From the October/September issue of Lola Magazine. Click here to view the original article on Lola Magazine’s website.
Danielle and James Richard pictured at the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce 2017 Minority Business Opportunity Awards ceremony, where Danielle was nominated for the Small Business Owner of the Year award.
One morning in late 2008, husband and wife, James and Danielle Richard, repeated the same conversation they’d had several times before. Danielle felt that she wasn’t getting to spend enough time with their infant son. Both worked full time and their son, Hank, was in daycare five days a week. Danielle was a successful graphic designer and loved her work, but the couple decided it was time to put more focus on their young family. She had done a few design projects on the side over the years, so they figured she could she make up at least some of her income doing freelance work. Danielle bid her coworkers goodbye, and Richard Creative was born.
Danielle worked harder than ever between family and freelance design jobs, and even more so when the family was completed by the addition of their daughter, Maggie, in 2010. As the family grew, so did Richard Creative. As the design projects steadily came in, Danielle found recurring work designing ads for local business, Mr. Menu. As the children grew and began attending school full time, Richard Creative continued to grow, too.
In 2015, Danielle was doing some design work for a local group, Popular Creative, and found herself teamed up with marketer and content writer extraordinaire, Kayleigh Plette. It didn’t take long for the two to realize their skills complemented each other perfectly and they could achieve so much more as a team than as individuals.
This union proved pivotal for Richard Creative. The workload grew and Danielle brought in freelance graphic designers she had met along the way to keep up with the demand. Business was great, but Danielle found herself spending less time creating and more time mired in tasks like payroll, bookkeeping, and taxes. The creatives needed an administrator to help with the business of running a business. This brought James and Danielle to another conversation they’d had time and time again, the dream of James joining Danielle at Richard Creative full time. With fifteen years of human resources management experience, he was the practical, business-minded kind of person Richard Creative needed. In 2016, the Richards took one of the biggest leaps of faith in the life of their young family and Richard Creative truly became the family business.
Since that time, Richard Creative has continued to grow. In addition to Danielle, James, and Kayleigh, the company now boasts two full-time-ish designers as well as the freelance designers who still continue to pitch in on projects—all under Danielle’s creative direction and proven vision. Richard Creative is now proud to direct marketing and design on an ongoing basis for several Shreveport-based businesses. Richard Creative has also built customized and innovative websites for local organizations as well as businesses in places as far-flung as Colorado and Florida. No project is too large or too small. Richard Creative still does the odds and ends graphic design work that gave it its start.
Richard Creative takes great pride in partnering with companies wherever they may be on their marketing journey. From a simple logo design to full branding throughout a company’s advertising, printing, and digital media presence, or maybe a redesign for a well-established business looking to take the next step, Richard Creative is ready to assist.
A Creative Agency
for Smart Businesses
info@Richard-Creative.com
318-490-6555
Richard-Creative.com