Sleep? What sleep? My new business launches in about a week

by Sheila on August 31, 2009

by Sheila | August 31st, 2009

Sheila Scarborough, Liz Strauss and Becky McCray at SOBCon in Chicago, where it all started (photo courtesy Sheila Scarborough)Actually, it’s not that bad, but I’m certainly getting some of the frenetic startup-flavored experience as my partner Becky McCray and I prepare to launch a new online business next week.

I’ve been writing about tourism and the social Web on another blog for a couple of months (Sheila’s Guide to the Good Stuff) and now we’re preparing to open the digital doors to a learning community for tourism professionals.

We’d like to think we know something about travel, tourism and social media, so we’re sticking our flag in the ground at the intersection of all that and launching a paid membership site called Tourism Currents.

We’re really excited about bringing useful, practical information to a wide variety of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs,) Chambers of Commerce, PR professionals who work in tourism, heritage/preservation organizations, agritourism, festival planners - really anyone involved in destination marketing.

Becky and I plan to feature tourism-specific training materials, a moderated forum, exclusive interviews with social media and tourism experts and round table Q&A sessions. For example, we don’t want to just “teach basic video,” we want to “show you how to shoot a simple video walking tour of your historic downtown.”

Texas tourism expert Sarah Page just blogged about us on her Tourism Tech site.

Since magic fairies haven’t shown up to build the site and create all of the content for us, it looks like we’ll have to do it ourselves.

Shucks.  Pour me some more coffee, would you?

{ 1 trackback }

People on the Move in the Social Media Industry: Oct 15, 2009 « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing
October 15, 2009 at 4:14 am

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Sarah Page August 31, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Corner

Patience, patience. It will all come together brilliantly. And when it does? Bam! You and Becky are gonna knock it out of the park.

I’m looking forward - with great anticipation - to learning more from you two pros.

Corner
Nice California August 31, 2009 at 11:53 pm
Corner

Wow, sounds like you are a busy person. Seems like your doing something you love, so keep up the great work!

Corner
Anil September 1, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Corner

Best of luck, pulling for you!

Corner
Martin September 4, 2009 at 9:44 am
Corner

Every business needs extra hours when you are starting out. However, with time you will be able to leave it on ‘autopilot’ and reap the benefits.

Best of luck!

Corner
Sean O' September 12, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Corner

Good luck on the new business! Sounds like a great idea. You have so mucn knowledge to help others with.

Corner
Sheila September 14, 2009 at 10:26 am
Corner

Thanks, Sean, that means a great deal coming from you; maybe we’ll actually meet in person one of these days!

Corner

Leave a Comment



Previous post: Family travel in Ohio: the 50 state series

Next post: Family travel in North Dakota: the 50 state series