Business
How a CEO Refused Layoffs and Still Cut Costs by 70%
Why Cutting People Isn’t Always the Answer
When there’s a financial issue, companies cut people. According to Deloitte in 2025, 84% of companies, when faced with a crisis, implement layoffs as a first step. But should they? Sarah Jennings says no.
BrightWave Digital is a marketing company with 42 employees owned by CEO Sarah Jennings. Earlier this year, her company was in trouble. Within 6 months, revenue dropped nearly 50%. Costs were rising. Sarah’s trusted mentors were encouraging her to lay people off.
But she refused.
Sarah believes her employees are the lifeblood of her business. Instead, she evaluated where money was being spent and made adjustments in other areas. After diving deep into the company’s money flow, her findings were extraordinary—and it turned her company around.
Where Is The Money Going?
Sarah started with a review of all expenses. What is BrightWave spending money on every month? 3 areas stood out:
- Graphic design costs $18K/month
- Marketing efforts cost $12K/month
- Landing page development costs $9.5K/month
These three expenditures took over 65% of her monthly budget. Without action soon, she’d be out of business in one quarter’s time. “I realized that my biggest expenses were not the staff, but the platforms and services we were paying every month to get things done,” she said. “This gave me hope. Maybe we can solve this problem without losing an employee.”es we used to get work done. That gave me hope. Maybe we could fix this without losing anyone.”
Step 1: Reduce Graphic Design Spend with Penji
BrightWave spent a significant amount of money on freelance designers and in-house designers. While the work was always satisfactory, the payments fluctuated. Last-minute designs due to client requests multiplied the graphic design monthly charges up to four times some months.
Sarah turned to Penji, a flat-rate graphic design service starting at $499/month. Penji offered her and her team access to its in-house team, able to do anything from social media graphics to PowerPoint decks. No hidden fees, no per-project charges—just a flat, monthly fee.
The results were:
- Design expense went down from $18K to $4.5K/month
- Turnaround time went from 5 days to 1-2 days
- Consistency improved across all designed tasks
“The design work with Penji became predictable because we knew what we had to spend and got much more done quicker,” Sarah said.
Business Owner Tip: If your design needs fluctuate month over month, a flat-rate service will save you time and money. Pay attention to how your service is used to maximize your benefit.
Pros: Predictable costs, quick turnaround, unlimited submissions.
Cons: Favors digital work over personal, creative collaboration.
Step 2: Automate Ad Spend with Adaptify
This could be another administrative expense challenge with manual ad spending management. The marketing team would spend hours testing ads, modifying budgets, and assessing what would work; error results meant lost, unreported income.
For $299/month, Sarah used Adaptify, an AI service that manages ad spend. Adaptify automatically adjusted spending amounts, targeted audiences, and rotated effective creatives—24/7. No human on Sarah’s team could put in that amount of time.
Results included:
- Ad spending decreased by 35%
- Return on investment grew by 28% per campaign
- Her marketing team could prioritize creative goals instead of mundane tasks
“Adaptify does the work of 3 specialists; it pays for itself almost immediately,” Sarah said.
Business Owner Tip: If you deal with time-consuming functions, consider automated services. While AI may never replace creativity, it can alleviate mundane tasks that suck your employees’ time.
Pros: Lowers costs; increases results; saves employee time.
Cons: Needs initial set-up and supervision.
Step 3: Use Flowpages for Faster Landing Pages
BrightWave hires freelancers for client landing page work. Each landing page costs between $800-$1,000 and takes several weeks to develop. This delays campaigns and frustrates clients.
For $79/month, Sarah used Flowpages, a drag-and-drop landing page creator. Now her in-house marketers can develop their landing pages in a matter of hours.
The results were:
- Landing page expenses decreased by 90%
- Campaigns go live four times faster
- Clients reported quicker turnaround and improved results.
“Flowpages eliminated one of our biggest bottlenecks,” Sarah explained. “We can facilitate client requests quickly instead of leaving them without a page for weeks.”
Business Owner Tip: Speed is crucial! The faster you can get campaigns up and running, the more customer satisfaction and revenue you’ll see.
