Charlie Martin Studio
Custom websites for Cleveland small businesses. Lead generation, design, build, hosting, and ongoing maintenance.
01 About
Hi, I’m Charlie.
Junior at University School in Cleveland. Building websites and a few other things.
Cleveland, Ohio
University School, ‘27
I am a junior at University School in Cleveland, Ohio. I grew up in Beachwood and consider Cleveland the most underestimated city in the country. I run Charlie Martin Studio, where I build custom websites for Cleveland small businesses. Family restaurants, trades, dental offices, daycares, and specialty shops that have kept the neighborhood economy running for decades but have been priced out of working with traditional web agencies.
I started the studio after watching established Cleveland businesses lose customers every year to competitors who simply show up on Google. The bar is not actually that high. A clean, fast, mobile-first site with real photos and an honest voice beats most of what is out there. The problem is that the price point for that kind of work has been wrong. I am trying to make it right.
Outside the studio I do a lot of other things. I compete in Public Forum debate at the national level. I cohost a podcast called The Late Start Show with my friend Jack Nelson. I founded the FBLA chapter at University School. I read weekly with elementary students through US Reads, a partnership between my school and Open Doors Academy. I play sports. I get to bed too late. I plan to study some combination of business, computer science, and political theory in college.
02 What I am up to
A studio, a podcast, a debate season, and a few people I read to every week.
Public Forum debate
Competing nationally for three seasons. Research, case writing, and rebuttal work that translates directly into how I read clients.
The Late Start Show
Podcast I cohost with Jack Nelson, interviewing students, teachers, and community members about how Cleveland is changing.
YouthServe CCIS
Community Council in Service. Service projects across Cleveland from neighborhood cleanups to fundraisers.
US Reads, Open Doors Academy
Weekly reading partner with elementary students. Multi-year relationships, not one-off visits.
Athletics at University School
Compete across multiple seasons. Practice and tournaments around school, debate, and the studio.
FBLA, University School
Founded the chapter after noticing there was no organized space for student entrepreneurs at the school.
Always learning
Currently reading The Hard Thing About Hard Things. Currently listening to Acquired and The Ezra Klein Show.
03 What I believe
Four things that shape every site I build.
01
Done is better than perfect, but only if it is actually good.
Shipping fast is meaningless if the site is sloppy. Every page leaves only when it would not embarrass me.
02
Cleveland small businesses deserve better than Wix.
The default tools were not made for the corner restaurant or the family dental office. Better is possible at a fair price.
03
Show your work.
Every site I build is a portfolio for the next one. Every Cleveland business I help is a referral I would not have without doing the work.
04
A site that is not maintained stops working.
Sites break. Plugins update. Hours change. The monthly plan exists because a website is a living thing, not a one-time delivery.
Things I am proud of.
- 01 Founded the FBLA chapter at University School from zero members.
- 02 Competing at the national level in Public Forum debate.
- 03 Cohosting The Late Start Show, a podcast made in my kitchen with Jack Nelson.
- 04 Reading weekly with elementary students through US Reads since middle school.
- 05 Building the entire studio backend, CRM, and pipeline myself.
- 06 Mapped 41 Cleveland neighborhoods of small business prospects by hand.
- 07 Designed a delivery process that goes from first call to live site in seven days.
- 08 Hand-drew the Cleveland skyline that opens this site.
- 09 Wrote every word on this site myself.
- 10 Have not sent an email with an em dash yet.
04 Want to chat
Want to chat? Book a 15 minute intro.
Whether you want a site, want to talk about Cleveland small business, or just want to ask how I run all this from a high school schedule, the calendar is open.