Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates ponder current events

Thursday, August 02, 1990

Sunday, July 01, 1990

Thursday, May 10, 1990

Rejection from The White House (and it would be overturned)

Monday, April 30, 1990

Back in the day, a partnership with Adventures Unlimited and SSS had us doing sales and programs that were far ahead of what Amazon was doing.

Adventures Unlimited was a sports and travel bookstore in Long Beach. We placed a Macintosh computer on the sales counter there and had sales calls, mail-order letters, inventory, and other functions go straight there.

Sunday, April 15, 1990

Omar - Swimming World

Monday, April 09, 1990

PR seeks titles

Monday, April 02, 1990

Letter to The White House and First Lady, Barbara Bush

Mark Rauterkus

Sports Support Syndicate

1555 Sherman Ave. Suite 1650

Evanston, IL 60201

708-864-5089

April 2, 1990

The Office of the First Lady

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC

Dear Mrs. Bush,

We are planning on publishing a (not-for-profit) comic book that deals

directly with Family Literacy and Swimming, two of your interests. We

would like your help.

My company is working with the nonprofit, literacy group, Cartoonists

Across America, (Phil Yeh and Mary Beth Roberts). Phil is illustrating the

book using their slogan, “Read! Exercise Your Mind!" and the character,

Patrick Rabbit, the Greatest Athlete in the Universe.

Could you write a short introduction for the book?

We want to put your words and photo on the book’s inside front cover. Enclosed is a copy of

the story line for your review, and I’m enclosing a recent edition of one of

Phil Yeh’s other books with Patrick Rabbit.

The book’s introduction will be at the Swim Coaches World Clinic in

Washington D.C. from September 5 to 8, 1990. Could you plan to attend the

clinic for an hour so we can hold a brief autograph session? We would like

some of the coaches to get autographed copies of the book.

One thousand swim coaches from around the USA and a hundred or

so from other countries attend the ASCA World Clinic each year. We will

give every coach at the clinic 50 free copies of this book. The coaches will

distribute the books in their communities to promote literacy and swimming.

The book is intended for children (age 6-12) and their parents. The

comic book format is ideal for new readers. The book’s story will entertain

and teach how to join a swim team, swimming jargon, and conquering the

personal fear of getting started in a strange activity.

Sincerely yours,

Mark Rauterkus

Tuesday, January 02, 1990

Seeking other publishers

Monday, January 01, 1990

Triathlete and Bycling Magainze

Didn't work out.

Thursday, September 21, 1989

to Magazine publishers

Foreword

This proposal contains numerous sections, details and reasoning in an attempt to accomplish a wide range of objectives. This document serves as a sales pitch that establishes a need for our services, as well as a business plan. We expect an individual account to generate revenues anywhere within the range of $14,000 to $200,000 in the first year. With those amounts of money, one expects thorough planning and documentation.

Another factor that extends the length, depth and scope of this proposal is our creative flexibility and desire to customize solutions with the various magazine publishers. It is easy to be rigid, but we prefer to keep "Support" at the center of our name.

The give-and-take process takes added energy. We are committed to hard work. But not at the expense of productivity.

Efficiency is necessary as our company faces tremendous growth this fall. Interacting with your publication is an important step for our future. We are running ahead with proposals headed to: New Orleans SportsLife, Windy City Sports, Armature Athlete, Competitor, The Master Skier, a swim coaches Newsletter, and Triathlon Today.

As we reach this period of expansion, we've studied our past, the concerns of our associates and customer reaction. With the evaluation, we have generated a new strategic philosophy.

We decided to offer your company a choice between two types of payment structures. Our traditional outline and reasoning is enclosed, along with a new type of agreement reasoning. This binder contains two different approaches to fiscal management.

Our present agreement policy is in section IV. Summary: All expenses are paid before the magazine publisher and Sports Support Syndicate split the remaining profits 50/50.

Our newly designed policy is in section VI. Summary: Magazine publishers get between 10 to 25 percent of the gross revenues right off the top. Then the Sports Support Syndicate pays all operational expenses and generates profits for itself with the remainder of the funds.

The newly designed policy is streamlined in operation and in negotiations. We will not have to wade through accounting ledgers and expose the magazine publishers to the normal delays with the sales and expense cycles. This option is preferable, if you agree.

Let's first clarify the question, "How to handle business activity?" Then we can get involved in the question of, "How to split profits?"

Section III asks you a series of questions that will establish an understanding for our course of action and respective job descriptions in this endeavor.

Section IV is the Proposal Outline and Reasoning.

Section V presents a sample contract.

Section VI is a question and answer section -- The TEST!

Section VII are few example ads.