Carolyn Jack

Editor and CEO, Geniocity.com
A project of The Genius Group LLC

Creative Nerve: What It’s Really Like to Start a Business

Hot damn. It’s happened twice now, so maybe it’s not a fluke: For the second time since launching Geniocity.com in June, I’ve mentioned the name of my business to a total stranger and gotten the response, ”Oh, I’ve heard of that.” 

Someone’s heard of my company?  Someone who’s not a personal friend or the friend of a friend or my second cousin once removed has heard of my company?! I can’t fully describe the flash of sheer, scintillating euphoria I felt, as if I’d won the lottery or discovered I was born a wizard.

Two persons I’d never met before had heard of Geniocity.com and not because I told them about it with my own lips. That means something is working – people have read a story about the site or seen a brochure or gotten some word-of-mouth or maybe even just discovered it by accident on the Net.

There’s so much I need to do to make that happen more often. I need to learn to use the available tools better – the online social networks, the well-placed and repetitive images or ads, the linking, the sponsorships, the collaborations – all the marketing stuff that lets you reach people more effectively. It takes a long time to learn about it and a longer time to figure how best to use it.   

But even though I’ve barely made a start on all that, I now have proof that even the little I’ve been able to do so far may not be in vain. Because not only had those two people encountered the name Geniocity.com before - they’d also remembered it.

Ok, maybe I’m making too big a deal out of this. It was only two people. And I admit that they were both in Cleveland. I’m guessing people in London and Tokyo probably won’t have found out about Geniocity yet.

But with our web presence and hard work, they could and they will.

Even the thought of that is a happy shock.