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“Scylla & Charybdis”, Forgotten Citizen’s second album will be released on Saturday, February 11, and will feature 12 tracks, all available for preview on their site.

Forgotten Citizen’s electronica-inspired sound and face-obscuring costumes are bound to inspire comparisons with Daft Punk. Says Forgotten Citizen “I maintain an anonymous identity to encourage listeners to connect with the music and the messages within it. My shrouded persona allows the music to become the messenger.”

In response to the comparisons, Citizen states “Forgotten Citizen has a sound unlike anyone else’s. If you were to compare Forgotten Citizen to another artist, you would have to compare minor similarities.”

He continues “many styles and ideas are visited but a unique sound is achieved through the calculated lack of any one particularly distinct sound. This is the result of a wide spectrum of musical inspirations and a desire to create something that stood apart from everything else.”

Citizen handles almost all aspects of marketing for the project. “I have used UPrinting to fuel my entire campaign for Scylla & Charybdis.  I have made flyers for the record release party, download cards to give out at the party and for promotional use, posters and stickers to be sold as merchandise, and even a banner to hang up at shows.”

“Usually by the next week my order is shipped and on its way to my door. And they check to make sure everything is right as far as bleed and margins so I don’t have to worry about anything being accidentally cut off… had everything I needed to promote the new album in plenty of time.”

Forgotten Citizen is releasing Scylla & Charybdis on February 11^th – preorder now at www.hearFC.com. Record Release party is on Friday February 10^th, 2012 at Surfer’s Pub in Cocoa Beach FL.

Enter Reel Grrls, a Seattle-based non-profit group that aims to empower young women- through media production. Girls ages 9-19 participate in a variety of programs that teach them the ins-and-outs of film making. And it’s not just like any other filmmaking boot camp either. Many of the former participants went on to find their true calling behind and in front of the camera. Some even went on to become leaders in their communities.

If nothing else, participation helps young women (or should we say, grrls?) find it in them to stand up and be proud.“93% of our participants state that they feel more confident being a leader after participating in our program” says Karen Hirsch, Development Director for the Seattle-based non-profit group.

Karen explains, “Our mission is to cultivate voice and leadership in girls at a vulnerable age in their development.” She continues, explaining the difference between Reel Grrls and other similar programs. “What distinguishes our program is the high-level of support that our female mentors offer and the high level of commitment that we ask for in return”.

Several after-school, weekend, and day-camp programs are available; each with different goals, but all providing girls a real challenge. What makes them fascinating is that they are run purely by volunteers, many of whom are former participants of Reel Grrls programs themselves. The volunteers, called Mentors, come from all parts of the media industry. Most have had years of experience in their fields. In exchange for their services, they are provided with access to some Real Grrls resources.

The training the grrls get is quite varied. Courses in animation, screenwriting, music video production, video blogging, among many others are on offer. While this all sounds pretty neat, it’s not easy. They get to interact with other budding filmmakers and talented professionals but they also get a taste of all the gruntwork their chosen craft involves.

Karen says, “ Our participants don’t just drop into a computer lab after school — they develop lasting relationships with women filmmakers and learn skills that propel them to leadership roles in their community, college scholarships, and careers in the media industry.” Reel Grrls in a sense, doesn’t just doesn’t teach girls filmmaking- they teach them how live, and how to lead.

UPrinting is proud to feature Reel Grrls for its dedication to helping young women find it within themselves to not just speak up, but to be leaders as well. The non-profit orders its postcards from UPrinting and is also part of the printing company’s UCommunity Program as well. Karen opines,“[UPrinting] is a wonderful resource to have free, quality printing available to support our programs… Thank you for your support!”

Family owned and operated since 1970, The Buford, Georgia-based Target Group provides full-service marketing, with decades of experience in running incentive programs for a wide range of clients. The Target Group counts several Fortune 500 companies as part of its regular clientele.

Wilson elaborates “We define our success simply by the satisfaction of our clients” She continues “if our clients are thrilled with the professional service they receive, we will strive to go one step further and make their experience even more enjoyable.”

