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SPARK Publications of Matthews, North Carolina USA received a Stevie Award for Business Turnaround of the Year in the 2009 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.
 Fabi Preslar started SPARK Enterprises in 1998 as a home-based, freelance design business. Six years later, it became a bricks-and-mortar firm. In 2005, Preslar expanded the company and hired her first employee. 2006 ushered in new clients and services, translating into a 14% increase in revenue. Then, in 2007—a year of projected financial growth—SPARK encountered some unexpected challenges. A series of setbacks necessitated Preslar going without a paycheck for five months. By the company’s ninth anniversary, Preslar had made her final loan payment but was wondering whether to close the firm’s doors for good. SPARK’s office lease was up; it would be easy to quit.
Instead, Preslar made a personal commitment to revitalize the company, to re-ignite SPARK.
Strategy for Success
Preslar realized that SPARK would need to change both its focus and its staff in order to become profitable once more. She therefore repositioned the company to focus on publication design, and renamed it SPARK Publications.
Preslar also sought to stabilize her company through product and revenue diversification as well as a broader client base.
One of Preslar’s first steps was to streamline her small firm’s operation by tactically replacing two mid-level design and production staff members with Mindy Kuhn, a seasoned art director. Next, Preslar created a new and needed position for a creative director and brought her talented husband, Larry Preslar, into the firm, thereby boosting design capacity. She also forged new strategic partnerships to provide value-added services to SPARK clients and to produce higher-quality work faster and on budget.
The result? Within a year, SPARK Publications realized an increase in revenue of 118% and an over 200% increase in profit.
Since receiving the Stevie Award, the company has had continued success. In Q4 of 2009, SPARK Publications began its third expansion. Amy Trainor was hired in a new duel position of Assistant to the President/Publications Assistant. In early 2010, a new production designer position was filled by Central Piedmont Community College design graduate Juliana Lievano.
The company realized 48% growth in the first quarter of 2010 compared to Q1 2009—a direct result of doubling capacity and personnel in their custom-publishing division.
Moving with the Times
As changing technologies have driven people beyond print, SPARK has combined its design capabilities with these technologies. While staying true to the printed, turned page, SPARK enhances its clients’ messages through publications that have online links to motion video, advertising, and digital promotion.
SPARK has also varied its cash stream by creating a niche for itself in a market that is proving more resistant to economic decline: self-published books. Authors use these publications for marketing and building credibility in their areas of expertise.
The Best Is Yet to Come
Over the past couple of years SPARK has maintained a slower pace of new client growth in order to focus on existing contracts. The firm prides itself on its customer service, which facilitates long-term relationships based on collaboration and support. SPARK retains clients, on average, for at least seven years.
Even though the past couple of years have been tough economically, SPARK Publications fully expects to maintain its profit margin in the future
On receiving her award for Best Turnaround Company in the 2009 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, Preslar said: ”It was a wonderful opportunity to be celebrated for doing what I simply had to do to keep my company moving forward.” She added: “Winning the Stevie has been beneficial in getting attention outside of my region as well as local speaking engagements.”
In addition to receiving the Stevie Award in 2009, SPARK Publications has been recognized with several national and regional awards. In the past year alone, the company has been recognized with three Apex Awards for Publications Excellence; one Platinum and two Gold MarCom Creative Awards from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals; and has appeared at number 79 in the 2009 Top 100 North Carolina Small Businesses list from Business Leader Magazine. Preslar was named one of the “50 Most Influential Women” by the Mecklenburg Times and a “Top 24 Entrepreneur” in Charlotte’s Business Leader Magazine in 2009; she received a “Life Well Lived” Award in the Women’s Living Well Series in 2009; and was recently an honoree in Enterprising Women Magazine’s Enterprising Women of the Year, 2010.
About Fabi Preslar
Fabi Preslar is an energetic entrepreneur and the president of SPARK Publications. She founded SPARK twelve years ago as a home-based business and built it into a thriving publication design powerhouse. Her award-winning firm specializes in the design and production of custom magazines, self-published books, catalogs, and marketing brochures.
In early 2010, Preslar was named an honoree for Enterprising Women of the Year by Enterprising Women Magazine. The Charlotte Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) named Preslar a top three finalist for the 2010 Charlotte Woman Business Owner of the Year. She was also the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Richard H. Hagemeyer Educational Advancement Award, which recognized her valuable contributions to the community.
About SPARK Publications
Founded in 1998, SPARK Publications is a full-service publications design firm, based in Matthews, NC. SPARK Publications specializes in the design and production of custom magazines, custom- and self-published books, catalogs, and marketing materials for local, regional, and national clients. For more information go to www.SPARKpublications.com.
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