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'Visionary' entrepreneur connects companies with creatives

Five years ago, Marti Stites was in class at San Francisco's Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center listening to other people's success stories. Now the same organization that taught her everything she needed to know to start a business is honoring her as its Entrepreneur of the Year.

And no wonder. Stites' Berkeley-based Art Links staffing business now boasts more than $1.5 million in annual revenue and receives more than 200 resumes a month from talented artistic types. These candidates hope to find a job with one of Art Links' many clients in the advertising, publishing, software and technology industries.

Janet Lees, program director at the Renaissance Center, calls Stites a visionary. "She was really on the cutting edge when she started," said Lees. "To see that there would be a need for arts people at Internet companies allowed her to develop a niche before anyone else."

In 1994, Stites was working for Walnut Creek's Visual Arts Exhibition Program when its funding was cut. Instead of finding a new job, Stites decided to take a risk. "I felt I had worked long enough for other people," said Stites. "I didn't have a job, I was over 50 years old and I knew I had to do something else." Stites had extensive experience in the nonprofit sector and briefly worked in human resources, so she thought she could start a business placing artistic types with museums and nonprofits.

"It was such an esoteric thing and I didn't know of any outfit that placed arts people," said Stites.

But she soon realized that with the erupting Internet, there was a greater need for web graphics specialists and electronic designers. Confident she had a promising idea, Stites enrolled in the Renaissance Center's program in writing business plans.

The next step was getting the cash to fuel her dream. Stites drew from her savings, got a loan from her father and used one credit card to pay off another. "I struggled along," said Stites. "I was very poor and in debt."

Aside from keeping the cash flow steady, Stites had a hard time marketing her business. She printed a bunch of brochures and hoped the advertising would draw clients.

"I think those brochures generated about two phone calls," laughed Stites.

That's when she decided she had to get on the phone and talk up the business.

"I learned to do it because I had to in order to survive," said Stites. She started running the business out of her home in Pleasant Hill. Both her son and daughter helped her make phone calls. After six months, Stites moved the operation to Berkeley and literally hasn't left the office since.

"It's a live-work space," she said. Fortunately for Stites, the office and living quarters have separate entrances. And moving to the loft space in Berkeley allowed her to keep costs down.

Smart decisions like that have helped her steadily grow the business.

Stites now has three employees who help her find the best talent. She also offers candidates tutorials on Quark and other computer programs so their skills are up to par.

"Clients are paying us to find people who can come in and go to work without needing additional training," said Stites. One of the biggest rewards of her job is helping people who normally have a hard time making ends meet.

"I knew so many artists who had a hard time surviving because their goal was to make art and that isn't very marketable," said Stites. "It's great to see a demand in the business marketplace for people that have good visual skills. One of the reasons I wanted to start this business is because I enjoy working with creative people."

Another perk of success is the opportunity to be the kind of boss Stites would have liked to have when she was an employee.

"I try to give people that work in my office a lot of autonomy," said Stites. "I don't look over their shoulder and tell them what to do every minute."

Stites also offers her employees profiteering and 401(k) plans. Even the temporary workers she employs elsewhere qualify for the plans if they have been with Art Links long enough.

But Stites still faces many challenges. Now that there is such a demand for skilled arts people in such a tight labor market, Stites faces stiff competition from larger staffing agencies. To stay competitive, she now sends a biweekly newsletter to clients and prospective clients about the talented candidates she has to offer.

She recently hired a marketing professional to help grow the business even more, and last year opened a small interview office in Santa Clara. But many of Stites' clients, headquartered in the East Bay, San Francisco, the peninsula and even Marin, say she shouldn't worry about keeping their business.

"Art Links is certainly competitive within their industry," said Sheri Cervo, who manages human resources and recruiting at Addis Group in Berkeley. "They do a good job of presenting talented creatives."

Stites now serves as a role model to budding businesswomen and men. She speaks regularly at the Renaissance Center. Although she will continue to grow the business, she has no interest in going nationwide.

"Our goal is to be the best arts staffing agency in the Bay Area," said Stites.

Considering what Stites has accomplished so far, she is well on her way to meeting that goal. Some might say she already has.

By A.A. Bess - contributing writer to the San Francisco Business Times.

October 13, 2000 edition of the Small Business Insights, sanfrancisco@bizjournals.com