In the eyes of the great state of Texas, WrightIMC, LLC is now a little more than five years old. However, in the mind of Tony Wright and I, we are coming up on 10 years of dreaming and planning, which led to the eventual idea of starting our own agency. That came to fruition on March 1, 2008, which is the day we officially became WrightIMC.
You see, what is now WrightIMC did not start in an office, living room, or boardroom. It started during random conversations that occurred every Tuesday night at Dukes Roadhouse over about a five year period. Tony and I would meet there every Tuesday for Happy Hour and talk about how much we hated working for someone else and that we needed to start our own company … someday. This is partly because Tony and I grew up with entrepreneurial fathers, who ran their own successful companies.
WrightIMC, LLC, started in one small executive office in the Bank of America in Plano. We next moved across the street into an office with Tony’s Dad, which had a bit more room. But, we knew that would be outgrown fast. So, we finally found and moved into a building in Plano, where we now occupy almost an entire floor.
We have a staff of about 30 employees, for some of whom this is their first job. We have salaries, taxes, and insurance benefits to pay. We have company socials and events, which in my last company, was pretty much unheard of.
One of the things I’m most proud of is that we started WrightIMC during the most horrible economic time period since the dot-com bust – really since the Great Depression – and are still striving and thriving today. In college, one of the things they preach to you in your first business class is that 95% of new businesses will fail in the first five years. I’m very happy to be a part of that other 5%!
In these five years, we have changed many things, but one thing that has not wavered is our commitment to our clients. We strive to provide our clients with an interactive strategy that is catered specifically to them, with the ultimate objective of achieving a profitable online presence for each of them. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to, who told me they’ve been in business for years and never had, nor needed, a website. It doesn’t matter what business you are in, not being online is not being relevant in 2013.
When we get clients, we rarely ever lose them. Some clients have been with us from the beginning and we don’t even do long-term contracts. We’re thankful to them and proud of our record. And, I’d like to thank some great people in the search engine marketing world who have helped us over the years. The good folks at the Dallas Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association have been like a second family to Tony and me. And, if weren’t for people like Sean Jackson of Copyblogger and Christine Churchill of KeyRelevance, and some of their client referrals, WrightIMC would not exist. Words can’t express the gratitude I have for you all.
Make sure you pay attention and keep WrightIMC on your radar. We plan on being around a long-time. In the meantime, check out this nice write up the Dallas Business Journal published on March, 29.
