During lunch with my wife in late 2005, I mentioned that I wanted to try starting a business. Raewell Graphics was started on January 1, 2006. I set up shop in my basement and so it began.

I already had the education but no commercial experience except for my years with United-Maier Signs. I signed up with Elance as a provider and started bidding on projects. I found early success which led to many other projects.

Later that year, Elance contacted me directly to become a "Preferred Provider" as part of a new feature they were forming. I accepted and started to work on higher caliber projects. I generated a huge amount of work with Elance and was fortunate enough to garner repeat business from my satisfied clients. I still receive work through Elance from past clients but rarely bid on projects due to the saturation of designers with varied levels of expertise.

These days, I am still fortunate but this is due to referrals by clients outside of Elance. My business is growing day by day and I'd like to thank my clients (past, present and future).