FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Shades of White
301 Tenth Avenue Contact: Wendy Martin, Owner
Crystal City, MO 63019 (314) 740-0361
http://www.shadesdesign.com wendy@shadesdesign.com
CRYSTAL CITY, Missouri, June 2002 -- “Many people do what I do, but how many are living off the result? I managed to buy a house as a single mom and business consultant when my daughter was four years old,” says Wendy Martin. “Only later did I realize how blessed I was in my success as an entrepreneur.” Martin is at the forefront of a trend in the American workforce that has come of age; she is one of the 12.6 million known as “Entrepreneurial Parents.” Martin, who moved from the East Coast to settle in Crystal City two years ago, is the creator of the thriving graphic design business, Shades of White, and one of the 111 business people profiled in The Entrepreneurial Parent: How to Earn Your Living at Home and Still Enjoy Your Family, Your Work & Your Life (Putnam/Tarcher, 2002). This newly-released book by Paul & Sarah Edwards and Lisa M. Roberts probes the work and lifestyle habits of over 700 entrepreneurial parents.
Since Martin started Shades of White in 1985, she has worked on projects for clients ranging from Bic Corporation to the General Baptist Congress of St. Louis whose website she designed. Martin is deservedly proud of her work for the National Veterans Administration and The Gift of Time Foundation whose website she both created and currently hosts. If you see someone jogging by wearing a T-shirt from the Downtown-Marquette St. Louis YMCA, you're looking at more of Martin’s work. She designed the logo.
Are satisfied clients enough to keep Martin’s business thriving? According to Martin, who has a BFA in Graphic Design, there’s more to it. “A degree is a plus rather than a necessity, but the knowledge of good design isn’t negotiable nor is it something one can pick up from a computer program. You have to acquire it through practical experience and you have to keep educating yourself. For me, it’s like I have a second job just staying current in my field. I am still, even after studying art for more than three decades, learning something new about design every day!”
Martin’s advice for aspiring home-based graphic designers is to become as marketing-savvy as possible. “I think that the good and talented will survive, but only if they push the marketing envelope. I have put together a program where the business owner can have as much or as little interaction with me as they want or need. My most effective marketing method to date? It’s still word of mouth.”
To read more about Wendy Martin and other entrepreneurial parents, pick up a copy of The Entrepreneurial Parent: How to Earn Your Living at Home and Still Enjoy Your Family, Your Work & Your Life at your local bookstore or online at Amazon.com or bn.com. To contact Wendy Martin directly, visit www.shadesdesign.com or call (314) 740-0361.
