Building a Small Business From the Ground Up

Starting a new business can be tough for anyone. Just ask Mr. Three Bankruptcies himself, Donald Trump. But even with Trump’s failed ventures have been numerous successful ventures, even if they took time. But with his successes, he had the fortune of starting up with money and connections.

While much of the preliminary work at Jupiter Promotions began a year ago, we didn’t start the process of recruiting clients until earlier this year. Since that time, it has been difficult work and a lot of time spent working on pitches and proposals. The toughest part has been time invested in dead-end opportunities. I have discovered that one must be willing to take no for an answer frequently when starting a full-service public relations and marketing firm in Oklahoma’s current economy.

We picked up a couple of small business clients initially and have been holding steady at that number for months now despite an emphasis on networking, hand-shaking, social media marketing and business card distribution. Just this week, we added a third client and we have a meeting set to discuss the possibility of a fourth client.

That said, these are all small businesses just like us. We are still in search of those one or two big-name clients who put quality and the need for experience ahead of everything else. At Jupiter Promotions, we put professionalism into everything we do, and we treat all our clients as if they are a member of our family. And not a dysfunctional family either.

Forbes reported that eight out of 10 businesses fail, while Inc.com presented data that showed 96 percent of businesses failing within 10 years. We are committed to being an exception to that rule, but we need your help to make that happen. Given the decision to build this business debt-free – that means no government money or private industry loans – you can only imagine how tough it can be to grow and maintain a business with a minimal amount of income to pay the bills.

Help us invest in a better Oklahoma by sending clients our way. I have seen way too many poorly-run social media pages and far too few positive media stories about small businesses to feel as if our competitors are getting it done. And don’t even get me started talking about the inept web pages out there. Stop settling for mediocrity and let Jupiter Promotions take your image to new heights.