Expert to know: Dima Venglinski (Q&A Interview)

Dima Venglinski is the Founder & CEO at Fireart Studio (based in Warsaw, Poland), listed on 50Pros as a top 50 firm in Software Development, Web Design & Development, & Branding.

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In this Q&A, Dima shares his in-depth perspective, unique background, robust experiences, and insightful tips.

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How did you get into your industry?

I finished an IT college with a direction of Smart systems of decision making. My diploma was on the topic "Image recognition". Then for some time, I worked on different complementary jobs as a back-end developer, front-end developer, and eventually came to product design as my main profession and my passion. After 5 years of working as a senior product designer on different projects, it was quite an organic continuation of my career to open a design agency.

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What inspired you to start your agency?

Well, there were several reasons for that. I believe the main reason to start a business is that, as a private person, you are limited in your development and have this glass ceiling you can't cross. With this realization, at some point, I understood that it was time to move on to management and create something scalable.

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How do you manage work-life balance as an agency owner or executive?

Maintaining a work-life balance being an owner of a 100+ size company is a challenge. I wouldn't call myself an expert in this field, but I have only two rules. First, I never take work home - when it's a weekend, I never work. Second, in the middle of the week, I usually work from 9 am to 8 pm, on Mondays and Fridays, I finish at 6 pm to pick up the child from kindergarten earlier and spend some quality time with my daughter these evenings.

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What is the best piece of advice you've received in your career that pertains to your work, and how has it influenced your decisions?

Always be professional, don't bring emotions to the table. It helps me to be in very good relationships with all the people I work with.

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What activities or hobbies outside of work do you enjoy that help you recharge and stay creative?

I love playing computer\console games. My top would be tactic strategy games like Fallout 1-2, Wasteland 1-2-3, Pillars of Eternity, etc. And story-based games like Control, Horizon, Witcher, Cyberpunk, Zelda, etc.

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What do you like most about your industry?

I like that it's modern and fast-going. People in our industry are relatively very nice, professional, and have a lot of soft skills. A lot of very smart individuals that inspire you to further achievement

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What do you wish people knew about your industry?

I wish clients always knew that they can rely on contractors' expertise but not on their perception of what is happening on the projects, and what should be done and what shouldn't. We constantly work on the education of our clients to maintain our relationship as productive as possible, but in some cases, it's still challenging to be trusted as professionals.

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Can you share a situation where you had to make a tough business decision and the impact it had on your agency?

We constantly evolve as a business and our processes. In all cases, there will always be people that are used to things like they are. Then you do what is in your power to find a workaround, but if you failed with finding it - you have to split ways with such an employee and find one that would suit new processes.

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When you first started, how did you get clients?

We worked quite a long time before we got our first clients. We pushed a lot of cool stuff on Dribbble and Behance, created case studies for our website and worked on SEO for around half a year before business started to be profitable.

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...and how do you get clients today?

This is quite a complex question. To summarize, we use SEO, PPC, content marketing, listings, word-of-mouth marketing, social proofs, recognitions, account-based marketing, and outreach.

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What is your approach to continuous improvement and learning within your agency?

My approach is always "Do it!"

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What is the biggest issue that your firm, or firms like yours, face?

In our industry, the biggest struggle is to be in charge of your growth. As many companies only grow organically, it's hard to build predictable and controlled growth without a strategy and strong marketing competence that is usually affordable only after reaching a headcount of 200-ish people on board and building a solid sustainable structure.

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How do you stay updated on the latest technologies and tools relevant to your industry?

I read a lot. Like, A LOT.

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What changes have you seen occur since you got into this business?

The main change that I noticed is that even 5 years ago companies that worked with us only needed a solution. Now, they look for consulting and partnership, which we are always ready to provide.

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If a company was looking to hire your firm, or a firm like yours, what questions should they ask themselves as a team before approaching you?

It's not a question of what questions they should ask themselves. Usually, stakeholders are brilliant people that know what they are doing and why. I'd rather encourage our clients to share their motivation, which drives them to create a solution they want to build with us. In this case, we could wear their shoes, consult them, and advise workarounds. Because our goal is not to create what is asked to be created, but to make our clients succeed in their goals. And the best way to do it is to understand their business and its context.

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When a company is interested in hiring your firm, how should they approach you and how should they do business with you?

The best way is to reach out to our sales department via email client@fireart.studio.

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How do you maintain strong relationships with clients to ensure long-term partnerships?

We always try to find the best solution for them. We are eager to find a happy middle when it's needed. We are flexible and reliable partners. I believe these are keys.

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If someone were thinking about starting their own agency in your industry, what advice would you give them?

Be prepared to constantly learn and evolve to the very end of your agency's existence. This industry demands to be fast and ready for changes every month. Otherwise, you just will be overperformed by your competition.

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What role does networking play in growing your agency's business?

In our particular case - no role at all. But I respect this channel and I know that for many many other agencies, it works as a main channel of growth and development. Sometimes, we'll start networking too.

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How do you ensure that your team members stay motivated and engaged in their work?

First, we always try to maintain a friendly, comfortable climate at work. But also, an integral part of motivation and engagement is that they always know their career paths, next step, and what should be done to achieve it. Our amazing Head of People built a system of feedback and reviews that allows our company to give maximum to its employees, and it allows employees to be ambitious in our company instead of using our company as a career trampoline.

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Can you share an experience where your agency went above and beyond to exceed client expectations?

I wish I could share some of our exciting stories, but all the internal kitchens with our clients are very protected by NDAs that we respect. I can only say that our clients are amazing. I was unexpectedly impressed a dozen times during my leadership of this company.

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What else would you like to publicly share about your firm or agency?

If you have a fantastic project you want to build, or your company has ongoing needs, please do contact our sales via email - we are always happy to get to know new companies and clients.