Business
continued from page 1
room.
“Everything happens out of
here,” Silverman said, sitting at
his desk with a computer and two
phones.
Gecko Designs specializes in
digital graphic design and creates
Web sites and business stationery
for clients from all over the country.
Silverman said he got started
by creating a Web site for a client
for free, and his business has been
growing ever since, gaining new
clients by word of mouth or peo
ple who saw his work on other
Web sites.
Each site he designs includes a
link to Gecko Designs’ homepage,
which shows the company’s mis
sion statement next to a towering
skyscraper. Silverman said most
of his clients find his company
this way and assume that the sky
scraper is the location of the busi
ness. ^
All of his client contact takes
place over the phone and the In
ternet. Although he has never lied
or misled anyone who asked him
. about his company, Silverman
does attempt to make his business
sound a bit larger than it really is.
“I always say ‘we,’” he said.
And so far, except for an instance
where a client wanted to tell Sil
verman’s supervisor about the
outstanding service Gecko De
signs provided, no client has ever
asked to speak with another rep
resentative, Silverman said.
“I think it’s very important not to
lie to anybody about it,” he said.
When his cell phone rings, Sil
verman knows it might be a client
calling and checks his caller ID. If
it is a client, he answers the
phone in. a professional manner,
rather than the “hello” his friends
hear when they call his other line.
Silverman said he had a fellow
RA with a British accent record
his voice mail greeting, trying to
imitate the voice mails of large
companies.
But besides some attempts at
making his company sound big
ger than it really is, Silverman
takes his business seriously,
working anywhere from five to 14
hours a week, depending on his
clients’ needs.
“It’s important that I feel like
I’m doing just as good of a job for
Jeffrey Stockton Emerald
Entrepreneur and fine-arts major Gabe Silverman contemplates the future of his
business, Gecko Designs. Silverman specializes in digital graphic design.
them as if they had a company that
had a building like that,” he said.
Brennan Guth, who runs a
kayaking school in Missoula
Mont., is one of Silverman’s
clients who actually does know
how and from where Silverman
runs his business. Silverman’s
young age did not stop Guth from
hiring Gecko Designs for the cre
ation of his company’s Web site
once he met Silverman and saw
how skillfully and professionally
he did his job.
“He has a lot of entrepreneurial
zeal,” Guth said.
Guth said he especially appre
ciates the speed with which
things get done at Gecko Designs.
This speed, however, can
sometimes get him into trouble.
“Sometimes I have four or five
clients and they all want things
done yesterday,” Silverman said.
Silverman suspects that clients
sometimes wonder why a project
does not simply get handed 4o an
other department or another floor,
but it hasn’t created a problem yet.
The only place a client’s project
sometimes gets transferred to is
Gecko Designs’ office in Montana.
“The Montana office would be
my parents’ bedroom,” Silverman
said.
Many students walking by Sil
verman’s residence hall-room
wonder about the gecko cups and
shirts in his room but do not
know that the small room serves
as Gecko Designs’ headquarters.
Silverman said he usually does
not tell people about his compa
ny unless they ask.
“I don’t like to sound like I’m
bragging about it,” he said.
Jonan Scheffler, a sophomore
majoring in computer and infor
mation science is one of a few of
Silverman’s friends who know
about his business. Scheffler, who
recently started his own company
with Silverman’s help, said he
and Silverman often talk about
business. Scheffler said Silver
man not only knew how to get a
business license, a business bank
account and advertising, but he
does everything for Gecko De
signs on a very professional level.
Silverman plans to continue to
expand Gecko Designs after grad
uating from the University.
“Some day, I hope, I’ll have this
huge business with a great big
skyscraper, [where] other people
are working and I’m off having a
good time,” he said.
Silverman plans to remain his
own boss and one day drive a
blue Dodge Viper to work. Until
then, he has a model of the car sit
ting on a book shelf to remind
him of his plans for the future.
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YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED
TO ATTEND THE
UNIVERSITY OF
OREGON
Convocation
with Keynote Speaker
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Governor of the State
of Oregon
2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, January 19,2000
Ballroom
Erb Memorial Union