March 10, 2008
Common ground | A chat with Carol Morris, founder of Morris Communications in Kennebunk.
Founded: January 2007
Employees: None
Startup costs: $5,000
Revenue, year one: $150,000
Projected revenue, year two: $170,000
Contact: 329-6502
12 High Tide Rd., Kennebunk 04046
www.morriscomm.net
You work in communications ˆ what would you say is your focus?
Well, I would say that what I do is a highly personalized combination of public outreach and public relations. So in other words, if an organization needs to interact with the public, on any level, I use a combination of outreach, media relations and general communications skills to make that happen as productively as possible.
What draws you to this kind work?
I think I've always been interested in the people side of the business, and I think the interactions between people, and between groups of people, are fascinating. So no matter what job I'm in ˆ whether I was communications director for Blue Cross and Blue Shield, or back working for Fleet Bank when they had just taken over three different banks ˆ what I found most interesting was working together with groups of people and finding out what their issues were and trying to find common ground.
Could you give me an example of a project you're working on?
The [Maine Department of Transportation] has funded a very complicated, long-term land use and transportation planning project on the Route One corridor called Gateway One. They hired a consulting firm called HNTB to manage the project, and that firm has hired me as a communications consultant.
We're working with 21 different communities, and communities typically are in charge of land use. And the Department of Transportation has a responsibility for transportation. But those two things are very closely related because where development goes affects traffic and the roads. And so therefore we ˆ the Department of Transportation ˆ really needed to find some common ground between [us and] the communities so that planning ahead, we don't create problems for each other.
How do you typically do the outreach?
We use the Internet, we use handouts. Last spring we had a traveling display.
Tell me about the decision to start your own business.
First of all, there aren't a lot of firms that specialize in this kind of work. Because a lot of it tends to be controversial and certainly there are times when I wonder myself why I'm doing this! And also, like any person with their own business, I enjoy making decisions about what my client does need.
When you were starting the business, what did you think would be a challenge?
Certainly accounting is not my strong point. But it's a relatively simple business and I've been fairly pleasantly surprised at how easy it is with QuickBooks and so forth to keep track. I was afraid that the isolation might be a problem, but the truth is, I spend most of my time talking with people or being on the road, so it's a pleasure sometimes to be able to have time in my office getting something done.
How did you go about finding your first clients?
I was very lucky. I was able to start with some client relationships already in process. And then going forward, it's very much a word-of-mouth business. I did get some time toward the end of last year to put up a website and put out a press release and also do some direct contact via emails to potential clients, and that is starting to show some rewards, as well.
What are your plans for the future?
Everybody asks me, "You're working by yourself, and are you growing? Do you want to hire somebody?" And it's a fascinating question for me because I really love not having to go into a place of work every day. On the other hand, there's a limited amount of work that I can handle just by myself.
I think that in this electronic era, the model of having to lease a space or buy a space is probably becoming a little archaic. I ran into a couple of women who did financial planning for airports, and one of them lives in Cincinnati and the other lives in Atlanta, Ga., and they had both worked at the same company at one point and they decided to branch off. And they handled it fine. That's the model that I'm thinking of working towards.
Interview by Kerry Elson
Employees: None
Startup costs: $5,000
Revenue, year one: $150,000
Projected revenue, year two: $170,000
Contact: 329-6502
12 High Tide Rd., Kennebunk 04046
www.morriscomm.net
You work in communications ˆ what would you say is your focus?
Well, I would say that what I do is a highly personalized combination of public outreach and public relations. So in other words, if an organization needs to interact with the public, on any level, I use a combination of outreach, media relations and general communications skills to make that happen as productively as possible.
What draws you to this kind work?
I think I've always been interested in the people side of the business, and I think the interactions between people, and between groups of people, are fascinating. So no matter what job I'm in ˆ whether I was communications director for Blue Cross and Blue Shield, or back working for Fleet Bank when they had just taken over three different banks ˆ what I found most interesting was working together with groups of people and finding out what their issues were and trying to find common ground.
Could you give me an example of a project you're working on?
The [Maine Department of Transportation] has funded a very complicated, long-term land use and transportation planning project on the Route One corridor called Gateway One. They hired a consulting firm called HNTB to manage the project, and that firm has hired me as a communications consultant.
We're working with 21 different communities, and communities typically are in charge of land use. And the Department of Transportation has a responsibility for transportation. But those two things are very closely related because where development goes affects traffic and the roads. And so therefore we ˆ the Department of Transportation ˆ really needed to find some common ground between [us and] the communities so that planning ahead, we don't create problems for each other.
How do you typically do the outreach?
We use the Internet, we use handouts. Last spring we had a traveling display.
Tell me about the decision to start your own business.
First of all, there aren't a lot of firms that specialize in this kind of work. Because a lot of it tends to be controversial and certainly there are times when I wonder myself why I'm doing this! And also, like any person with their own business, I enjoy making decisions about what my client does need.
When you were starting the business, what did you think would be a challenge?
Certainly accounting is not my strong point. But it's a relatively simple business and I've been fairly pleasantly surprised at how easy it is with QuickBooks and so forth to keep track. I was afraid that the isolation might be a problem, but the truth is, I spend most of my time talking with people or being on the road, so it's a pleasure sometimes to be able to have time in my office getting something done.
How did you go about finding your first clients?
I was very lucky. I was able to start with some client relationships already in process. And then going forward, it's very much a word-of-mouth business. I did get some time toward the end of last year to put up a website and put out a press release and also do some direct contact via emails to potential clients, and that is starting to show some rewards, as well.
What are your plans for the future?
Everybody asks me, "You're working by yourself, and are you growing? Do you want to hire somebody?" And it's a fascinating question for me because I really love not having to go into a place of work every day. On the other hand, there's a limited amount of work that I can handle just by myself.
I think that in this electronic era, the model of having to lease a space or buy a space is probably becoming a little archaic. I ran into a couple of women who did financial planning for airports, and one of them lives in Cincinnati and the other lives in Atlanta, Ga., and they had both worked at the same company at one point and they decided to branch off. And they handled it fine. That's the model that I'm thinking of working towards.
Interview by Kerry Elson
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