One thing I have noticed in the last 5 years of design business, is that communication is very important. It is important to the client, as well as the product being created. This can be quite a struggle for smaller businesses as the business grows.

When Skilled Graphics first launched, excellent communication was one of our biggest and most valued goals. And we were pretty good at it too. We had multiple forms of contacts, from email to live chat from our website. I have notice over the years that the more business we do, the harder it was for us to meet this important goal.

Another important goal that we focused on was affordability. We wanted to provide a quality service at an affordable price. We wanted to help those that were laid off, or out of work, by providing them with an affordable service to perhaps help them start their own business or at least create another form of income. This was especially important to me, as I was laid off from my full time job during the downfall of the economy. I took that time off and focused it into creating a business that I could run from home, and Skilled Graphics was born. Realizing how I had gone from unemployed to running my own business with a comfortable income, it dawned on me that others could as well. So I focused my designing on branding, and small business websites. I wanted to offer an affordable service that could potentially help other businesses get started.

As it turned out, many of our clients were doing just that, they had been laid off, or their salaries were cut, and they were looking for alternative ways to pay their bills and live comfortably. In the beginning it was hard, as our prices were so low, it made potential clients skeptical. There is an old saying that you get what you pay for, and unfortunately everyone knows it. This made it really hard to build a client base. Luckily a few clients took a chance with us and in the end was very happy with our services. In the beginning it was tough providing for my family. Our prices were very low, and we didn't have a lot of work at first, but on a positive note, our communication was superb. As the years went by, word of mouth was our biggest form of advertisement, and we went from a small project here or there, to being very busy, and able to live comfortably. The busier we got, the harder it was to keep the quality of communication. We went from several emails and phone calls a week, to several a day. In order to keep our prices low, we have to stay busy.

I am laying this all out here to point out that over the years we have lost the quality of communication that we once prided ourselves with. We are no longer as responsive as we once were. While the quality of our services is still very good, especially for the price, our communication has taken a dive. I am writing this blog entry to point out that we do recognize this, and we are working on coming up with a solution, so that communication is again a priority.

We are a small business, it is just my wife and I, but we have several projects going on every week, and several projects added every week. The time we used to spend on communication is now being spent with new work. We want you to know, we are working on a solution that will allow us to maintain the current business flow, maintain an affordable price, and at the same time improve communication.

We welcome any comments or suggestions. I know acknowledging that our business, may lack in a key area, may seem like a bad business move, but we hope that you will see it like we do. We are a business that cares about what our clients think, word of mouth is still our biggest form of advertising, and we want to make sure good things are said about Skilled Graphics. We are reaching out and attempting to communicate what is going on, and let you know that we are working on a solution that we can all benefit from. Most of our clients have become pretty close to us, and some as close as family, and we just want everyone to know that in the future Skilled Graphics will always be looking for ways that we can improve the quality of our services.

Dennis Bosher - Owner

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