Today we’d like to introduce you to Lorne Thomas.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My wife and I relocated to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex late summer of 1990, moving from the Waco area where we went to school. After some time of job searching, I landed a position as an Art Director with a small advertising agency in Addison. We were a full-service agency offering print, video, radio, media buying, etc.
Over 7 years I cranked out tons of newspaper and magazine ads, did my fair share of copywriting, and assisted on many commercial video shoots. I was very thankful for the opportunity to really get my feet wet with a busy ad company, wearing lots of different hats. We serviced automotive accounts primarily in the DFW Metroplex, all of Texas and surrounding states.
From there, I moved to further my career with the IT services giant Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in Plano and offered my graphic design skills to support many internal groups. As often happens in corporations where nothing stays the same for long, my position rapidly morphed and changed and after a few years, I was serving as an Advanced Training Specialist supporting online training for leadership, management, and sales teams.
At that time the corporation was working to migrate almost all its lecture-style instruction to online training, so this is the time I acquired the many valuable web development skills that carry the bulk of my business today. I was only there at EDS for about 5 years, but thankful to have learned from some of the most knowledgeable programmers and web developers around at the time. I left EDS in 2002 and the corporation was eventually absorbed by Hewlett Packard in 2008.
It was in 2003 I began Blue Troop as a freelance venture after seeing a huge need in the small business community for good quality business websites. So many businesses were desperate to be found online the quality of most of the websites I came across was very poor. The new projects were everywhere, and I began to get very busy right off the bat.
During this same time, it was very difficult because I was also working as an Art Director with a busy print ad company in Lewisville and found juggling a job and a freelance business became quite a chore as they both fought for my attention. By 2009 I had built up a broad client base for Blue Troop that I was able to transition over to it full time and to give my attention to growing it properly.
Since that time, I have seen steady progress and an ever-expanding client base as I offer small business web design services, professional video production and print design for business owners primarily in the DFW Metroplex, but also many in other states as well.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As I mentioned, the main struggle along the way involved trying to function at a high level with both a full-time job and a growing freelance business. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you enjoy lots of stress. Growing strong, new business really takes time. Nothing of substance and anything enduring will ever happen quickly, so I had to be patient as I grew my client base to be large enough to support my family and everything I wanted to do. Eventually, I got there.
Please tell us about Blue Troop Web, Print and Video.
I began Blue Troop as a company to help level the playing field between the large and small competitors. I wanted to focus completely on small business and see them become profitable with the same kind of good quality marketing tools that the big kids on the block had.
We are known primarily for affordable business web design and helping our clients understand how their website works in conjunction with the internet regarding how they’re found (SEO), target markets/demographics, consumer behavior and offer several tips along the way that help them maximize their online presence.
Most business owners don’t understand any of this, they simply want to run their businesses. Because of this fact, many have been taken advantage of and lost valuable time and money. I do my best to educate them on how it all fits together and explain their options to them.
As an independent contractor, most often I’m able to offer the most competitive pricing because I’m not paying a big staff, large overhead, or for a deluxe conference room with a big screen monitor, or luxury lobby. I make the process quick, efficient and simple for them, as it should be.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Favorite memories of my childhood involved knowing my parents were among the crowd cheering me on, whether it be with sports, school activities, whatever I was involved with at the time. As we all do, I thrived off their encouragement and approval, and I think a form of that finds it’s place in my current business as well.
The greatest thing I can hear, the thing that just makes my day, week, month and year are hearing my customers tell me how helpful something I’ve created has been to them and their business. That’s what I live for and what makes it all worth it.
Contact Info:
- Address: 924 Circle View Ln.
Denton, Texas 76210 - Website: http://bluetroop.com
- Phone: 214-354-5809
- Email: lorne@bluetroop.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Blue-Troop-Web-Print-Video-200063810011534/
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorne-thomas-a6341a39
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