***poptart***

[Tacori E-ring]

I figured we could give el her thread back

Owning your own business is a lot of work and risk. Can be scary sometimes and have its downsides (read my health insurance thread for proof) but I do believe it is better to risk and fail than to never try and wonder. Plus I love being my own boss. If you have a dream like that I would encourage you to go for it. It is surprisingly easy to start your own business.

 

[poptart]

Yea, I read your post about the health insurance issues. Being grown up sucks when it comes to dealing with those types of things. I have always wanted to start a newsletter/ magazine but I honestly know I would be no good at it, haha. It''s kind of a too many ideas yet not enough talent and hutzpah to pull it off type of situation. But it sure would be fun! How do you even begin to start something like that? It seems like it would be quite difficult.

*M*

 

[Tacori E-ring]

How do you know you would not be good at it? You must believe in yourself! My partner in my GD studio and I were talking one day about a guy she met in a networking group. He creates those higher end coupon mags that come to your mailbox. I forgot the exact number but he told her how much he charge for a full page ad and it totaled to be major money. That got the wheels going. One of my friends used to be an editor for an Ohio mag so we asked her if she wanted to partner up with us. The rest is history as they say. Was it hard to start? Legally no. But publishing a magazine is a lot of money and we are slowly trying to pull ourselves out of debt. We print 15,000 mags and it is all 4 color, glossy, so printing is $$$$. Also it is hard to sell ads but not impossible. The fact that she sold as many as she did for our first issue (all she had was a media kit to show them) was amazing. We are increasing our ad sales every issue. With our design studio there is little to no overhead. Lessons the risks. We have over 60 drop locations but there is LOTS of free local mags here. The only real direct comp. is a newspaper style publication and I think people like ours better. Plus they aren''t just in Charlotte so they don''t do any local stories like we do.

 

[poptart]

So I guess a lot of it is about finding the right people who know there stuff? I know how to do media kits as well as some digital art and writing obviously. But one thing I don''t understand, and this is where my stupidity is going to shine SO brightly... if it is a free local mag, the money comes from selling the ads right? So it''s most important to have a creative selling point and eye catching media kit right? Hmmm... it''s making sense now. But don''t you have to get a business license and all that jazz? Or is that not really necessary? The business part seems confusing as well.

*M*

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Getting a business license and registering your name is easy and inexpensive. Just a trip to the court house. I think if you don''t know how to do something you need to find someone who is very good at it. Yes, we make money from ads. We had custom folders printed and I created examples of covers. Must work since she is selling ads.

 

[poptart]

You are right, it really doesn''t sound too complicated. Nothing I couldn''t handle, I don''t think. And I DO need to find someone who is doing something in a similar field and is really good at it, except I don''t really know anyone doing this type of thing. It looks like the hunt is about to begin. I just went to a lecture on networking and it looks like I will have to put some of that into action! Another important thing, is it fun to put it together? I know it''s hard work, but the important thing is that you end up feeling fulfilled and happy with what you''ve accomplished. It must be something you really love if you are willing to pour all that effort into it!

*M*

 

[Tacori E-ring]

It is fun! We do interesting stories (ex. our summer issue had an article on best restaurant patios) so I learn things about our city by working on stories and ideas (we did a best date destination for this next issue). Also getting letters and e-mails telling us how much people love our mag makes the late nights worth it. If you are interested in writing/editing for a mag I would look at your local ones. Send them your resume. Tell them you will freelance. Maybe even write an article for free so they can try you out. Our photographer did a free photo shoot on a jean article we did last issue and we liked him so much we hired him for this issue and will in the future. Any advertisers need a photographer, we suggest him. If after you get some experience you want to go out on your own, you will probably have had made contacts (designers, photographers, sales) to create something really wonderful.

 

[poptart]

Thanks so much for your ideas Tacori! I have to do an internship next semester (well, don''t HAVE to, but I want to) so maybe I could find something in that area and learn a little more! IF I could do it, I would want to do something about environmental awareness, seeing as I live in a city and we are just by the beach, ya know? I just think all of it would be SO much fun and I would love to be self employed.

*M*

 

[Tacori E-ring]

We have a sales internship (he is getting credit for his class) so I think that is a great idea to learn the field. Being self-employed is awesome. My DH is as well. We can take time off whenever we want (pretty much), work from home, not be bossed around, actually see profit. In the end it is worth paying for your own benifits.

 

[poptart]

I will definitely have to look into these internships... I have to set up a meeting with one of the advisors, so at least now I have a direction! And if I ended up starting something, DH would be able to do all the pictures since he does photography and actually has a camera with some money that was put into it. What does your husband do? My DH has been wanting to start welding and open a little shop later on. I think that business would be a bit more complicated though!

*M*

 

[Tacori E-ring]

He does real estate (buys, flips or rents distressed property). He does help us distribute the mags since it is a pretty big job but most the time he is in dirty, gross, houses.

 

[poptart]

His job sounds like a lot of fun... even if it is dirty! I talked to some of my friends today, and they are really liking some of the ideas I brought to the table, so we''re going to meet together and then with two of our professors which have some experience with magazines. I''m really excited about it, and am doing research tonight so I can start putting my section of it together. Yay!

How long did you say that your magazine has been running? I just can''t remember, sorry. This is very interesting, and I''m anxious to get it started.

