Alex Lacy

Professor Arini
English 102
3/17/19

Final Draft Interview

The person I am interviewing is my Dad, Mark Lacy, who has started his own business
called Design international Media with my mom, Rebecca Lacy, and this interview will go over
what they have gone through and what they did to run a successful business and give some tips
for people who would like to start their own business.

Me: Hello to whoever is listening to this Interview with my dad Mark Lacy

Mark: Hi

Me: Who has started his own business with my mom Rebecca Lacy you two guys started Design
International Media

Mark: That's correct she did

Me: What was your first job?

Mark: First Job was Happy Joes Pizza Parlor in Billings Montana doing dishes and then I moved
up to making pizza but at the same time cause there's a whole health issue from washing your
hands and stuff like that then they changed to a different restaurant I worked there for a while
then they closed down so I was unemployed. Then eventually got a job and Fuddruckers so that
is 3 jobs even though you only asked for one.

Me: It will work, what did you do before you started Design International Media?

Mark: well I worked at a radio station in Portland Oregon kW JJ which was a country music
station 80 to 90 is almost 10 years

Me: How was your transition from the radio station to your own business?

Mark: Well it was definitely an interesting circumstance because while Rebecca was getting the
business rolling and finding clients in Great Falls and then in Billings Montana where we lived, I
was still doing radio. Then we moved to California for a different venture which Rebecca was
overseeing. She would still make calls to clients and got our first couple of clients in California
and then I somewhat turned into the design person who did the various programming for the
websites and stuff like that on this other venture, was that the question?

Me: Yeah that will work, what was your idea for your business and why are you passionate
about it

Mark: Well at the time it was common to have big computer stores, brick and mortar store with
actual boxes of computer programs and that's where Rebecca found Front Page which was a
Microsoft program to create websites so that is how we got into the computer programming
part of it and I was always into games and stuff like that and I would love going to the computer
store because they had a game section and Rebecca would go to the work section and this is
back when games are in you know big boxes like 20 times is bigger boxes you actually needed
for the CD but so it was for me it was very interesting work to learn a new program and
something about computer aspect it just didn't seem like work so it was it was fun it was fun

Me: That is always good, did you write a Business plan?

Mark: No the plan was to make enough money to get by in life and to afford some nice things
for the family I mean that’s how it was, at first Rebecca would do all the phone calls which is
the worst part of sales to cold call people and I would do the fun part doing the design and stuff
like that so there was no real plan, Learn as much as we could by trial and error on this
computer programs and hope for the best and we were fortunate enough to have it be
successful.

Me: Worked out well, how did you raise funding for your business?

Mark: Right basically as soon as we got that first client, we, and again I was doing something
else when Rebecca first started so I had some type of income coming in and then we flipped the
script when we moved to California Rebecca she had some money coming in and so we didn't
start from zero we had something in the back as it as a backup plan so there was fun raiser
needed because software technology is somewhat affordable we could expand on what we
already had at a pretty low cost. There wasn’t a lot of overhead for us and since we worked out
of our home, we didn't have to pay rent or separate electric or gas or water bills we were ok
scraping by until we get that first second or third client

Me: How did you learn to do your business?

Mark: Well this was when I worked at the radio station one of my assignments or objectives
was to program a computer based phone service where a listener would call into the phone
system and it was basically a radio station on the phone but there was a lot of computer
programming that back end of that and again it was something that just clicked in my head and
I enjoyed doing and it was a similar situation in the computer industry where the technology is
constantly evolving and you would see somebody on a website search using the search engine
to say How do I do this certain thing and lots of other people are doing the same thing so they
would leave their solutions and so that's kind of how I think I missed the question where were
we? Right so you know, how did you learn your business again, it's a lot of trial and error and
that's the way it is with a lot of complex computer programs right you know it's and nowadays
that is much easier but still very complicated and its constantly evolving.

Me: I remember when I was a kid we would walk in the library and you would get how to do
things for dummy books.

Mark: That’s true and the sad thing is those books really didn't work that should say how to
books for dummy dummies but it was just harder to find what you were looking for, the trick
with the computer programming is to know what questions to ask and be able to find a solution
so that once you figure out what the question is and this is basically a good life thing too then
you will know where to find the answer.

