I'm Rich. Born and raised in Springfield, and I've spent my whole working life in the 413.

I started in irrigation and landscaping in the late '90s — on crews, for other local companies, and running my own — over 20 years in and around the trade. I know what it's like to run a service business here: the phone, the trucks, the seasons, the customers who found you because someone gave them your name.

I was also a founder of an entertainment and promotions company that started with small local events and grew to a national scale, working with some of the biggest artists in the world for nearly a decade. That business taught me one thing above everything: being seen is everything — and knowing what to do with attention once you have it is the whole game.

Here's what I learned coming back to the local level: some of the best tradespeople and small business owners around here are nearly invisible online — and most assume fixing that costs thousands and takes months.

It doesn't. That's why 413 Websites exists — real websites for real local businesses, flat price, live in about a week. I built my own company's site first, because I needed exactly what I now build for everyone else.