Meet Christian Gonzales | Co-owner & Director of Operations

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christian Gonzales and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christian, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
One of the main driving forces behind why I started CDG is that I noticed that many business owners out there needed to look good both online and offline, but did not the budgets to do so. Many of the competing firms out there charge prices that aren’t even ballpark within what first time startups can ever afford, so I felt it was time to change that. At CDG, we charge extremely competitive prices for our services and on top of that, we are a company that works on an extremely personal level with each client. Too many firms treat clients as numbers and not as individuals, and we didn’t want to be one of those firms. We allow clients to watch us work if they have a free moment, so they can see exactly what they are getting and make live changes accordingly (which saves both parties time). At CDG, we are all about making long lasting relationships with our clients. While website design is the main service our clients seek, many of our clients also come back to us later for other needs such as business card design or social media graphics.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
After going to school for nearly 4 years at The Art Institute of Houston, I graduated in 2014 holding a 3.9 GPA with a Bachelor’s Degree in Web Design & Interactive Multimedia. At the Art Institute, I obtained many skills such as WordPress web design, search engine optimization, and print/layout design using Adobe software. I took on a few full-time jobs between but they were awful with poor management. Many of my bosses at the companies I worked for were loud, rude, demanding, and unrealistic; needless to say, my post-college employment was not enjoyable and I realized that I wanted to fulfill my dream to become a business owner. At my last full-time job working as an office manager for a small insurance company, I managed to learn many things about the day-to-day operations of a business such as how to keep records and conduct meetings with clients. This was the only real benefit I got from working for this company, and by the time I resigned I was ready to apply my skillsets and knowledge at CDG (which I started immediately upon resignation). Because I had been doing web design work for colleagues on the side, I already had some references to help me get CDG off the ground. I had at least two or three new clients within the first 3 months of starting CDG, so the challenge of trying to obtain customers was overcome very quickly. CDG is all about building relationships with our clients and offering our services at extremely competitive pricing. We are not just about building websites, we are about about building relationships! Clients are not just numbers to us, they are family!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would invite my best friend from either out of town or state during the first few weeks of March. This is when Rodeo Houston is going on, which is a huge deal in Houston. There is a lot of delicious BBQ to check out, fun rides at the carnival, and many great concerts. However, the only downside is that it only runs for about 3 weeks in March so you do not have a lot of time to wait if you want to go.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My business partner Ricky was my main influence in leaving my (awful) full-time job to become a business owner. We both were seeking to leave full-time employment to become business owners, and because of him, I felt more empowered than ever to start a company. He is incredibly skilled and contributes a great deal of logo design work for our clients, while I focus on the web design aspect. Without him, CDG would be very limited in the services we offer.

Website: https://www.creativitydesigngroup.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativitydesigngroup/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/organization/17978897

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/cdg_houston

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cdghouston

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/creativity-design-group-houston

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTtQ70vEhZby3j8vTsqDQ9Q

Other: Look up the CDG BizCast on our YouTube channel or your favorite podcast platform. We publish two new episodes every month on business matters such as marketing and customer service as well as on consumer affairs matters (such as fraud fighting).