*M*

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Some of the houses are so gross. Often times after they get foreclosed they just leave everything. Clothes, furniture, food....foul smells to say the least but it doesn''t seem to bother him. He just smells money

We put out our first issue in June of this year. I think we had our first menu in March/April. First step was agreeing on a name and logo, printing B cards, and media kits. Where do you live? I would really take a look at the local mags already in place. There are quite a few here but only a handful that are really good. Finding distribution spots was a PITA but very important for ad sales. Also make sure you have a way to finance the printing/start-up costs.

Let me know what you decide and if I can be of any help.

 

[poptart]

I really admire people who can take a nasty house and fix it up. It''s amazing to see it go from start to finish. I have always thought it would be kind of neat to do that, but I suck at construction, and cleaning, and dealing with dirt, and handling bugs....etc. So it would all be a downhill spiral! But I have heard that you can make some very good money in that if you invest right! I am so happy it is working out for the two of you.

And congratulations on your first issue! I bet that felt great to finally have something done to put out to the public. Another question... for the first issue, did you have people put ads in the magazine, or did you just take it all out of pocket? Because I am sure that putting a media kit together would get a couple businesses to buy ad space, but you would really have to get the first issue rolling before anything could really happen. Is that right or am I totally off?

To answer your question, I am in Va Beach... right by the chesapeake bay beach. There is quite an eclectic group of people around here, so that''s pretty helpful. I was thinking about going down to the strip in VA beach to find some good local magazines, because those are really widespread with all the touristing sites. Luckily I don''t think they have much in terms of environmental awareness (surprising considering it is the BEACH), so we might actually have something new to say in this area. The only thing I am really worried about, like you mentioned, is start up money. Luckily we are all employed, so if we can start saving a little here and there, once we get a game plan it will be a LOT easier.

And thank you so much for your offer to help. Unfortunately I will probably still have a lot of questions after talking to the profs and having that meeting. Thank you for helping and being so understanding!

*M*

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Our first issue I think she sold 4-5 ads which is amazing since we were a brand new mag. The second doubled the money and the third (which will come out in Dec) came very close to covering all printing costs. It just takes time obviously. But people are starting to recognize us. We were mentioned on a popular radio talk show and offer give-aways every issue (which helps track readers). Maybe of our advertisers buy 4 ads (one per issue for a year) since the break down of price is less plus we love it since we know we have that money each time. We are thin, 36 pages but that is all we can afford and handle right now. A perfect size would be around 80 pages (so double). Start looking for printing quotes in your area. We use a printer in Ohio who we are happy with (and I would be happy to share their name if you are interested). They are cheaper even with the $500 shipping charges

. Also don''t forget you have to buy racks (ours are $20 a piece) and a couple outdoor racks for uptown ($100 each). Folders are $$$. We printed ours on VistaPrint. They turned out great.

Keep in mind people set their budgets for the whole next year around this time.

Look at your local mags. Find out how much they charge, where they distribute, who advertises. Do your research.
Find a good designer who you trust and a good sales person. We all have other jobs as well but it is still expensive.

 

[poptart]

Well, I guess it''s good we are getting started now, even if we can''t get very many ads right now at least we can get some ideas of where to go. If you don''t mind me asking, how much do you charge for each issue? You said you give some free issues, but do you charge for most of the individual issues? I am really glad you mentioned racks because I didn''t even think of that! I will definitely be putting a must have list together very soon. This may be jumping a little too far ahead, but the magazines are put together by the printing company, right and then they just ship the completed magazine back to you? Thats how we did it back at the comm office. We would email the proofs to the printers and then a couple days later we had a HUGE banner for the school. I remember them telling us how much printing costs and I cringed even then! Must... start... list, haha!

*M*

 

[Tacori E-ring]

No, all the mags are free for everyone (though we do offer a subscription for $7 to cover postage). Yes I design the pages, upload them to the printer''s server, they fedex us proofs, we sign off on them or pay $25 for any changes per page. Then a few weeks later a HUGE fedex truck comes and drops off 15,000 mags in my garage.

Then DH and I go and distribute them.

 

[poptart]

Well, that is awesome that you don''t have to charge for the magazines. That was our idea, too. So I have started compiling a list of important websites and companies that we could use both for add space and for content, and hopefully that will help. Tomorrow is our little meeting, and if that goes well then maybe we will be able to get all of this started. I''ll keep you updated on what conclusions we come to. Oh! And I forgot to mention, one of my friends is also studying to be an accountant, so we have someone that can actually keep the books better than me!

*M*

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Let me know how the meeting goes!

 

[poptart]

I definitely will!

*M*

 

[poptart]

So we had the meeting today and it went fairly well. We are working on the layout, table of contents, featured articles that we want in the first issue. Our meeting with the profs is tomorrow afternoon, and they seemed very excited about it, so hopefully they can give us some good insight!

*M*

 

[poptart]

The meeting with the profs went awesome, and they gave us a good place to start. They said check out the competition (as you said), and offered some ideas as to where to look. They helped a lot with the layout, and said they would meet with us again after Thanksgiving break once we had put everything into hard copy. So I think my friend and I are going to go out tomorrow and look at a few spots where we would like to have the magazine racks. I think we may actually be able to get this off the ground, we just needed a definite starting point which we have now. I feel lucky to go to a liberal arts college where two 20 year olds can say, "Hey we want to start a magazine" and the teachers don''t laugh us out of the office!

*M*

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Just make sure you have the capital. Starting a mag is expensive. I wouldn''t worry too much on finalizing the design right now. Creating your name/image/logo and finding advertisers is more important.