Jim Hance Graphic Communications is now operating out of the Tampa/St. Petersburg area.  This major change in my life is mixed with both excitement and sadness. I am excited about working with new clients and I will continue serving my clients from the west coast as well as I possibly can. I will miss many of my favorite people.  But I will be back!

What’s behind me are  three decades of friends and associations I still value very much. I have great memories of people I have worked with at Jack in the Box Restaurants (corporate office), Hubbert & Associates Advertising & P.R., Sidekick Printing, Ideal Services, McMillin Communities, Project Resources, UCSD Extension, Schwartz Design Group, Design Quarter, SoCal PRINT, Communicating Arts Group, American Institute for Graphic Arts/San Diego, Performing Arts League, Bon Temps Social Club of San Diego, Hustle San Diego, Lakeside’s River Park Conservancy, the many past and current members of BNI Wealth Builders, San Diego Green Business Network, and especially my 20 years with San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau. My associations with many of these people and organizations will continue even though I am three hours ahead and 3,000 miles away. I cannot begin to thank all of these people giving me what I need to move to the next chapter.

Some of the highlights of my professional career have included:

• Development and application of branding for all sales and marketing materials for the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Design and production of four contract proposals for Project Resources, Inc. of San Diego which resulted in $3.75 billion in government contracts
• Redesign of Website, 50+ investment performance publications, press kit, and marketing campaign materials for Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel of San Diego
• Presentations to the San Diego City Council for funding requests
• Commendation from the Mayor of San Diego for graphics which contributed to winning Republican Convention
• Webmaster of top Website of Cajun-Zydeco events throughout Southern California

With new associations here in Tampa, I will offer even better Web solutions for my clients, and continued personal attention to promotional projects which include presentations, printed collateral, email advertising, and newsletters. I am finding people are just about as wonderful here in Florida as they are in San Diego, and I look forward to the future.

About 300 people crowded into the Alpine Community Center last night for Dianne Jacob’s Town Forum on Sempra’s Sunrise PowerLink project. Several good points were made by 40 people who stood up to speak.

Sempra does not need Sunrise PowerLink to serve San Diego residents: There is already a network of power lines running along our U.S.-Mexico border from El Centro which could be improved to take additional loads. The new power lines will cost rate payers $2 billion. For that money we can buy a lot of rooftop solar panels. Sempra claimed it had done environmental impact studies, which in fact it had not done, and has changed its route to go through environmentally sensitive areas without disclosing those changes of plans. Several of the area’s worst fires in 2003 and 2007 were started by SDG&E arcing power lines, and we will CERTAINLY be imperiled by at least one major fire per decade by this project if built (14 people died and 2,000 homes were lost in 2007). The power lines themselves will prevent arial water drops on wildfires 1000 feet on either side during heavy winds, thus ensuring fires not started by arcing power lines will not be safely fought.

Thank you to Dianne Jacob, our stalwart County Supervisor, for leading the fight against this project which appears to be designed solely to serve Sempra investor interests, not the interests of San Diego County residents.

Next week is “Business Networking Week” and there is a nice conference being held in San Diego at the Town & Country Hotel on Monday (February 1, 2010) with breakout sessions on building business through social networking, and networking outside your current networks (“Connect The Dots”). If you know independent business people who rely on personal referrals for their business, they can get info about the special event at this link:

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/527104584

The Small Business Administration was established to assist small businesses in succeeding to promote a better economy and provide jobs for everyone. The agency has assistance programs which help small businesses secure working capital from banks, and train company executives to run a competitive business.

One program which has been highly successful for women minority owned businesses competing for federal government projects is the MBE/WBE 8(a) program. By becoming certified through the SBA as an 8(a), businesses can compete for the thousands of federal contracts listed on the FedBizOpps.gov Website.

Certification as an 8(a) begins with a visit to the Small Business Administration office in your metropolitan area where you can get the necessary forms and receive coaching in preparing the application package and business strategy. Companies entering this program must have been in business for two years, and the certification process can take about a year. Once the forms are filled out and submitted, the application passes through a local approval process, then a regional approval process in San Francisco, and finally a federal approval process in Washington DC. When granted, 8(a) certification is a nine-year program with oversight from the SBA which gives the company certain advantages in the competitive bidding process.

However, businesses with 8(a) status do not typically win contracts alone. 8(a) companies usually begin working with a “mentor” or a company which has done contract business with the government agency before. The new 8(a) company may compete as the prime contractor or as a subcontractor, but the mentor company should have at least five past performance projects in their portfolio to include in the proposal, and the potential for winning the contract will be based on the mentor’s past completed work which is relevant to the contract being pursued.

The 8(a) will have to contact likely mentor companies which have outstanding track records completing government projects. By forming a joint-venture with a new 8(a) business, the mentor will become more competitive in getting contract work, and the 8(a) will begin to create a work history of past performance projects. The competitive advantage lasts a maximum of nine years, at which point the 8(a) will lose its status, but should have enough past performance work to compete effectively without the advantage, or may choose to become a mentor to another 8(a) firm. 8(a) firms can choose to work with different mentor companies in pursuing different government contracts.

