The Ottawa Citizen, December 14, 2002 The career advantage to being laid off Iris Winston Carolyn Gardner recommends being laid off as a career catalyst. "I say that to people in all sincerity," says the president of cardcommunications inc., the e-marketing company she founded in May after being laid off twice in 2001. "The key is to take inventory of your personal assets and where you can go. Everybody has a passion somewhere. It's a matter of figuring out how to turn that passion into a career." Ms. Gardner, who joined the technology workforce in 1995, "was lured" from the Corel Corporation to Entrust Technologies two years later, eventually falling victim to a massive reorganization of the company in June 2001. "About 30 per cent of the employees were laid off and my entire team was among them," she says. "It was a bit of a shocker, but I've always been very positive. I knew this was the time to network like crazy." A week later, she had landed a position as the marketing and public relations manager of GotMarketing, a small software company producing e-mail marketing tools. "I was in heaven with that job," recalls Ms. Gardner. "After being a generalist for many years, I now had the opportunity to do things from start to finish." But her association with the company was short. In December 2001, GotMarketing downsized its Ottawa operation and Ms. Gardner was laid off for a second time. "I was crushed because I didn't want to leave this space," she says. "Then the light went on. I decided not to leave it. I thought, I'm going to make my own mark and find a niche. This was when I started looking at creating a business." She had already accumulated enough data through her job to convince her that the future for e-marketing was good. "I had spent a lot of time looking at trends and analysts' reports and focusing on where the whole e-mail medium was going. All I could see was positive trends and big, encouraging numbers." Now, with "tons of reports and statistics" in her back pocket, she began work on the business plan for cardcommunications. "By the time I had put it all together, talked to a lot of prospects and got some letters of intent, I was sure that this was a viable business." Therefore, in partnership with her husband, Tracy Card, Ms. Gardner launched her e-marketing business in May and, she says, "we haven't looked back." The company, now with more than a dozen local, national and international clients, focuses on building, broadcasting and measuring the results of e-mail campaigns, explains Ms. Gardner. "I love creating strategy, and messaging is really a passion for me. We also handle the broadcasting. And measurement and reporting are a big part of what we do. In addition to giving clients the results of e-mail campaigns, I include recommendations on next steps." This, she adds, is something that is harder to measure in do-it-yourself campaigns. "But because we do this every day, we know what works and what doesn't and can offer a lot of tips on best practices." The approach has been effective for her company, says client Lisa Meranger of webplan. "We're very happy with the results," she says, adding that webplan has a policy that any marketing programs must include results analysis. "It has streamlined the execution of our program and broadened our outreach to our customers. Based on results so far, we are planning on extending our involvement with cardcommunications." The virtual nature of the home-based company meant that set-up costs were limited. Ms. Gardner drew $5,000 from savings to purchase a laptop computer and office furniture and set up shop in the former family room. "That's one of the benefits of a home office," says the 36-year-old mother of two. "There are others. It's nice being able to multitask or take a break when you want. And there are far fewer distractions than in the corporate world. And I love the speed at which I can make decisions now. That's a really attractive part of being self-employed." Keeping initial costs to a minimum meant that cardcommunications made a profit immediately, says Ms. Gardner, explaining that the project-based fee structure is based on volume. "What's also nice about our business model is the recurring revenue. If an e-mail campaign with newsletters, for instance, they are typically a monthly venture." At this point, all revenue is being reinvested in the business, she says, with funds being directed to advertising, public relations and other services. ("I'm fortunate that my husband's employed. It would have been very hard to do this if I were on my own.") "The company is evolving. Although my background is on writing, for instance, as we've got busier, I've stepped back and focused on business development and outsourced some of the writing." She anticipates that, "with so many businesses these days having their resources stretched, it's important for them to be able to reach out to companies like us on an as-needed basis." She expects to increase the number of clients in this relationship alongside a growing regular client base. A newly formed partnership with the business portal, Bellzinc, is "going to open a lot of doors for us." Ms. Gardner expects that, as cardcommunications grows, the company "will be able to sustain having several home offices. With instant messaging, high speed Internet, faxes and so on, everything is there for you. The nature of the business is such that it can function as a virtual office with periodic meetings." cardcommunications inc. is located at 39 Filion, Kanata. The telephone number is 592-7243; the fax number is 592-4622; the e-mail address is cgardner@cardcommunications.com and the Web address is www.cardcommunications.com