The closest thing Stephen Couchman has to an official title
is Problem Wrangler. That's what the web designer from Royal Oak does more than anything else in his
job."It's not about designing websites anymore,"
Couchman says. "It's about solving problems."
And that's what he does with his loose band of techie
contractors called Pixelcrew. The group
of slightly less than a half dozen is based in a number of areas across
southeast Michigan, ranging from Royal Oak to South Lyon.
One even sets up shop in the Toledo
area but does most of his work in Metro Detroit.
Each member has their own specialty, which includes hardcore
coders to corporate advertising. They throw clients at each other, working almost
exclusively off referrals from jobs they have done for companies like Urbane Apartments and Healthy Ventures.
"Just about 100 percent of our work comes from
referrals," Couchman says. "Once in a while someone might take out an
ad but 99 percent is referral-based. We do good work for our clients and it
comes back."
The crew, which is more of a conglomeration than a business,
doesn't expect to expand anytime in the future. As Couchman puts it, they are
"very finicky about the people they work with."
However, Pixelcrew does see a lot of growth coming their way
soon. He notes that talk of a national recession late last year spooked a number
of companies into holding back new investments. Because of that, Couchman expects this year and next to
be "absolutely booming." With 16 projects currently on his plate it seems the boom has already started.
"We're right at the beginning of a massive business
opening," Couchman says.
Source:
Stephen Couchman, problem wrangler for Pixelcrew
Writer:
Jon Zemke
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