Hollis Brand Culture

w/Don Hollis

Don kicked tons of knowledge our way on how to handle clients, letting us know how not to get walked all over by clients but also knowing that each client-relationship is different so we should be weary of how to billing situations client-to-client to achieve damage control. 

Other great insights were on the difficulties/constraints that come with doing signage for legal things such as fire/emergency evacuation signage. The technicalities of reading blueprints to help organize or remodel buildings. 

It was cool hearing how he got started in the business and the amount of time in effort he put in from the very beginning going back to his make-shift office space in Pacific Beach, inside his walk-in closet. Then going on to obtaining an office in downtown and eventually Little Italy. 

Another cool experience on this trip was meeting a former student of Maelin/City College alumni working on the Hollis team.

Lastly, one f the most memorable things that Don told us for those considering freelancing was the importance of hiring a bookkeeper so that we don't have to worry about those types of things, and we can focus on whats important to us: designing.