By Todd Curran

From behind her desk, the owner of Nurture Services talks of a time in her life when she baked bread, made clothes, and tended a vegetable garden. "After 25 years as a homemaker, I suddenly found myself divorced and unemployable," Fran says. "I was too old to care about being afraid," so she launched her marketing and communications career by writing to companies all over North America. Finally, a public speaker answered her and flew in to meet her. "I had worked hard to prepare an information package for him, which only seemed to make him speed his departure." 
"What did you think I could do for you when you called me?" Fran asked him as he neared the door. "He described his problem and I began to relax and be myself. I spoke to him about what I could do to solve his problem. Three hours later I was hired," she says. 

Fran started developing marketing campaigns and communications strategies that run the entire length of the sales cycle. She continued to develop and refine her systems, immersing herself in her work for five years. She was making it happen. Then she was diagnosed with cancer. 
In a magnificent display of inner strength, Fran kept her mind occupied by going to work every day during her year of surgeries and treatment. "I figured, if I'm going to croak, what do I care if I have money? I sold my house and invested the money in software development. The first run was crap," she says with the steely strength of a survivor. 

"I finally developed a software that easily automated letter campaigns for clients, but that didn't turn out to be what they wanted. My clients just wanted the letters, and they wanted me to create them. So, I adapted, changed my perspectives. I worked out a system that people want, where I effectively create the letters and deliver them automatically through the software. I also install software on my clients' computers for them to monitor my progress in their campaigns. Through this system, we get letters opened, read, and acted upon." 

Nurture Services has continued to grow ever since. "It's two steps forward, one step back," Fran says of her company's journey of success. "But that's what happens with an innovative idea – you don't have a blueprint to follow. You make mistakes and explore options that are free for entrepreneurs. A little extra effort gets you published, which opens doors and provides visibility. Being good enough to be in a magazine gives you and your company credibility." 

As a step toward creating a campaign of visibility and credibility, the marketing guru offers this guidance to entrepreneurs: "Ask yourself what makes your product irresistible? Make it appealing and have your message understood. How will you establish initial contact and conduct follow-up? Your words must be chosen carefully to communicate who you are and what you do. You have to figure out where to spend your money wisely to get the results you need, and share your discoveries with others. Successful business people share their knowledge." 

"I didn't know what I was doing," Fran says about her sink-or-swim initiation into the marketing world. "I had no computer background and no experience! I read every book I could find on marketing, gained experience through trial and error, and started monthly seminars to teach marketing. The only way to make it is to try, try, try!" 

Fran also advises aspiring aboriginal entrepreneurs to utilize the services available through TACC. "I've been known to tell people when I'm not happy with their service," Fran says. "But TACC is more pleasant than any other financial institution. They operate on a very personable peer-to-peer level, more so than I've ever found a bank to be." Fran's longest-lasting and most loyal clients are nurtured through face-to-face encounters, and TACC shows the same personal care in communicating with their clients. 

"If you don't have effective internal communications (within your own company), it will never permeate outside your company," explains Fran. "Nurture your company first. A client's first contact with your company is the moment of truth, and the employee who answers the phone or the reps out in the world provide that first impression. The right people for this moment must be chosen, they have to keep in touch with potential clients and be there when the client is ready to buy! And, they must be gracious about it." 

It's with strength and clarity that Fran guides Nurture Services into the future, creating opportunities like she always has. "It's exciting," she says. "I have opportunities to form alliances with organizations and franchises. I'm moving towards having more choices and freedom. Taking stock of what I've done over 14 years, I've written so much that I'm sitting on product. It's time to look at these ideas with fresh eyes."