Today we’d like to introduce you to Chat Clussman.
Hi Chat, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
It’s a long road to where I am today, which I think is true for a lot of creatives. In college, I went from studying physics to computer science to dropping out and going to art school. I came out of art school right as the web started taking off and there I was, with the very unusual educational combination of both design and programming. I bounced around various agencies as a Production Manager, Senior Designer, and Web Lead. I even rode out the Dot Com Bust with an agency gig in the Bahamas where the web was just heating up. We came back to Austin and I decided I wanted to be my own boss. I started freelancing and… failed. My wife and I blew through our savings, I cashed out my nascent 401K, and my wife got pregnant. More time went by, we had a baby boy and I was still trying to make freelance work when I landed a startup client, Spiceworks, where things just clicked. I joined them as the 23rd employee.
We’d later grow to around 500. I spent nine years there—seven of them good—trying to sprint a marathon. Those last two years I burned out and felt stuck. I was trying to hold on for the company to go public or get bought so that I could cash out and start my own business again. Neither happened but, at that nine year mark, layoffs did. Layoffs suck and I feel for everyone that was involved but, for me, it was a blessing. It gave me cash, time, and took away the safety blanket of having a steady job. I started my own business but, this time, with the benefit of experience and tons of friends and contacts in the startup world. That led me to my niche of doing brand and web design for startups, which is what I’ve been doing for the last four years. And right now I’m making the transition from Clussman, the freelancer, to Ashandelle, the agency, working with some other amazingly talented freelancers.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. Like I said, the first time I tried freelancing it left my wife and I broke. The second time around I was trying to recover from burnout, which took a long time. I built my freelance business steadily, but slowly, which meant that money was tight for a while. Last year, 2019, was our best year ever—and I say “our” because my wife helps out with the business side of things and also does some project work—and then Covid-19 hit. At first, we thought we wouldn’t be affected. We had existing bookings through the first half of the year but, once we wrapped those up, new bookings dropped dramatically. We planned for that though and we’re surviving better than a lot of other small businesses, so I’m thankful for that. Now, as 2020 comes to a close, business is picking back up. That’s the cyclical nature of startups. End-of-year and start-of-year budgets always keep us busy as companies try to get a jump start on next year’s goals.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Ashandelle?
Ashandelle is a design agency focused on branding and web for startups. It’s a virtual agency I run that pools the resources of several other talented freelancers, many of whom also come from the startup world. It’s amazing getting to work with these different companies in all these different industries and helping them to be successful. Our clients are small and we’re proud of that. They’re in industries ranging from data security (ALTR) to AI (Kungfu.AI) to non-profits like Impact Dyslexia. Sometimes they’re in a vertical-within-a-vertical, like Prokeep, who provides a communications platform for the construction industry. With startups, we can have a bigger impact with less bureaucracy.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
So many people. First and foremost, my wife, who believes I can do anything. She’s never doubted that I would be successful at this, even when we were broke. There’s an endless list of folks who have connected me with other folks that have led to most of the clients I have today, people like Jen Slaski, Nick Bhavsar, Jay Hallberg, Scott Abel, Adam Weinroth, Kevin McKeown, and Todd Darroca. Chris Magdelain, Aaron Deckler, and Doug Brown are all friends who are also great at giving life advice. And, honestly, all of my clients. I made the decision at the beginning to walk away from anyone I thought would be a bad client whether I thought they would be difficult to work with, or that they were shady, or that they were doing something that I wouldn’t be proud to be a part of. They always end up costing you more than you gain and I’ve never regretted that decision. That means the people I have worked with have been pretty awesome. I want to give a special shout out to Nick and Alli Zadrozny of Bonsai.io for being my very first client and for being amazing people.
Contact Info:
- Email: chat@ashandelle.com
- Website: https://www.ashandelle.com/
- Other: http://clussman.com/
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