From Print to Digital

My career began in graphic design, which eventually led me to start my own printing business. Working directly with business owners taught me something that has stayed with me throughout my career: good design isn't simply about making something look attractive. It has to communicate the right message and encourage people to take action.

Then technology began changing everything.

I moved from print into the emerging world of interactive media and founded an interactive agency in Philadelphia. What started as a small business grew into a sizable firm that became one of the area's top-ranked interactive agencies before being successfully sold.

Those were the days before Google had become part of everyday life and long before anyone talked about SEO, social media or artificial intelligence. Businesses were only beginning to understand what the Internet could mean for them.

I’ve had the rather extraordinary experience of watching digital marketing develop almost from the beginning — and of developing right along with it.

A Business Owner Helping Business Owners

One of the most valuable things I bring to Makers Freelance isn't a particular piece of software or marketing technique. It’s the experience of having owned businesses myself.

I know what it feels like to make decisions about where to spend money, which opportunities are worth pursuing and which probably aren't. I understand that a marketing budget isn't an abstract number on a spreadsheet. It needs to produce something worthwhile for the business paying for it.

That perspective influences the way I work with my clients today.

I don't believe every business needs every marketing service. Sometimes a better website is the priority. Sometimes the website is perfectly good but nobody is finding it. Another business may need advertising to generate leads now, while building its organic visibility for the future.

My job is to look at the bigger picture and help determine what makes sense for your business.

Where Marketing Meets Design

Design has always been a passion of mine in many forms, and at one point I decided to turn that interest into another business. I owned an interior design franchise, and my design work was published in several interior design magazines and a coffee-table book. I also wrote a monthly interior design column that was syndicated across ten Philadelphia-area newspapers.

That experience brought my design and digital marketing backgrounds together.

Today, interior designers and design firms are an important part of the Makers Freelance client base. I understand their industry from the inside, which means I can write intelligently about their services as well as market them effectively.

But Makers Freelance isn't exclusively an interior design marketing company. I enjoy working with small-business owners from different industries who are experts at what they do and want an experienced marketing partner who can understand their business and help tell their story.

Marketing Has Changed.
So Have I.

Marketing never stands still.

I started in a world of printed brochures, advertisements and direct mail. Then came websites. Search engines transformed how people found businesses. Google changed advertising. Social media created entirely new channels of communication. Mobile devices changed the way websites had to work.

And now artificial intelligence is changing search again.

Today, being visible online isn't simply about ranking on Google. Businesses increasingly need to think about how they are discovered and represented across traditional search engines and AI platforms.

I find that exciting.

I’ve spent my career learning new technologies, adapting to changing consumer behavior and figuring out how businesses can use those changes to their advantage. The tools may change, but the fundamentals don't: understand your audience, communicate clearly, earn their trust and give them a reason to choose you.

Why Makers Freelance?

Big-Agency Experience.
Small-Business Service.

Working with a large agency often means dealing with an account manager who passes your work to different departments. The person writing your content may never speak to the person managing your advertising, while someone else handles your website and another person looks after SEO.

Makers Freelance works differently.

You work directly with me.

I can design and manage your website, write your content, improve your visibility across search and AI platforms, and create and manage digital advertising campaigns. Because I understand all of those areas, I can also see how they need to work together.

You won't be sold a complicated package simply because that's what an agency offers. We can start with what your business actually needs and build from there.

After all these years in business and marketing, I still believe the best working relationships come down to something remarkably simple: listen carefully, do good work, communicate clearly and genuinely care about the outcome.

If that's the kind of marketing relationship you're looking for, I'd love to hear about your business.