Me: What was your first 5 months like?

Mark: The first 5 months well that was again Rebecca was it was we have lots of stuff to do in
downtown LA at the time You and I going were going to the park while Rebecca did the work

Me: We got the fun part

Mark: That's right but this was a separate entity from what our business ended up being design
international media so that I’d say the first 5 months was basically just life because it was, OK
we need this much to pay this much this week so we have to make this many calls and that's
kind of how it was so was somewhat hectic but at the same time we were in a new state new
city and excited about where were so again it wasn't really work in a way like Oh my gosh I have
to slog through traffic so it wasn’t that bad it was exciting for both of us

Me: Especially the Park Part

Mark: The Park Part was really exciting yes, but don't be fooled downtown LA has lots of Hills
that you loved going down in the stroller it was a challenge on occasion

Me: Did you think it would be successful?

Mark: Well we were very fortunate and obviously you want anything you try to do in life to be
successful. So again, we were somewhat flying by the seat of our pants and we were fortunate
to have super awesome clients that had lots of contacts and that allowed us to branch out and
have an itch in our business. So, you know that was that was definitely something that we had
exceeded our expectations to be honest with you. We thought you know maybe this is just
going to bring some extra bucks here there and it became our main source of income obviously
it turned out best for us

Me: Yeah, what motivated you to start the business?

Mark: The big thing was going somewhere to work the traditional 9 to 5 just wasn’t… I mean
Rebecca and I had both done that already for a couple of decades you know have a certain time
where you had to work for someone so it was really motivation for us to be able to spend more
time with not only with each other but with a young man named Alexander and this at home
business let us to do that at least one of us was always there, And so that's kind of how it
expanded on to the at home business.

Me: What were some changes from your original idea?

Mark: I think some of the changes were when we first started Rebecca first started as she was
doing most of the programming and then the big change was I start doing the programming and
she was like “Hey wait a minute I still have to do the cold calls” So we kind of shared that duty
and then it evolved to where Rebecca does the social part of it which is beyond me I don't
understand any of it but I would do the other works so the web design so that was the big
switch

Me: How did you come up with the name Design International Media?

Mark: Oh, that one would have to be Rebecca’s answer I think the design international was her
first thought because the web is worldwide so we could be anywhere and be able to provide
service for any client anywhere .The media was added later because of how the web was going
at the time into music and video where is it when it first started the web was basically text and
some pictures so you know we've had before that so I think that's where she came up with the
name

Me: It’s a good name

Mark: Thanks

Me: what tactics did you use for your business?

Mark: tactics well you know it comes to picking up the phone and calling the tactic is to have
some type of caffeinated beverage close because you're going to need it and it also requires
thick skin cause you're getting a lot of no’s and so it was but now again we kind of got into this
niche outdoor living professionals and there's a lot of people who do that especially in
California you know cause there's lots of obviously the weather is super awesome so it's nice to
have a nice landscaping it's a big deal in California, that's basically we just would pick up the
phone book and going to outdoor living and start going down the line of people so that was it

Me: how do you market your business like how did you get more clients?

Mark: right well that's you know we again work we're very fortunate to have good word of
mouth from our clients some of our clients we've had since 2004 which is basically a year after
we got to California and it really took off for us so being able to provide excellent customer
service and quick turnaround time is something that is very marketable Very fortunate to have
our clients say if someone mentions you know I need my pictures on the web pass along our
name so that was a great way we've gotten a lot of business

Me: What was the hardest thing you had to adapt from one client from another client

Mark: yeah that's an excellent question about a lot of a lot of our clients again since it's outdoor
living they like big pictures and they like video and one of the biggest challenges we find is get
that content from them sometimes they might have a bunch of older pictures maybe we have
to scan them which is somewhat old school and they just don't look as good as digital photos
but so that's the biggest the biggest Yang and Yang if you will is the clients content you know do
we have to spend a lot of time creating a for them or is it right there on a thumb drive now or
DVD back then you know here's our pictures boom so that is a challenge but we have to be able
to adapt to whatever they client hasn't made their projects look as good as possible?

Me: What’s one of the differences from working for someone else to yourselves?

