{"id":3550,"date":"2013-03-29T14:12:23","date_gmt":"2013-03-29T18:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.123print.com\/?p=3550"},"modified":"2013-03-29T14:12:23","modified_gmt":"2013-03-29T18:12:23","slug":"transcript-123print-small-business-sense-caressa-flannery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/transcript-123print-small-business-sense-caressa-flannery\/","title":{"rendered":"[TRANSCRIPT] 123Print Small Business Sense — Caressa Flannery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caressa:<\/strong> My name is Caressa Flannery. I\u2019m actually a native of Frederick, Maryland and I\u2019ve had the luxury of owning two businesses here in Frederick. I\u2019ve been in the advertising and marketing industry for 20 years, 20 years.\u00a0 It\u2019s unbelievable, and basically through those two businesses I work with a lot of small businesses mostly on the local level, but some on the regional level as well. Create-a-Pulse Marketing, my one business, I\u2019ve had for 12 years, and we provide web development, all kinds of graphic and marketing work, as well as event planning and social media. That\u2019s kind of a big thing in the marketing realm right now. And then, as far as my other business, RelyLocal Frederick, started that in October of 2010, and that is a business that supports small businesses in the local Frederick County area with lots of different things, Internet marketing, social media marketing, PR and networking.\u00a0And we do some co-op advertising.\u00a0 We have some partnerships with some other businesses in town that help benefit these small businesses as well.<\/p>\n

Question: How did you get started with your small businesses?<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Caressa:<\/strong> I got started 20 years ago \u2013 well, and being an entrepreneur, 12 years ago, actually, but I got started in the advertising and marketing industry and worked for a number of local companies in that arena. And when the economy kinda soured back in the 2000, 2001\u00a0time frame\u00a0 I ended up losing two jobs in the course of a year, so for me, I decided, you know, I don\u2019t wanna have to do this over and over again.\u00a0 So, I have enough brainpower and smarts and connections that I could certainly do this and go this on my own.\u00a0So, that\u2019s what I did, and I started and launched Create-a-Pulse Marketing, and started with the web development, and that branched into a variety of other things.<\/p>\n

Question: What are some challenges you faced in starting and growing your small businesses?<\/em><\/p>\n

Caressa:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Challenges are always gonna be prevalent in any small business. You\u2019re always gonna come up against things that just quite don\u2019t go right.<\/span> I would say the biggest challenge that\u00a0I’ve\u00a0had to deal with personally has just been the ebb and flow and dealing with the ebb and flow of work coming in. Sometimes there\u2019s really, really busy times, and then sometimes it\u2019s a little more on the quiet side and you\u2019re wondering, \u201cHmm, what\u2019s going on?\u201d\u00a0But, for the most part, you kind of get through that and you learn to adjust, and in the downtime\u00a0I’ve\u00a0been able to do things like volunteer in the community and whatnot, so it kind of works itself out. I would say that\u2019s probably one of the biggest challenges, because it\u2019s ongoing and it continues on and on.\u00a0 Just dealing with the economic things that are happening out there, every small business is affected by it, so that\u2019s probably another challenge that we all have to deal with from an economic and tax standpoint and whatnot. I would also say that time management, because I tend to be involved in a lot of different things, and I run a couple of businesses, that just being able to adjust my time and benefit, all of those things from a time standpoint has been a challenge for me personally.\u00a0 But, I\u2019m a good juggler, so that ends up being a forte in some ways, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Question: As a female entrepreneur, have you faced additional challenges?<\/em><\/p>\n

Caressa:\u00a0<\/strong>I would say probably as a female entrepreneur the biggest challenge is that I\u2019m in a technical world with doing web development and some of\u00a0 the things that I do as far as Internet and online marketing, not so much from graphics or \u2013 and that kind of standpoint, but just being in the technical world, when I\u2019m spitting out things to people, they kind of look at you a little strange, like, \u201cHow do you know that?\u201d you know, and you almost feel like they don\u2019t totally trust you because you\u2019re a female. And the majority \u2013 I would say the majority of people in this industry are \u2013 come from \u2013 it\u2019s male predominant, let\u2019s put it that way, so that\u2019s \u2013 I\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0necessarily say that that\u2019s a bad thing. I think it\u2019s \u2013 time has changed from when I first started. That was probably more so the issue, being a woman and being an entrepreneur, \u201cShould we trust her?\u00a0Should we go in this direction?\u00a0 Does she really know what she\u2019s talking about?\u201d And the great thing is, I absorb a lot of information. If I don\u2019t know how to do something, I will seek a way to find out<\/span> about what it is that \u2013 whatever the subject matter is, so I\u2019m very resourceful in that way, and I tend to, if I can\u2019t answer a question, I will find the answer. So, I think that people have come to appreciate that from being a solo entrepreneur as myself.<\/p>\n

Question: What has been a proud moment for you in your growth as a business owner?<\/em><\/p>\n

Caressa:\u00a0<\/strong>Just recently I was awarded an amazing recognition through the American Advertising Federation, but on the local level I received the Silver Medal Award, and basically that\u2019s more of a career-oriented award. It has to do with upholding advertising \u2013 well, advertising principles and things like that, but also creativity, and it also comes from community service and giving back in addition to success and your advertising career.<\/p>\n

Question: How do you raise awareness in the community about your businesses?<\/em><\/p>\n

