Today we’d like to introduce you to Charles Crawford II.
Hi Charles, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Macon, GA where I got my spark for creating content/capturing moments by working with the media team in church and by creating graphics for campaigns and events in the city. I spent a lot of my free time learning any and everything I could about the Adobe creative suite and other design tools. I attended Georgia Southern University in pursuit of a civil engineering degree, and after my first semester, I decided to cultivate my creative design passion. I accomplished this by obtaining a dual Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design and Graphic Communications Management. The design program allowed me to develop my skills and fall in love with combining creative experiences, and design principles with innovative production methods to bring a concept all the way to fruition. As a result, I started RFC Creations which only offered design and printing services in pursuit to be a one-stop shop for my clients. As time went on, I decided to incorporate my side passion of photography and videography to make RFC Creations a full-service creative resource suite for my clients. This passion project turned business has allowed me to help people capture priceless moments and memories as well as make dreams come true. Moving from Georgia has been a fun journey and I’ve been enjoying the ride, learning, networking, and working with some amazing businesses and individuals along the way. Now that I have settled in Dallas, I’m looking forward to using my resources to continuously grow my business and make more connections/clients.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has definitely not been smooth. One of the main struggles that I’ve faced while growing my business would definitely be building a steady foundation of clients and resources. I feel like most sustainable businesses go through that process of finding and retaining those core clients all while ensuring they’re making the necessary changes to become a great brand. Another struggle I had earlier on was getting people to buy into my business because it was different and had a lot of moving pieces. They didn’t really know what services we offered or what it is that we actually do. People didn’t understand if we were a marketing agency or if we just took pictures. We challenged ourselves to then find a way to help people understand and buy-in by diversifying our marketing and pushing for new and innovative ways to show unity in our services. Once we were able to retain those core clients, gain some ad hoc clients and show what we as a company could do, we then began to finally see some positive progress and growth.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about RFC Creations?
RFC Creations is a full-service creative conglomerate, offering graphic design, printing, photography/videography, and consulting services. Known for our end-to-end process, we can assist you in bringing to life almost any concept you have in mind and turning it into a timeless creation. The three main segments of RFC Creations are designed to flow seamlessly together to complete full-scale campaigns, while also still providing a la carte services for your everyday or special events needs.
RFC Design offers you a full business/event/personal branding & identity experience. We work hand in hand with you to create graphics from our Brand Identity Package which includes a logo, icons, a custom color palette for branding, & text font selection to elevate your next event or program. Our design team also handles all ad hoc requests like flyer designs, invitations, ad/books, and much much more. RFC Print then allows you to bring all of your custom designs to life! This includes the printing of promotional products like cups and pens, paper goods (business cards, rack cards, etc.), as well as wide-format printing (banners, backdrops, event stand displays, and custom table cloths). Even if you have your own logo/design already, you can still utilize our printing services. RFC Candids is our photography/videography department specializing in product photography, wedding photography/videography, and event coverage. Those services also extend to studio photography and corporate headshots. Our newest department is RFC Consulting, in which you can now request our consulting services on any project whether it is with us or not. We realized there was a need for knowledge transfer in the creative space, especially when it came to opportunities in the cross between design and printing.
What sets us apart from others is our ability to be a “one-stop-shop” for not only entrepreneurs but for the everyday consumer. We have clients who come in with a sketch of a logo for a product and from that, we’re able to bring that design to life, and provide labels/containers for that product, product photography, marketing campaigns, promotional items, and more, all from our suite. We have clients who just need wedding invitations, save the dates, and signage. We also have clients who just need a few headshots. That is what I am most proud of. My ability to provide creative content for a variety of clients in a variety of ways while also being able to provide all of these services for myself.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Perseverance.
In every aspect of the journey to success, whether it be continued education and training, overcoming new technology or techniques in our respective industries, perseverance is and has been the core drive of that success. The discipline to continuously get out of bed every day with a goal to do better, and to be better is everything. The true essence of persevering is the willingness to continue striving, in spite of any obstacle, on your journey to “success,” whatever you deem it to be. I can recall moments when I wanted to give up and quit because I felt like my business was stagnant. It seemed as though people couldn’t see my vision, so maybe it wasn’t a vision worth having, but perseverance prevailed. It always does.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rfccreations.com
- Instagram: rfc_creations
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rfccr8tions/
Image Credits
Charles Crawford II
