About the Winner

Joseph Pickett is growing his businesses in this economy and is a stand-out winner of our Recession Busters category. His Expert Briefings markets teleconferencing and webinar services to pharmaceutical and medical device professionals regulated by the FDA.

Here's why we like him. He's the sole employee. He bought the business for $50,000 in Feb. 2008, which, in contrast to a raw startup, gave him some insight into how the business could perform with him at the helm. He grew it from sales of $25,000 in 2007 under previous ownership to $250,000 from February to August of 2008 alone.

The business is largely recession-proof as the pharmaceutical industry has billions of dollars to spend, and the FDA regulatory authority is increasing. Further, he's providing a relatively less expensive way for his target market to address a need - required continued education. When you consider the alternative - attending a conference - Pickett's clearly got an edge. Yeah, it used to be fun to turn a conference in Aspen into a boondoggle, but these days anything that saves time and money is going to be preferred.

Pickett attributes his success to having a keen understanding of issues facing regulatory professionals, excellent marketing and copywriting skills, and his success in obtaining new email addresses for marketing in very inexpensive ways.

Learn more in this winner's featured article