April 10, 2017

Meet Chick Ciccarelli of WebWizards® in Valley Village

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chick Ciccarelli.

Chick, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve been called an overly creative person all my life, which to me just means thinking beyond the obvious.

When people ask me what I do for a living, I often tell them “I create illusions of grandeur”. I am most sought for my work as an Art Director and Web Developer.

Typically, executives come to me when they are ready to take something to its next level, whether it’s product or business branding, reputation enhancement, pitching something, building an awareness campaign or designing a website. Often, I’ve been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, and sometimes have simply been able spot a good opportunity when it reared its head.

After 40 years of art direction (with 20 years of web development) I have amassed a very interesting portfolio of projects from a uniquely recognizable client list, but only after a long, exhausting journey of deadline-driven projects and a constant, never-ending education about what makes things tick.

Some clients in my career have included the GRAMMY® Awards, Latin GRAMMY® Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards, the Sundance Film Festival, RKO Distribution, Hollywood Symphony Orchestra®, Songwriters Hall of Fame, Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame, Record Plant, Ocean Way Recording, City of New Orleans, City of Los Angeles, many celebrities, and hordes of small businesses from beauty salons to concrete specialists.

Most of the time, I’m too busy with other client’s projects to carry through with my own, personal creations, but WebWizards became a passion with me in wanting to help people.

Because I work on the web, I often would get calls like, “How do I (fill in the blank) on the Internet?” I would get them so often, it would put me behind on my very serious, deadline=driven projects. And too often, I would hear of remote web designers and programmers disappearing in the middle of a project, sometimes after a financial deposit was made, leaving the client in a tough spot.

I also noticed that for many, the Internet and new technology is moving far too fast to keep up with. Online applications can often pose a challenge to operate and while smart phones and tablets have changed the way we communicate significantly, it has also increased user frustration tenfold. Lack of personalized customer support and user knowledge is at the heart of the matter and introduces major new challenges for individual users and businesses (online and off).

That’s where the WebWizards idea was born. We show people how things work online by offering users the ability to meet, interact and learn from certified support and training experts, face-to-face in a local retail environment, rather than dealing with online help tools, automated support systems or vanishing programmers.

We offer traditional web services such as website design, maintenance & marketing, in-store and on-location support, in-store classes and gadgets related to the Internet.

We operate primarily on the premise that people learn much easier if they are shown how to do something, in person. So, we created our first WebWizards store in North Hollywood/Valley Village to test our theories.

After 3 years, our flagship store has become successful enough for us to believe that these types of stores could be franchised all over Los Angeles. We at the beginning stages of making that dream a reality.

Has it been a smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. Just trying to convince investors that having an Internet store in a brick and mortar has been a tough sell. Tell that to Amazon, Google (and Apple) who all have or are building retail locations to get closer to their customers.

We know by the amount of traffic and calls we get, in-person web servicing is a much needed service.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Ever become frustrated with something you were doing on the Internet and suddenly found yourself scrambling to find someone to help you out?

You’re not alone.

65% of all Internet users find themselves in this position at least once a week. The truth is, mobile technology and Internet applications are moving too fast to keep up with. And customer service for online usage is either too time consuming or simply non-existent. That’s where we come in. We show people how things work online by helping them, in-person…face-to-face.

WebWizards® is a network of customer service outlets offering personalized ground support, private/public classes and traditional web presence services for local Internet users and small businesses. We also provide retail (brick-n-mortar) licensing opportunities for entrepreneurs, reselling capabilities for existing retail chains and valuable support partnering for online developers looking to service their end-users (in-person).

Our goal is to become America’s most trusted local brand when it comes to Internet support, education and web presence services.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Yes, Los Angeles is where creatives collect, share and implement ideas. It is by far the best place for ideas to blossom.

Where we are located is close to the cutting-edge creatives in NoHo and the residents of Valley Village, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Toluca Lake and businesses in Studio City.

Pricing:

Website Design (From $499.95 to $4,999.95 flat)
Website Monthly Maintenance (From $99.95 to $499.95 mo.)
Private Web Classes ($64.95 per) (Various subjects including web design, security, usage)
Public Web Classes ($34.95 per – min 10 people) (Various subjects including web design, security, usage)
Family Web Classes ($34.95 per – min 4 people) (Various subjects including security, usage)
In-Store Support ($39.95 ph) – On-Location Support ($49.95 ph)

Contact Info: