Staples touts entrepreneur as beacon of hope

Dec. 2, 2012 - PRLog -- Alfonso Santaniello recently beat out thousands of small business owners nationwide to be the first small business owner featured on office products giant, Staples’ new online Staple Business Solutions Center.

“I feel honored and grateful to be the first business and person featured on Staples’ new forum. I think they really have something special there and to be a part of it in the beginning means a lot to me," he said.

Santaniello started his digital marketing and advertising company, The Creative Strategy Agency, at the age of 24. Three years later and the budding company has settled into its downtown Springfield location, has hired gifted employees from the Western Mass talent pool and successfully launched its subsidiary online media outlet, The Businews Channel. Despite starting his company in a less than ideal economic climate, Santaniello has not only managed to stay afloat, but grow.

“It definitely wasn’t easy. When I started I focused on building relationships not clientele. For my business, I needed to make connections and foster those relationships with the local business community in order for my business to prosper long term,” he explained.

In his interview with Staples, Santaniello explains that utilizing his startup capital wisely has been useful. “Whatever I had at the time I invested and as time progressed the more I had the more I invested. Each step was small but it was successful because I was realistic with what my goals were. Each time I was able to put more into my company it was a great accomplishment.”

In addition to establishing and maintaining his companies in Western Mass, he volunteers his time to a number of initiatives including as a board member of Human Resources Unlimited. He is a Unique Business award-winner, was selected as one of the Most Eligible Bachelors in Business in February 2012 and is currently a participant in Leadership Pioneer Valley.

The Staples Small Business Solutions Center is designed to be a collection of tips, resources and expert advice business owners can access to find everything necessary to help their small business succeed. To read Santaniello’s exclusive interview, click here (http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/tech-services/explore-tips...).