About 20 years ago, I was a burgeoning business student attempting to juggle some web development projects in my spare time.

It didn’t seem like much back then. I was just trying to bring in some extra income and offer help to some struggling entrepreneurs.

But at that time, if you’d told me this little side gig would end up evolving into the thriving, boutique marketing agency I now own today, I would have thought you were out of your mind.

Fast forward 20 years into the future, and I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else.

Through the experiences that led me to where I am today, I’ve fostered a fiery passion for helping my fellow entrepreneurs and small business owners to build, brand, and market their businesses.

At the same time, over these last two decades, I’ve built an amazing team by seeking out those who share that same level of enthusiasm for seeing clients succeed.

So, with 2023 in full swing, I figured I’d create a little 20th-anniversary retrospective, looking at some of our accomplishments over the years, along with how we got started, how we’ve evolved into what we are today, and some snapshots from the often-bumpy roads we’ve travelled to get here.

The Very Beginning

From the time I was a little kid, I always had the mind of an entrepreneur.

One of my earliest memories of this is being eight years old and selling greeting cards door to door.

At the time, it probably seemed like a phase, but as the years went on, this trend continued.

Whether it was selling my handmade Christmas ornaments at our local Woodward’s department store and craft fairs, becoming a Mary Kay consultant, or dreaming of owning a craft supply import company, I’ve always been business minded.

As you may already know, this inevitably led me to become a business owner, but there are quite a few years between then and now, so I’m not going to get too far ahead of myself just yet.

The Beginning of eVision Media

Throughout my childhood and even more so in my adult life, my business mindset has created a voracious thirst for knowledge, leading me to spend several years studying business, multimedia, and computer information systems.

When I first made the decision to go to college, commercially available computers were still pretty new at the time, and the Internet wouldn’t be publicly available for a few more years, but I knew this was something I wanted to study, and I was excited to explore my creativity through this new technology.

After graduating from the Multimedia program at the Vancouver Film School, I landed a job as the Webmaster for the Vancouver Sun and Province, but I was working 12-14-hour days, sometimes six or seven days per week, and only getting paid for 40 hours.

I loved what I was doing, but the long hours and low pay were taking their toll, and my husband, Daniel, kept asking me why I was working so hard for so little in return.

Fortunately, that job ended about a year and a half later, and with Daniel’s guidance and support, I decided to go back to school to get a degree in business with a focus on computer information systems.

The idea was to land a cushy job as the chief information officer at some corporation, but things started changing rapidly, upending my original plan.

First, I started volunteering for non-profit organizations and helped with their websites. Then, I started getting offers from some new business owners.

Initially, this was just supposed to be a little side hustle, but things snowballed pretty quickly.

One day, I attended a women’s group called Valley Women’s Network. These women – many of whom were entrepreneurs – ended up being my first handful of clients, and believe it or not, some of them are still clients today.

Although I hadn’t officially founded the business, and I didn’t even have a name or website yet, for me, this point in time represents the first birth pangs of eVision Media.

Why I’m so Passionate About Helping Female Entrepreneurs

While I’d planned to go to school looking for the luxurious life of an executive, before I knew it, I was building my own business based mainly on referrals (which is still true today) and discovering my passion for helping solo entrepreneurs, especially women.

Having the mind of an entrepreneur from the time I was very young, and being a business owner myself, I know firsthand how difficult the world of business can be for a woman.

Back when I was in school, there were very few women in business. It was still pretty much an old boys club, and being a female business owner certainly wasn’t portrayed as glamorously as it is today.

This made things particularly difficult for female entrepreneurs (myself included), many of whom felt alienated, lonely, and ostracized, often having nowhere to turn for help.

But as I worked with that first group of clients from the women’s group, it became obvious that these women were struggling with some of the same issues I was having, and many of them were desperate to find someone who was willing to help.

With that in mind, being able to empower these women by giving them the guidance they needed, and helping them build their businesses, was incredibly fulfilling for me.

These experiences led me to discover what I believe is my true purpose in life, which is helping struggling business owners and entrepreneurs to build, brand, and market their businesses.

So, why am I so passionate about helping female entrepreneurs?

Well, while I don’t discriminate, and I will work with people from all walks of life, and all kinds of different businesses, I have a soft spot for helping female entrepreneurs, mainly because I have so much empathy for them, as I’ve been through all the same struggles myself.

But I also get great joy in seeing other females succeed in business and knowing I played a role in that by giving them the support I wished I’d had when I was younger.

More importantly, if it weren’t for that first bunch of clients from the women’s group, I could be sitting in some big corner office right now, and eVision Media may have never come to be.

The eVision Media Team

For several years, eVision Media was truly a one-woman show.

I was working 18-hour days, seven days per week, and at some point, I realized I couldn’t live up to my own perfectionist standards, especially with the rapid pace at which technology was evolving, so I finally bit the bullet and made my first hire.

His name is Warren Brown, and at the time, he was a computer information systems student at our local university, but he ended up being the catalyst that allowed us to offer our clients much more than what I could by myself.

In the photo below, Warren is on the left, with our current programmer, Dana, right beside him.

This guy really took eVision Media and the success of our clients to the next level, not least because he was taking a bunch of work off of my already overloaded plate.

One of the things I loved about Warren is whenever he had a problem he couldn’t solve, I’d just tell him to go to bed and reassure him that he’d wake up with the answer, and every single time he did.

I remember one time I had an insanely long list of things I needed to get done before I took some much-needed time off, and Warren came to my rescue.

It was literally two in the morning, but I saw Warren was online, asked him if he wanted to help out, and he ended up working with me until the wee hours of the morning to get everything done before my vacation. The gratitude I have for him is immense.

