My husband Rob and I started our company in 1998 shortly after our first child was born. The vision grew out of a dream we had when we first got married about starting our own business together.
At the time, I was employed by Delta Air Lines as an account executive in Airport Customer Service Communications. The Internet was fairly new and I was the only volunteer to take on the ACS Intranet project. Delta put me through school at New Horizons to learn HTML and Photoshop. I was also lucky enough to be assigned to work with Paul Burt, a wonderful guy at Delta who knew everything there was about publishing and file transfer protocol (ftp) and was kind enough to sit with me day after day to teach me how it all worked.
When I got pregnant with my daughter, I knew my life was about to change. My plan was to propose a work-at-home model to my bosses boss. Before I left, I put it together and presented it. I found out that it was not accepted and I knew that I never wanted to go back. My commute from Marietta to the airport was over an hour each way and I didn't want to have to put Emily in childcare.
After she was born, I gave my bosses the news that I was leaving to start Bella Web Design. They weren't surprised at all and were very supportive of my decision.
10 years later, I am typing this out in amazement. We have over 250 clients now, another daughter, Ashlee, and we're one of the most successful web design firms in Atlanta. We are the top-rated and most reviewed web design firm at www.kudzu.com and have also opened a second group called Simply Bella Web Design for people who have a small budget but still need a great-looking and effective site.
I've also learned a lot about our industry and love to share new technology and design with others. I've been invited to speak to many groups on blogging, social media, email marketing as well as web design and search engine optimization. We've added video production to our mix as bandwidth has allowed for this medium to become even more popular on websites. We have our own YouTube Channel and video blog. I've become a Social Media Coach to many businesses and will offer this service to a greater extent this year.
Its been a great journey and I've learned alot about business and people over the years. Bella Web Design continues to grow adding new divisions and contractors yearly.
Bella Web Design continues to be a company clients can depend on to meet their needs and exceed expectations. We hope you enjoyed our story and we hope to become part of your own success in the future!
