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Sed ut perspiciatis unde.
SubscribeWe recently connected with Ronda Flynn and have shared our conversation below.
Ronda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
RondaFlynnWOW all started from deciding to quit my corporate job working in Accounts Receivables at KPMG to be a stay-at-home mom for my 3-year-old son. While working at KPMG, I started a gift basket business: Put It In a Basket and though I enjoyed it, I wasn’t really passionate about it. Because I was crafty and had lots of fun ideas for parties and crafts for my son, and after seeing an invite I designed for my son’s birthday party a friend suggested that I try my hand at graphic design or desktop publishing (so it was called at the time).
My friend Arlene was a graphic designer herself; she gave me all the software needed (saying that part quietly): Corel Draw, QuarkXpress and Photoshop, those were industry standards back then. She gave me some basic knowledge and pointers but from there I kinda took it and ran with it. Because I am a self-taught graphic designer there were plenty, and I mean plenty of all-nighters where I just had to figure things out by actually doing it. I knew that I was creative, that I had an eye for design, and the details of it all mattered to me – it all had to be cohesive and perfect. I blame the level of perfection on being a Virgo because yeah it has to be perfect – ughhhsss!
I of course started with small projects here and there, but I remember when I met my first real consistent client Christine. She was visiting Atlanta from Detroit and I had just finished working on a corporate identity package for a new nonprofit organization. When Christine saw my work, she said: “your work is amazing, if you can give me good pricing – I can guarantee you work in Detroit.” That was 25years ago, and Christine is still my client to this day.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
RondaFlynnWOW, Inc. is a creative brand marketing company. But I can tell you I am the truest example of Proverbs 18:16: a person’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great people. I say that because I am self-taught – I do not have a college degree. Everything I know I have taught myself through trial and error, dedication to my craft, hard work, lived experience, and 100% belief in myself that I can do absolutely anything I put my mind to.
RondaFlynnWOW started as a graphic design company with just me. After a few years, I began offering website design and development services, that grew to brand marketing services, creative direction, video production, and event planning/production and activation. My gifts have truly made room for me. Today, I still do all of the graphic design projects (that’s my baby, so I can’t seem to let that go), but thankfully we’ve added a few people to our team to keep it all moving forward.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I’m not sure if this something that I had to unlearn, but more of letting go: Again, RondaFlynnWOW is me Ronda Flynn, one person who does a lot of things, well (if I do say so myself) As my service offerings and clients grew it was still just me doing it all. I stopped carrying business cards at least 18/19 years ago, all of my business is word of mouth and referral – which I am absolutely thankful for. But the thought of letting go, letting someone else do the work that I was so use to doing scared the shit out of me. One because it was my name, my reputation, and my business reputation that was always forefront for me. What if someone screwed up something? I really didn’t want to take that chance. And then I had clients who only wanted me to work on their projects. And so, I worked…A LOT but I LOVED what I did but I still worked A LOT. Eventually as my service offerings grew, my little company had to grow too. And though I can trust Keith with our major website development projects, and Kola with our video production, and an entire team of creatives that make our events amazing, and Alexis my business project manager who keeps me on track…I still won’t let go of the graphic design projects, sorry I only trust me with that.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Well, talking about pivoting: I’m actually going through a personal life pivot now. After 29 years of marriage, I am getting a divorce. The last 5 and half years have been the most traumatic and heart-breaking for me and my family. What I can say is the discovery of it all was and still is devastating and disorienting to say the least. But I can truly say that I have let go and I am finally on the other side – understanding that the only way out is through.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sayit-meanit.com
- Instagram: @RondaFlynnWOW
- Other: RondaFlynnWOW, Inc. does not have a website (for years people have tried to get me to do a website but I just haven’t had the need – I am thankful for that) My Instagram is more personal, I do highlight my work but it’s mostly highlighting my amazing children – CJ (28) and Lauryn (19) I’ve forever the proud mom. However, I also have a notecard line SASS Notecards, Inc. I have included the website above (www.sayit-meanit.com) and the IG is @SASS_sayitmeanit
Image Credits
Photo credits: Ty Pleas
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