Out of desperation I'm contemplating stating as business without funding

Sir_Pac

fedupfreddie wrote: »

I have just looked at your homepage, not bad but if you are asking people to support "Abi's Tanzania Challenge" it would help if you gave some information about it.

Hello fedupfreddie, About the Abi Tanzania Challenge

Sam (Abi's mum) asked if I could offer up an idea for fund raising. I offered to make her a digital product she could sell.

The Halogen Cooking Club eBook is the product I created for her. I also created a facebook fanpage (making both Abi & Sam admins) and the web page on my own web site.

From idea, to creation, took three days, that was my involvement, the marketing and promotion are now in Sam & Abi's court.

For me it was about helping a friend, and a learning process.

Sir_Pac

SiroGarmr wrote: »

You'll get some honest criticism on here, which I think is vital.
I read a business book called The Devil's Advocate (can I link to it?) which had some great insights.
One that springs to mind is regarding money plans: always double your estimated spends and halve your estimated gains.

Keep posting, don't be discouraged, good luck.

Thank you for taking the time to post SiroGarmr, I've found the book on eBay, and added it for future purchase.

SiroGarmr wrote: »

One that springs to mind is regarding money plans: always double your estimated spends and halve your estimated gains.

This entire process for me is a journey. The journey is as important as the outcome (if not, more important).

Rule Breaking, lol, can't break 'em if I don't know 'em. I'm playing it by ear, for me, with no funds, everything is about leveraging my dreams and aspirations against my needs.

Who knows, maybe in a few years, I'll be the one writing a best seller on guerilla marketing (:D << Makes a note to start documenting his marketing exploits, if I do, I'll give you a credit at the front of the book)

sax11

We get a free magazine in print down here and it's 50% advertising and 50% articles , local news, gardening, out and about, parish info etc. I actually know 2 of the people that advertising in these places and they rate it very highly - as long as you go for a decent catchment area and not try and cast too wide initially it could do well.
Is this magazine to be fully online?

Sir_Pac

Crikey Tiffany, lots to digest there

Tiffany_Aching wrote: »

I've come across a similar (paper) magazine to the type that you are planning - albeit without the weight loss section. I assume you are doing an online only magazine and there will be no paper copies?

There will be a paper version. From the outset, 5000 A5 (doubled sided) a month. I'll increase the number of pages as funds allow.

We have a local freesheet, 8-10 pages, contents; 1/4, 1/2, full page ads, and two very sorry looking community pages. The aim of the paper version of my magazine, is to emulate, and then better what these guys offer. They are established, and experienced I'm hungry

I have emailed a number of local printers (well, a bus ride away anyway) asking for a meet to discuss some sort of exchange, free printing, folding, stapling etc in exchange for my promoting their business to every business within my catchment area. (I do like to barter).

Tiffany_Aching wrote: »

Have you had a good look at your local parish magazine? You can usually pick one up in your local church for around 50p - this will give you an idea of the type of things your local community is interested in (obviously there will be different needs in a rural and urban area) and also the local businesses who might be interested in advertising space.

It's on my to-do list. My first few leaflet drops won't have anywhere near the space required to allow the design to resemble a magazine, so pinching ideas from the parish magazine is for a later date.

I'll post a sounding board post and ask for suggestions for content.

Tiffany_Aching wrote: »

ms_night_rider has some good ideas - maybe for the 1st online addition you can offer a mention of the clubs she suggests in return for a bit of free publicity - leaflets left in a knitting group, a postcard in the charity shop window, that kind of thing?

I liked many of her ideas. I have a new system for collecting and collating ideas given to me here, next to my desk (ha, its not a desk) is one of those small, square boxes filled with post it type paper. When I hear a good idea, I make a note of it, and of who said it. I will give credit, where credit is due :T

Tiffany_Aching wrote: »

Our area has a monthly magazine similar to the one you are describing only in paper form rather than online. It's full of information that is freely available -
from bin collection days, ward councillors contact details and local fayres through to history buffs writing a short piece about the town or an elderly person sharing photos and memories. An agony aunt type thing where a problem is aired for advice and members of the public offer their thoughts on last months problem, changes in bus services, people giving reviews of films they have seen, a local councilor writing a few paragraphs about how fantastic and helpful he is, a kids page where they are encouraged to send in jokes to see their names in print - there is no end to the people who just want to see their names put to something and will write for free. All the person who organises it has to do is editing - the content costs nothing.

