justBurbank Biz Buzz

Kate (who is my mother and business partner) was always collecting business ideas. She was the idea woman. There are files full of potential businesses ideas/plans in her office. She only had one obstacle…she always wanted a partner. Enter Me: Libby. I was brought up to believe that there would be nothing better in life than becoming an entreprenuer. My mom couldn’t find a partner to do business with, so she bred one. Not really…but it makes the story more interesting…

While my mom was always good at coming up with original and practical business ideas, she was not very fond of marketing…and taking the next step and the next, to make her ideas come to fruition. Odd as it may seem, this was my strong point. I am a very practical, very logical, a very anal retentive planner…give me the goal, and I’ll get you there. Unlike my mother, I am not an “idea girl”…I may be creative, but I can’t make something from nothing in the same way she can. Once Kate realized that I was the missing piece in her plan to take over the world, she pushed me to finish college and get back to Burbank ASAP.

And so I did…During my college years she came up with the Local Directory idea. We brainstormed over the phone, and sent each other articles from Business Week and Wired magazines and generally just talked about the “what if’s” should we move on this venture. Then, I finally came back to Burbank.

On the plane flight home I sat next to a man who was reading the Wall Street Journal. Over his shoulder I saw the title of an article, “Why Can’t Google or the Yellow Pages Go Local” (well it was something like that anyway). I tried to be discreet, and I read the whole article over the poor man’s shoulder during the flight. Here I was, on my way back to Burbank, getting ready to start a business with my mom, and sitting next to me was the perfect article…one that encourages me still. I knew while reading over that man’s shoulder that I was on the right path.

So began our little venture into the world of local directories. City Sites Inc, my mom’s website design company since 1995, became my place of work. Once a week we put time aside to discuss justBurbank.com. We had a white board and wrote any and every idea down. The board became very messy and totally covered in ink. We spent about a full year doing research, honing our idea and planning the development. The programming began in November of 2007.

Our little idea became a reality. And tomorrow, April 7th, 2008, we launch. I promise mom, I’ll try not to freak out. And that’s our story…at least chapter one.