The Target Group specializes in incentive and debit card programs, but in recent years has expanded to include the production of promotional materials, warehousing, distribution, graphic design,  as well as a wide range of web-related marketing services.

Wilson explains “The core values we hold to are integrity, collective creativity, proactive communication, commitment to clients, and impeccable service.”

Doing Things Differently

Wilson clarifies on what makes The Target Group different from other marketing specialists “we define our success simply by the satisfaction of our clients. If our clients are thrilled with the professional service they receive, we will strive to go one step further and make their experience even more enjoyable.”

To do that, The Target Group turns to UPrinting for it business cards, flyers, brochures, letterheads, envelopes, greeting cards, invitations, postcards, and custom printed products.

“We’ve been using Uprinting.com for approximately two years.” says Wilson. “We are happy with UPrinting’s services. We’ve had a couple problems with printed colors turning out differently than expected… but UPrinting has always come to the rescue and resolved the issue without any extra cost to us.”

For Cindi Rucker, owner of Number 35 Gallery, the choice is easy. “I love discovering work that is fresh and exciting, so I often find myself working with emerging young artists, many of which are being shown in New York for the very first time!” She enthuses “Building an audience and a collector base for these well-deserving artworks is my gallery’s mission, and then watching these great discoveries receive recognition as the artists and the gallery grow together.”

Rucker didn’t always have her own gallery. She had worked for several years at the famous Chelsea Gallery District, on Manhattan’s West Side. This little piece of New York City is one of the most important centers for art in the entire world. After some time working in other galleries, Rucker developed her own views. Later on, she felt it was time to open her own gallery to showcase her ideas on the direction of contemporary art- and on how to run an art gallery.

Galleries are businesses, and as such they are expected to turn revenues. The easy way to do this would be to feature work only by artists that have already gathered a following. Rucker sees things a little differently, preferring to run her gallery to more truly reflect her love for uncovering talents.

“Ideally, I would like the gallery to be a destination for finding work by new artists, as opposed to just a showcase of already established artists.” Her gallery is also a venue for artists she discovered to develop. As the gallery artists grow and become more established, the gallery will always find room in its exhibition schedule to show work from emerging talents” says Rucker.

Installation by: Hisham Akira Bharoocha, Morgan Blair, Maya Hayuk, Mark Warren Jacques, Chris Mendoza

The gallery also manages to impress with the small details, For instance, each show Number 35 Gallery hosts uses invitation cards with different sizes for each exhibition. This not only helps get Number 35 Gallery’s name out there, it helps ensure that the shows are more memorable. Which is better for the fresh talents Rucker accommodates.

Does it still make sense to send these invitations when alternatives like online social network invites are much cheaper? Definitely. UPrinting invitation cards make shows that Number 35 Gallery hosts just a little more special.

Printed exhibit invitations add so much more to the gallery-going experience. Rucker explains“The gallery show card is something that is almost as old as galleries themselves. They can become collector’s items. As we become more and more paperless, I feel that it is still important to have a physical thing that is part of the memory of an exhibition.”

For the past four years, Number 35 Gallery has turned to UPrinting for its invitation cards. Says Rucker “There is a consistent quality that runs through every print job I’ve requested. And for a business that is constantly changing its presentation methods, that’s important.”

A headache, true, but contractors and remodelers in Oregon, particularly in Salem and Portland, don’t break a sweat thinking about it. They just say the magic words: Clean it up Mark!

For 20 years, Clean it up Mark! has been making job site debris removal and recycling in Oregon a snap. “I started in 1990 just trying to get some extra vacation money,” says Mark McGregor, “El Presidente” and founder of Clean it Up Mark!. “The business grew over 2 years to the point I could quit my day job and recycle trash full time.” The American Dream…we think.

Clean It Up, Mark El Presidente, Mark McGregor in signature tux

Mark is quite succinct about his company’s purpose “Our mission is clean job sites. My gut turns over if I see we missed a job. We want to be known as the greenest construction recycling company in the nation.”

With Mark dressed up in his signature tux (the company logo features a tuxedo), they’d probably be the best dressed to boot.

