We’re mini Monster— Jenny and Trevor
And we’re determined to level the playing field for the little biz who is trying to do some good in the world: one website at a time!
Growing up, we were both taught that if you were going to do something, you might as well do it right.
You are going to spend some time on Earth anyway, so try to bring a little happiness into the world while you are here, help out where you can, and leave it a little better than you found it.
Everyone in both of our families had small businesses, and they all did really amazing work. But, their businesses tended to stay small. The quality of work wasn’t the problem. Getting noticed was the problem.
We both started in graphic design because we wanted to help out little businesses.
Trevor received a proper Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and entered the design world as one should. Jenny took a longer route, first getting a Masters Degree in English. The detour helped, though, because her years of research and writing give mini Monster a huge advantage over other web companies.
A business website needs to have a professional, stylish design, but that isn’t the reason you build a site. You create a website to communicate and interact with your audience, and that has always been our focus. We explain what you need to say, where to say it, and, most importantly, we explain the ‘why?’ behind it all.
With mini Monster, we are able to give small businesses access to advanced, professionally-designed websites, along with all the insight and know-how that comes along with having designed successful sites like this for years.
(These websites may be for mini companies, but they are still absolute monsters!)
We have an eye on SEO strategy, multi-channel marketing, growing your audience along with your brand, and converting visitors into customers. As corny as it sounds, we love being able to deliver all of this to little companies who are trying to do some good in this world, and trying to get noticed among all the corporate giants.
Our Origin Story
A thousand years ago, when we both got our first agency jobs, we started at the very bottom of the ladder, sometimes as the only designer in house. So, we had to do it all. Everything. We were responsible for the entire job, from the design to the code, tech, copywriting, and marketing research. Sleep didn’t happen often, but we learned an amazing amount and developed a huge range of skill sets. And that was fine, because we both absolutely love to learn. The best part was that we got to see projects through from beginning to end, and we got to enjoy how it really helped a client.
Well, we found ourselves climbing the corporate ladder, working for big agencies, sporting important-sounding titles and leading teams on multi-million dollar projects. (Yeah, we weren’t impressed either) But, in these large firms, with layer upon layer of management, often the people who end up working on a project had never even met the person they were working for.
Now we were spending all of our time in executive meetings, with Leonard, the Northwest Regional Associate Director of Innovation of Digital and Media for Mid-Size Corporations, and not spending any time listening to the actual client talk about what they needed. We realized that the big agency model is not always the best solution.
So, we left the corporate world to reinvent the way that we knew creative should be done: directly. Simply put, if you take time out of your day to explain your needs and goals, then you should be speaking directly to the people who are working to solve the problem. No middleman, and no room for mistranslations.
And, it worked! Our little firm, Summa Creative, is able sit down with a client and use all of our hard-earned knowledge and experience to answer their questions and help them solve their business problems. Because of our small size, we still have one-on-one relationships with our clients, and can remain quick, adaptable, and nimble. We were thrilled with our company’s success in the first few years, and soon began to gain bigger and bigger clients. (Cue ominous music. Can you see where this is going?) Yup. Soon we were back at the table with Leonard big-title again, getting sign-offs from different departments, instead of actually helping a human being. History repeats itself.
A couple of years ago, the work force took a side step because of COVID (boo, hiss), and tons of new small businesses started up. We were actually really excited about this (the new small businesses part, not the COVID bit), because working hand-in-hand with just-starting-out small businesses is what we wanted to do when we left the corporate world!
But, the thing is, if a business is just starting out, they can’t usually afford to work with a design firm. Don’t get me wrong. We live just outside of Louisville, Kentucky in a little town of 14,000 farmers and horse folk. We don’t charge anywhere close to big-city prices, and our only financial goals are to keep food on the table, paint on the house, and treats in the cupboard for the studio cat Jinx. We are low-maintenance peeps. But we had to charge more for a custom web design than a brand new little business had in the bank. (OK, you’ve got to know where this is going by now.)
Jinx, the studio cat
Small businesses have to do what they can with the budget they have. That means that a lot of businesses resort to DIY logos, ads, and websites. We absolutely get that. But what frustrates us is that small businesses are the ones who could benefit the most from working with an experienced designer who knows the pros and cons of all the web platforms, the regulations in place for ecommerce, what works well, and what simply isn’t worth paying for.
(Cue the uplifting music) So, we decided to create mini Monster Websites, where we could pass on all of the insights, ideas, know how, guidance, tips, inside info, and best practices that we have learned, do the heavy lifting on building a great website ourselves, and support small businesses with the same service that we sell to big corporations. (Shhhh… Don’t spread that around. We still need to work with some of the big guys. Jinx loves his treats.)
We wanted to create a way for someone with a great idea, a great talent, a great spirit to be able to harness all this crazy tech that we humans have available to us and use it for good. So, here we are.
And that, my friends, is the story of how mini Monster came to be. (Closes book and leans back in rocking chair) We have been creating this stuff for the big boys for a long time, so we know the routine and can guide you every step of the way. We figure that it’s about time that somebody leveled the playing field. Go, little biz!
