Meet Alina Martinet of geta2.com

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alina Martinet.

Alina, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Parma Hts, Ohio – a suburb on the west side of Cleveland, (for reference), by the way, Cleveland rocks! Except for the winter weather, Cleveland, Ohio great. We have awesome people here… like my friend Andrea Vecchio (you should do a story on her!

She’s amazing… she wrote a book “Live Your Playlist” and she does a cool Facebook video series called “Driving Cleveland” and “Driving Boston” with Bernie Moreno Companies (he owns car dealerships and she gets to drive amazing cars while interviewing celebrities – like LeBron James’ wife Savannah)… I can get you connected with her if you want)…

Anyway, I went to Valley Forge High School and played competitive tennis – I even played against Andrea Jaeger – how cool is that… then I went off to Northwestern with my sister Annette Czech Kopp (you did a story about Kopp Company)… and from there I went to work for Senator John Glenn in Washington DC –yes, the astronaut! That experience was AMAZING!

I was married to Bill Mueller (he died in 1987- talk about making you think about life) we lived in Cincinnati… I worked for The Cincinnati Club, The Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and Scripps Howard. I helped plan stuff for Scripps with Jim Davis, creator of Garfield the Cat comics, Charles Schulz and United Media (a Scripps company and licensors of Peanuts) Tony Bennett and lots more… so you could say I got to work with some very interesting characters for sure.

I left Scripps to pursue my dream of working in the movies. I was a production assistant on the Penny Marshall film “A League of Their Own” (I have a script from the movie and lots of great memorabilia) – my Facebook picture is with Tom Hanks who worked on that film as well. He always called me “the world’s hardest working woman in Hollywood!”…

Anyway, after the film, I returned to Parma Hts. to be with my parents Gena and John Czech. We played bridge a lot on the weekends with my Aunt Sophie (in Polish Ciocia Zosia), good times, good times. I worked at Parma Community General Hospital Foundation for a bit and then landed a dream job at WKYC-TV 3 – the NBC affiliate in Cleveland. I loved my job – I was the Manager of Press and Community Relations…

At TV 3 – the thing I was proudest about was that I started our relationship with the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation Cleveland Chapter. We helped to raise lots of awareness and monies for the organization – many stories here – I earned two regional Emmys for my Race for the Cure work (along with Vagn Steen- an uber awesome editor – you should do a story about him).

Anyway, in 2007 I received a pack of Hallmark cards with inspirational sayings on one side and pretty images on the other from Chef Jon Ashton (a guest on our Live on Lakeside show) who asked for a contact to the Ellen DeGeneres show. Well, as fate would have it – at the end of 2007 I was laid off from TV 3, after working there for 15 years. I had really enjoyed my public relations media work and was truthfully kinda sad.

I wasn’t out of work for long because at the start of 2008 I began a job at The Ritz-Carlton Cleveland and every morning I’d take out my pack of inspirational cards and look at and read one. Throughout my life, I guess I always looked for and collected wise words, sayings and quotes that inspired and motivated me. I would paste pictures and sayings in my journals and small books that I would look at to be inspired cheered up and just amazed by. (I have all those if you want to see).

I now work at public media in Cleveland. I’ve been here for 10 years! How cool is that! So anyway, geta2 really began when my husband, the dreamboat (that’s another story) – he’s always striving for balance in his busy life (he is an accountant) asked me if I’d email those inspirational sayings, so I did. See, he’s way too busy to read any books or do anything other than take a few seconds to get a very quick email… that’s what makes geta2 so very easy… read it and delete it.

Soon my friends, Ritz-Carlton colleagues, former TV co-workers and of course family asked if I would email them a2.  I sent them to everyone – my sisters, nieces, and nephews and soon the word spread and spread and spread and I had over 250 people who got a2 – (today I have 197 emails – I need to update my database). I’ve always thought – wow this could be an awesome business.

So I decided to create geta2.com to get even more people. And to be completely honest, I thought geta2.com could be my million dollar retirement idea. I could turn my hobby into a cottage email industry and that’s when geta2.com was born. I’d charge a $1 a year per email address with my ultimate goal to get 1,000,000 a2 emails renewing each year. Now even if I don’t reach that 1,000,000, I’ll keep sending a2 anyway until I retire (January 2, 2020) – if I reach 1,000,000 who knows I may continue.

It has proven to be so very rewarding to me and many of those who get a2 and is a great value proposition! These quick words can give just the right start to any day and in today’s uber-busy world – a bit of positive psychology can be your tipping point. So, that’s my story, that’s what a2 is, and that’s how geta2.com started. Thanks for reading all this and hopefully thanks for getting a2!

For more go to www.geta2.com and subscribe!

Has it been a smooth road?
“Smooth?” Not sure about that, but way interesting and I’m still on that journey.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
My small www.geta2.com website is a ‘soft’ business. I specialize in helping people through words:
-geta2
-inspirations selected by Alina
-delivered by email
-designed to enlighten, educate & enjoy

I am most proud that it still exists. I could have on many occasions stopped… I have not been a ‘serious’ business person regarding a2 – it’s a labor of love.

What sets me apart from others? I truly believe in the power of this stuff. I live it each and every day – ask anyone who knows me. I am living a happy life… and ‘until further notice celebrate everything.’ (one of my favorite quotes)

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Since my business is online -yes! LA is a great city for this type of business. Plus the LA crowd is all about positive psychology.

LA is so creative – yes, I would recommend anyone going for their dreams to start there or anywhere for that matter.

Pricing:

• I’d entertain offers to buyout geta2.com – $1,000,000 net – keep the pricing at $1 per email per year.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.geta2.com
• Email: [email protected]

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.