I often have topics I think I should cover, but sometimes I like to relinquish control and give it to my readers instead. So, last week, I asked my friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter to share some topics they would like to see me cover on my site. I got some incredible ideas, and this first post is courtesy of @healthOC! She asked me to share how the market has affected my business, and others in my industry.
To start, if you are a new reader to this blog, you probably wondered how my business actually got started. Well, my business is actually a product of the horrible economy. In early 2009, I was working for a company as their marketing manager, overseeing 4 different smaller businesses. Wright Creativity was just a blog, I shared my ideas and business creativity. I had a few people I had helped with blog management, but it was very small, and my prices were very low. I was doing it more for fun than for business. But then, the economy hit the company I was with, and I was looking down the barrel of unemployment. It was that point that I decided I no longer was happy working for others and took the *huge* leap to become my own boss. Because I was a small business, just starting, my pricing was much lower than those who were set in the industry. I worked like crazy, and made every single minute count. This hard work and lower pricing helped me to get clients who needed help but couldn’t afford the big firms with the market problems. In addition to keeping me busy in the beginning, it allowed me to build a strong portfolio, great referrals and so now, when the market has started turning around, I am able to bring my pricing up to market level and still have all the clients I need. The economy downturn turned my blog into a business. I am thankful every day that the market took a downturn, and am hoping every day that it continues to go back up!
As far as other companies, I have chatted with quite a few people about the economy, and there seems to be two responses. Those who are active in social media, blogging and participate with their community are still finding success in their industry. They were able to take on smaller projects to subsidize their income from the big clients lowering the amount of help they needed. They could find new clients less expensively, and could create a network of referrals. The other group? Those who are sticking with traditional marketing on the other hand, seem to be struggling a bit more to keep themselves busy. These are the companies that only take on the large projects, and the ones that are feeling the heat when the large corporates cut their marketing budgets to almost nothing. I think that everyone can do well even if the economy is down, it just requires changing the way you work to fit the way that others need you. People need small help, and companies who can take on the small work will be better off in the end. If you can be there now, they will call on you when they can afford large projects.
Related posts:
- My favorite blog posts from 2008 to help in 2009
- How to get a (cheap) blog makeover
- What is the cost of being fake?
Kirsten
I can't thank you enough for the contributions you've made to all my projects. I'm delighted to see your hard work paying off. Congrats
And thank you for all your support! I absolutely appreciate your thoughts on twitter and via email. Sometimes, we all get a little lazy and neglect things we shouldn't (like me responding to comments on my blog!) but I am going to make a point of it to do better, because really, it is all about my readers!
and the fact you've come out fighting is great!
. We're not perfect by any means, just thought you ought to know!
[...] post topic I gathered from my readers and followers was from Angry Julie (the first two were from @HealthOC and @Hagre). She is convinced the world is dominated by bloggers and wanted to know my [...]