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CEO and Single Mother Suzette Farquharson-Morgan Demonstrates How to Successfully Run Three Businesses

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by Mellissa Thomas

How is your business going?

If you are successful and free to do what you want, hold your hand up to your screen and receive this high five. However, if you are more like most newer entrepreneurs, you are a headless chicken sweating your way up the hill of success, confident you and your business will grow, no matter how things look right now.

But that is just your one business. Have you ever thought of franchising yourself by setting up subsidiary companies that provide specialty services? What if you had a three-entity business?

Do not fall out of your chair, stay with me.

Running a group of three businesses may sound daunting, but let this success story inspire you that you can definitely do it if you want to.

Suzette Farquharson (pronounced FAR-kuh-son)-Morgan runs her three successfully as a Christian and single mother of three.

 

The Relevant Backstory

Suzette Farquharson-Morgan is a Jamaica-born self-published writer, editor, publisher, and motivational speaker who came up to Florida as a child and drove her heels into the warm sand. According to Program Success Magazine’s May 2011 article, she attended West Orange High School in Winter Garden, and received her undergraduate degree in Journalism at the University of Florida and her Masters in Communications from the University of Central Florida.

She worked at Harcourt, Inc. (now known as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) shortly after graduating from UF and stayed with the company for six years as a copy editor (for non-book content at first), and began writing her first book, Living Testimonies, while there.

However, she quit Harcourt in December 2002 to finish the book and be a full-time mom, living from the money she’d saved and her Harcourt 401(k) plan. When that reservoir ran dry, she worked part time.

But she never imagined establishing a publishing company.

 

FarMor Publishing

Two years after her book’s completion, FarMor Publishing was born. The name alone is a beautiful branding story: it is the combination of her maiden and married names, Far (Farquharson) Mor (Morgan); and also stems from the company slogan, “Reaching far more than the eyes can see.” Farquharson-Morgan wisely waited until the publishing company was legally established to finally publish her book (2005).

FarMor Publishing currently has ten clients (herself included), has published over ten books to date.

But with any product, books or otherwise, one cannot just build it and they will come. They cannot come if they do not know, right?

She covered that, too–with a non-profit company.

 

FarMor Entertainment

For the one-year anniversary of FarMor Publishing’s second book’s release, Honey for the Soul: This is the Season, Farquharson-Morgan coordinated an entertainment event at the Maitland Civic Center that brought together local artists in the central Florida community, and she oversaw the production of a gospel soundtrack of songs that were inspired by the poems in Honey for the Soul.

The event was such a success that Farquharson-Morgan birthed FarMor Entertainment as a 501(c)3 in 2009. When I asked why she chose to make it a non-profit company, she explained that her group is essentially a ministry. Having a non-profit makes it easy to raise money for the events (sponsorships, grants, etc.), and all funding is tax-deductible for donors and sponsors.

Here is another cool brand story: FarMor Entertainment’s non-profit registration was done on a service-to-service (aka barter) basis. She met a young lady who specialized in non-profit companies, and she learned that the young lady’s brother needed some help with his book, so Farquharson-Morgan received her services in exchange for helping her brother with his book.

FarMor Entertainment, a four-person team, now holds an event for three occasions each year: the Valentine’s Day season (celebrating God’s love), Independence Day season (freedom from spiritual, emotional, and physical bondage), and Thanksgiving Day season (giving thanks and praise to God).

These events follow the model of the anniversary event that inspired them: Farquharson-Morgan seeks out great community talent (singers, artists, rappers, poets, writers, dancers, etc.) to perform based on each event’s theme, and as she explained, each performance is a cumulative experience.

For example, one person recites a poem, the next person sings a song that reinforces or augments the message in the previous poem, then the next person performs a gospel mime that dovetails off the previous song, and so on.

She also clarified that she not only includes book launches during those three events, but FarMor Entertainment also coordinates independent book signings and launch events throughout the year.

I asked her how she acquires sponsorships for the events, and she explained that she starts by contacting the businesses in an event venue’s close proximity, then she expands her sponsor search in three ways:

  • by contacting businesses and entrepreneurs in the greater area,
  • by using traditional press releases (yes, those still work),
  • and by contacting business organizations (the Central Florida Association of Black Journalists, for example).

But the story does not end here. The one-year anniversary event also spawned the third arm of Farquharson-Morgan’s business.

 

FarMor Recording

Audio recordings are a great supplemental revenue opportunity (hence the gospel soundtrack for Honey for the Soul), and are therefore an option for writers who wish to offer packages for their books instead of selling the books alone; they are especially handy for her poet clients.

