As a former news reporter (including 15 or so years with USA Today) who has made a career out of the written word, I am used to writing pretty much anything and everything. News stories, opinion columns, short fiction, a business how-to book – I thought I had done it all. But then Sproutit.com came into my life, and here I am writing for a blog for the first time in my writing life.

It all started when, out of the blue one day, I got an e-mail from Charles Jolley, saying he had read my book, Media Training 101 and he wanted to meet for lunch to discuss my working on Sproutit.com’s public relations. So I Google-d him and found out what an innovative techie he is and wrote him back. Halfway through our lunch – seafood salads and a view of heavenly Santa Monica beach – I knew I had to be a part of Sproutit.com.

Sproutit.com is a huge success in the making, but that’s not the only reason I wanted to work with these guys it’s because I and my business fit the profile of Sproutit.com’s ideal customer.

SA Stewart Communications is almost three years old, so we’ve made it past the usual small business death traps. And one of the reasons for our success is the ongoing democratization of technology. Thanks to affordable technology, my boutique public relations consulting business can do almost anything the big guys can do. And we can do it faster and more cost-effectively than an oversized, bureaucratic multi-national PR firm can. I can afford the databases, the always-on Internet access, the 800 numbers. SA Stewart Communications might be small in size but we’re big in the jobs we handle.

And that is what Sproutit.com is all about: Giving small businesses the resources so they can “Act Big�. E-mail that gets prioritized and answered automatically. Time management software that not only is written for small businesses – not mammoth law firms – but actually works without crashing every time you need an invoice printed out. Bookkeeping programs designed for small businesses, with the tax categories every small business owner needs built right in.

So, as you track the Sproutit.com blog and keep track of Charles, Chris and Peter as they launch the biggest company for small businesses, don’t think of my company as their small public relations company. Think of my firm as a global PR powerhouse.