Go Media Podcast – Episode 5: 2012 Year in Review

This edition of the podcast is our 2012 Year in Review. A look back at our successes and failures of the year, what we’ve learned, and what we have in store for 2013.

Listen to the Podcast

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Show Notes:

Sponsor of this Episode

Header images features image files from our new Arsenal product Texture Set 5

This episode is sponsored by Mockup Everything. With Mockup Everything, you can produce high resolution, photo realistic mock ups of your designs. There are 5 new templates released every month. From iPads to billboards to t-shirts: if you have to mockup anything, use Mockup Everything.

Go Media Quick Tip: Put Together A Monthly Report

  • Every month at Go Media, we produce a 1-page document that recaps hours, cash flow and “boos and bravos” for that month.
  • Don’t drive yourself crazy by trying to analyze your data every day.
  • With monthly reports, you can get a good idea of what you’re doing well and what you need to improve on.
  • It’s important to remind yourself of what you’ve accomplished.

What’s Go Media Been Up To This Year?

  • Go Media’s failed attempt at only working with larger companies. It lead to some horrific months, however it lead us to rethink our pricing model and it pushed Bill to go back to school to get some business education.
  • When you’re only trying to hit home runs, you miss the base hits, and those can be crucial when times are tough. We started using some different metrics to decide what type of work to bring in based on how empty our schedule is. If we don’t have any work planned in 2 weeks, then we’ll adjust what our project price minimum is. Be willing to negotiate if your plate is empty.
  • We assigned staff members to be “owners” of our revenue stream properties. For example, Marissa took over Mockup Everything and Liz took over Arsenal. That way, the work isn’t just on one person’s shoulder, and we can treat them more like clients rather than something we worked on when we had some free time.
  • We redesigned the entire Go Media brand. New GoMedia.us, Mockup Everything and Go Media Zine designs were rolled out, and we’re planning on releasing the rest in 2013.
  • The birth of the Go Media Podcast.
  • We moved most of our hosting over to Amazon CDN, which gave us a better, more reliable service for about $600 less a month.
  • We launched “Lorain”, our new WordPress theme. We wanted to be able to provide a better solution for clients looking for a custom theme but without a large budget. Building our own theme also allowed us to ensure that we could fully support it when there are changes in plugins and in WordPress itself.
  • We installed a full gym in the second floor of the building.
  • We lost a few dear staff members. Adam Wagner moved to San Francisco, Adam Law moved to Seattle and Heather Mariano is having a baby later on this year and will be focusing on her photography career.
  • We brought on some new staff members. Bryan Garvin was brought in as front-end developer. Jenny Kelley was brought in to build the new Account Services department. Lauren Prebel was also brought in to help Jenny grow the sales team. Aaron Roberts was brought in as a Junior Designer. Sarah Traxler was brought in as our new project manager.
  • We have some internship opportunities available.
  • Weapons of Mass Creation Fest and On The Map Cleveland were both successes.
  • Networking and “getting out there” is now a priority. Jeff spoke at and coached fellow entrepreneurs at Bad Girl Ventures. Jenny and Bill set up a booth at the COSE Small Business Convention.
  • The release of Bill’s book has been delayed until the middle of 2013.
Bill Beachy excited for the Go Media Podcast.

What’s Upcoming in 2013?

  • New Arsenal site, rebuilt from the ground up. It will also be a marketplace for artists we admire and trust.
  • Improving the gym, and cleaning up the second floor in general.
  • The store front renovation project will continue in the Spring.
  • WMC Fest Benefit Show happening in March at the Beachland Ballroom.
  • We will be launching our in-house design management suite. It’s been available for beta testers, but we’re ready to make it live for everyone. A new Prooflab.us will be launched in early 2013 to support and sell it.
  • WMC Fest 4 will take place at Cleveland Public Theatre in August.
  • On The Map Cleveland 3 will take place in November.

Links

Credits

Hosts: Jeff Finley and Bill Beachy
Producer: Bryan Garvin
Recorded at: Go Media

Sponsorship Opportunities

Interested in sponsoring the Go Media podcast, either episodically or exclusively? Well, hit us up at [email protected] if you are interested in advertising your business.

What Do You Think?

We want to hear what you think about the latest episode of our podcast and what topics you would like to see covered in upcoming episodes. Comment below with your suggestions.

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