DesignFluxx

Young Entrepreneurs Continue to Grow Business – AV Review

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:30:44 +0000

By TOMOYA SHIMURA
Staff Writer – AV Review

Just a little more than a year after they founded DesignFluxx, Scott Perkins and Daniel Garibay have taken the digital design firm to another level.

The young entrepreneurs opened a new office in Long Beach, staffed with five full-time employees.

“We’ve grown quickly,” said the 22-year-old Perkins, CEO of DesignFluxx. “We are going to spend this year reorganizing and perfecting our services and continuing to expand our client reach.”

Perkins and Garibay, 20, started DesignFluxx on May 10, 2011 out of a tiny office neighboring the Apple Valley Chamber of Commerce. The firm soon grew into one of the most successful website and graphic design businesses in the High Desert.

DesignFluxx has worked with more than 400 clients in 14 states, including local companies such as the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds, El Dorado Broadcasters and Century 21 Fairway Realty.

The company builds a custom-designed website using no templates, while making sure the website is optimized to pop up high in search engine results, according to Perkins.

Perkins moved to Long Beach to expand the business in the Los Angeles Basin, while Garibay stayed in the High Desert as chief creative officer. DesignFluxx grew more than five-fold from the 2011-2012 fiscal year, according to the firm’s Facebook page.

DesignFluxx gets different types of customers in the Long Beach area than in the High Desert, Perkins said. Local clients hire DesignFluxx to handle specific projects, while down-the-hill companies retain the firm almost like their own marketing departments, he said.

The majority of the company’s revenue still comes from High Desert businesses, said Perkins, who was recently elected to the Apple Valley Chamber’s board of directors.

As the firm grew, Perkins hired five employees, including a search engine specialist, a graphic designer and a photographer. All of them except for one are from the High Desert. Their average age is 21, Perkins said.

“People are the No. 1 asset to my business,” Perkins said. “It’s been a big hurdle trying to find the right talent. But we’ve been able to accomplish it.”

Perkins said he usually doesn’t use his legal title, CEO, preferring to be called a managing partner.

“I try not to come across as arrogant,” he said. “We try to make sure we are as humble as possible.”

The Bottom Line – Press-Telegram

DesignFluxx — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 17:00:49 +0000

PRESS-TELEGRAM – JUNE 1st, 2012 – BUSINESS SECTION

View Online – Press Telegram

LONG BEACH – Scott Perkins, chief executive officer of DesignFluxx, LLC, knows that image is everything.

Perkins, 21, and Chief Creative Officer Daniel Garibay, 19, make it their business to convey the messages of politicians, Realtors and other clients through their designs.

So when the Apple Valley-based partners wanted to expand their reach to Long Beach, they looked to flexible workplace provider, Regus, which offers everything from use of meeting rooms and administrative staff to private office space in hundreds of locations starting at $100 per month for virtual office services, and ranging up for private and full-time offices.

“My business is all about perception,” said Perkins, who signed a one-year contract with Regus. “It’s about how the client perceives me, especially being young, so I have to exude professionalism. The reason why that concept works for my business is because all I need to do my job is a desk and a computer. It’s very cost-effective, the offices are gorgeous, I don’t have to pay for reception or anything like that. I walk in and everything is set up. There’s no build-out costs. It’s just ready to go.”

A longtime provider of flexible offices throughout the world, Regus will open a 17,000 square-foot flexible working space in the Long Beach Landmark center later this month.

The idea of flexible office space is nothing new to Regus, founded in 1989 and now with 1,200 locations in 550 cities and 95 countries. Regus’ offerings have been used by business owners of startups outgrowing their home offices and by companies such as Google, GlaxoSmithKline and Nokia.

Regus chose the 111 W. Ocean Blvd. location for its business diversity, particularly in trade, technology, hospitality and health care.

“We’ve wanted to be in Long Beach for some time and are excited to be a part of the growing business community,” said Sande Golgart, regional vice president for Regus. “Long Beach is situated along an ideal business corridor, providing easy access to Los Angeles and Orange County. It also serves as a gateway to the global commerce with the second busiest seaport in the U.S.”

The Long Beach location is one of 78 offices with 183 workstations Regus is opening to meet rising demand.

Lance Graville, vice president of sales for Regus’ Western Region, said he is seeing record occupancy in the west with 92 percent, much of that driven by the economy.