According to the company website, FarMor Recording has already released poetry CD “It’s a Love Thing”, and a sing-along CD for FarMor Publishing’s first full-color children’s book, The Fly and the Hippo.

The three companies fall under Farquharson-Morgan’s umbrella company, FarMor Group, Inc. (FGI). Want to know FGI’s name story? According to Farquharson-Morgan, FGI is also an acronym for “formed in God’s image.”

She understands the power of backstory–in everything her companies do.

 

7 summary Takeaways that Can Help Your Business

  1. If you can monetize relevant skills to expand the number of customers you serve, franchise yourself.
  2. You will most likely need a team, even if only a small one.
  3. Foster great relationships and do not be too proud to barter your services.
  4. Consider making your entity a non-profit if it is appropriate for your business.
  5. Harness the power of your local community (get out and talk to local residents and local business organizations, especially if you have an online business).
  6. If you know you can benefit from a press release, use one.
  7. Outsource what you cannot do or do not have time to do. Farquharson-Morgan outsources her clients’ cover design services as well as book printing.

 

 

Photo by JahGon. Used with permission.

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Mister Rogers’ Week of Kindness Coming March 2023

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WINTER PARK, Fla. (Florida National News) – Mister Rogers’ Week of Kindness, inspired by the children’s TV host and icon, comes to Orlando in March 2023. This week-long series of events was announced today at the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation in Winter Park.

“Fred McFeely Rogers devoted his entire life to reminding us of some of the most important ideas of what it means to be human among humans: love, respect and kindness,” explained Buena Vista Events & Management President & CEO Rich Bradley. “Many of us find that nearly 20 years after Fred’s passing, it is important to focus on his teachings once again, perhaps now more than ever. This is a week to re-engage with his massive body of work with some folks, and to introduce his teachings to others.”

Mister Rogers’ Week of Kindness begins March 20, 2023, the date which would have been Fred’s 95th birthday, and concludes on Saturday, March 26 with the Red Sweater Soiree, a community dinner to recognize ten ordinary members of the community who inspire and exemplify the affinity that Fred Rogers had for showing kindness to our “Neighbors”.

Mister Rogers Week of Kindness coming March 20-26, 2023. Photo Credit: Mike Brodsky (Florida National News)

Activities planned for the week will include early childhood education activities and faculty training, as well as events open to the public.

“The events will be offered free or at low cost,” continued Bradley. “This week-long celebration is not a series of fundraisers, but rather about once again remembering and sharing some of the great work that Fred Rogers created, not only in early childhood education, but in reminding us that we are all part of one big ‘neighborhood’. Fred taught us the importance of accepting our Neighbors just the way they are and engaging in kindness with our interactions. I can’t think of another period in my lifetime where we needed to reflect on those messages again more than today.”

“There are three ways to ultimate success,” Fred Rogers was once quoted as saying. “The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind. Imagine what our neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.”

Many of the activities of Mister Rogers’ Week of Kindness will be attended by members of the cast and crew of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 – 1975, and again from 1979 – 2001. David Newell, known as “Mr. McFeely,” the “Speedy Delivery” man, appeared at today’s media conference via video, and looks forward to visiting Central Florida next March.

David Newell, “Mr. McFeely.” Photo Credit: Mike Brodsky (Florida National News)

Mister Rogers’ Week of Kindness is supported by the McFeely-Rogers Foundation, the Fred Rogers Institute, and Fred Rogers Productions. Details regarding the specific activities and venues will be released over the next few weeks.

For more information on the events, visit https://www.BuenaVistaEvents.com or https://www.MisterRogersWeekofKindness.com.

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A Quick Primer on the Team Solving Orange County’s Affordable Housing Crisis

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Orange County’s Housing for All Task Force held its introductory meeting on April 12, 2019 at the Board of County Commissioner Chambers. Photo: Orange County Government.

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN NEWS) – Orange County faces a growing affordable housing crisis, and Mayor Jerry Demings has taken notice–and action. Shortly after his inauguration, he formed Housing For All, an affordable housing task force to face the challenge head-on.

The Housing For All task force doesn’t meet monthly like the County Commission–in fact, their next meeting won’t be until October 4, 2019–but they do work when they’re not meeting. The task force is made up of three subcommittees, Design and Infrastructure Subcommittee, Accessibility and Opportunity Subcommittee and Innovation and Sustainability Subcommittee. These three subcommittees meet twice a month to come up with ideas and plans to fix the affordable housing problem.

