After getting a college degree and investing 12 years in the corporate marketing world, Heidi Cook found herself without a job – her employer went out of business. For Cook, it was the second time it had happened – first with a jet sales company and then with Encore Market Realty.
So Cook, 31, launched
Studio Bindi Graphics from her home near Grand Rapids' East Hills business district, deciding to depend on her experience as a marketer and her skills as a graphic designer.
"The response I've gotten blows me away," she says. "I've worked with
Muse Boutique, some Realtors, social marketing,
Peppino's downtown,
Monte's,
Rockwell's,
Republic and
O'Toole's. I just did a massive web site for
Bauer Power out of Marshall."
Cook does what larger marketing agencies do: she develops branding campaigns, designs logos, business cards and web sites and manages the information posted on clients' social media sites.
But Cook says an advantage to being a one-person shop is her ability to develop personal relationships with clients.
"Most of my clients end up becoming my friends, which is great," she says. "Now it's not that I have to go to work and do day-to-day stuff, it's that I get to work and create fun and interesting things for people who are my friends."
Cook credits postings on
Facebook and
Twitter for garnering out of state clients for her. She also says she's making more money than she did when she had an employer.
"Michigan's having a lot of problems, but Grand Rapids is doing great," she says. "I love the downtown life and I can't imagine living anywhere else. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive in Grand Rapids. You don't have to depend on somebody else for your paycheck; you can do it yourself. I'm living proof."
Source: Heidi Cook, Studio Bindi Graphics
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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