Leif Miltenberger
Leif Miltenberger
Business Director
Leif has been building websites from scratch for the last 6 years. He is self-taught and has advanced (X)HTML, CSS, and Adobe Dreamweaver skills. Leif started working as a part-time freelance web designer while studying for a Music Composition degree from Capilano College (now known as Capilano University). He has worked full-time in the web design industry since 2006. He also looks after the business functions of Hired Guns Creative: sales, project management, bookkeeping and such.
In his own words:
1. Your company is rather new. Where do you see Hired Guns Creative in 5 years?
It's very hard to predict at this point because we're so young, but I'm beginning to see a vision for the company develop. I'd like to see us develop two divisions: a more "traditional" web and print design division and a division that designs and builds profitable web applications. I think the two divisions would definitely have some overlap but also be their own distinct entities.
It can be difficult surviving as a strictly Fee-For-Service company. If you don't bring in enough new clients in a given month, the next month can be pretty lean. I'd like to develop a couple of different recurring revenue streams that will help smooth out the whole thing.
2. It can be challenging to attract clients when you are just starting out. Was it difficult persuading your first client to sign with you?
We definitely put a lot of work into impressing that first client! At that point it was just Richard and I - Reed joined a couple of months later - and we prepared very heavily for that first meeting (with the lovely folks at Protection Island Beach House). As it turned out, we didn't need to worry - they liked what we had to say and we came away with a great client!
3. How has the econolypse affected Hired Guns?
We definitely lost a couple of potential clients who decided to hold off on their design projects or tried to do the work in house. But I'd say that it's a good testament to our determination that we started up our company in the worst economic climate in recent history and we've survived. I firmly believe that if we can make it through that, we can make it through anything.
4. You have no history of working with breweries and wineries. Why did you choose that as one of your target markets?
I'm a fan of eating and drinking locally whenever possible. I started looking around at various BC wine and beer producers' websites and saw a huge opportunity - so many of them were in need of good design. It was obvious that this is a market where good design is clearly valued, but this value hadn't really translated to the web yet. I saw countless wineries with gorgeous logos, labels, packaging, tasting rooms and architecture, but hideous websites. That struck me as an opportunity.
The wine market also has a certain amount of cache to it. When people ask what type of clients our company works with I never fail to mention wineries. The winery projects also allow us more room to experiment with new design ideas than a traditional corporate website might.
5. You're from the North, aren't you? What brought you to Nanaimo?
Yep - I grew up in Northern BC and the Yukon Territory. After going to college in Vancouver, my wife and I wanted to move to Vancouver Island. We tried Victoria for a little while but had a difficult time finding (meaningful) work and a decent apartment. It's a tough city to move to cold-turkey. One day I saw an ad for a web design/development position in Nanaimo. I drove up and did an interview, only to find out later that I had the job before I walked in the door based on what they'd seen in my freelance portfolio. We also found an apartment on the same day. Once those two cards fell into place that easily we decided to give Nanaimo a shot. I was initially a bit hesitant about moving here - all I knew of Nanaimo at that point was the ferry terminal and the strip malls/big box stores on the way to Tofino. But since we've been here it's started to grow on me. I really like the pace of life; one of my favorite things is listening to the Vancouver traffic reports on the radio.
