Our Ribbon-Cutting & Anniversary Party & Other News!

So, my actual 20th anniversary (Feb. 25) as the owner, publisher and editor of this publication has passed as you’re reading this, but the actual party to celebrate my 20 years of owning this publication — and the ribbon-cutting for our new office — are most definitely happening on Thursday, March 6, beginning at 5 p.m., and I am very excited to announce the details in this space. I’m also happy to introduce you to what’s happening not only with our new office, but with some of the plans we have to expand and enhance the news and information we’ve been offering the residents of New Tampa and Wesley Chapel the past two decades.

As I mentioned in this space last issue, we have taken over the second floor of the building that still has Carlos Flores-Gordon’s outstanding Milorian Studios TV, audio and website production studio on the first floor in the Brookside Professional Center, the office plaza located just east of the traffic light and entrance to Saddlebrook Resort Tampa on S.R. 54 (a little more than a mile or so east of both Bruce B. Downs {BBD} Blvd. and I-75), in front of the beautiful Brookside residential community.

Well, we’ve been in that office for a little less than a month as I’m writing this and we’ve definitely hit the ground running on the plans for not only the party, but also for how we plan to expand.

First, the big event. Our ribbon-cutting ceremony will be conducted by both of our local Chambers of Commerce — the New Tampa and Greater Wesley Chapel Chambers — and that ceremony will kick off the party at right around 5 p.m. or so.

We’ll be giving tours of our new office, as well as of Milorian Studios and those tours will culminate with an opportunity for you to be recorded on camera in Carlos’ professional TV studio, whether you want to rave about this publication (or at me), about your experience as an advertiser and/or reader of the New Tampa Neighborhood News or you can even just take 30 seconds to tell us about your business.

We plan to post a continuous loop of all of your comments (and some of ours, too) on our website — NTNeighborhoodNews.com — so you can see why we have no idea whether to expect 100 people to show up or 500. We also hope you’ll see what Carlos and Milorian have to offer in terms of equipment and production values and what we can do to help promote you and your business in conjunction with Carlos.

But, the party is more than just an opportunity to see yourself on camera. We’ll have the event tented outside our office, delicious catering by the new City Grill (located just down the street from our office in the Wesley Chapel Village Market), a free wine tasting provided by my buddy Hector Gonzalez of Toast Fine Wine & Café in the Oak Ramble Plaza on Bruce B. Downs {BBD} Blvd.), free beer, a free whiskey tasting (which will include Scotch, bourbon and Irish whiskey) and a few hours of karaoke entertainment provided by my friend Gary Carmichael of Gary Carmichael Karaoke.

So, whether you really like free food and adult beverages (and yes, you must have proper ID to prove you’re 21) or you really want to hear me sing (in which case, you really need to get a life), I hope you’ll mark your calendars and realize that the party is less than a week away as you’re reading this. See you on the 6th!

 

What About The Other Plans?

I also told you last issue that general manager Nikki Bennett and I have been working with consultant Jerry Hurley of Business Sense Solutions to figure out the best possible way(s) to expand what we do in order to serve you better.

We’ve talked about publishing some additional magazines, as well as starting a truly local webcast that would be shown on our website and several other possible additional revenue streams, but what I kept coming back to was that we already have the publications that more people in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel read and more businesses want to advertise in than any other because a) we’re directly mailed to more homes in our distribution areas than anyone else and b) because of our superior editorial content.

Therefore, we’ve decided that, beginning April 1, we’re going to offer businesses who sign new one-year (13 issues if you advertise only in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel, 26 if you advertise in both areas) agreements additional bang for their buck by offering more feature stories about your business than ever before.

You’ll still get just one “full-length” feature of one-half-to-one-full-page in length, but instead of just one or two small (200-300 words) “Neighborhood Nibbles & Business Bytes” items in addition to that feature per year, your one-year agreement also will now include up to three additional “Spotlight” features that will be a 1/4-page in length, with at least one full-color picture each. That means that every three months or so throughout the year, you’ll be able to focus on one aspect of your business, your own Chamber event or anything else you want us to feature.

But, in order to do that, we’re expanding our staff. We’re looking for one great sales person with 3-5 years of sales experience and, preferably (but not required), some media sales background.

We’re also always looking for more paid freelance writers, but especially now that we’ll have so many more business features to write.

So, if you’re interested in the advertising sales position, submit your resume to Nikki@NTNeighborhoodNews.com. For freelance writing opportunities, email your resume and one short (600 words or less) writing sample to Matt@NTNeighborhoodNews.com. Or, visit NTNeighborhoodNews.com for more details.