A Happening Entrepreneur

By DAVE SIMANOFF The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 11, 2007

TAMPA - For six years, Eric Sturm has spent his spare time helping thousands of people in the Tampa Bay area find things to do in their spare time.

Now Sturm is trying to turn his part-time project into a full-time career. To make that happen, though, he'll have to figure out how to make money from something that he is giving away.

Sturm left his 9-to-5 corporate job in May so he can dedicate himself to Weekly Options of Tampa Bay, his free, no-frills e-mail newsletter (available at tampaoptions.com) that's gained a following mainly through word-of-mouth - and lots of clicks on the Forward button in e-mail programs.

Weekly Options basically is a listing of all the events scheduled in the Tampa Bay area for the week, from popular crowd-drawing events such as pop concerts to smaller programs such as poetry readings, wine tastings and neighborhood home tours. Sturm said he doesn't see his calendar as just a compilation of events but as one of the tools helping to bring together creative professionals in the Bay area, especially those who are new to the area and can't see past the malls and chain restaurants.

"I really think this is one of the best single resources in town," said the 35-year-old south Tampa resident. "This really feeds my passion - I got so tired of hearing people complaining there's nothing to do."

A typical Weekly Options newsletter has 160 to 200 items. Sturm said about 35 percent of the event information is sent to him; he collects the remainder from various people and places.

Sturm politely declines to name the company he left but drops enough hints that it's not hard to figure out it is Odyssey Marine Exploration, the Tampa-based company that discovers and salvages shipwrecks. Sturm says his biggest aggravation at work wasn't his employer, it was feeling trapped in a 9-to-5 role in a purchasing department after discovering his passion for calendars and events.

"It really had become a part of my identity," he said. "I realized it had been a year since I'd handed out one of my company's business cards."

What About Money?

More than 2,600 people subscribe to Weekly Options, and more people probably receive the newsletter as forwards from friends and business colleagues. Sturm knows that Weekly Options is turning into something of a brand: In addition to the newsletter, there has been a Weekly Options book - the second edition is in the works - and Sturm has helped plan networking events for young professionals with the Tampa Club and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Sturm doesn't charge people to receive Weekly Options, and that's not going to change. He's also not prone to start accepting advertisements, because he doesn't want to deal with the hassle of dealing with advertisers and he's not sure advertisements align with the newsletter's mission of being a community resource.

So how's he going to make money?

He plans to sell advance information - months of upcoming events, instead of just one week - to local companies for $400 a month. He says the companies can use the information for two purposes: one, to help plan their networking and marketing activities and, two, to disseminate to their employees as a perk.

Sturm said he has some money saved to support himself until the business establishes itself. "Right now I'm not worried," he said. "Talk to me at the end of next year, though, and I may be scared to death."

About half of all new businesses fail in the first year, said Irene Hurst, director of the Small Business Development Center at the University of South Florida. Owners who beat the odds usually are those with well-developed business plans and willing to make personal sacrifices.

Hurst said it seems like Sturm is in a fairly good position, as his newsletter is established. His biggest challenge will be to generate revenue as he continues to give away his main product - the Weekly Options newsletter.

"At this point he doesn't have any sources of income," Hurst said.

"Yes, his newsletter is known, but none of those people have to fork out any money," she said. "I hope he has some kind of business plan, at least who he's going to target to pay him to do what he does."

Right now, he's talking with several interested clients but hasn't made a sale.

If Sturm succeeds, he might end up with a career like that of Jessa Crispin. Five years ago, Crispin founded a literary Web site called Bookslut.com in her spare time. (The name, she explains, was her way to disassociate serious literature from connotations of white-haired librarians and stern schoolmarms.)

'Take Yourself Seriously'

Two years ago, Crispin quit her corporate job to work full time on Bookslut. Today, the Chicago-based site is a well-known literary resource with its own Web designer and advertising manager. Crispin receives a salary, health care coverage and a retirement plan. Bookslut has 40 contributors, a growing reputation and hosts its own events with authors. The site makes money through advertising; all of its content is free.

"It's no longer just me and my friends writing it, because that's how we started it," Crispin said. "It's much more legitimate than I ever would have thought. It's much more miraculous."

Her advice for someone like Sturm, who's also leaving a corporate job to follow a passion?

"Just have no fear about whether someone's done this before," she said. "Get an accountant, get some health insurance, and take yourself seriously. You have to think about things in the long term."

Sturm knows Weekly Options may fail as a full-time job. If that happens, "at least I can say I tried," he said.

He may look for a job that will allow him to continue to work on Weekly Options. However, this time he'll look for a position that will complement his passion for networking and events - maybe, he said, something involving marketing or community relations.

"I'm not going back into a corporate chair again," he said.

Reporter Dave Simanoff can be reached at dsimanoff@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7762.