Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Ellis.
Scott, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Lifestyle Frisco is a husband and wife team. Wendi and I have long worked on various local media projects and recognized the need for a digital information outlet for Frisco when we moved back in 2012.
The difference between this attempt at local media and our previous attempts was that we had a very clear understanding of what we were signing up for. But we also knew that Frisco was exploding and if we didn’t do it, someone else was going to eventually.
The site went live on June 6, 2013, and we now have 12 writers, and Editor-in-Chief, a VP of Sales, and a ton of momentum.
We’ve also recently announced that we’re merging Frisco-Online, owned by Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney and his wife Dana Cheney, into Lifestyle Frisco.
Wendi and I run day-to-day operations. My focus is primarily on technology, Wendi is now the CEO.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I don’t know if any start-up is ever a “smooth ride.”
For us, the biggest challenge was maintaining discipline enough to produce content 5-times a week until we reached a point where we could hire writers.
It’s also challenging building any new brand, 4.5 years in we’ve produced 1200+ pieces of content about Frisco, yet a lot of residents are just learning who we are.
But since we bootstrapped this company, and continue to do so, we’re in a good position to make the decisions and adjustments we deem appropriate. And being nimble is a huge advantage for us.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Lifestyle Frisco – what should we know?
We are known for “Who to know, where to go, and what to do in Frisco, TX.”
We’ve also helped several small businesses get on the map fast by driving traffic (digital and foot) to them.
Lifestyle Frisco specializes in creating content our audience cares about. We pay close attention to what our audience responds to and make sure we’re feeding their appetite for knowledge about the city.
I’m proud that Wendi and I spend the first 3.5 years just building audience and authority before trying to monetize. Not every business can do that but it was the right path for us.
We’ve also got an incredible culture going but we can’t take credit for that. It’s really evolved out of the people we’ve hired. It’s crystallized what our culture is and we’re very protective of that now. I couldn’t ask for a better team.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Everyone we learned from in the early days. There are too many to mention but all of our past local attempts taught us something.
It was a one-off conference with Copyblogger led by Brian Clark that lit the fire again though. While the model we’ve built is different from the concept he was teaching, it was that event that was the go-no-go for us and really lit the fire to do this one more time.
Beyond that, our writers are just amazing. They are our biggest cheerleaders and keep us connected to the community in a way we never could without them.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4320 Bourbon Street, #103
Frisco, TX 75034 - Website: http://lifestylefrisco.com
- Phone: 9722135865
- Email: scott@lifestylefrisco.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/lifestylefrisco
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/lifestylefrisco
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/lsfrisco
Image Credit:
Lifestyle Frisco
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