My Story: The Intersectionof Business and Design
Hi, I'm Teri Ambrose. Welcome to my website and blog.
I remember the first time I got excited about entrepreneurship. I had no idea about business—heck, I had very little idea about life—I was only 12 years old. But one day I got an idea to create recipes and sell them through the classified ads section of the newspaper. My business plan? Five delicious recipes for only $3. My plan involved customers mailing me their money, and me mailing them the recipes. I don’t know how or where I got this idea, but I remember lying awake at night making detailed plans of exactly how I was going to make this happen and (most importantly to my young mind) exactly how much money I was going to make! But alas, the business was a bust. It never really even got off the ground, but my dream of entrepreneurship remained and grew.
At 21, I started a jewelry design company. I crafted semi-precious stone necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, spending evening hours in my small workroom building up inventory. I sold my creations to family, friends, coworkers, and even occasional strangers who liked the jewelry I was wearing and wanted me to make something similar for them. My business was tiny, but it taught me about accounting, inventory control, cash flow, and even importing, since some of the gemstones I purchased were from faraway countries. Gradually, my jewelry-making interest waned, and I focused more on building my career.
I got lucky in my career early on, and at 25, I was the business manager of a revenue-producing research facility within the University of Arizona. I learned in depth how to run a business—albeit one with partial funding from the state government. Eventually, my husband’s job transferred, and we moved to Mesa, Arizona. I decided I wanted to do something more creative, so I went back to college and got a degree in graphic design.
After graduation, I again found myself in a great job, making good money with nice benefits. But despite what it seemed, my life satisfaction was low. I had two young children and found myself yearning to be more present for them. I wanted to be there after school, be with them if they were sick, and go to school events whenever I wanted without having to “get approval” from someone. I still had career aspirations, but feeling like I was failing my children was heart-wrenching. I knew I had to make a change.
Deciding to quit my job and go out on my own
I started to daydream about the possibility of going freelance with my own graphic design business. The problem was, I had no idea how I was going to get clients. I remember being so torn about which path I should take. Should I keep the job I enjoyed and made good money at, or should I jump into a freelancing business where I had exactly zero clients and no idea how to get more?
One evening, the decision became much easier. Earlier that day, feeling frustrated and indecisive, I asked God/the Universe/whatever powers-that-be for a sign—a clear direction on what I should do. That night, I attended a networking event where they did an icebreaker to help us get to know each other better. We were asked to write something interesting about ourselves on a card, then pass it to the person directly across from us.
Without putting much thought into it, I simply wrote, “I’m a graphic designer.” When the woman across from me gave me her card, I knew I had my sign. It read, “I’m starting a newsletter but need a designer.” We both laughed at the irony, and a few weeks later, she became my first client.
I eventually learned how to get more clients the old-fashioned way—attending networking meetings, making cold calls, and asking for referrals from past clients. There was no such thing as the internet back then, at least not in the readily available way it is now. My business eventually grew to the point where I hired an assistant and expanded to using other freelancers when jobs started to pile up. But more importantly, I was living the dream. I had replaced my previous income, built a business I was proud of, and was working from a home office so I could be there for my kids.
I ran my business, Graphic Design Group Inc., for about 10 years, then started to get a bit restless. My children were teenagers when an opportunity came up to purchase the rights to a magazine I had developed for a client five years earlier. It was another tough decision. The client’s business was on the verge of failing, yet the purchase price was still significant for me. Should I play it safe or take the leap? I went back and forth for days. Finally, I decided to go for it, and in June 2009, purchased the business I had helped start, Arizona’s Finest Wedding Sites and Services, magazine. I’m not going to kid you—it was really hard at first. The magazine was a mess and poorly run, and many advertisers were used to getting their ads for free or at steep discounts. Fortunately, things came together. One by one, I hired an exceptional team, and we built the magazine into a beautiful, effective publication we all poured our hearts into. As proud as I was of the magazine, I was even more honored to work with this amazing team of dedicated women who made it happen.
Seven years after purchasing the magazine, we had significantly grown our revenue, page count, and advertiser base, and created a highly successful lead-generating website as well. But despite these successes, and earning more money than I ever had before, I knew I was ready to move on. In June 2016, I sold the magazine business to a publishing company for nearly 10 times the purchase price (after a lot of hard work and reinvestment of profits). Initially, the magazine was a risk, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions I made.
Enjoying the Benefits
After selling the magazine business, I took a couple of years off to travel, enjoy family, and check off some adventure items on my bucket list. Soon, the entrepreneurial urge came back, and ideas were everywhere. But I hesitated to jump into anything too time-consuming or client-demanding, so I did something even better—I started volunteering with SCORE Greater Phoenix while running a small digital marketing business. It’s the best of both worlds. And SCORE eventually hired my company to do their local marketing, so we’ve come full circle.
Thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoy my blog, and if you, too, are a business owner, I wish you all the best as you travel down your own entrepreneurial journey.