Pros: Cheap, easy implementation, quick turnaround time.
Cons: Limited options for lengthy, elaborate custom pages.
The Big Picture: 70% Savings Without Layoffs
After implementing these three tools within six months, here’s how BrightWave fared:
- Graphic design costs: down 75%
- Ad management costs: down 65%
- Landing pages: down 90%
Overall operating expenses decreased by 70%, and all 42 employees kept their jobs. By Q3 2025, profitability came back, as did new client contracts due to sped-up deliverables and increased efficiencies.
“It’s because of technology that we could lower costs without decreasing headcounts,” Sarah concluded. “Now we’re running more efficiently than before.”
What Can You Learn?
What Sarah did is repeatable in any business. Here’s how:
- Look at your biggest expenses. Find out where your money truly goes monthly.
- Use flat-rate services. Services like Penji will create predictable and scalable budgets.
- Automate everything. Services like Adaptify save time and provide better ROIs.
- Empower your team. Services like Flowpages help your employees do more without additional spending.
- Assess regularly. Sarah didn’t just implement constantly; she tracked success to keep focus on her goal.
Cutting costs doesn’t mean cutting people. With the right approaches to resources and strategy implementation, you can cut costs and maintain your workforce while creating a better company for the future.
Want to read more success stories? Check out OwnersMag.com for tangible tips and resources from successful entrepreneurs.
Any successful business requires public relations to establish and protect its image and reputation. Fortunately, in the digital world, there are many tools at an entrepreneur’s disposal. This article highlights the ten best public relations tools every entrepreneur should consider to communicate with their target audience and increase brand awareness.
1. HARO (Help a Reporter Out)
As its name suggests, Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a platform connecting journalists with their stories’ sources. It also allows businesses, organizations, and individuals to share their expertise and insights. They can get in front of a wider audience by offering quotes, facts, and other information to journalists looking for sources for their articles.
By using HARO, entrepreneurs and PR professionals can get their brands in front of a large audience and improve their visibility, credibility, and reputation. It has a free plan aside from its paid ones, with subscriptions that start at $19 per month.
2. Ahrefs
Primarily known as an SEO tool, Ahrefs can also be used as a public relations tool. It provides a comprehensive analysis of a website’s backlink profile. It enables PR professionals and entrepreneurs to see who is linking to their websites. Plus, you’ll know what content is attracting the most links. Through Ahrefs, PR professionals can identify key influencers and potential media contacts in their industry and reach out to them for possible coverage.
Ahrefs can also be used to monitor competitors’ PR and marketing activities. This will provide valuable insights into successful PR strategies. The platform offers four premium plans with pricing that starts at $99 per month.
3. Google Alerts
A free, web-based tool, Google Alerts allows you to monitor mentions of specific keywords or phrases on the internet. This tool can be helpful for PR professionals and entrepreneurs as a way to keep track of their online reputation and brand mentions. By setting up Google Alerts for your brand, products, industry keywords, or even your competitors, you can receive email notifications whenever your specified keywords are mentioned online.
This helps PR professionals stay informed and promptly respond to negative mentions, track positive coverage, and share it with their audience.
4. BuzzSumo
If you need to get insights on what’s popular, viral, and being shared across the web, BuzzSumo is one of the public relations tools you need. It is a content analysis tool that helps PR professionals and entrepreneurs monitor their online presence. And they can reach their target audience effectively. It provides insights into viral content, competitor analysis, influencer identification, and performance metrics.
Its ability to track and measure the impact of PR and content efforts makes it a valuable tool for businesses looking to stay ahead of the competition. It offers a free plan, but its paid ones have pricing that starts at $99 per month.
5. PRWeb
Another valuable tool for PR professionals and entrepreneurs looking to promote their brands, products, and services is PRWeb. It is a PR distribution service that helps businesses and organizations reach their target audience and improve their online visibility.
PRWeb offers a wide range of distribution options, including national and local media outlets, social media, and industry-specific websites, ensuring that press releases reach the intended audience. You can choose from PRWeb’s four plans with subscription fees that start at $105 per month.