Each subcommittee has a specific focus on ways to help solve the problem of affordable housing. The Design and Infrastructure Subcommittee is focused on the design of new affordable housing projects, the renovation of current affordable housing that might need fixing and land development for affordable housing units. The Accessibility and Opportunity Subcommittee is focused on making sure affordable housing is accessible to the major economic zones of the city, develop partnerships with groups and focus on outreach in the county. The Innovation and Sustainability Subcommittee is focused on finding ways to increase the supply of affordable housing and how to preserve affordable housing.

At their next meeting in October these subcommittees will update the county on what they have accomplished and what they plan to do in the future. For information from previous Housing for All Task Force meetings or the meeting schedule, visit the Orange County Government website.

________________________________________________________

Leyton Blackwell is a photojournalist and Florida National News contributor. | info@floridanationalnews.com

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Opening Biopic ‘Te Ata’ Sets High Bar for 2016 Orlando Film Festival

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ORLANDO: Chickasaw Nation Biopic 'Te Ata' Sets Stage for Orlando Film Festival.

ORLANDO (FNN NEWS) – Orlando Film Festival kicked off at Cobb Theaters in Downtown Orlando Wednesday night. The red carpet came alive with excited filmmakers and actors ready to showcase their projects to the Orlando community and, in some cases, to the world at large, including Nathan Frankowski, director of this year’s opening feature Te Ata.

About Te Ata

Frankowski’s biopic feature chronicles the true story of Chickasaw actress and storyteller Mary Frances Thompson, whose love of stories and the Chickasaw Nation fueled her to share the Chickasaw culture with new audiences in the early 1900s, a time when the United States was still growing as a nation and clashed with Native American peoples in the process.

Viewers are immediately swept into the saga from the film’s opening scene with a voice-over folk tale told by Mary Thompson’s father, T.B. Thompson (played by Gil Birmingham). Ironically, though his storytelling places the seed of inspiration in her, it slowly becomes a source of friction between them as she ages.

What makes the film engrossing is the sprawling backdrop upon which Thompson’s journey takes place. While young Te Ata (which means “The Morning”) flourishes with each solo performance and eventually sets her sights on Broadway, the Chickasaw Nation is fighting to secure the funding due them from the U.S. government in the face of ethnocentrism and religious bigotry–to the point that the government passed a law forbidding the sale of traditional Native American textiles and creations, which caused further financial struggle for the Chickasaw Nation. Viewers even experience the Thompsons’ fish-out-of-water feeling as the Chickasaw people’s territory, Tishomingo, shrinks significantly to become part of the newborn state of Oklahoma.

The political tensions are counterbalanced with Te Ata’s experience. Te Ata does her first performances among family, but chooses to leave home for the first time in her life to attend the Oklahoma College for Women (known today as University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma), despite her father’s wishes for her to find a job at home. Viewers immediately empathize with Te Ata’s awkward experience upon her arrival at the predominantly Caucasian-attended College, but cheer her on when that one connection is made, because all it ever takes is one.

Te Ata’s jumping off point occurs when she meets drama teacher Frances Dinsmore Davis, who encourages her to join her class and to share the Chickasaw stories for her senior presentation instead of the usual Shakespeare recitation. From there, Te Ata’s career blossoms from one serendipitous connection to another, taking her performances across the country. She eventually makes it to New York City, hustling to find her place on Broadway, and finds love in the process while performing privately for Eleanor Roosevelt, whose husband was then Governor of New York. The heroine’s journey continues with well-placed highs and lows, keeping the viewer visually and emotionally engaged.

Te Ata is touchingly channeled through lead actress Q’orianka Kilcher who, like Te Ata, has stage experience, and brought it to bear in the role. Kilcher’s magnetic singing, with the help of the film’s sweeping score and indigenous songs, imprints the true Te Ata’s passion for her people onto the viewer’s heart.

Frankowski, who worked closely with the Chickasaw Nation in creating the film, honors Te Ata’s memory and legacy in a cohesive, sweeping tale that will edify audiences everywhere.

 

 

Florida National News Editor Mellissa Thomas is an author and journalist, as well as a decorated U.S. Navy veteran with degrees in Entertainment Business and Film. She also helps business owners, CEOs, executives, and speakers double their income and clinch the credibility they deserve by walking them step by step through the process of developing, completing, marketing, and publishing their first book.

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