A visual impairment from a brain tumor and 20 years of design experience have given Chris a unique perspective on inclusive design. He specializes in treating people like people with inclusive web accessibility.
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is CL Design all about?
CL Design creates made-to-order, accessible “luxessible” web presentations that empower more people, disabled or not, through experiences that are no less than superior.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
After a brain tumor in his final year of an Architectural degree program, Chris established CL Design. The challenges associated with medical appointments and treatment (including radiation) made it untenable for Chris to follow a typical career path in Architecture. The tumor caused double vision which Chris corrects by wearing an eye patch. A visual impairment and 20 years of design experience have given him a unique perspective on accessibility and inclusive design. In addition to strategic branding design capabilities, CL Design specializes in treating people like people with inclusive web accessibility.
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
Integrity: If one has integrity it means that all actions occur within that doctrine.
Perseverance: Perhaps being an entrepreneur inherently means looking at the status quo from a different perspective. The resistance to change is strong. If your objective is to change the status quo you must be prepared to persevere.
Open Mind: People will tell you, “That’s not how we do it.” Having an open mind enables an entrepreneur to understand this inevitable reaction and why it occurs. Understanding their perspective is the first step to their understanding yours.
What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company?
“A New Reality” is our paradigm for moving forward. The uncertainty of the physical world means that digital/web experiences are the new safe AND competitive space. There is no better time than now to leverage the digital/web space to provide “luxessible” experiences that are no less than superior. Staying top of mind online means people will think of an organization first.
Growing means building awareness of the value and benefits of creating more of a symbiosis between an organization’s physical and digital/web spaces. Our ideal client is a female decision maker, 30-65, who is courageous, influential, and open-minded. Reaching out to these women means that our work will most likely resonate more profoundly and result in new and continuing business.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
The web accessibility industry follows a set of standards and “best practices” that potentially leave people marginalized. It makes an assumption that people have the ability/desire to acquire, install and learn assistive technology to access the web. Those who cannot or refuse to do so are left marginalized.
Our work removes these barriers and more. All accessibility is included in the design which means that more people are empowered online through experiences that are no less than superior. As of the last 10 years and more no one has been approaching web design in this way. In fact we constantly hear the “That’s not how we do it.” refrain which is part of my answer above about perseverance…
It is also critical to inform executives and decision makers about the realities of standard web accessibility. Their assumption is that “web accessibility” means accessibility when it really means compliance with web accessibility regulations. The industry also calls the standards “equal access”. The fact that some are expected/assumed to have the ability/desire to acquire, install and learn assistive technology when others do not is by no means equal.
We separate from the competition by providing web experiences that treat people like people.
What were the top three mistakes you made starting your business, and what did you learn from them?
NOT understanding that money is king, even God. We can be as idealistic as we want about web accessibility being the right thing to do. No amount of idealism will transcend an organization’s drive for revenue and ROI. (return on investment).
NOT understanding that it IS all about who you know and not what you know. Particularly with entrepreneurship where a solid relationship opens the door to sharing the entrepreneur’s great vision. Our experience has been that the “like minds” credo is true. Your idea, concept, capabilities will resonate with people who are associated with the people who like your concept/product.
Making assumptions about the people we were trying to serve. We just assumed that people would immediately abandon their screen reader assistive technology software in favor of our solution. This was not the case. People who do not have the desire/ability to use the software love the work. But people who had overcome those initial barriers were fervent and adamant about their assistive technology. Anything that threatened to change it was bad. And it makes perfect sense. If one’s only access is via this tool and someone talks about removing it, they’re understandable resistant.
How do you go about marketing your business, and what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
We are restricted to social media and online resources during this time of C19. Most resonance is felt by contacts of previous supporters. Thus focus is on building these relationships along with maintaining existing relationships.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your business?
That it’s not about us. That to be successful, especially in inclusion and accessibility, it’s all about the organization’s customers; the people and stakeholders that support and sustain the organization. How they are treated as people by the organization so that both the people and the organization serving them end up with results that have benefit and value.
What is your favorite quote?
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
– Thomas Edison
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Sorry to say the web accessibility industry itself. The main problem is that large companies like Microsoft have often contributed to the web accessibility standards and of course adhere to them. And we’d bet dollars to doughnuts that many of the executives do not know the realites of standard web accessibility. It’s one thing for tech and quite another for hospitality. How do you think an executive would react to the text:
“Bring a touch of Four Seasons to your bedroom décor, with our luxurious 100% Long Staple Supima cotton sheet set. Finished in a sateen construction and available in a range of evocative colors, each item has been carefully crafted for the most relaxing night’s sleep.”
as read aloud in a synthetic, robotic voice? Does it seem to align with the brand? Or does it conflict with how our perception of those sentences should sound?
Our answer: Combine exclusivity with inclusivity. Exclusive “luxessible” web presentations for organizations that are inclusive of more people. Let the big guys continue with their fallacy of “web access” and empower the customers of small, independent, hospitality organizations whose entire focus is providing experiences that are no less than superior by expanding their physical world experience to the web.
What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
We use Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook in various ways to reach out to people. We approach it from a building awareness standpoint because, while physical accessibility has a certain amount of traction in accessible travel for example, web accessibility flies way below the radar. Again it is of paramount importance that executives know the realities of standard web accessibility and what it means for their organization and customers.
If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
I’d start by choosing a hospitality organization with female executives that I wanted to work with. Then I would create a demonstration of a section of their existing website as created with our inclusive web accessibility and post it online.
I’d spend some of it on LinkedIn premium so that I could reach out to them directly and send a link to the demonstration. I’d spend the other bit on Google adwords cost per click ads targeting a like minded demographic.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
I’d tell them to always operate with uncompromising integrity, persevere even when it hurts, always keep an open mind, always use diplomacy when interacting with people, always treat people like people.
Who should we interview next and why?
Robin Sheppard, president of Bespoke Hotels. He embodies the essence of integrity, courage, influence, open-mindedness, class and experience.
How would you sum up this interview conclusion in one sentence?
CL Design creates custom, accessible “luxessible” web presentations that empower people and organizations with online experiences that are no less than superior.
How can we get in touch with you?
You can visit our site cldesign.co or find us on social media via Twitter, and email contact Chris Lona cld@cldesign.co
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