6. Respona
One of the most underutilized public relations tools you need to check out is Respona. It effectively helps organizations manage their media and public relations efforts. It provides a centralized platform for monitoring media mentions, conducting outreach to journalists, and measuring the impact of PR campaigns.
The tool includes email automation, press release distribution, and real-time media monitoring to help PR professionals streamline their work and communicate more effectively with their audience. It offers a free trial, but if you want to continue using it, pricing starts at $99 per month.
7. Coverage Book
If tracking and showcasing your media coverage is a priority, Coverage Book is the public relations tool for you. It provides a platform for organizing and presenting media coverage from online and offline sources, including press releases, articles, and social media mentions. It also includes analytics to measure the impact of PR campaigns and provide insights into the performance of media outreach efforts.
Coverage Book is designed to help PR teams demonstrate the value of their work to internal stakeholders and clients. This is a good investment, with prices ranging from $99 to $599.
8. Business Wire
A news distribution service and PR tool, Business Wire is used by organizations to distribute press releases and other news content to media outlets and stakeholders. It provides a platform for organizations to reach a global audience through distribution to a vast network of media outlets and websites, including major search engines, news databases, and social media platforms.
Business Wire is a paid service with varying costs based on distribution and features needed. It offers different packages available to meet the needs of various organizations.
9. NinjaOutreach
A public relations tool that offers a platform for simplifying your outreach efforts and building relationships with journalists, bloggers, and other influencers. NinjaOutreach provides email outreach automation, influencer database search, and analytics to track PR campaigns. It saves time and effort by automating repetitive tasks and providing insights into effective audience outreach.
The tool is designed to help organizations improve their media coverage and build relationships with key influencers. Pricing ranges between $389 and $849 per month.
10. SourceBottle
A journalism tool that doubles as a public relations tool is SourceBottle. It connects journalists and bloggers with experts, sources, and content for their stories. It provides a platform for experts, organizations, and individuals to offer their expertise and resources to journalists looking for references and information.
SourceBottle also offers analytics to track the success of PR campaigns and provide insights into media outreach efforts. The service fee is based on the desired features and the number of journalists and bloggers to be reached. But for starters, you need to create an expert profile for a monthly cost of $25.
Final Thoughts
The world of public relations is constantly evolving. Entrepreneurs must stay up-to-date with the latest tools and technologies to get their messages and stories in front of their target audience. The public relations tools discussed in this list are some of the best in the industry and offer a range of features and capabilities to meet the needs of different types and sizes of organizations.
In 2025, unlimited graphic design has become a crucial part of the day-to-day operations of businesses that can’t afford to hire an in-house designer. And with more unlimited graphic design companies now backed by AI capabilities, scalability and efficiency have increased exponentially.
Let’s unpack all there is to know about unlimited graphic design providers, including features, money-back guarantees, and factors to consider when choosing.
Which Provider Should You Choose?
We’ve done the homework and curated a list of Unlimited Graphic Design providers for you and also negotiated special deals on your behalf. You can see them all below and decide which one fits your business based on your needs.
Unlimited Graphic Design Providers
What Does Unlimited Graphic Design Mean?
These unlimited graphic design services have a monthly subscription business model. That means you can sign up and cancel whenever you like. What sets them apart from your typical freelancer, agency, or in-house designer is you gain access to a workflow that is designed to be quick and to the point.
You’ll communicate with their team through Trello, email, or an online platform. The option given is dependent on the company you choose. For example, only a small selection of services provide a custom built online platform for their customers.
Once you’re connected to their workflow, you can begin submitting as many design requests as you want. Although they all claim “unlimited”, it generally means you can “create” unlimited design requests. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll work on them all at once. Usually, they just work on one design at a time. When one completes, they start the next design.
The usual turnaround time is between 1 – 2 days, and that’s just for the first draft. It doesn’t mean your entire request is complete. If you don’t like it, you can request as many revisions as you want, and that will take more time. So it can take up to a week to actually get the design complete if you have a lot of revisions.
Another thing to keep in mind is content. You need to be able to have everything ready and provide all the content needed in order for their designers to get started.