“The economy is pushing a lot of people to think differently about how they use office space,” he said. “Everybody is budget-conscious – for big businesses, it’s `How do I cut costs?’ For small businesses, it’s `How do you compete in a global marketplace?’ They can leverage Regus for that.”

karen.robes@presstelegram.com, 562-714-2088, twitter.com/KarenMeeksPT

Partnering to Win – VV Daily Press

DesignFluxx — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:00:46 +0000

VV DAILY PRESS – MAY 6th, 2012 – COVER STORY, SUNDAY EDITION

View Online – VV Daily Press

APPLE VALLEY • A success story in business often requires a combination of a creator who makes great products and a marketer who sells them — such as Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.

Scott Perkins and Daniel Garibay didn’t start out in a garage, but they complement each other like the Apple cofounders. And the two recent high school graduates dress a lot like Silicon Valley entrepreneurs as they work in their tiny Apple Valley office — just enough to house two desks and computers with multiple screens.

The duo co-founded DesignFluxx LLC one year ago, watching it grow into one of the most successful website and graphic design firms in the High Desert. They’ve worked with more than 370 clients in 14 states, Perkins said, including the city of Hesperia, Century 21 Fairway Realty and Green Tree Inn.

They follow the basics of business: Provide a service no one else is offering.

“We joke in the office that the High Desert is behind in technology. Our goal is kind of to reinvent that and show the true value of marketing,” the 21-year-old Perkins said. “There’s a massive opportunity. We ran into almost no competition.”

The company builds a custom-designed website using no templates, while making sure the website is optimized to pop up high on search engines, he said. Perkins meets the clients and handles the business side, while 19-year-old Garibay works on a computer all day, coding and designing.

“I felt their young ideas might help me,” said Jim Phillips, a broker at Century 21 Fairway Realty. He was looking to renew the company website and approached DesignFluxx after seeing its work online.

“I needed somebody to take my idea and put it into a design,” he said. “I think they got down to business really quickly. That’s one thing I really liked. … I’m not an easy customer to work with. I’ve got a lot of demands. But they’ve gone above and beyond to make things right, and that’s the key.”

Competitors to Partners

An honor student at Hesperia High School, Perkins was heavily involved in mock trial and commanded a 120-student marching band.

He took several years of computer classes at Victor Valley College beginning when he was 12. He used those skills to get a part-time job at a local pool company, where his boss taught him about business and gave him opportunities to learn about design.

Compared to Perkins, Garibay kept more to himself while he attended Silverado High School and graduated from Options for Youth. He described himself as a “skater kid” and said he wasn’t interested in academics.

“The only thing I enjoyed was math,” he said. “Everything else, I hated it.”

He first designed a website at 12, when he created his own template for his MySpace page. He developed his design and computer programming skills by teaching himself using the Internet and began freelancing.

“I’ve never wanted to work for someone,” Garibay said. “I’ve always enjoyed building things, producing things that are going to grow and are owned by me and not by somebody else.”

His work caught the eye of Perkins, who had a bigger business of his own.

“We were competing who can design better websites and get more clients,” Garibay said. “We competed on whoever ranked on Google higher.”

And then in May of last year, Perkins gave Garibay a call, asking him to work together instead of splitting shares. Perkins also needed help to take on a major project from a local radio group, which became DesignFluxx’s first client.

In exchange for giving a discount for redesigning websites, DesignFluxx got free advertisement on radio. Word spread after working with a few customers, and now they get most of their clients through referrals.

They hire local freelancers when necessary, but the young managing partners still do most of the work on their own.

“I was trying to do both. By bringing (Garibay) in, I can focus on meeting clients and he can focus on design,” Perkins said.

Challenges and Future

Perkins said the toughest challenge for DesignFluxx is keeping up with the workload while providing quality service consistently.

“That’s why we work 12 hours a day to make sure our project doesn’t get pushed back,” said Perkins, who posted a photo on Facebook of the iPads they bought to increase productivity using a project management system.

DesignFluxx generated $100,000 in revenue in the past year, Perkins said, but they invested most of the profits back into the company for growth. Although the overhead cost is low, Perkins and Garibay each get $1,200 a month. And they are responsible for every decision they make.

The company announced the leasing of a second office in Long Beach last month. Perkins said he will move there in August so that he can personally meet clients in the area. His goal is to open one more office within three years to provide better customer service.

For more information about DesignFluxx, visit www.DesignFluxx.com or www.facebook.com/DesignFluxx.

