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Meet Bonnie Leedy of School Webmasters in Mesa

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Bonnie Leedy.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Bonnie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
In 2003, having left my position as PR Director for GoDaddy at the age of 50, I decided to try my hand at freelance copywriting and some website development. That same year my oldest daughter, Tamara Carpenter, graduated from NAU with a BS in design and gave birth to her first son.

Tammy faced a dilemma many young women face today. She needed to work and wanted to use her new skills, but the thought of putting her baby in full-time daycare was not what she wanted. So, we hatched a plan. Tammy expanded her design skills and tackled the website graphic design, and I focused on copywriting and marketing efforts for our little start-up. Our first big client was a rural school district in southern Arizona, and the next three clients were also Arizona schools.

What started as a mother-daughter team is now a nation-wide company employing more than 50 women. Their skills in graphic design, copywriting, UI design, website development, project management, public relations, social media management, marketing, and customer service are supporting schools and organizations in 37 states. (And yes, we also employ several work-from-home Dads as well, and my oldest son, Jim, joined the company eight years ago and is now our Director of Business Development.)

Has it been a smooth road?
Serving schools has its challenges. Charging competitive rates for this level of skilled services just wasn’t possible since few schools, private or public, budget the funds a typical business expects to spend on communications and marketing efforts. So, the challenge for us was how do we deliver exceptional quality affordably?

Luckily, we already had the answer.

We were surrounded by incredibly bright, talented, and dedicated women who chose to put full-time careers on hold to give priority to raising families. They needed or wanted an income, but just like Tammy, they wouldn’t accept the option of being an absentee mom during their children’s formative years, which many professions demand. But, they also craved the creative outlet and the earned respect their jobs provided—just not to the exclusion of the flexibility mother’s lives require. Part-time work, which typically pays less, was a compromise they were willing to make to gain that work/life balance that is so often out of reach. And, because we all worked from home, there was no unnecessary corporate overhead. We initially grew by word-of-mouth and referrals, so we had no costly sales commissions.

All this combined to make our high-quality services available to even the smallest schools while also saving large districts tens of thousands per year.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
School Webmasters is unlike its competitors in our industry. We consider ourselves the proverbial orange in the apple box because, unlike other website design companies, we provide more than just a website template that busy school staff is expected to manage. We provide the team to do the website management — day in and day out. We’re proud of offering a service and not just another software.

But, what I’m most proud of is School Webmasters’ amazing staff, behind the scenes doing the heavy lifting for our clients. This talented and capable workforce of women has each found her place in our company according to her personal strengths. Working with them is a true honor. They are each amazing examples of the American entrepreneurial spirit and outstanding leadership. I learn from them each day.

Website management has become quite complicated. School staff, who are expected to manage many school websites, seldom have the training required to maintain the complexities of mobile-friendly design, ADA compliance (required by law), server security, website optimization, and many other websites best practices. These additional website duties take time from the jobs they are hired to do — educating our nation’s youth. But, nearly every day, I see examples of our staff making their jobs easier by going beyond what is expected and delivering genuine customer service to schools they truly care about.

For 15 years, we’ve been working with schools all over this country. I see school leaders who are dedicated, caring, and hardworking folks. But, in the past 50 years, their responsibilities have increased at alarming rates, requiring them to get more done in less time. When school leaders and staff can’t get it all done, our children suffer, and America’s educational reputation declines.

But, there are two things that will help educators get more done; more time and effective communication. School Webmasters gives them these two gifts.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
About 31 of our 61 staff members live in Arizona, mostly in the Phoenix/Mesa metropolitan area. We all agree we love the weather ten months out of the year. We also all agree that July and August are not our favorite months!

As a business owner, I love that Arizona is still a great place to start and run business, unlike some states in which we have employees. We hope our state’s legislators will keep it that way. However, the ever-increasing Arizona minimum wage now makes it harder to hire and train those less skilled, and makes some other states quite attractive for our entry-level positions. That is unfortunate for some Arizona workers who are so willing to learn new skills and work their way up.

Pricing:

  • We have pricing for the small rural school or organization to the large school districts. Our website designs start as low as $1200, and our monthly website management and hosting is typically $149 per month (far less than a school would pay if they try to manage all these services in-house).

Contact Info:

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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