the website!” and “Isn’t Flash expensive?” I thought it would be appropriate to answer some of those questions…
Full text available at http://www.mwi.com/about/newsletter/newsletter_september04.html
CONTENT MANAGEMENT
You may have heard about “content management” but don’t know exactly what people mean when they use the words. There are indeed many different meanings, and we’re going to help you understand it all, right here. But first of all, lets lay down some ground rules. When we say “content” we mostly mean text…
Full text available at http://www.mwi.com/about/newsletter/newsletter_august04.html
WHAT WE DO
MWI is primarily known for creating great websites and web-based applications, but we’re expanding the range of what we offer through hiring, partnerships, and maybe some acquisitions to include a comprehensive suite of marketing and advertising services. Here’s a fairly comprehensive list of the services we provide.
Full text available at http://www.mwi.com/about/newsletter/newsletter_july04.html
THE ECONOMY. In August of 2000 I started my first web development firm, Mindwire Interactive. Although you might think that was about the worst time possible to start an interactive agency, we had a pretty good track record for the 2 1/2 years I ran the firm until we sold it in January of 2003. Just the…
November 13, 2003 Salt Lake City, Utah - Wasatch Venture Fund, a venture capital firm headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, announced today the launch of their new Web site at www.wasatchvc.com. The new Web site features a secure section for limited partners of the fund to receive quarterly reports and other information, and provides an email newsletter signup for…
October 22, 2003 Salt Lake City - MWI announced today that it has developed a new brand identity and online presence for Sorenson Capital, a new private equity firm with offices in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Palo Alto, California. The new brand and online presence help Sorenson refine and extend its business to make small and middle market growth…