Government agencies usually know what services are available and what they cost before they put the contract to bid, and may have an idea of what company will win the bid. Requests for Proposal (RFPs) are sent out to keep vendors competitive, and find out what new companies have to offer. As a business submitting a proposal to the federal government, regardless of whether you have 8(a) status or not, you are entitled to contact the federal agency, introduce your company, and discuss how the contract will be awarded. And if you don’t win the contract, you are also entitled to know where your proposal was weak compared to the company which won it.

When pursuing federal government contracts, it is a good idea to become familiar with the contracting agencies and your contract competitors, and maybe doing a joint-venture project with one or more which have done this work for the client before would be a way to start.

Did you know that the City of San Diego now has managed competition — allowing outside companies to compete with City departments such as the Data Processing Corporation for city technology projects? I produced proposals and presentations for a government construction contractor which so far in 2009 have won four contracts amounting to $3.75 billion in contract awards. That is a chunk of change. Perhaps if Data Processing Corporation needs to compete with private companies for parts of the City of San Diego’s technology services, they will have to prepare similar presentations and proposals which have not been required of them in the past. I would like an introduction to the director in a government office who might need my services in submitting well-designed proposals for government projects.

Word of the day: nota bene. You’re not likely to get anyone’s attention by spouting this line, unless you’re in Latin class. On the other hand, its abbreviation in writing, N.B., is pretty dependable as a way of directing readers’ attention. The original means “note well!” For the graphically inclined, ? also does the trick.

Word of the Day supplied by visualthesaurus.com.

Jim Hance Graphic Communications has launched a new Website at graphicdesignersandiego.com.

I will continue to maintain this site at wowpromotions.com, but decided to purchase other domain names which have the term “graphic design” in them for search engine purposes. “Wow Promotions” was not intended to be the name of my company, but rather a way of differentiating my services as being “promotional” and “exciting.”  I chose to ignore another association: cheap promotional items. In my own mind, and I suspect in other people’s minds, promotional items is what “wow promotions” more closely represents.

My new site is only four pages long at this time, but embraces the types of projects I am looking for: copywriting, print design, Web and email design, and presentations. The text is intended to be fun and whimsical, yet very much about my work and perspective as a graphic designer.

I hope you will give me a visit, and share your opinion.

The accordion will be honored with a day-long celebration with four stages at Orange County Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa, CA.

The music will cover the spectrum with 40 bands from polka bands to an accordion orchestra and even a jazz ensemble. There will be workshops with people like 91-year-old Sam Constable, accordion repairman, and lessons throughout the day in accordion playing and various dances.

Here is a sample of the bands being presented: Lisa Haley and the Zydekats (Grammy nominated), Los Fabulocos with Kid Ramos, Fontenot Pappion Louisiana “Old Creole Style” Band, The Gee Rabe “Haberdashery” Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Martin Music Center Accordion Orchestra (which has performed at the White House three times), Jeffery Broussard, Roberto Rosa (Latin American Jazz), and From Russia With Love.

There will be a drawing for an accordion at 2:30 p.m. at the Main Squeeze Stage.

Orange County Accordion Festival, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Orange County Fairgrounds, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Admission only $2 or donation of canned or packaged food, kids under 12 are free. More info: Website.

I picked up this article from SuccessNet Online by Brian Tracy. Here is the gist of it.

The deepest craving of human nature is to feel valued. So the secret to charming others is to make them feel important.

You can do this in five ways. Be accepting of others exactly as they are. Show appreciation for anything they have done. Similarly, praise others for what they have done. Compliment others on a trait, possession or accomplishment. And finally, give them your undivided attention.

Some of these sound similar, and may in fact be the same, but you get the idea. We all need acceptance, appreciation, approval, admiration and attention. Pay attention and make a friend!

Our business networking group’s business-to-business marketing “power group” seeks to add three new members: a sign company, a promotional items specialist, and a meeting planner. If you know of any of these companies in the San Diego area who would be interested in increasing their business through word-of-mouth marketing, have them contact me at 619-203-0522.

I saw a movie, “It Might Get Loud,” which just came out this weekend which you may enjoy. It is a documentary on three guitarists, Jimmy Page, Edge and Jack White,  and their influences as developing musicians, their motivations, and the particular guitar techniques which each developed to build the type of sound they were after. Even if you think you know these particular artists through their music in Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, U2 and White Stripes, you will learn something you didn’t know about the passion each has in common, and the “inside story” behind their bands and specific songs. You get the chance to see the three developing a rapport with one another, and performing one another’s music together. You will probably leave the theatre, as I did, being a bigger fan of each.

The movie is currently playing at the Hillcrest Cinema in San Diego. Link to information: http://www.itmightgetloudmovie.com