A passion for print and website design led young entrepreneur Philip Trott to start up his own business.

Mr. Trott fulfilled a dream of running his own company called Rokhaus Creative Studios, which he launched in June and operates out of his home in Pembroke.

His focus is to help small- and medium-size businesses to promote themselves in print and on the Internet and take advantage of the many opportunities available on the world wide web by branching out into social media and networking.

"It is something I have wanted to do for years," he said.

"Being a graphic designer I think a lot of us have that itch to do our own thing."

Having graduated from the University of Miami in Florida in December 2001, the following month Mr. Trott took up a job that had been held for him since the previous summer at AAC Saatchi & Saatchi where he flourished under the tutelage of Rhona Emmerson in a talented team of designers from across the world.

In September 2006, he decided to try his hand working at a smaller operation and he joined emedia Bermuda Ltd. before branching out on his own a couple of months ago with the help of the Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation, which helped him come up with a business plan and exposed him to a host of invaluable resources.

"I just fell into doing design and it turned out to be something that I felt I was good at and I have gained a pretty extensive experience of on the Island," he said.

"I am just really thankful that I had the experiences that I have had so far and I want to build up my own company so I can give someone else the same opportunities that I have enjoyed."

His passion for the work has seen him take a keen interest in ways that people boost their profile themselves online ever since social media burst onto the scene, and he believes there is a lot of potential for growth in Bermuda.

Deciding to name his business Rokhaus after Bermuda's nickname of 'The Rock' and the Bauhaus or the 'House of Building' - a German crafts and fine arts school - Mr. Trott admitted that the timing was great for launching a new venture in the midst of a recession and at the start of the World Cup when a lot of people were glued to the TV screen.

"It wasn't really a concern at first," he said. "Just the opportunity to work my own hours and to my own schedule was really appealing to me," he said.

"I was keen to get involved in community service and implement my own ideas of graphic and web design.

"It seemed to be the right time to start up and it just happened to be at the start of the World Cup, so things were a little bit slow to begin with, but they have picked up and I am really optimistic about the future."

Rokhaus offers a range of services from print design, including print and online branding, flyers, posters, stationary, business cards, magazine/newspapers advertisements, magazine/newsletter layouts and annual reports, to web design and advertising, social network marketing management (integration of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages onto a company's main website), website management and consultation, video production of the web and event management.

"We do anything that a medium to small size business would need as far as the web is concerned," said Mr. Trott.

Mr. Trott said that one of the biggest challenges was working from home and being disciplined about managing his own time effectively, with an impressive assortment of gadgets at his disposal such as a Mac Pro Tone and Mac Book laptop, Adobe Suite and full video and audio production service.

But he believes that knowing how to use it all to the best effect is what sets him apart from the rest, allied to his agency level insight and low overheads, as well as a dedicated support team and contacts in the field - the benefits of which are passed on to his clients.

"My main goal is to learn from and work with my clients to provide them with a product that they are happy with and I am happy with," he said.

"I just think there is a lot of opportunity on the web - it is a place where you can promote yourself so easily and at such a low cost."