Tomoya Shimura may be reached at (760) 955-5368 or TShimura@VVDailyPress.com. Follow Tomoya on Facebook at facebook.com/ShimuraTomoya.

Blog Updates Coming Soon…

DesignFluxx — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:00:24 +0000

Hey Everyone! Sorry we have not had a chance to fully update our blog with all the exciting things going on at DesignFluxx. In all honesty, we simply havn’t had the time with all the great projects you have been referring to us! We’re looking at having it updated with everything from DFX’s first year by July 1st, but in the meantime – be sure to stay updated with what is happening at facebook.com/designfluxx

We sincerely appreciate your support.

Thanks – SNP / DMG

Thank You: Cubit Engineering

DesignFluxx — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:25:49 +0000

DesignFluxx is proud to announce the launch of CubitEngineering.com and we wish to sincerely thank Cubit Engineering for their kind words about our services at the Hesperia Chamber Coffee Club Meeting on Friday, December 2nd. Cubit Engineering was a pleasure to work with in developing their new website and we look forward to working with them on their upcoming Search Engine Optimization Campaigns.

“Cubit Engineering, a Civil Engineering / Land Surveying firm in Hesperia California recently contracted with DesignFluxx to redesign our company website and incorporate our social media marketing efforts. DesignFluxx delivered a quality professional website ahead of schedule that met all of our company’s goals. The DesignFluxx team doesn’t make promises and excuses. They make commitments and deliver results. We look forward to working with DesignFluxx in the future to increase our market share and communicate our company strengths to our clients.” – Ronald Garton, Cubit Engineering

This year, 2011, Cubit Engineering, Inc. is celebrating its 34^th year as a diversified Civil Engineering and Land Surveying firm that has been serving the High Desert and beyond since 1977. Initially, the firm began as a Partnership known as Beckley, Sundgren and Eddy. In 1981, Craig C. Sundgren purchased the whole of Beckley, Sundgren, and Eddy from his partners, and renamed the firm Cubit Engineering. In 1988, Cubit Engineering incorporated. Cubit Engineering has chosen to maintain its offices in Hesperia, but is committed to serving the entire High Desert and Southern California.

DesignFluxx Ranked #1 in High Desert on Google

DesignFluxx — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:00:51 +0000

Being ranked high or #1 on Google nowadays is one of the most important keys to the success of any business, as over 85% of customers use the internet as their first source of information on products and services.

There are many Website Design & Search Optimization Firms that promise you far beyond their capabilities when building your website. You will often hear phrases like “We can Guarantee you will be #1″ or “Only we know the secrets to rank you at the top of Google.”

If you have been told this by a website design company – in most cases you have come to find that this is not true, and promises have turned into wasted money and ultimately a failure on that companies part. DesignFluxx is a company that truly believes in the sound principle of “Results, not promises, are the true test of any company.” This is why we are proud to announce that DesignFluxx now ranks #1 in Google for the Top Keywords in Our Area and Industry.

We encourage you to test this by going to Google and Searching “victorville web design” / “victorville website company” / “apple valley website design” / ”high desert web design” ** / “best victorville web design company” / “best web design company apple valley” – and many more. We are currently on the rise for keywords in the High Desert and throughout Southern California.

Having a great website does not mean it it doing its job. You not only have to have a great website, but great Search Engine Optimization for the public to find your website so it can bring you customers. Give DesignFluxx a call today for your Free Search Engine Optimization Consultation, and let us show you the truly cost effective way to market your business.

**When searching “high desert web design” note that the #1 slot is filled by a New Mexico Company. Also note that these rankings apply to Google Search Engine Only. We are currently working to improve rankings in Yahoo & Bing, however with Google recieving over 80% of Search Traffic, We Focused there First.

Welcome: Century 21 Fairway Realty

DesignFluxx — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:30:48 +0000

We at DesignFluxx are proud to welcome Century 21 Fairway Realty to the DesignFluxx Family of Clients. We have been commissioned to build a complete online solution for their company and are currently on schedule to have preliminary launch pending IDX Integration.

“Where Quality Service is a Time Honored Tradition Since 1964″

Century 21 Fairway Realty, Inc. is a Professional Real Estate Brokerage providing quality service to the entire Victor Valley and the High Desert communities since 1964. Our professional Associates serve our Clients and Affiliates with Quality Service and a primary focus on Sales and Management of Residential, Investment, Land and Commercial real estate. We also have a Property Management division to service Rentals & Leasing.