Christy stays owner of Downtown Design, LLC

Looking back at 2017, the business kept up well this year despite the family emergency that took Christy away at the end of August. Her father struck ill suddenly, suffering multiple strokes and heart attacks. With her family residing in eastern South Dakota, it made it very difficult for Christy to tend to her clients and her family at the same time. It was important to her to be with him to care for him during this difficult time in his life. He has spent the last three months in a variety of rehabilitation facilities and is now expected to return home in February. During her absence to avoid taking funds needed for her staff that were still running the business in Anoka, she started what was supposed to be a temporary freelance agency, Wonder Woman Marketing. This would allow Christy to start working with friends and relatives in South Dakota to earn a income for mortgage and daycare.

Before her return, Christy was working on a deal with her long-time employee/office manager, Jennifer “Rocky” Borchardt. Jennifer was to continue the success of Downtown Design, LLC while Christy continued her spin-off business. However, there was a quick turn in events that made the deal fall through during the final stages. Upon Christy’s return, it was very apparent that making this deal was not the right decision for the company.

“My clients are the most important aspect of my business… if it wasn’t for them there would be no business.” says Christy. “I need to do what is best for my clients.”

Christy plans to make big changes to Downtown Design, LLC in 2018. Some of her new plans include a higher-trained industry specific staff, more personalized services for clients, increased administrative attention, a much larger emphases on search engine optimization and a carefully chosen advisory board of business professionals.

“It’s been a tough year, but I’ve learned so much – and that’s what I’m choosing to focus on. I’m looking forward to all the accomplishments I know we are going to make in 2018 and delivering a higher quality service to my amazing clients!”