Designing a future in Everett
Young entrepreneurs create jobs
There’s no perfect time to start your own business, as the old saying goes. It’s easy to get tempted away from the entrepreneurial dream by the lure of comfortable jobs and steady paychecks. There will always be bills to pay and start-up costs can be daunting.
Five years ago, Monica and Corey Meckes broke away from the safe route and started ID Graphics, a print and graphic design shop in Everett. They haven’t looked back.
Since then – and not without some hardship along the way – they have turned their business into a success, developing a wide-ranging and loyal clientele and growing in spite of The Great Recession.
“After my husband [Corey] and I graduated from design school, we both worked for other companies. We both knew we wanted to start a business, but whenever you’ve got a steady paycheck coming in, it’s hard to turn that down,” Monica Meckes said. “Finally, we just had to say to ourselves, ‘Let’s just do this.’ We quit our jobs, got a little office space, bought a little printer, and have just been chugging along ever since.”
Area businesses both large and small have turned to ID Graphics for services ranging from the minute to the expansive.
“We’ve worked with some pretty small businesses and some pretty large ones. Honestly, the small ones are harder to earn as customers,” Monica said. “These days, with desktop publishing software, it’s a do-it-yourself industry we’re in. But those who have seen our work recognize the value in having a logo that is done professionally.”
ID Graphics has found a niche in Everett by treating every customer as valued, no matter how large or small the job, and by always striving to exceed expectations.
“We remembered the frustrations and negative experiences we had when working for other companies and made a specific point of trying to avoid them,” Monica said. “Integrity is a huge factor in retaining business and repeat business. If someone needs a print job in a week but we can get it done in three days, we get it done in three days. We put our customers’ needs first and try to always offer a high quality product and service for a reasonable amount of money.”
With a small staff (it’s just the two of them), Monica and Corey need to manage their time carefully, which can be a challenge when it comes to the many creative projects they do.
“Time management is one of the biggest challenges we have,” Monica Meckes said. “To stay as productive as we can, we’ll shuffle our job load back and forth. That allows us to recharge our creative juices if we need to. For the customer, it basically means they’re getting two designers for the price of one.”
The Meckes recently moved their store into its new downtown Everett location, which has given it more exposure. Greater recognition of the store by the community has lead to more business for ID Graphics; the last two years – surprisingly – were the best in the company’s history.
“Our business has actually grown over the last two years. Already, our total sales for the first quarter of 2010 are 75 percent of what they were for all of last year. So we can see that people are more willing to spend versus last year,” Monica Meckes said. “Thankfully, we have been relatively untouched by what the economy has been doing on the larger scale.”
With the experience of running a successful business, Monica Meckes offers a word of advice to those looking to become an entrepreneur in Bedford County: Don’t give up.
“I’ve seen several local businesses go through three to six months of cellar results and just call it quits,” she said. “My advice is to not give up despite early setbacks. There is a payoff in persistence.”
And, as the Meckes have found out, there is satisfaction in watching your dream come true.
For more information go to http://www.idgraphics.net/
Find ID Graphics on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/idgraphics