Best business contest winners - Home Office Computing's annual contest - Cover Story

Home Office Computing, July, 1993 by Rosalind Resnick

While the directory has yet to contribute to the business's bottom line, Santos says the venture broke even with its first printing of 3,000, thanks to sponsorships and advertising. They expect it to generate a profit by 1995.

Their long-term goal is to en* able small-business owners, especially women, to use computers to accomplish their objectives. But rather than marketing themselves as experts by telling people what they can do, they've decided to let their work speak for itself.

PATRICIA SANTOS AND DEB CONNER

RESIDENCE: Durham, North Carolina

BUSINESS: information management & Presentation, computer consulting/graphic design

1992 REVENUES: Just under $50,000

EQUIPMENT: Gateway 2000 486 and IBM-compatible 386SX computers; Hewlett-Packard LaserJet IIIP printer; Zoom and Telepath fax/moderns; Intel Ether Express cards; Logitech 25G handheld scanner

SOFTWARE: ACT!, Ami Pro for Windows, Crosstalk for Windows, Excel, Foto Touch, FoxPro, FreeHand, Harvard Graphics, Illustrator, Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows, Microsoft Money and Publisher, PageMaker, PhotoStyler, QuickBooks, Quicken, Word, and WordPerfect for DOS

Rx FOR SUCCESS: "Providing a marketing device for others as well as ourselves."

The New Kid On the Block

When Alexis Solberg moved from California to Santa Fe, New Mexico, she soon spotted a glaring deficiency in the tony art town.

Although there was no shortage of newspapers and magazines geared to tourists and art aficionados, there were no publications for parents with children. As Solberg wrote in her entry, "Santa Fe had a reputation as a place with little to do for children."

The divorced mother of two daughters, Solberg, now 46, decided to enter the world of niche publishing, launching the premier issue of a quarterly newspaper called Santa Fe Kids? in May 1992. The paper, given away free and supported by local advertising, appears to be off to a good start. This year, Solberg projects profits of $24,000 on revenues of $40,000.

"What I've done is address a segment of the population that was being ignored," says Solberg, who notes that there are 25,000 children in Santa Fe.

But despite the overwhelming demand, starting the paper wasn't easy. Solberg, who worked part-time as promotions coordinator for the Santa Fe New Mexican, had initially hoped to launch her new paper as a supplement to the local daily. But her bosses turned her down. Then, at a Christmas party in December 1991, Solberg ran into Peggy O'Mara, editor and publisher of Mothering, a national magazine based in Santa Fe. O'Mara liked her idea and agreed to sponsor Solberg by donating free office space.

Encouraged, Solberg launched her paper on a shoestring. She had to scrape by on unemployment benefits after her job at the newspaper was eliminated in March 1992. Solberg drafted a list of about 200 local businesses, including toy stores, children's clothing stores, day-care centers, and dance studios. She solicited advertisements and sponsorships with nothing more than a mock-up of the first issue, a rate-card, and an order book. Her low-budget promotional campaign, which included press releases and radio spots featuring local kids, yielded high returns.