Caressa:\u00a0<\/strong>We are sponsoring events, getting our \u2013 the visibility out there, because what we want people to do is come to the RelyLocal site and see these local businesses that we have in the local Frederick community. So, we\u2019re doing a lot of stuff in the community as far as sponsoring events and giving back to nonprofits, yet getting the visibility and the PR from that standpoint.\u00a0 And then, on a personal level, I have always pretty much been very altruistic and done a lot of community service, so giving back to the community, me, myself, people knowing what I do, it actually helps the businesses as well.\u00a0<\/span>It has not been difficult for me to get business, basically, because people know that I\u2019m so engrossed in the community, and people have supported RelyLocal because of that as well. Even from the standpoint of someone who \u2013 a child, a teenager that is in high school, they need to do community service, because what it does it makes people well-rounded individual. It\u2019s no different than that with an entrepreneur in a business.\u00a0 It makes you a well-rounded business owner, because you\u2019re \u2013 it\u2019s not all about you.<\/span>\u00a0You\u2019re doing what you\u2019re good at and what you specialize in, but yet you\u2019re giving back to the community and making Frederick a great place to live and work, and I grew up here, so I\u2019m very passionate about that. And I think all business owners really should take note of that type of thing and incorporate that somehow in their business.<\/p>\n

Question: Who, in the business world, do you look up to?<\/em><\/p>\n

Caressa:\u00a0<\/strong>Jim Rohn as far as like a national person out there, Jim Rohn is someone that I have followed from an inspirational, motivational standpoint, you know, read his books and things like that. He\u2019s got a rags-to-riches type of story, so I tend to migrate towards professionals like that who have persevered through challenges<\/span>, basically.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0had to do that myself with some personal things that have happened in my life, and how you let that affect you in the business world and still have had success, so I think even people on the local level, local business owners that I know here in Frederick, those are the people that I admire the most, too, because of the fact that they have fought through challenges and still have made their businesses successful.<\/p>\n

Question: What methods of online marketing have you found successful?<\/em><\/p>\n

Caressa:\u00a0<\/strong>E-mail marketing is very important because it keeps you out there in front of your clients on a regular basis and so they don\u2019t forget you, basically. Social media is, in a way, like that, too, but social media has a little bit more engagement involved with it. We\u2019re putting things out when it has to do with RelyLocal, or even the local businesses that we\u2019re promoting, it\u2019s with the intent that we want people who are seeing those posts to engage with them and engage with the content and the message that we\u2019re putting out there. So, social media has been very effective for growing both of my businesses<\/span>, Create-a-Pulse Marketing as well as RelyLocal. I get people contacting me through Facebook all the time, asking me, \u201cGive me more details about what you do.\u00a0Give me more details about RelyLocal. I need a website for my business. Can you help me with that? I\u2019m planning this event. Is this something that you can help me with?\u201d So, I get that a lot through social media, so, obviously, what we\u2019re putting out there and the fact that we\u2019re so visible, I think, has been very beneficial for both businesses.<\/p>\n

Question: What other marketing materials do you use to promote your small businesses?<\/em><\/p>\n

Caressa:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>I would say flyers, PDF type of things, because we deal so much with the face-to-face as well as the electronic that PDFs have just sort of been the mainstream type of thing, I mean, other than a business card and postcards and things like that.<\/p>\n

Question: How do you balance work and life?<\/em><\/p>\n

Caressa:\u00a0<\/strong>The balance with it being the personal life, the business life and even the volunteer stuff, you know, the community that I do, there is a lot, and like I mentioned earlier with the ebb and flow of any business, sometimes it gives you the opportunity, when you do have downtime, to be able to give back to the community and be able to do some different things here and there. I also try to make time for my friends, for my family, my boyfriend, whoever it might be, just to \u2013\u00a0you’ve\u00a0gotta have balance. You’ve\u00a0got to have that balance.\u00a0 You can\u2019t be work, work, work all the time<\/span>, and I have to repeatedly tell myself that, because I can tend to be a bit of a workaholic, but the great thing is, with everything that I do and being a social person like I am, I blend a lot of things together, so if I\u2019m out and about like with some friends, conversations could come up.\u00a0I don\u2019t try to do that, but conversations could come up and the next thing you know we\u2019re doing business together, so there\u2019s \u2013\u00a0you’ve\u00a0always gotta have a balance. I like to get away and get \u2013 go on vacation here and there, too. I think that\u2019s really important for any entrepreneur to do. To be in your office all the time or be meeting with people all the time and just be doing work all the time is not healthy.<\/p>\n

Question: What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own business?<\/em><\/p>\n

Caressa:\u00a0<\/strong>The advice that I would tell somebody starting their own business is to go for it, to not give up on your dream.<\/span> I mean, seriously, there are so many times even after\u00a0I’ve\u00a0started my business where I am like, \u201cOh, I can\u2019t do this,\u201d or, \u201cOh, I\u00a0shouldn’t\u00a0be doing this,\u201d and I really think that that inner voice, you just have to squash it. You have to go for what it is that you \u2013 if you aspire to do whatever your passion is, you need to be passionate, first of all. You need to have that passion for whatever specific task or skill set it is and just go for it, because the best is yet to come, as they always say, and you never \u2013 you just never know. If you give up, you\u2019re gonna give up a dream, perhaps, so I think it\u2019s just really important to master that and be able to fight past and be focused and stay positive and stay the course.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s really important.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Click here to watch the full “123Print Small Business Sense –Caressa Flannery” interview]<\/a><\/p>\n

Check out the Create-a-Pulse Marketing official website:\u00a0www.createapulsemarketing.com<\/a>
\nCheck out the RelyLocal Frederick official website:\u00a0www.relylocal.com\/frederick-maryland<\/a><\/p>\n

Let us help\u00a0your<\/em> business succeed!<\/strong>
\nwww.123Print.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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