Interview With Nick Roach of Elegant Themes + Giveaway

Nick: I was introduced to web design in Middle School upon deciding that my new band needed a website. I slapped something together as best I could, and while my musical aspirations soon faded, my interest in the internet did not. From then on I was hooked, as web/graphic design revealed itself to be the perfect way to satisfy my interest in art, technology and business. I have been creating websites ever since, teaching myself along the way. ElegantThemes is the most recent of many sites that I have created, and undoubtedly the most successful and rewarding. It has been great to see ElegantThemes grow over the past year, and can only hope that I can continue to provide great designs to the blogging community for some time to come.

Nick: My advice to prospective college students would be to always stay active in the design community outside of school. Don’t let your academics consume you, or you risk distancing yourself from the world of design itself – get to far away from the heart and you’ll lose the pulse of the community. I think that college can be a great place to challenge yourself, but I have also found that it is slower to adapt to recent design trends. What I value most about school is not so much the information itself, but the way it forces me to stay active and to interact with other aspiring designers. I don’t mean to shine a negative light on the educational system, because I appreciate what I have learned. I am just trying to stress the fact that there are many places to absorb information and to become inspired, and if you just focus on school, you are going to find it hard to break away from the pack. I have found the most important classes to be to the basic, core art courses. Color theory, drawing and composition, typography and so on. It’s great to build a foundation, but when the time comes, differentiating yourself from the crowd is on you – don’t expect to be taught how to be an individual (duh!)

For me being an entrepreneur and student has been a challenge, but I have managed to strike a balance that allows me to be successful. College is just something that forces me to get out of the house, provides me with outside stimuli and helps me become more well-rounded. But it’s just a piece of the puzzle.

Nick: It’s hard to say where my style came from, but I suppose on the broadest terms it boils down to a lot of observation and experimentation. Practice makes perfect, and the more you do so the more you begin to grow as a designer. I make an effort to browse art/design galleries on a daily basis, and to practice new techniques with each new theme.

On the other hand, inspiration can come from anywhere. Sometimes it is the unexpected things that end up spawning the most interesting ideas. For example, my most recent theme, OnTheGo, http://www.elegantthemes.com/preview/OnTheGo/ stemmed entirely from the floating business man found in the header. The flying man was a sketch I did for a wine label concept. One day I decided to scan my sketchbook and play around in Photoshop – soon enough I had a finished theme. People probably assume that he was added at the end as a finishing touch, when it fact that floating dude was the spark that brought the whole design into existence.

Nick: Though I have been a unaided for most of ElegantTheme’s history, I am not a one-man team anymore. I still design all of the themes, but now I have some great people assisting with tech support and development. I still have a hand in every aspect of the site, but having a team behind me has allowed me to focus on what I do best. With 20,000 active members, you can imagine the kind of work that goes into tech support. I answer around 100 emails a day, and that’s with two people helping out. I really stress the importance of support, and I think my members see that. That’s the main reason why I have hired some outside help, to provide my customers with all the assistance they need.

Nick: There are a few things I would do differently, all of which involve marketing and customer management. These are things that I had very little experience in upon launching ElegantThemes, and obviously I would not want to repeat the trial and error process that I used to learn.

1. I would have launched the website with an affiliate program. I underestimated the importance and potential of affiliate programs, and would never launch another venture without having one ready from the beginning.

2. I would have taken more risks with advertising. You are going to waste some money, that’s just how it works. But the more reasonable risks you take, and the more advisements you can afford to test, the more well-converting campaigns you end up with in the end. If you believe in yourself and your product, then you shouldn’t be afraid to promote it.

3. I would have created a member support forum much earlier. It is simply more effective than an email/ticket system for a membership site. It also helps to build a strong community.

4. Networking with other designers/bloggers. This is something I still need to work on.

Nick: People may be tired of hearing this, but it is the truth: If you want to be successful you need to be passionate about what you are doing, and you need to work your ass off. It’s not unusual for me to get 3 hours sleep or to skip a social gathering, not because I have to, but because I actually want to work those late lights and grow as a digital artist/entrepreneur. If you love what you are doing, then success is always around the corner.

I think that the best way for new internet companies to start out is to really focus on engaging their online space and participating in their community. Word of mouth has been very important for me, and now it is easier than ever to enter the “conversation” and make a name for yourself. I built ElegantThemes from the ground up without any funding, simply through my participation in various web design forums and blogs. Blog, comment, tweet, or whatever you like to do. Just do it genuinely, produce good content and provide a real opinion. You will better yourself and gain a following that you can use to jumpstart your business.

Most of all, just dedicate yourself to creating the best product you can. If you have the best thing out there and you are dedicated to its success it will be hard to fail!