Creating Website Capabilities & Entertainment News
I was there. When it all started. I've been part of it ever since. The internet, online marketing and then online promotion.
I started as the creator and publisher of a regional entertainment magazine in the Midwest titled "Kansas City Scene". It was a full-color gloss 64-page monthly magazine about entertainment events in the Kansas City area, with a monthly circulation of 80,000 copies.
I had been in print advertising sales as both a sales agent and as a sales manager but wanted more of the creative side.
When I started the magazine I sold the advertising, wrote the content and did the photography for the entire publication. From content creation to ad design and layout to distribution, I did it all. Articles included stories about specific local and national entertainers, annual celebrations, special programs and community events. Article length varied from 1,000 to 3,000 words each and were based on actual event presence, face to face interviews and researched information. Onsite photography was included in every piece.
As we grew, I gravitated more toward the creative aspects and hired others to do the more mundane.
Within two years a new medium presented its self in the form of the internet, and with it a whole new world with which to communicate. Our first version of an internet magazine came online in 1999. I designed and created the website and its content. We continued to improve our content in both print and online, taking advantage of new technologies as they became available.
Much of what I did was self-taught or supplemented by courses taken at Johnson County Community College. I became well versed in content creation from writing to graphics and photography. I also became good at planning and executing interviews with the people involved in the entertainment industry. I have always been excited by new opportunities to improve my capabilities and continue to pursue them.
In 2004 I sold the magazine to a larger company in the midwest and moved to the Raleigh Durham, North Carolina area.
Working for a national marketing and advertising company as a regional manager until 2011, I continued to develop my skills and was often called on to use them for our advertisers who ranged in size from local businesses to national accounts. I added the skills of video and audio creation to my talents during this time as well.
In 2011 I decided that I wanted to start another publication similar to "Kansas City Scene" here in the Raleigh-Durham area. The region is well known as "The Triangle" due to its geographic layout with Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill North Carolina. Thus the name "Triangle Events." Starting out as a print and online publication, we dropped the print side in 2014 in favor of an all online presence which offered greater creative and distribution opportunities as well as significant financial advantages.
My talents as a copywriter, content creator, website designer, photographer, interviewer and video creator all came into play in major ways in order to make the website a success and a significant cultural addition to our area. And although I sold the website in 2017, Triangleevents.org is or was an example of my talents and abilities. Talents and abilities that I would love to use for you.
Prior to my involvement in media, I served as an officer in the United States Army, Owned and managed a successful insurance agency in Lawrence, Kansas, started and built a printing business in Overland Park Kansas, created and ran a computer and copier manufacturing company in Lenexa, Kansas and was the corporate sales director for a national specialized magazine for the custom home building industry.
Throughout all of these experiences, I have been directly involved in marketing and the successfully designing and implementing advertising campaigns. This experience has enabled me to learn real-world applications and practices that will make any project I contribute to for you, a success.