Even with its stand-out records and reputation for reliability and good pricing, Clean it Up Mark! wouldn’t be much if it didn’t go out of its way to develop long-lasting relationships with its customers. Mark explains, “Our success is due to our loyal contractors.”

As an example, he goes to explain, “Our customer numbers 1 & 2 went off on their own after a few years. They have recently come back to construction. And we are working together again. It is fantastic to be able to look back on how they gave me an opportunity to get going. Many of our contractors go back 15-20 years with us!”

One of Clean it up Mark's in action

Developing customer relationships is a big part of Clean it Up Mark!’s business strategy. To do this, their marketing has to be spot-on, and for that to happen, you need to get a lot of stuff printed.

The company relies on UPrinting’s expertise to get things done, without fuss. Mark explains, “With the new reality in business I am now the marketing department. I previously had some folks do this marketing for me with only a little direction. Now I have to figure it out myself. UPrinting has been fantastic.”

He explains,“The templates are easy…. Some graphic companies won’t let you download MS Publisher. And I don’t want to buy a $600 program to do it. My MS Publisher works great for what I do. And integrates seamlessly with UPrinting.”

UPrinting, has become sort of like Clean it Up Mark’s whole marketing department. “The banner I did was used at a trade show. At that show I picked up 2 accounts. One of which has developed into a good portion of our sales this year.” says the tuxedo-clad entrepreneur.

He also appreciates the ease by which designs can easily be facilitated online “ The business card was easy enough that I have printed a couple versions. To tailor the card to the opportunity. And it’s cost effective to make changes.”

Alright, we now know Clean it Up Mark!’s services are good for the environment, and great for keeping your books in the black. But the big question is: will they pick up trash from my house? The company rep answers phlegmatically,“We leave household trash to your local garbage hauler. They are set up for those items.”

“Everyday, we don’t go to work, we come to fun” says Heather Kirsch, Marketing Manager for ZFX Flying Effects. “We have about 30 employees that work here, and I can honestly say that I know all of them personally and would invite them to my wedding.”

So, what do the chipper folk at ZFX Flying Effects do? If the name didn’t give it away, ZFX is part of a niche industry that specializes in making people- and just about anything else- fly. Nope, no planes nor balloons, nor helicopters in sight. Rather, these men and women are practitioners and developers of the two-and-a-half millennium old art of “flying” for public performances. They’re literally in the business of creating flights of whimsy and wonder. No wonder they’re having so much fun.

c/o zfxflying.com

ZFX started out 17 years ago as a fairly simple case study in Supply and Demand. “ the only other flying company in the industry had gone about 30 years without competition.” explains Heather. “With a long history of entrepreneurship, our owner and founder Terri Kirsch decided it would be a good and successful investment to create a flying company.  And it was”

Performance flying for films is pretty familiar for most of us. While film productions are important for ZFX, movies aren’t the only things they work on- darn near anyone can do that. ZFX is one of the very few companies out there that specializes in stage flying for live audiences- and one of the fewer that actually develops new technologies entirely in-house and sells them. “Some companies refuse to try something new; well, we refuse not to!” says Heather.

c/o zfxflying.com

Not only does ZFX Flying Effects handle the rigging and the ropes and wires and all the things flying needs (you didn’t think we were actually talking about actual flying, did you? No? Good), they also do everything else. The group prides itself in being artists who handle every single step of the process. Not only do they manage the wires and all that mundane grunt-work, they also develop the tools, refine existing safety protocols, create the props, make their own fairy dust (28% more reflective than the competition, we’re assured) and in a pinch they can even supply the performers. Performers that sing. And, because we just had to fit this in somewhere, all of the guys wear kilts. How cool is that?

ZFX has worked for a very varied assortment of clients and events from all over the world. It has been involved in countless Broadway productions and sporting events,(including the 20101 Winter Olympics in Vancouver) and has done work for corporate clients and churches. That’s right- churches.

