Blog: Making Your Message Stand Out

When Steve Hirsh moved to Los Angeles to be in the film business, he had never heard of the term “word processing,” and yet it was this business that came to launch his real success. 

Steve was a TV commercial producer when he and his wife invested $10,000—a hefty sum in 1983—to purchase a Wang word processor to launch their business, WP Plus. Their word processing business has evolved into a successful design, printing, and database management company, which they operate out of their home.   

“I never complain about a small job because you never know where something might lead,” Steve says. One of the biggest clients of WP Plus, for example, was the result of a hospital stay. When the hospital put Steve and his wife on its mailing list and sent them a single notice five times, Steve saw an opportunity. 

Rather than calling to complain about waste, he offered to clean up the hospital’s database. That was 23 years ago, and WP Plus is still servicing that hospital’s database. Steve attributes the longevity of that client relationship to the meticulous care WP Plus takes in maintaining a database. 

Duplicates resulting from multiple members of the same household on the same mailing list are weeded out, even if the members of the family spell the same last name differently. “As more and more younger family members choose to simplify their family names to make them more Americanized, “we can ensure that each household will still only get one piece of mail from an advertiser,” Steve explains. “This saves the advertiser money, maintains their good image, saves resources and saves frustration for the recipient.”

In addition to managing databases and mail handling, WP Plus designs ads for magazines and newspapers, direct mail pieces, brochures, books and almost anything printed. 

I first met Steve when I was on the , and he expressed his concerns to me about graffiti on the rock above the Eagle Rock Plaza. Unlike some of the other community members who called me because they seemed to be looking for another person to listen to their litany of complaints, Steve was results-oriented.  Together, we worked with the owner of the property to get the graffiti and other trash on the property cleaned up.

That’s how Steve works with his business clients, too. A recent client, A.J. says: “Steve surprised me by the way he turned my rough ideas into something that is exactly what I would have asked him to design if I’d known what to ask for!” 

It’s no surprise to me. Steve is one of the most engaged listeners I know. When I speak with Steve, he listens so intently that you feel he is absorbing your words right into his molecular system. It’s no wonder that he is so successful in transforming the vague ideas of his customers into effective sales tools that perfectly reflect the mission of the business. 

Truly an entrepreneur, Steve was one of the first people I invited to join the Work@Homer networking group that he now attends regularly. He is offering some tips and tricks about making your business documents more effective, this coming Thursday at 1 p.m., after the regular Work@Homer lunchtime networking event, which is also open to all area entrepreneurs. See www.meetup.com/WorkAtHomers for details on all Work@Homer events. 

Steve is also an avid drummer who you are sure to meet at the upcoming Full Moon Drum Circle on June 3 at 7 p.m. in Alatorre Park (just north of 134 freeway, between Figueroa and Eagle Rock View Drive, just below the Eagle Rock). Call (818) 398-4995 to RSVP to attend the presentation or for more information on the drum circle.

WP Plus is a full-service design, printing, database management and direct mail company. To contact Steve Hirsh for more information about the services they provide, call him at (323) 255-5515.