Webmistress Finds What's in a Name
Wednesday, July 25, 2001
By Mike Forbes
LA JOLLA (La Jolla Village News)—La Jolla businesswoman Kat Valentine has been designing Web sites for seven years.
Three years ago, she started her own company and dubbed it with the intriguing moniker WebMistress.com, Inc. That name now serves her as both an asset and a source of annoyance.
"Other than having a risqué name, people might not get it at first," Valentine said. "If they don't figure it out at first, they get it soon-Webmistress is the feminine of Web master.
"A lot of our business comes from employees surfing the Web. Then they realize that we could be a way to improve their business. A Web site should help you increase revenues and decrease operating costs. Offering service, support and information on-line can significantly decrease time spent addressing frequent questions." The downside of Valentine's company name is that not everyone who becomes a client is a bored employee in search of a little flirtation while they goof off at work. Some people with no desire to build a Web site like the name so much they simply must have it for their own. Everything bearing the name WebMistress has a tendency to disappear. "We get a lot of attention from our name," Valentine said. "I get stopped in traffic all the time."
When she's not in her red Mercedes, Valentine's metal car decals keep getting pulled off. "It's costing me a fortune," she said. "First I had magnetic, then sticky. It doesn't matter."
That's not the only thing to have gone missing. Recently a passerby removed the signage from the front of her office. At the WebMistress entrance, a prominent square of unweathered shingles attests to this development.
"This 18-year old surfer guy came by and took it," Valentine said. People were watching this kid. He was so bold, so casual. No one thought it was something the company hadn't ordered."
Valentine would like it back. "It cost me over $700 with tax," she said. "Maybe someone knows who has it."
Nestled between Prospect and Cave streets, Valentine's location may make it easy for unscrupulous pedestrians to help themselves to signs bearing the name that captures so much fancy, but it does have it's redeeming qualities. The high volume of foot traffic outside leads to a lot of business.
"I pay an astronomical amount for rent, but I've not had to pay for one dollar of advertising," Valentine said. "Our office space in the village allows clients to walk in and observe our team hard at work. We have a very relaxed open-door policy to involve companies in the entire process."
Valentine's team gets another perk. Having moved from a location near the Mission Brewery, her 12 employees are now able to step outside to look at a commanding view of beautiful ocean and cliffs. Kayakers shooting the rapids under the Clam are a standard sight from the WebMistress porch. WebMistress's new digs must be the envy of the computing world.
WebMistress employees don't have much time to take in the scenery, however. Their business is booming despite the bursting of the Internet economy bubble.
"Most of our clients have account between $20,000 to $50,000," Valentine said. "We have one that brought in $1.2 million. We do really excellent work."
For further information see www.WebMistress.com.