Heather clarifies, “ About 3 years ago, we kind of found a niche within the church community. All over the Bible Belt, there were churches that put on huge productions of passion plays for Christmas and Easter.” Heather continues,“There is nothing more awe-inspiring that watching Jesus and his angels fly in the air at the end of a gorgeous harmonious ballad.”

c/o zfxflying.com

The people behind ZFX do their darnedest to make sure that if you want someone or something to fly, it’s going to fly. Their successes are some of the best marketing tools anyone could wish for. It helps they don’t price themselves ridiculously out of the market either.“Something that ZFX does quite well is that when a client calls us for a quote, we have about 95% success rate of them choosing us to fly, rather than our competition” relates Heather.

Despite their dedication to excellence however, they do face a major challenge. As a new company, they don’t quite have as big a name as the competition just yet. Even when they have innovated and created more than their fair share since they came on the scene.

Heather explains “Our biggest challenge is when we don’t get the call, but our competitors do. It’s hard to win the contract when you aren’t even invited to the party. It is with our marketing and networking that we try to change that.”

To meet that challenge, ZFX Flying Effects orders all of their business cards from UPrinting.com.

“ZFX has a brand that stands out among our competitors,” explains Heather. “Having a brand that people recognize in the technical theater industry is something that has never been done before. By providing us creative business cards, we are able to better externally market ourselves by staying true to the brand of ZFX Flying Effects.”

Pi Digital Media has built its reputation through client referals and positive buzz. “We’ve never spent a dime on advertising because the best advertisement is a satisfied customer,” says Austin Clements, Creative Director for the LA-based multimedia design house.

When Pi Digital Media first came on the scene, they were a small graphic design shop that worked on logos and business card design for small businesses. In a short period of time, Pi Digital Media has evolved to also offer app development and web design, in addition to their marketing consultancy and other services. “As we’ve grown our staff and our clients continue to voluntarily refer us business and our service offerings have grown with every new client. We now have clients across the country and the capability to design print materials, develop websites, mobile apps, online ad campaigns, and customize social media strategies.”

And Pi Digital Media doesn’t plan on slowing down. “Our ultimate goal is to strengthen our clients brand by delivering their message in an engaging way that entertains, informs, and educates audiences. We plan to be the leading industry partner for developing engaging digital projects and compelling print ads.”

One challenge that shows why Pi Digital Media has what it takes to make it to the top involved an account that required high sales goals but wanted to preserve a sense of exclusivity. The solution? “We designed their landing page to appear as an interactive safe with a combination dial. The user could only access the store by entering the correct combination. We then followed up by creating a campaign, which went viral, where 100 printed invitations that contained the combination were distributed [to the target customers].” The result was over a thousand unique user transactions within the first month of the site’s launch.

“Our approach to all of our work is very collaborative. We work as partners with our clients throughout the entire process,” Clements says, describing what makes his company stand out from the competition. “Our clients participate in development of their print and digital projects and have significant input on the final product. We know that our clients know their business and industry, so we combine their knowledge with our marketing expertise to create something special.”

In turn, UPrinting has been helping Pi Digital Media make things special for over two years now. When your job is to make things stand out, you can be sure UPrinting will help you do more for a lot less.

“UPrinting consistently provides a great product on time–sometimes even early! We never have to worry about shipping issues because UPrinting takes care of everything. We truly consider UPrinting a major asset in our print business and with rates as competitive as theirs, we will continue to use them for our printing needs.”

Entrepreneur and web designer G. Brad Hopkins explains, “I like to say that Firebrand Media is the result of having a wife in medical school. While my wife was busy with school, I was able to invest all of my time in developing my hobby — specifically web design.” Hopkins poured hours into developing as a web designer, amassing contacts and a future customer base. All that work resulted in Firebrand Media, a firm that specializes in multimedia solutions for its diverse clientele.

Graphic design and web development are just some areas where Firebrand Media is able to help people with their multimedia and marketing solutions. But what are these other areas specifically? Hopkins lightheartedly says, “We have a lot of itches that we like to scratch. Fortunately, one of the great things about our business is that customers challenge us with a variety of projects.”

If Hopkins thinks he can help a client get results, he’ll do it. “Our success is defined by the success of our customer,” he points out.