Warren was a very talented and dedicated programmer, and I was very sad to see him go. But, despite being devastated about losing Warren, I continued to build our team, and hired another amazing programmer named Dana Alberts who just celebrated 12 years with us!

And at some point in the process, Daniel asked if there was anything he could do to help. Without skipping a beat, I handed him all the SEO/SEM stuff, let him know that it was basically a full-time job, and he’s never looked back.

Many years later, Daniel continues to be an integral part of our team not just as my personal staunch supporter, but also our phone-answerer, bookkeeper, and many other odd tasks he takes off my plate whenever he can.

In addition to these few examples, over the years, we’ve hired a long list of team members, including web designers, programmers, SEO and SEM specialists, copywriters, and graphic designers, along with social media marketers and managers.

Recently, we’ve been blessed with a string of exceptional new hires, including a top-notch web designer, awesome social media strategists, and a stellar copywriter.

In any case, what we do here at eVision Media would not be possible without all the amazing talent on our team.

So, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to each and every member of our team, past and present, for the incredible work they’ve done over the years, and for their contributions to our success and that of our clients.

The photo below was taken at our 2012 employee Christmas party. In the top row we’ve got Matt S. (Programmer), Dana (Programmer), Daniel (SEO/SEM), Susan (Founder), and Matt B. (Copywriter). And in the second row there’s Andy (Programmer), Christine (Designer), Kelsie (Designer) and Walter.

The image above was taken at our 2013 Christmas party. In the top row we’ve got Matt S. (Programmer), Moss (Designer), Susan (Founder), Daniel (SEO/SEM), and Brandon (Web Assistant). And in the second row we have Dana (Programmer) and Kelsie (Designer).

What We’ve Been Able to Accomplish

If I had to list our two greatest accomplishments, they would have to be the relationships we’ve built with our clients, and the trust on which we’ve built our brand.

As I mentioned above, we have a long list of loyal, long-standing clients, some of whom have been with us for five, ten, or even 20 years.

In total, we’ve helped more than 550 clients, serving over 600 small businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profits, and corporate clients.

And the way we’ve been able to foster all these fruitful, long-term relationships is through the trust people have in our brand.

As I also mentioned previously, this business was pretty much built on referrals, and that’s mainly how we continue to do business today.

By being fair and honest in everything we do, treating clients the way we’d want to be treated, always doing what’s in their best interests, and being there to guide them on how to build, brand, and market their businesses, we’ve become known for our integrity, and as a result, many of our clients refer us to friends, family members, or colleagues.

At the same time, a dedication to charity is also high on our list of accomplishments, and this also helps to build recognition and trust in our brand.

We’ve donated to countless charitable organizations over the years, and we offer discounted rates to charities on all of our services.

We also give annual donations to several charities, such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the War Amps, and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Over the years, we’ve also been the recipients of several awards.

In the image below, I’m accepting an award from the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce for Best Home-Based Business back in 2016.

And the image above shows me presenting to the panel of judges at the Small Business BC Awards. I did this in both 2018 and 2020, earning us a top-five placing in the Best Company category for both years.

How Our Website Has Evolved

It’s actually pretty embarrassing to admit this, but believe it or not, despite being in the web development business for the last 20 years, we didn’t actually have our own website until 2007.

Back then, it was the case of being the shoe cobbler’s son, as we never had enough time to work on our own stuff.

But it got to the point where I thought it would look pretty bad if we didn’t have one, so one day, I drafted some copy, grabbed a few images, went into Adobe Dreamweaver, and used the auto website creator feature in a way I’ve sworn nobody ever should.

As you can see from the image below, it wasn’t pretty, but it did the trick. We now had an online presence just like the ones we were building for clients, so I could finally put this to bed, and stop stressing about it.

But, of course, when you have a website, the work is never really complete, and as a result, our site has gone through several iterations, so I thought it would be good to poke a bit of fun at some of the cringier versions and look at how it’s evolved over the years.

The Evolution of Our Logo

Not unlike our website, eVision Media’s logo has also gone through several iterations, but it’s always been based on the image of an emperor penguin.

But why the penguin?

Well, it all started when Daniel and I went to see March of the Penguins and were mesmerized by the majestic creatures featured in that film.

The behaviour of these birds symbolizes many of eVision Media’s values, including commitment, dependability, loyalty, pride, and most importantly, nurturing.

Our brand was built on these ideals, especially the idea of nurturing the success of our clients, so these incredible animals provided the perfect way to portray eVision Media’s values.

The image below shows the various versions of our logo, including the original version, which was actually hand-drawn by Daniel’s mom.

All things considered, it’s been an absolute joy, privilege, and pleasure to serve so many amazing clients over so many years, while watching our team grow and nurturing the success of our business.

I and the team here at eVision Media want to thank all of our clients, friends, family, followers, and supporters. You’ve made this journey even more extraordinary than we could have ever hoped.

That being said, we hope you continue on this journey with us, and we can’t wait to see what our next 20 years will bring!

Are you looking for a trusted full-service marketing agency to help you realize your entrepreneurial dreams? We’ve been helping clients build their businesses for more than 20 years. Contact us today to find out more about what we can do for you.

About the Author, Susan Friesen

Located in the lower mainland of B.C., Susan Friesen is a visionary brand strategist, entrepreneur, and founder of British Columbia’s premiere boutique web development and digital marketing agency, eVision Media.

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, she is an expert in helping businesses establish their online presence and create a strong brand identity.

Her passion for empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners to succeed in the digital world has earned her a reputation as a leading authority in the branding and marketing industry.

---

Visit www.BrandIdentitySteps.com and download your FREE guide: "Unlocking Customer Trust and Business Growth: Your 7-Step Guide to Defining a Compelling Brand Identity that Appeals to Your Perfect Clients".