Welcome to the Canadian Small Business of the Month feature.
Five years ago, if someone had predicted that Monica Hogg would own her own
business, she would have laughed at them. Today, MonicaWorks Web Design and
Graphics provides Web site design, promotion, and maintenance, and graphics
design services to clients across Canada and the U.S.
But MonicaWorks Web Design and Graphics is a business that almost didn't
happen because of self-doubt.
Although Monica was happy working for nonprofit social service groups, she
"always felt that there was something else that I should be doing. I knew
that it would have to do with my love of art but I had no idea what the medium
would be."
In the summer of 1999, Monica discovered the medium when she created a Web
page for the first time. "I loved it so much I soon became a woman obsessed
and was making Web pages for everything I could think of. It wasn't unusual for
me to be on the computer from the time I woke up to the time I went to
bed."
But turning her new hobby into a business was something else again.
"Although many of my friends told me to go for it, I just didn't believe in
myself enough."
Monica's attempt to get advice from other web designers was discouraging. She
sent a letter saying that she was thinking about starting a business and asking
for advice to ten web designers she had found on the 'Net, but only got three
replies. "Two of them basically told me to forget it, and the third one was
just starting out herself."
But thanks to the continued encouragement of loyal friends, Monica eventually
decided to give it a try, designing a logo, creating a simple Web site, and
putting the word out that she had started a business. "About the same time
I made the psychological transition in my own head that I was now a business, my
phone began to ring and continues to," she says.
During the last two years, after creating 50 plus websites and one of a
kind graphics, MonicaWorks has grown into a thriving business. Monica has
finally found the perfect medium to use her talent and the skills she
developed and honed while getting her diploma in arts. Her clients often
use the word "magic" to describe her process.
Her advice to anyone thinking of starting a business is rooted in her own
experience. "It's important to believe in yourself and charge ahead with
determination. When I look back and recall times a risk didn't work, I'm very
aware that I learned something from it. Taking all these lessons and putting
them together just puts us that much closer to reaching for the stars."
Next page > Marketing MonicaWorks >
Page 1, 2,
3
You can contact Monica Hogg at
monica@monicaworks.com , by phone at
(250) 539-3004, or visit the
MonicaWorks Web site.
MonicaWorks is all about communication. Our mandate is to
create an elegant website for you, which communicates to your
visitors exactly what you want it to ... and to do it with
appealing images and easy navigation.
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Copyright
© 2002 by Susan
Ward. All rights reserved.
Disclaimer: The Canadian
Small Business of the Month feature is provided for information purposes only.
If you would like your business to be considered as The Canadian Small Business
of The Month, email me at sbinfocanada.guide@about.com, and I'll
send you a questionnaire. While completing a questionnaire is no guarantee of
being featured in this series of articles, all completed questionnaires will be
considered.