How Does On-Demand Graphic Design Work?
Most graphic design services listed above offer clients a bespoke design platform. For instance, Penji’s design tool is an all-in-one platform where designers, account managers, customers, and their team members can communicate and collaborate.
Although the steps in working with a graphic design company are similar, we’ll use Penji’s design software to share the step-by-step graphic design process.
1. Log in
Once you’ve selected the subscription plan, log in to your design tool and access your dashboard. Most of these tools are user-friendly with a minimal learning curve and prioritize user experience.
This example of Penji’s dashboard shows a list and thumbnails of ongoing design projects. The menu at the top shows the Active, Completed, Drafted, and On-hold projects.
Submitting a design brief is the first step in the on-demand graphic design process. To submit, click the +New Project button at the upper right side of the dashboard.
2. Fill in the title
Think of a relevant project title that will describe the design accurately. Writing an accurate title will make browsing through ongoing projects easier once you have a long list.
For instance, if you’re creating a company logo, you can write “Logo design” and specify the company or industry beside it if you’re handling multiple brands.
3. Choose from design categories
The next step is to choose from the many design categories. Most unlimited graphic design services have around 100+ design categories. Penji has 120+ design categories. Choose one that fits your project.
4. Write a design brief
This step is crucial when working with on-demand graphic designers, as this will make or break your project outcome. Writing a thorough, clear, and well-thought-out design brief makes it easier for designers to understand exactly what you want.
Penji’s design platform has a few reminders on the left side when writing design briefs. Ensure you follow the tips for a better design outcome.
5. Attach files and images for inspiration
Some customers can’t express themselves clearly through written instructions. You can attach files and images to support your written descriptions with visuals. Attaching sample logos also helps lead designers in the right direction. Attaching your competitors’ logos is also a way to make yours better.
You’ll also need to choose the source file type in this step or let designers pick for you.
6. Choose a brand style guide
Subscribing to unlimited graphic design services means you can request any visuals for multiple brands. Penji’s design tool lets you save and categorize your brand style guides in folders. This way, you only have to choose a branding guideline for designers to follow.
Once you’ve chosen the associated brand, click the Create project button to start the process.
7. Wait 24 to 48 hours
Although most on-demand graphic design services’ turnaround is 24 to 48 hours, some companies may take more than two days. This is due to complex projects like illustrations or web pages.
Wait for the first draft and ask for revisions until you’re 100 percent happy with the design. Download the source file, and you’re good to go!
Why Should You Sign Up for Unlimited Graphic Design Services
Subscribing to unlimited graphic design services is more convenient than hiring freelance designers.
Here are factors why many users choose to outsource their design needs to unlimited graphic design services:
- Work with vetted designers and choose from various skill sets. There is no need to search for another designer fit for a particular project. The company will assign you the most suitable designer.
- AI integration. The best unlimited graphic design providers make sure that their vetted designers have updated training and are able to take advantage of the latest tech, including AI.
- No need to worry about additional fees as you only have to pay fixed monthly rates and get unlimited designs. Revisions also come at no extra cost.
- You don’t have to worry about graphic designers going MIA and abandoning crucial projects. Each design project is managed by an account manager who will check if deadlines are met on time.
- Signing up and canceling subscriptions with on-demand graphic design services is easy. You can sign up if you need a stream of designs while setting up shop and cancel anytime without incurring cancellation fees.
- Fast 24 to 48-hour turnaround, which prevents any bottlenecks in your marketing campaigns.
- Request to change assigned designers if you’re unhappy with their work at no additional cost.
- Organize your projects and brand style guides if you request multiple brand designs. The custom design platforms make managing projects efficient and convenient.
Are they worth it?
If you have a lot of design needs, they’re definitely worth it. Being that it’s a monthly recurring investment, you’ll need to make sure that you have the need for an ongoing graphic design service. This graphic design service model is comparable to outsourcing a designer yourself, except much of all the management work is done by the company. The quality of designs and turnaround time also tends to be significantly better when outsourcing a designer yourself.
