“Never whine. Never complain. Never make excuses. Always do your best, and God will take care of the rest.”
Name: Brian Rodriguez
Age: 27
What exactly do you do for a living?
I own a web design and development business called Gatorworks located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Check us out here: www.gatorworks.net
What state do you represent?
I’m originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, but I’ve run my company in Baton Rouge, LA since my college days at LSU.
Did you go to college? Where?
Louisiana State University! Geaux Tigers!
What did you study there?
My degree is from the College of Business with a BS in Information Systems and Decision Sciences. However, I think I would’ve gone in Advertising if I could do it all over again.
Why on earth did you choose this career path and how did you get involved in it?
I somewhat “fell” into it. My best friend from high school (Nick Angelette) and I enjoyed building websites for people, and Nick’s mom suggested that maybe we should start charging money to small businesses for our work. So, in July 2001 (senior year of high school) we formed Gatorworks. The rest is history.
What are your future plans for your career?
Well, I really love entrepreneurship and the process of starting businesses. I’m sure I will continue to stay in some sort of web industry, but I have no idea what the future holds!
What are you in love with about this profession? What are you not so in love with?
Clients….and clients.
Because we don’t focus on any one specific industry, it’s really enjoyable to learn about each of our clients’ businesses. I get to dig real deep into the heart of each project and learn what makes each business tick. It’s a great feeling to see a great website launch for a client we really care a lot about…and a client that really respects us and our work.
Alternatively, there are clients that do not really understand the full value of what we do. There are clients that can become difficult to please. Our Creative Director, David Link, wrote a blog entry about the ideal relationship between a design company and its clients: “The Perfect Client” – http://gatorworks.net/blog/2008/10/the-perfect-client/
Give us an example of a day in the life of you doing what you do?
My day is usually a balancing act between managing existing projects and cultivating new business. I answer and forward emails all day long related to both of those activities. I meet with a lot of new prospective clients, write a lot of proposals, answer a lot of phone calls, and delegate a lot of tasks related to open projects.
What steps do you recommend to someone who is planning to pursue this career?
Dive right on in! There’s many different excuses people will tell you to try to discourage you from starting your own business. But if you have a good business model/plan, then just make it happen. Most of what you learn will be by doing, and of course remember to have a mentor to help you out along the way.
What is the single-most important piece of advice you can offer a person pursuing this career?
“Sometimes you’re flush and sometimes you’re bust, and when you’re up, it’s never as good as it seems, and when you’re down, you never think you’ll be up again, but life goes on.”
When you own your own business, it’s a rollercoaster. There will be ups and downs, and you have to stay mentally tough and have a good positive attitude. One of the most important recommendations I can make is to find a mentor and learn from him/her. There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel, and 99% of the problems you’ll face have already happened to other business owners.
I am a member of the local chapter of the international organization called Entrepreneur’s Organization (or commonly known as EO). There is an “Accelerator” chapter here in New Orleans/Baton Rouge for businesses that have not yet hit $1 million dollars in annual revenue. We have quarterly meetings that focus on the 4 main aspects of business: sales, people, finance, and strategy. Then, once a month we meet in small groups (of appr. 5 business owners) with an EO mentor to share experiences and provide insights to others. Of course, all of the content discussed is highly confidential, and the small group is almost like your board of directors. I would say being a member of EO has been one of the smartest business decisions I’ve ever made.
What is the best piece of advice you have received?
Sales for vanity, profit for sanity, but cash is always king!
What can we look forward to seeing from you next?
Right now, we’re working on a web application that will greatly improve the process of a well-known retail store. We hope to sell the software to each location and charge a monthly fee per store. The goal is to start testing the development in the fall and start selling in early 2012.
What professional or community volunteer organizations are you currently a member of?
I’m on the Board of the American Advertising Federation of Baton Rouge (AAF-BR), and we do a lot of community service projects through that professional organization.
What’s a funny or significant memory from your college or high school days you are legally allowed to share?
I remember really messing up a client project when I was in college, and the client ultimately asked for a refund. It was a real upsetting moment because I had just made a few honest mistakes, and the project really went poorly. I had good intentions, but in the end our company had failed to execute the project properly for our client. I remember I was so upset about it, and I sincerely apologized to our client. I refunded his money, and I was really down about it. Then, I got an email from the client a few days later essentially telling me that he understands what it’s like trying to run your own business. He told me about a few of his own experiences and failures, and he gave me really kind words of encouragement. He urged me to stick with it and keep on going.
It was really an amazing experience because the client I really messed up with had emailed me such nice words of positive encouragement. I printed out a portion of his email and I taped it to my monitor. I had it taped to my monitor for years, and it really helped me get through some of the tough moments in business. I now have his email (from around 2003) printed and filed in a safe place for me to refer to when times are tough.
What book are you reading right now?
Well, I tend to read a lot of business books (like recently Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson), but sometimes I like to read books that have nothing to do with my profession. I enjoy completely unplugging and not thinking about work sometimes. So, right now I’m reading Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.
What’s playing in your MP3 player right now?
I have my Pandora station set to the “David Gray” station while I’m at work. I love it!
Where can we stalk you online?
Facebook Fanpage or Facebook
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