All great ideas, thanks Tiffany

Tiffany_Aching wrote: »

All the person who organises it has to do is editing - the content costs nothing.

:D:D:D Love it, if it was ALL I had to do I'd be laughing all the way to the bank, my list of to-do's is growing by the day, lol.

Tiffany_Aching wrote: »

It may be better to have the weight loss support as a separate site, using your magazine for free advertising and linking, rather than making it a section of the magazine. In most areas there are many diet and fitness clubs who rely on local shop windows, notice boards and parish type magazines to advertise and you could lose these guys money if you are promoting a rival (free) service.

I tried separating my various services, but my mind couldn't handle it so I had to bring them together. I haven't even mentioned my other projects, the ones I dip into when my creativity well runs dry and I need to take myself away from the magazine creation.

You then touched on something I hadn't thought about. My Weight Loss Challenge service, competing with the diet & fitness clubs that could be potential advertisers within my magazine.

This is a hard one. If I was to put my 'this is a business hat' on, I'd agree with you, however there is also the 'rebel' in me that reminds me that some of these so called 'diet & fitness' clubs are failing their clients, and that is the reason I created the WLC in the first place and if I, as I single person could come along and topple their businesses, then they really shouldn't be in this business.

Let me just say, that the WLC advert does appear like any other advertiser would in the magazine. It's a 1/4 page advert, that leads the reader to a seperate business. The content I have to offer isn't going to change the world, and any diet & fitness expert in business wouldn't really see my simple offerings as a real threat or even as much competition.

(Now if they could see the plans I've created in my mind for the WLC, thats a different story)

Tiffany_Aching wrote: »

Anyway, not sure if any of the above is of any help! Good luck. There are a lot of blogs out there that make money from advertisments, infomercials and links to PDF files you can buy - if you get it right it can work really well.

I'll be subbing to this thread and look forward to hearing how it goes

Thank you tiffany, my hands are now to cold to type, lol

Sir_Pac

sax11 wrote: »

We get a free magazine in print down here and it's 50% advertising and 50% articles , local news, gardening, out and about, parish info etc. I actually know 2 of the people that advertising in these places and they rate it very highly - as long as you go for a decent catchment area and not try and cast too wide initially it could do well.
Is this magazine to be fully online?

Hello Sax, I intend to create an online & offline version of the magazine.

The Great News magazine will be relatively small, perhaps 10-12 pages in total. I too see a 50/50 share between advertisements/content.

By way of an example: The Book Shelf, this is a single page, reviewing new book releases. This page will feature within the main magazine, both online, and offline. The page will link to the Book Shelf on facebook, pinterest, and tumblr, where all past book reviews are held.

The reviews are the content, links to buy the books via an affiliation program could provide revenue. No hard sell, just a link after each review to purchase the book via Amazon etc. I might only get a small commission from each sale, but other than actually writing a review, there isn't much else for me to do, and I can even offset that task to someone else.

sax11 wrote: »

as long as you go for a decent catchment area and not try and cast too wide initially it could do well.

Fund won't allow me to cast too wide a net I've had to go without heat in my flat, and very basic food shopping just to save up the first £70 for my first 5000 leaflets.

ms_night_ryder

Well I'm back lol

Paul I do have some questions, the leaflets, I saw earlier that you said that your mag will be printed on it? Did I get that right?

Don't crash and burn, perhaps only do half the amount, save the money for the month afters drop, Just in case you are not able to raise any fund's, no need to stop before you start.

Few more ideas, approach some exercise groups zumba Pilates and the likes, tell them to give you a discount say 10% and you will put an ad in your mag, then after a month you can monitor roughly how many people took the offer up, this way you can work outyour cconversions, I also was in Morrison's, they have a notice board, so don't forget to pin up in all supermarkets, you could have a small wanted and to buy section, charging a £1 or 2, could save the faff of eBay fees PayPal etc, lastly a lot of magazines often ask for contributors to write features, you could do this often writers esp those not established like to see their work in print, this will also encourage readership as their family will probably want a copy, where they may not have wanted to read before, this also cuts down on work for you. Sorry to ramble.

