Name: Karl Sakas
Professional Discipline(s): Business Consultant to Marketing Agencies
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Why are you involved with AIGA Raleigh?
AIGA unites the design community. I admire the work designers do and enjoy working with them as a business consultant to the design industry.
What is your overriding professional goal?
I want to help my clients make their marketing agencies the best businesses possible, while making my own company (Agency Firebox) the best business it can be.
How do you explain what you do to “regular people?”
I help creative business owners find more free time, make more money, and love their jobs more. I do this by helping them organize the business side of their agency, so they can spend more time on things they’d rather be doing.
What professional accomplishment are you proudest of?
I took the initiative to do some extra analysis and discovered that 60% of a company’s clients were unprofitable. I made followup recommendations to increase profits $750,000. I loved finding a solution that could make a huge impact on the business.
What is your non-work creative outlet?
I volunteer a couple times a year as a bartender on a 1930s railroad car based in D.C. It’s a fun challenge to fulfill clients’ requests while working with limited resources, especially when moving along at 100 miles an hour.
What’s your biggest design-related pet peeve?
Budget overruns.
What is the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
I always enjoy “The Vendor Client relationship – in real world situations” on YouTube.
If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one ability or quality, what would it be?
Teleportation
What have you done as a board member or volunteer that you are most proud of?
I’ve volunteered twice thus far as a reviewer in the Student Portfolio Review. Helping students in AIGA Raleigh builds on volunteering I’ve done in my business fraternity and with Triangle AMA. I enjoy sharing my advice to help students become better professionals.
What have you gained or what do you hope to gain through your involvement with AIGA Raleigh?