Gil Lantini, owner of Focus Business Solutions, launched a resource website for local businesses on Monday.
PBN: The Rhode Island Small Business Journal sounds a lot like we’d be competitors but – from what I understand – it’s more of a resource website than a news source. Tell us about your venture.
LANTINI: The Rhode Island Small Business Journal is going to be an online resource for aspiring entrepreneurs and small-business owners. We will not be reporting the news in any way.
Unfortunately given the state of the economy, a good portion of the news is bad. Although we understand the reality of the economy, we want to give small businesses hope and the resources needed to have a better chance for success.
Each week we will be posting articles from local experts on topics like how to invest as a small business, how to eliminate spam from your email, how to find affordable health care options, how to best utilize social media for marketing, what tax credits might be available to small businesses and much more. Not only will business owners be providing content to RISBJ.com, but we even have the IRS and secretary of state’s office as regular contributors.
In addition to the resource articles, we will also provide a list of state resources available to help small businesses such as the secretary of state’s office, R.I. Economic Development Corporation, Center for Women and Enterprise, SBA and other several other agencies.
Many small businesses have heard of some of them, but in reality have no idea when or why they would turn to them for help.
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PBN: Why did you decide to begin this venture now? What do you hope it looks like in say 6 months or a year?
LANTINI: Over the past seven years, I’ve been fortunate enough to have built a successful business doing what I love. I help businesses on a daily basis improve their online and offline image, helping them increase revenue. Since 2007, I’ve been an unpaid consultant and regular workshop presenter for EDC, CWE and SBA as well as serving as a SCORE counselor.
Helping small business is my passion. For the past year or so I’ve tried to figure out a way to further help startups and small businesses that I’m not able to reach as a consultant and that do not have the financial resources to pay my company for its services. When I came up with the idea of providing a comprehensive online resource I thought I was really on to something. I ran the idea by all types of business owners, small and large, as well as the state organizations I have been consulting for. The support I received was far beyond anything I expected.That’s when I knew this was something I had to pursue.
The plan for the website is to grow into an interactive online community. Although the initial launch will be mostly content based, within six months I see the site containing a library of small business interviews and advice.
I’m excited about our Ask the Expert section, which will not only have written answers to questions submitted by business owners, but it will have videos of the experts answering the questions. I feel most websites are too static and by incorporating video we will bring out site to life and help it stand out from other online resources. The other place I feel other sites are missing the boat is with Social Media. In just a week we’ve generated over 1,500 Twitter followers and they aren’t just following out of boredom. The people following us are asking questions, “re-tweeting” our posts and emailing us with content and questions. The response has been unbelievable. Our plan over the next 6 months is to continue to grow our following and utilize social media as an information exchange between small businesses.
PBN: You say that all of the site content will be provided by local experts. Are they being paid? What’s the business model?
LANTINI: All of content will be provided by Rhode Island experts. All too often we look outside the state for experts and it’s frustrating. Our state has experts in nearly, if not every field of business. We will invite these experts to provide content as a way to provide additional exposure to their business and to help support the small business community. Regular contributors will not get paid to write content and they will not pay us to provide content. Initially, we will generate revenue from online ad sales and online marketing packages that include email and social media campaigns for clients.
Our startup costs are low because we already employ the in-house staff to brand the company and develop the website. We’re not looking at this like we are large corporate business owners that see a financial opportunity. We’re looking at this as successful small business owners who see an opportunity to help Rhode Island’s economic condition by providing guidance to those who need it.
PBN: Who is involved in the process – you mentioned a small group of local business owners. Tell us about them.
LANTIN: I started the company myself a few months ago, but realized that there were many other dedicated business professionals that felt just as strongly about the cause. One of our partners is Danny Angeli, owner of Wave Technologies. Another is Anthony Melillo who works with Danny. We’ve also had amazing outside support from Melissa Black from Black Ink Virtual Assistance and dozens of other local small business owners. Although there are only a few partners in the company, the list of regular contributors and supporters is lengthy.
PBN: What aspect are you most excited about? What’s the “big picture?”
LANTINI: First and foremost I’m most excited that I’ve finally figured out a way to give back to the community in a time when it needs it most. Small business is the backbone of our economy and the more I can do to help support small business, the better chance they have of making long term contributions to our economy.
The big picture is to continue building the online resource library and eventually introduce it to other small business markets. We’ve also been approached by local publishers who feel so strongly about the concept they think it would work well in print. Providing a printed resource guide sounds like it would have a lot of value to local business owners and is definitely something we would explore. Whatever way we can provide the best resources to small businesses [which] need them is the direction we will take the company.