Solutions can be simple yet elegant. Hopkins recounts an experience designing coffee cards for a church in his hometown. “We decided on rounded-corner, square business cards with a unique design that announced free coffee on one side and had the church branding on the other side.” Hopkins realized that new teachers in his county are normally given “new teacher bags.” By simply including these coffee cards in the bags, Firebrand was able to target this specific group. “One teacher, that had a background in design, was impressed with the card and its design. [The teacher] visited the church and has since become an integral part [of the church].”

Firebrand Media primarily caters to the needs of small enterprises, marketing being their main area of expertise. “Our mission is to help small businesses brand and market themselves in a way that was previously exclusive to big businesses,” explains Hopkins. “We need to be affordable but we also need to help them get results. We want to be known for helping small businesses get results.”

Firebrand Media has utilized UPrinting’s services to make Hopkins’ ideas and designs a reality. “UPrinting helps me serve my customers by offering high quality products in quantities and prices that can’t be beat,” Hopkins proclaims.

“Custom products like the rounded corner square business cards and the round business cards have really helped my customers. Those form factors tend to stand out, especially when next to standard business cards.” Standing out and differentiating yourself from the competition is absolutely essential when graphic design and printing form is a huge part of your business. “UPrinting gives me a competitive advantage over local printers because I can offer products that they can’t offer and I can offer these products at a price that my customers can afford. It’s easier to pitch what might be considered a crazy idea when the investment is reasonable.”

Stay is a coming of age story. Stay is a love story. Stay is a story about a heartbroken woman whose life changes when she buys a German Shepherd over the Internet.

Since its release in June, Allie’s debut novel has been making waves in book review circles with a steady stream of positive reviews from both amateur and professional book reviewers — not bad for someone who never considered writing as a career.

“I started college as a theater major, but later transferred and finished with a degree in creative writing and communications,” Allie says. “I didn’t start writing until I went back to school in 2000. I always loved books, but it wasn’t until one of my professors pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, you’re kind of good at this,’ that I realized I could do this for a living.”

Not only does Allie write fiction (new book coming soon), she is also a regular blogger. Allie regularly updates her personal blog allielarkin.blogspot.com. She also writes about her environmental advocacy on TheGreenists.com with posts about simple ways to go green.

An interesting tidbit about Stay is that is was written over an 8 year period. “I started Stay as a writing exercise in a college fiction class in 2002,” Allie says. “Since I had other jobs and responsibilities, it wasn’t a constant priority. There were times when I was very productive and times when I had to put it aside because I had to focus on other commitments.”

Stay was completed, bits and pieces at a time, with the support of Allie’s writing circle. “I’ve been working with a writing group for a very long time now,” Allie explains. “Most of Stay was written a bit at a time – eight pages a week.”

Like most writers, Allie also suffers from writer’s block from time to time. “Stepping away from the computer when I’m stuck is really important,” she says. “I work out my best ideas while I’m doing physical tasks,” Allie explains. “Hiking with the dogs, yard work, home repair projects. While repainting my office, I thought of some character details I needed to clarify.”

One trend in Stay‘s reviews is praise for the main characters, Van and Joe. “I think everyone can relate to needing a friend and wanting someone who is always on their team. I know that feeling well and I think others do too.” As for Joe, he was inspired by Allie’s two German Shepherds, Argo and Stella. She adds “My dog, Argo, is the cover model for Stay, and he’s pretty darn cute!”

As a relative newcomer to the literary scene, it was no easy feat getting word out about her book. Allie went on a book tour across the country promoting her book at readings and signings. “I had postcards printed for my first reading and sent along business cards with event listings to friends in the cities I would be visiting on my book tour. My friends really helped me out by passing these out to their friends and contacts when they told them about my event.”

Today, Allie has found the sort of success that eludes so many other first time novelists.

About her experience working with UPrinting, Allie said, “I am thrilled with UPrinting! I really appreciated the help I got in the design process. I sent a file that wasn’t sized correctly and the people at UPrinting caught it and really helped me out. It was great being able to ship cards to my friends, sight unseen, and trust that they would look fabulous.”

For more information on Allie, Stay, her upcoming events, and more, head over to allielarkinwrites.com.