Introduction
Many companies settle for unlimited graphic design services as the happy medium. With a flat monthly fee, brands can access as many requests as needed at an expedited rate without the hassle.It is efficient, cost-effective, and stress-free.
But which is the best creative service design firm for you? The following are four top agencies that offer creativity as a service.
#1 Penji: The Best Unlimited Graphic Design Service Overall
Penji is a well-known name in the vast graphic design industry. It has a great reputation thanks to quality service, turnaround and reasonable pricing. A flat monthly fee grants access to a professional design team that tackles logos, advertisements, social graphics, packaging and even websites.
Pros
- Quick turnaround time—many designs within 24-48 hours.
- Unlimited revisions until satisfaction.
- An easy-to-use platform for submission and tracking.
- A vast array of design opportunities from marketing to branding.
- Designers are dedicated to your projects, getting to know your style.
Cons
- The monthly subscription does not cover writing or video editing across all plans.
- Complex requests may take longer than 48 hours.
#2 Kimp: Affordable Unlimited Creative Design
Kimp is well-known for being an economical alternative that still provides dependable design help. Kimp is unique in that it combines graphic design and video design in one strategy. Thus, it’s perfect for companies looking for social media support, advertisement content or YouTube graphics.
Pros
- Transparent pricing on a per-month basis.
- Unlimited requests and unlimited revisions.
- Graphic and video design in one plan.
- A dedicated group works on your projects.
Cons
- Turnaround might slow as requests increase.
- Communication is limited to Kimp’s internal platform.
#3 Flocksy – Creative as a Service Agency
Flocksy offers more than just design; it’s more of a creative as a service agency covering unlimited writing, video editing, even voiceovers. Thus, if you require several different types of creative coverage in one space, this could be the place for you.
Pros
- Unlimited tasks completed for a diverse array of options.
- A dedicated team learns your preferences over time.
- Fast turnaround, often 24-hour delivery.
- Perfect for businesses needing more than graphic design.
Cons
- Monthly pricing is greater than that of graphic-only agencies.
- Can feel overwhelming if only looking for graphics.
#4 Delesign – Scalable and Flexible Solution
Delesign is all about flexibility. It covers plans that accommodate small businesses and growing businesses. Additionally, you can select between day or night shifts so your projects get completed even faster.
Pros
- Flexible plans to accommodate small and growing businesses.
- Wide range of illustrations in addition to designs.
- Designers are dedicated, making feedback easier.
- Day and night shifts available for faster turnaround.
Cons
- Smaller agency so it can sometimes be capacity limited.
- Certain advanced offerings require additional fees.
Featured Image Credit: Tranmautritam from pexels
Top 10 Public Relations Tools Every Entrepreneur Should Check Out
What the Hell Was Magic Dirt? The Black Oxygen Organics Hoax
Unlimited Graphic Design Companies Of 2025 + Promo Codes (Updated)
What’s the Best Creative Design Company for you?
What’s the Best Subscription-Based Graphic Design Service in 2025?
What’s the Best Unlimited Graphic Design Services Agency in 2025?
Top 10 Shipping Software Options for Businesses
Unlimited Graphic Design Companies Of 2025 + Promo Codes (Updated)
Top 10 Pet Tech Products That Redefine How We Care for Pets
What the Hell Was Magic Dirt? The Black Oxygen Organics Hoax
Is This Business an MLM? The Color Street Reviews
Top 10 Public Relations Tools Every Entrepreneur Should Check Out
Top 10 Shipping Software Options for Businesses
Top 10 Customer Service Software Tools Every Business Needs Today
Business16 hours agoUnlimited Graphic Design Companies Of 2025 + Promo Codes (Updated)
- Lifestyle15 hours ago
What the Hell Was Magic Dirt? The Black Oxygen Organics Hoax
- Business6 hours ago
Top 10 Public Relations Tools Every Entrepreneur Should Check Out
- Business3 days ago
What’s the Best Unlimited Graphic Design Services Agency in 2025?
- Reviews3 days ago
What’s the Best Subscription-Based Graphic Design Service in 2025?
- Business1 day ago
What’s the Best Creative Design Company for you?