Mark: there's good/bad and both working for someone else there's always a constant paycheck
on a certain day sometimes twice a month so that's excellent to know it's there but then you
have to adhere to their time frames and you know their hours and if they're not a pleasant
person it's very challenging the word for when you work for yourself you have no one to blame
but yourself but you also have no one to motivate you but yourself you can basically work any
hours that you want it that makes it a lot easier and a lot less stressful let's say you have a
project due Friday at 5 o'clock you know you don't have to spend the whole 9 to 5 Friday sitting
in an office doing it you could spend Thursday night from 11 PM until 3 AM getting the project
done so it's definitely good and bad on both but it's much more flexible when you’re working at
home business

Me: what do you think are the key elements in running a business?

Mark: well it's you know a lot has to do with overhead it has to do goals that you set, again
when you're working for somebody else in and again a 9 to 5 situation you have certain
guidelines in certain time frames and you can expand on those when you work for yourself I
mean it's just the motivating thing you know I have to get this project done so I can get money
situation Unfortunately it's all about the money and that's pretty much the bottom line of most
everything so it's always motivated obviously is motivating to provide an excellent product for
your client to keep coming back with updates but then pats on the back is nice but bottom line
is money and it's just been able to buy groceries pay bills do a fun thing or 2 here there you
know that's what life's about

Me: how do you save for retirement and when do you plan to retire?

Mark: well that's an interesting question you know again being self-employed you know there is
a challenge on saving and it's easier when you're employed by someone else or you have a 401
K that they contribute to as well so I can't say that the saving has been exceptional things that
we've done it when it comes to retiring you know that's the only reason I was see us retiring is
if there was a health issue or something as long as we can see the computer screen talk in the
phone I think we're OK but you know again we have a couple of decades in the Social Security
system so we do have backup when that time comes but not even close to thinking about

Me: yeah that's good, is it expensive to pay or do you pay your own health insurance

Mark: right yes we do it's the law of the land now you have to have health insurance and the
last couple of years as of this interview we were under the income requirements to pay for
health insurance so the government thank you Big Brother you know they covered like half our
payments but this year we get to pay a monthly which is not real exciting but you know it's the
law so you got to do that

Me: was there anything you regret about opening your business?

Mark: I wish that I wish we would have steered our clients more into the video then a little later
than we then we did but then again the technology wasn't there it used to be the big old clunky
heavy cameras that you would try to take video with that you can do with the phone you know
and that's that was all 8 years after we started so that's the only regret is not getting our clients
to get more video footage of some of their awesome projects that they can't go back and take
video now because (Hey get off my lawn!) (No I’m just taking a picture of this pool here!) (no
get off!) so that’s one thing I regret.

Me: what do you love most about running your business?

Mark: you know its the flexible hours absolutely it's when you and your brother in school the
hours are somewhat limited because there is a bedtime around here (Me quietly: Nope not for
me) but it's summer time you know back in California you know I used to just sit there and Code
till 3 or 4 in the morning and it was you know this is the flexibility absolutely it being able to go
to events of yours and your brothers all through your school years was definitely a super plus
and so that's the big ones the flexible

Me: how long have you been running Design international Media?

Mark: we started 1999 that would be Rebecca started in 1999 and Great Falls Montana was
working at a K 99 radio hanging out on the couch with your sunglasses and we have the
pictures to prove it so that's the where it started and then in 2000 we moved to Billings
Montana where we were originally from and it just kept snowballing in a good way from there

Me: so, you been running this since I was born

Mark: exactly yes it's your fault then we started it because but that's OK it's hilarious cause
Rebecca would take you to I don’t remember if it was staples in Great Falls or something like
that I would take you to staples and she would by computer programs and you would be riding
in your stroller it was pretty hilarious.

Me: Last question what advice do you have for people who want to start their own business?

Mark: well you definitely have to pick something that is somewhat interesting to you because
you don't want to do something you don't like because you won't like it and it'll make it very
challenging to keep motivated and so absolutely going to find something you're interested in
and do some research and see how many other people are doing it and that's not a bad thing
that there's competition because then you have resources if you run into a situation you know
you can see what other folks have done in a similar situation so definitely find something you
like to do and go for it.

Me: Alright so that’s all the questions I have, Dad Thank You this has been me Alex Lacy and
Mark Lacy and if you made it to the end here let me know I guess and Thank you for listening.