Brian Forth

Sic Parvis Magna

"Greatness from small beginnings."

This is what I thought would be a good motto for Brian Forth after he came in to give a guest speech about his life as an entrepreneur. Brian currently owns a very successful web design company called SiteCrafting. But this great accomplishment did not come over night, like many success stories he started off small. When Brian was in high school he dreamed of playing first base for the Dodgers. Playing pitcher for his high school team he played hard chasing his dream. He later earned a scholarship to attend Maramount College to play baseball for them while taking film studies. It was during these years that he realized there are many good players out there that are better than himself.

                Maramount ended up not working out for him and he was sent to Gonzaga where he played baseball for them and switched his studies to theology and philosophy. After Gonzaga, Brian became a teacher at St Charles elementary school. Wanting to create an entrepreneurship spirit in his 5th grade students he taught them how to develop simple websites. This is where he says SiteCrafting was born. At a salary of 17,500 dollars he was not earning a huge amount from his job, but he enjoyed it. His work at the elementary was noticed and in 1998 he was hired on by Knowledge Universe in San Francisco for a year. In 2001 he opened up his first office for SiteCrafting in Tacoma.

                Over the years his team began to grow and grow. Hiring only people he felt could really benefit his company and whom he felt he could trust. He cares so much about his team that he even opened up new offices to meet their needs. When one of his lead designers had to move away to Spokane with his wife, Brian decided he could not lose this guy as it would hurt his business. So in 2009 he opened up a new office there, despite the criticism he received for doing it. Then in 2010 he opened up a branch in Seattle to accommodate the many employees he had commuting everyday for hours just to come into work in Tacoma. Being a web design business there really is no need to have more than one office, but he did it to keep up the moral of his employees. Plus in the end adding new branches did not hurt business.

                With today’s upcoming technology, he is expanding his website development to mobile devices. He figured it was a good market seeing how mobile devices are the new upcoming thing and mobile browsing has surpassed desktop browsing. One of his proud projects that he demonstrated in class was his mobile app for MultiCare. This app allows the user to view all the MultiCare facilities current urgent care wait times from their mobile device at once. Allowing them to make the best decision about which urgent care center to go to, by looking at the distance and current wait time. His team also made a wine tour app that connects every winery in the United States.

                Brain has come a long ways from starting in the 5th grade elementary class he taught to running a successful business that works with many well known companies. During his presentation he revealed his secrets to being a successful entrepreneur. 1. Take risks. You can’t accomplish something if you don’t first attempt it. 2. Invest yourself in the project. If you don’t take the necessary time to accomplish something how will it ever be finished? 3. Trust your team. Brian doesn’t just hire anyone off the street. He wants to be able to trust his employees to finish their work and do their best. 4. Deliver more. Show the client more then what is expected. 5. Make and keep bigger promises.   If you make a promise make sure it is one you can stick with to keep the trust of your client. Most of these secrets are well known to be general keys to success for entrepreneurs but I liked his idea of making and keeping big promises. Show the client that you are a unique developer and offer something that will offer them that wow factor.