03/21/2024
The business owners that have decided to participate in our premier issue of Enchanted Outpost Magazine have come to realize the value we bring to each business and the region as a whole. We've spent hours talking with each of our advertisers about their businesses to learn about the often long and dusty road they've navigated to get to where they are today.
We had a meeting recently with Thea Maestas and Sandy Sitzberger at St. James Hotel in Cimarron, another with Lynn Skall and her team with Questa Economic Development Fund, and yet another with Gabriel Traister of Coldwell Banker Mountain Properties in Taos, and another with Bill and Karen Gaydosh of Taos Mountain Outfitters, and another with Theresa Stark Jessop of Alhambra Soul Inspired Living in Taos, and another with Cyndi Gonzalez of Berkshire Hathaway Taos Real Estate, and another with Billy Miller with Big River Raft Trips in Pilar, and another with Dancer Dearing and Ron Usherwood of Black Dog Antiques, and Michael Calhoun with Red River Brewing and Distillery, and Mary Domito of Taos Lifestyle...and the list goes on and on. In each meeting we spent a great deal of time to listen and learn what we can to establish a starting point to execute from.
We have met now, with over 200 businesses face-to-face from Las Vegas, Taos, Red River, Angel Fire, Cimarron, Questa, Espanola, and even as far away as Santa Fe and Alamosa–not to just sell ads, but to TRULY understand the regional economy. Because, without knowing the state of the economy by learning from those with actual boots on the ground, we cannot track our performance and capture data of the impact we expect to have here over the next few years.
We will never, EVER just take your money and ask if you just want to run the same ad again and neglect to evaluate our performance in the process. This is one of the things that sets our organization apart–the bravery it takes to self-evaluate and constanly improve and face our shortcomings head on.
Buying advertising in a publication–like being an entrepreneur–takes guts and trust. Buying an ad is truly trusting in the future and putting some of that future in the hands of the people behind the publication. I know this because I have run my own businesses for over 25 years. I have been deep in the trenches. I not only greatly respect, but deeply treasure business entrepreneurs. This is why our business philosophy–which will be instilled in every employee we ever hire–will center on the spirit, bravery, and resilience of entrepreneurialism–the foundation of the free enterprise capitalism that America is founded on. We will strive every single day to uncover and deliver new ideas and fight for our clients to not only hold ground but move forward down that dusty road.
If you are considering advertising in our publication or are looking for a marketing and branding agency to help you launch or grow your business, municipality, or organization, I encourage you to pick up the phone and call each of these businesses for feedback about our business accumen. If you would like phone numbers of my clients from my former award-winning Scottsdale, Arizona agency I will freely provide. Or, just go on my LinkedIN to read more than 25 stellar reviews of my work.
We consider our magazine to be the first wave of a tactical airstrike. I worked directly with the founder and CEO of the multi-billion-dollar company LifeLock to build the brand from scratch and later as the Chief Marketing Officer for his FinTech startup SurchX (now called Interpayments based in San Francisco). He was a Navy Seal. He taught me that the business startup environment is all out strategic warfare to occupy a region. Make no mistake that even though our magazine will be a beautiful and informative presentation about our region, it is a strategic tool in a much larger tactical plan. We aren't a news organization. We are a marketing organization. Want to be a part of something that's poised to be a deep breath of fresh air for our region? Then I encourage you to get on board.
If you think it can't be done, then you clearly underestimate my drive to achieve the things I set out to do and my willingness to work tirelessly for 20-hour days until the job is done and done right. Ask my wife, I never waver.
Our first issue will release mid May. Take cover.
