SmallBizResource Blog -- Women in Business

RosieKnows.com Founder Rosemary Blandford: Wednesday's Woman

Posted by Gayle Kesten Wednesday, Jun 3, 2009, 09:40 AM ET

From ER nurse to health teacher to stay-at-home mom to small-business owner, Rosemary "Rosie" Blandford's metamorphosis is an inspiring "how to" lesson all on its own.

Instead, the lessons 37-year-old Blanford are creating are based on how to use a wide range of sites on the Internet -- from well-known sites like Facebook, Pandora, and Yahoo, to lesser-known sites, like Animoto , Stickk, and Earth911. (For the record, Animoto makes videos from your still images, Stickk helps you stick to your goals, and Earth911 locates recycling centers.)

"I had been at home using the Internet essentially for email and light shopping," says Blanford, who has three young children and is the daughter of an entrepreneur, as well. "I felt like I was getting left behind, and the truth of the matter is, I was. At the time I was having trouble with my digital camera. It was like the computer was holding my digital photos hostage, so I set out to teach myself how to use some of these photo sites. The whole time I was struggling at 10 or 11 p.m., after the kids went to sleep and after a long day, I wished there were someone who could show me how to do it. If someone could just show me once, I felt like I could get it. But I couldn't find anything."

That's when Blanford had the idea to fill that gap. "I thought it would be a good idea if I could also help others people who were also sharing the same struggles. For instance, my MIL is constantly stuck, and if there were just someplace she could go that was friendly, informative, and that she enjoyed going to, I think she would go and figure it out on her own," she said.

Tapping into the knowledge base surrounding her, and engaging with college students to help her develop content, Blandford launched the free RosieKnows.com in February. "We walk you through the actual Web sites using screen captures or video," she explains. "Videos are three to five minutes long, and some sites, like Facebook, have multiple videos."

How does Blanford make money? For now, she doesn't, courtesy of the recession. Read on to learn how she hopes to change that at some point, how "doing it all" would have worked against her business goals, and her social media conundrum.

SBR: Who is your target audience?
RB: I initially thought it would be people but older than myself, but then in talking to friends and a wider demographic, I learned that it's really anyone my age on up. One of our members is 78. I don't ask members for that information, but the ones I do know, I would say are around 60 on average.

SBR: What was involved in making your idea a reality?
RB: It has been a couple of years in the making in terms of getting it all together, coming up with how I was going to approach it, how I was going to deliver it, and then shifting and changing as things went along. What are the legal issues involved? It took me a long time to get all of that together. One of the best things I did was really embrace the people around me -- the majority of them are family members -- for advice and help, [particularly with marketing and technology, which was] my biggest weakness in terms of how to put it all together, what format to use, what programs to use, and how to house it.

SBR: Does that mean someone who knew built your Web site?
RB: For that I interviewed Web development teams. I have a lot of friends and family who are talented, but no one who was willing to sacrifice the amount of hours it took to put the Web site together [laughs]. But in interviewing Web development teams, I didn't know what kinds of questions to ask them, so people gave me tips on what to look for.

SBR: What factored into your startup costs?
RB: They included Web and content development. I used primarily college students who were on vacation last summer to do a lot of the writing. Because I was interacting regularly with people, I had to move the office out of the master bedroom and into an actual location. Once the site started growing, my file server at the office no longer could handle it, so I chose collocation to house all of the information.

SBR: Did the recession impact your startup plans?
RB: When I first concepted the idea and started working on it, we weren't in recession. RosieKnows originally started out as a paid service, and I was going to charge a monthly fee for anyone who wanted to take advantage of the lessons. But then to launch in a recession, that model just broke down. The shift in the economy really made me re-evaluate and think about how I can make this and keep it going.

SBR: Do you do any of the writing?
RB: I did some of the writing, but my goal was to have a very robust site at launch, and I knew in the time frame that I had I couldn't do all of the writing myself. The reason I held myself to a time frame is because things change, and I didn't want the content to go stale.

SBR: How do you make money?
RB: I don't right now. I'm hoping to introduce advertising on the site, and maybe in the future look at some strategic partnerships. For right now I'm focusing on getting the members; we're closing in on 500. When they sign up, we ask for some personal information, like a name and email address, but I don't share that information in order to generate revenue. It's so a person has his own account and can keep track of which lessons they've completed and their favorites. Before I start advertising, I have to learn more about the numbers I need to have to attract advertising, and also decide whether I go with a company that specializes in it, or try to work it on my own.

SBR: How do you market RosieKnows.com?
RB: I've done a couple of radio and newspaper interviews, and we're working with a PR agency. I've been dropping off flyers and cards at senior centers that have computer classes.

SBR: What about social media marketing?
RB: We just published our Facebook page, but our primary route of getting members is in an offline method because of this particular demographic. We also have a Twitter page, but I'm not convinced [these sites] will help much to [directly reach our] target. If I were to go that route, it would be for someone thinking, "That's a great idea for my mom."

SBR: Isn't that a good enough reason to start using it?
RB: It definitely is. I need to invest the time in doing it. I wish there were more hours in the day because it's such an inexpensive way in terms of marketing and getting your name out.

SBR: Who makes your videos?
RB: They're made in-house. We use a program called Camtasia for the screen captures. The voice goes over to professional voice-over talent. The video is separate from the voice, and we overlay them. We import the audio file into the screen capture program.

SBR: What advice do you have for the tech-shy?
RB: It's a changing world, and starting off in technology 10 years ago was more difficult than it is today. Technology has improved to make things easier for people. It's all about getting over that fear and taking advantage of it with the knowledge that things have gotten easier, from digital cameras to how you navigate the Web. It's not something to be afraid of.

SBR: What still stymies you?
RB: I'm still struggling with the business and marketing side. How do I go from here? What's a good plan? That's my biggest hurdle. The Web site is up, the content is good -- it's practical and useful -- so how do I get it out there so people are taking advantage of it?

SBR: What else are you planning for your site?
RB: I want to continue to add Web sites that are practical and useful, and that members want to learn about. I hope to take it a step further and have more intermediate and advanced lessons, and to go beyond just the Internet to being a technology place to go, such as if you wanted to set up a wireless system in your house.

SBR: With three young children, how do you balance work and home?
RB: Luckily I don't have to work during normal business hours, so frequently I don't. That means weekends, evenings, while the kids are in school or taking a nap. That's one of the perks of being a business owner. I also have a very supportive husband who makes it easier.

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The Wednesday's Woman series is written for today's community of hard-working, small-business women, featuring profiles, industry trends, research, work/life balance issues, and other topics of interest.

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