Week 3 – Vulnerability and Some Backstory

Sharing the ups and downs of being aggressive in a spiraling economy is creating a certain degree of vulnerability that I am not completely comfortable with yet. I know for a fact that many of my clients are reading this, which makes me want to guard my words and spin everything upward. Yet, the second this blog fails to feel authentic, I lose credibility and most likely you as a reader.

So I pledge to “keep it real” and portray the events of my business expansion honestly and without any unnecessary filters (no one really wants to know everything).

To put the story in perspective, it would be helpful to know how we got here. I will do my best to give you the TinyURL version.

After 14 years as a professional communicator (writer, magazine editor and nationally accredited PR practitioner), I decided to take all the stuff I had learned and strike out on my own. In June of 1999, I incorporated what would become Fiore Communications, and began building clients. It has provided the means to support my family ever since.

In the fall of 2007, I was approached by a couple people about creating an email newsletter for them. There were many useful online do-it-yourself services available, but they didn’t want to mess with it at all.

Then it hit me. I had spent the last 21 years writing, editing and managing publications, and if I could figure out how to apply it to this email newsletter technology, I might really have something.

After lots of research, education and collaboration, I was able to create SalesTouches.com, a division of my company that focuses solely on the writing, design, mailing and tracking of email newsletters.

OK. No more sales pitch. The point is that it has been quite successful from my perspective, and as the economy has tanked, the need for inexpensive and effective marketing tools has exploded. But I cannot truly take advantage of the incredible opportunity that sits before me without ramping up to take my message beyond my local sphere of influence.

That is where I sit today. The writing and PR part of my business remains fairly constant, but I am focusing more and more on the newsletters and the machine that drives them. We are working on the new branding (for the new name), Web site, collateral pieces and a new way of thinking about how it all works. And at the same time, I must be ready to evolve, adapt and stay ahead of changes in technology that will change the game as we are playing it.

Thanks for sticking with me through the boring history part of the story. There are several creative deadlines next week, so I may even have something to show you. I can’t wait.

ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT
Dow: 7223 (moderate rally – best week since November)
Unemployment Rate: 8.1% (Feb.)
Big News: Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff pleads guilty to 11 felonies and faces up to 150-year sentence.

Week 1 -- Introduction

I am a small-business owner in Tallahassee, Florida, who has decided that I have no choice but to be aggressive in the fight to keep my company alive. Becuase I sometimes depend on the contracted skills of others to deliver the services I offer, I have more flexibility than some, but less margin for error than most.

A bad couple of months, and I am done. No lines of credit to bail me out. No huge retainer clients to insulate me from the ups and downs other businesses are facing. In fact, because I am strictly B2B, my only hope for survival is to convince the very businesses that are themselves struggling to keep their doors open that I am part of the solution. That partnering with me is worth the risk. I believe it is, and I am betting that enough of them will agree with me.

I am currently completing negotiations with a leading new media firm to reinvent my brand, my Web site and my shot at reaching the kind of national audience that is necessary to achieve my goals. I can no longer go half-way. I'm all-in.

This blog will chronicle my adventure.

ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT
Dow: 7062 (near 12-year low)
Unemployment Rate: 7.6 % (Jan)
Big News: Sorting through the Obama Stimulus Plan

Next week: Some Backstory