Today marks a critical inflection point for Nine Lives Media Inc., which is less than six months old. At 2pm eastern, we’re hosting MSPmentor Live: CEO Exchange, a webcast designed for aspiring and established managed services providers.
I’m tempted to hype our upcoming events (find details here). But since this is our business blog, I’ll focus on how we ramped up to host online events, and why we focus on long-term “business assets” rather than short-term “dollars and cents.” Frankly, we believe long-term vision can drive long-term and short-term revenue. Here’s why.
In the Beginning
When most journalists give up a steady paycheck to go out on their own, they try to line up freelance work to build a solid revenue stream. In stark contrast, I wanted to build my own business assets. Fortunately, my business partner (Nive Lives Media Inc. Co-founder and CEO Amy Katz) had the same vision.
Let me explain: Sure, I could make a good living writing and editing for other media companies. But that would mean chasing freelance opportunities all the time. And the only real “asset” I’d have is my reputation as a solid writer, reporter and high-tech event producer.
Another Direction
Amy and I had something vastly different in mind for Nine Lives Media Inc. First, we’d strive to build branded assets (our first three are MSPmentor, The VAR Guy and Works With U). We’d deliver great content through those assets to attract a loyal reader community. (Notice, I said reader community rather than social network. There’s a big difference.) Ultimately, those assets would provide a bridge between readers and sponsors.
It all sounds so simple. But I’m leaving out a lot of the secret sauce. You need far more than great content. You need audience development strategies, marketing, sales and business development, financial management, and a work ethic that means each day you’re driven to nurture your assets.
And you need a great business partner who builds and runs the company, while you’re locked away brainstorming about the next day’s content.
So Far, So Good
Less than six months after launching Nine Lives Media Inc., our three media assets are attracting — and retaining — strong audiences. Now, we’re introducing those audiences to our MSPmentor Live: CEO Exchange webcasts.
Again, it all sounds so simple. It sort of reminds me of the sports world: Great athletes (Gretzky, Jordan, Ali) always make their jobs look easy. But hang out in the gym with us, and you’ll see how hard we’re working to build our assets.
