IYA faculty support local businesses alongside Mayor’s office

When business owner Paul Tavenner received an email from the mayor’s office, he thought it was spam or phishing. It looked too good to be true. For 21 years, Tavenner has been promoting his business primarily through word of mouth. Then the pandemic hit the globe; everything changed and Taverner decided to take the leap and replied to the email. 

Since then, Tavenner’s music studio has joined LA Optimized, which recruits local small businesses who have been struggling during the pandemic. USC Iovine and Young Academy associate professors Manos Matthew, Steve Child, Davina Wolter and Grant Delgatty are part of the creative advisory board that brings business owners together with creative professionals, such as graphic designers, photographers, copywriters and filmmakers, to maximize online presence. Creatives willing to participate will earn a $500 grant for their services. 

Announced in late-November, LA Optimized aims to help brick and mortar shops create or improve business listings and websites and to perform e-commerce audits. To qualify, a business must prove a less than $5 million income per fiscal year. 

“From my perspective, during the pandemic, one of the other things that we saw is that larger businesses were hit as well, but they were able to put their abundant resources to good use in order to survive and in some cases thrive,” said Matthew, who leads as chair of the mayor’s creative advisory board. “However, small businesses who do lack the resources, the time, the spare cash, they start having to shutter their doors or severely kind of limit the amount of income that they’re able to make.” 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 163,000 businesses have closed, according to Yelp Economic Average. Although local professional and auto services were able to get by according to the report, restaurant and retail have struggled since the pandemic’s emergence.

“It’s tragic. These are people’s livelihoods,” Child said. “These are people who have started businesses that they’ve put their heart and souls and their passions into, and they may have just either started or haven’t gotten their footing yet, and then [the coronavirus] came around and stopped them right in their tracks.”

“I was really attracted to the idea, in general, being able to be a part of something that was going to support small businesses in Los Angeles,” Matthew said. “I’m really passionate about finding ways for the creative community to get involved in initiatives that can create impact on a community level while also being supported in doing that work.” 

Once the program accepts a business, they receive access to a website that lists what the creative professionals have to offer, Matthew said. Services range from reviewing portfolios to designing a new logo. Creatives may also suggest new packaging, product design or signage for physical stores, website design or social media with new photography and promotional video clips. 

The LA Optimized program also partners with Matthew’s company verynice to deliver up to $500,000 in total to creative professionals to help local businesses thrive by maximizing communication with their consumers. Matthew said he was inspired to pursue such an endeavor because of the pandemic’s strike on under-resourced businesses. 

Once L.A. city gathers the grant money through fundraising, the ArtCenter College of Design will pay the creatives so that businesses don’t have to deal with payments, Matthew said. 

“[We’re] essentially ensuring that small businesses continue to thrive in the city of Los Angeles and beyond in that jobs remain stable and growing [and] any kind of issues around ensuring a strong economy for L.A.,” he said. 

Business owner of Big City Recording Studios Paul Tavenner recently began working with LA Optimized to support his music production studio which has been around for 21 years. The pandemic deprived him of all in-person sessions but Tavenner’s business remained afloat due to his pre-existing digital customers. 

With an outdated website, Tavenner’s first meeting with LA Optimized included discussing improvements to his social media sites, such as his Yelp, Google and Facebook pages, and creating an Instagram page. 

“I feel great about it because it really couldn’t have come at a better time,” Tavenner said. “Part of what LA Optimized wants to get out of this [is that] it’s to the benefit of the city. If my business does well, I pay more taxes, the city benefits from that.” 

Once a business builds up revenue, it is also possible to hire the creative who optimized their company, Tavenner said.

“If you’re going to help me build my business to the point where I could afford to hire you, that’s a no brainer. Why wouldn’t I?,” he said.

While LA Optimized is still in its early stages of recruiting, hundreds of local businesses like Tavenner’s are participating. Nearly 100 creatives that are looking to be considered or have been approved for a grant, Matthew said. 

The mayor’s office plans to support up to 1,000 small businesses in its first year of operation and allocate more than 1.5 million to help provide services, according to Garcetti’s press release. 

The program’s goal is to reach more small businesses, pandemic or not, Matthew said. Beyond continuing to grow the program, even following the pandemic, LA Optimized looks to diversify the services offered to small businesses, such as expanding to social media marketing, to maintain a healthy economy. 

“[There are] no words to describe how complicated things have been and how appreciative I am that these businesses have worked as hard as they have to try to persevere and to try to make it through a time like this,” Matthew said. “I do hope that what hopefully is a terrible 12-month-long memory doesn’t completely change their dreams and their ambitions and their passion for what they do for their communities.”