Sir_Pac

It's Sunday 16th Feb 2014 and I've not yet had my breakfast.

however, after my 6th coffee I have managed this:

I created a quick link page within the Great News magazine connecting what I'm going to refer to as my primary subjects:

Primary Subjects:
Home & Garden
Love & Lust
Health & Fitness
Business & Marketing
Sex Masterclass (This is a secondary subject, and will eventaully be removed, its there it fill the space)
Money Matters

Each of the above subjects has been linked to their corresponding Tumblr/Pinterest/Facebook fan pages.

Sir_Pac

ms_night_ryder wrote: »

Well I'm back lol

Welcome back, lol

ms_night_ryder wrote: »

Paul I do have some questions, the leaflets, I saw earlier that you said that your mag will be printed on it? Did I get that right?

I'm pretty proud of my leaflet designs, in the past, to make a little cash, I used to create 'spoof' newspapers, I'd sell them on eBay. My leaflet design resembles the front and back of a newspaper, with call outs for some of the subjects I'm covering.

ms_night_ryder wrote: »

Don't crash and burn, perhaps only do half the amount, save the money for the month afters drop, Just in case you are not able to raise any fund's, no need to stop before you start.

My reasoning behind the 5000 leaflets: There is a printer on eBay who will do 5000, full colour, double sided A5 for £70, the price also includes 20* A3 posters (different design), my reasoning is I'll create a product from these posters, and sell them on eBay, aiming for £10 each, after fee's I'm looking at £190 profit. More than enough to cover each months printing costs.

ms_night_ryder wrote: »

Few more ideas, approach some exercise groups zumba Pilates and the likes, tell them to give you a discount say 10% and you will put an ad in your mag, then after a month you can monitor roughly how many people took the offer up, this way you can work outyour cconversions

I have approached two Zumba instructors, asking for a meet, to discuss some sort of future co-enterprise (I'm looking for a co-creator for the fitness part of the Weight Loss Challenge, and a Zumba instructor would fit the bill, lol)

ms_night_ryder wrote: »

I also was in Morrison's, they have a notice board, so don't forget to pin up in all supermarkets, you could have a small wanted and to buy section, charging a £1 or 2, could save the faff of eBay fees PayPal etc, lastly a lot of magazines often ask for contributors to write features, you could do this often writers esp those not established like to see their work in print, this will also encourage readership as their family will probably want a copy, where they may not have wanted to read before, this also cuts down on work for you. Sorry to ramble.

eBay is a pain, not just the fee's (the buyer covers them) but the hassle of chasing up non-payers, or worse, those who complain they never recieved their item, and wouldn't entertain the idea of my sending a replacement, maybe I have a suspious nature).

PLEASE RAMBLE, LOL - I FEED OFF IT :-)

Using contributions from writers wouldn't work for me, I did try it (in my adult magazine, lol), but its very time consuming, its much better (for me at least) to have total control over content (I've created a system, on paper at least, for creating content) this way I can tie in content, with marketing, and product placement, without having to involve another contributor.

(as a side note, I have spoken to a writer of erotic short stories who has a back catalouge of stories on Literotica, the idea being, I can go in and select any stories from her submission, and use them as long as I include a back-link to her web page, I've yet to do this, but if this is what you meant, then I can see its value, as I don't have to do anything other than add a backlink)

I have a dream, my products are 90% digital, meaning they could provide a passive income (I create the product, upload it to my web space, attach a paypal button, reader buys, pays via paypal, and collects their digital product, I have very little to do with the transaction, this is passive income).

I see my main job being content creation, and marketing.

I like your notice board idea, I don't get out much, ASDA and local shops and as I haven't seen many notice boards it never occured to me to look for them.

If I design my first stage leaflets well-enough, maybe I can see if I can place them on such boards, or do they intend to use their own 'branded' postcards?

Paul

~Chameleon~

Is this they type of thing you're trying to create?

http://www.velvetmag.co.uk/

Sir_Pac

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Is this they type of thing you're trying to create?

http://www.velvetmag.co.uk/

Thank you Chameleon;

I'm not sure. I'm going to see elements of what I'm trying to achieve in there and elements of what I'm trying to achieve in my local freesheet (look local, we receive it every other month).

My magazine will go live once I've distributed my first 5000 leaflets, I guess how I see it now, and what it'll morph into could be two different things. All I know for sure, 5000 homes will receive my leaflet promoting my free content. Within the free content, there will be marketing opportunities, for myself, and for others.



p.s I've book marked that url, ideas abound :-)