Welcome to the North Georgia Business Spotlight!

Hello readers! My name is Isabella Rappaccioli, and I am the founder and executive director of the North Georgia Business Spotlight. This blog will be the first post on our brand-new website, one of the many endeavors I plan to take on to expand this project. Most who follow NGBS' work on social media know of our organization and recent work, but I wanted to take this opportunity to detail the past, present, and future of this project.

The Mission

So as is mentioned on our 'About Me' page, this project essentially started as a way to get help small businesses in Georgia succeed. In the beginning of this year, I noticed that there were so many amazing small businesses in my area that excelled in their fields. And yet, they didn't receive much publicity at all, with most of these enterprises having very little presence on social media if at all.

While a business can still succeed without a digital/advertising presence, it is much harder to easier spread the word. Still, one cannot blame the entrepreneurs. Many of the entrepreneurs I personally know run their businesses on the side as they work a rigorous day job while also juggling the responsibilities of being a parent and spouse, leaving them with very little time and energy to dedicate to marketing and learning how to utilize up-and-coming technologies. On the other side of the spectrum, many young entrepreneurs know how to use new technologies, but they also tend to have less experience in the business world in general, meaning that priorities tend to lie in learning how to actually operate their businesses and keep up with things like school and extracurriculars, again leaving little time for advertising.

And so, with this observation in mind and the free time that winter break had given me, I decided to create this project, with a mission to help any business owner market their brilliant ideas to the public in either English or Spanish!

Our Work Thus Far

Though NGBS is only about 4 months old at this point, the project has amassed a following of 60+ people across Facebook and Instagram, and I have completed numerous advertising campaigns for North Georgia businesses such as Brecht Stables, Champion Heating and Air, Color Me Blue, and Pro-Tech Restoration Services. Each of these campaigns includes a multiple-slideshow post that is uploaded to Instagram and Facebook (and as of late LinkedIn as well) which provides a detailed description of the services provided by each company along with reviews, ratings, and contact information, along with week-long promotions via Instagram and Facebook stories and the reposting of the company's flyers.

Goals Moving Forward

As of now, due to my position as an active student with various cocurricular involvements and as the singular designer/coordinator of this project, uploads tend to occur once or twice a month. Going forward, particularly since the summer is coming up, I would like to make these uploads more frequent and have them occur at least 3-4 times a month. This would be a goal to undertake perhaps with new volunteers. If I were to expand this project, it would remain a not-for-profit effort and would likely encompass a small group of volunteers of no more than 6 people including myself. Furthermore, with this goal of new volunteers going forward, I would like to be able to market these businesses in other formats besides presentations through the use of things such as Instagram/Facebook Reels, YouTube shorts, videos, TikToks, and so forth. I communicate this to you all because I place the utmost importance on transparency and communication, and I will be sure to update any new goals going forward as well.

In all sincerity, I am very proud of the work that this project has been able to do in its short span of existence so far. I will continue to put in all of my efforts into helping the entrepreneurs of North Georgia succeed, regardless of lifestyle or day-to-day responsibilities. There are so many wonderful ideas in our lovely state that deserve to be highlighted, and through the continuing expansion of this project and possibly the help of other young people moving forward, the North Georgia Business Spotlight will continue to do so by combining color, creativity, and community to uplift our small business owners.