Dear Mr. Recy,
I am a college student studying business administration with an entrepreneurship concentration. I have a great idea on a type of magazine I want to publish. Only thing is that I don't have any experience in the field. My magazine would be an upscale magazine geared towards urban fashion and Africa-America designers. I've researched and found that there is a market for my product. I have put together a trial business plan. It is not yet finished, and I am awaiting my confirmation with the copyright office on the name of the magazine. It would be greatly appreciated if you could help me on pointing me in the right direction to start. Meaning, how would I go about getting this thing off the ground? I have a marketing strategy and everything, but I don't have support. I need to know how to get in touch with this different Africa-America designers and their advertising department so that we can discuss my business idea. I need to know if I should charge these designers, which I don't think I can or hire a sales team to sell advertisements in my magazine. I need to know of any organizations or associations that can help me. I'm Atlanta based and I know I will be dealing business frequently in New York because that is the fashion state. Also, I need to know about different ways to obtain capital to support this business financially. I plan on hiring college students to help me build this project because I strongly believe in employing the young and ambitious. Right now, I have only one business partner and we generally want to complete the foundation before we start bringing in a team of employees. If you could answer all of my questions that would greatly appreciated.

AskRecy Response:

Judging from the numerous questions that you have asked, I feel like I am back at the University of Houston as a college student studying business administration with an entrepreneurship concentration and am preparing to take an exam. First of all, publishing a magazine, even an upscale magazine geared towards urban fashion and Africa-America designers for that matter, is a very different animal than publishing a book or an advice column. To be successful, magazine publishing is certainly more than a one-person operation than a newsletter or advice column, there many more hats to wear. There are submissions that have to be answer and schedules to keep. The successful magazines rely on selling advertising or obtaining grants for operating capital and a long-term relationship with printers, distributors, and probably a fulfillment house.

A magazine also requires a well thought out commitment to sticking with it until it starts to pay off, perhaps longer than a year. There’s also a rule of thumb in this business and that is to work for another magazine company before starting your own. You will have a much better idea what you are getting yourself into and avoid a common mistake with startups and that also includes magazine startups which is to put everything into the first issue or product and expecting it to sell when you actually end up giving the magazine away for several issues. To give you an idea on what’s involved in starting an upscale magazine, let’s consider the following:

I once read an article entitled How We Started PC Magazine in 1981 by Cheryl Woodard, one of the creators of PC Magazine. Ms. Woodward stated the Editorial Mission for PC Magazine was to provide users with unbiased advice about choosing among all of the products available to them.

PC Magazine advertising sales plan was to reach PC buyers while they were still actively buying products and if they got to readers a year after they purchased their first PC, or even a few months, they would miss that critical buying window that was so important to the prospective advertisers. Therefore, the circulation plan focused heavily on distributing single copies at computer stores and retail computer shows.

PC Magazine startup strategy included a team of six people with a financier and they planned to publish bimonthly and to sell about 300 ad pages in the first year with an audience of about 50,000 readers at year's. They distributed the brochure at two trade shows, one that was a show for computer dealers and by individual computer enthusiasts. They also rented lists of computer retail outlets and did a mailing that brought in several hundred outlets willing to carry the first issue and also telephoned computer dealers and got them to order issues, sight unseen.

PC Magazine's success nearly killed them. The magazine sold more ad pages in their first three issues than they had budgeted for the entire year. Their worst problem was cash because subscriptions were pouring in, each with a check enclosed. However, the big money ads from advertisers were trickling in 60 days or more after the issues hit the street. Printing bills came due before the ad revenues reached them.

Perhaps you are asking, what is the point or relevance between PC magazine and your upscale magazine geared towards urban fashion and Africa-America designers. There’s a lot in common, if you plan to be successful. Your first question -… "how would I go about getting this thing off the ground?" --- Plus your first admission of fact…"Only thing is that I don't have any experience in the field."--- is an indication that more research is required by you, even if you do have a great idea?

However, this is what this column is all about, people with the entrepreneur desire to take the first step in starting a business and AskRecy giving a little advice and some tools hopefully to handle the challenges and obstacles one will experience along the way. To answer some of your other questions, there is an association called The Organization of Black Designers, a non-profit national professional association dedicated to promoting the visibility, education, empowerment and interaction of its membership and the understanding and value that diverse design perspectives contribute to world culture and commerce. The Organization of Black Designers (OBD) is the first national organization dedicated to addressing the unique needs of African-American design professionals. The OBD membership includes over 3,500 design professionals practicing in the disciplines of Graphics Design/Visual Communications, Interior Design, Fashion Design and Industrial Design. This organization can be found at http://www.core77.com/OBD/

OBD was founded to educate the design professions regarding the contributions of African-Americans and other people of color. Increase the number and visibility of African-American designers. Promote and assist the economic empowerment of African-American designers and other designers of color.

If you plan to start an upscale magazine to reach a group such as these highly qualified professionals, you will need apprenticeship, which is the only way to get hands on experience without putting yourself at risk. Do lots of research on the competition, get someone to teach you the ropes, and have a business plan to get you through the start-up period. Check out magazines that come close like the one you have in mind. Find out what their circulation is. This is available and can be found in Writer's Market and other directories.

For reading material, try Starting and Running a Successful Newsletter or Magazine, 2nd Ed., by Cheryl Woodard and Launch Your Own Magazine: A Guide for Succeeding by Samir A. Husni.

As for financial capital, I suggest promoting your idea to other successful business people and designers. Lines of credit available to such partners will come a little easy to someone with establish credentials and may help you to fund your idea and magazine plans.

Subj: Getting Started

From: Toni
Hi
My name is Toni, black female age 51. I've just purchased a home in
upstate NY in a town that has two colleges. I would like to open a computer/coffee house in town or a bookstore/coffee house; something I know will be successful, especially in a college town. How do I get started? I just got a loan for a house so a grant, federal or otherwise, would be better.

AskRecy Response:

This is an easy business to get into. All you need is an old house or building without all of the amenities of comfort and a good cup of coffee. Many gourmet coffees command a price two to ten times higher than that of grocery brands, consumers seem happy to pay a premium price for that "perfect" cup of coffee.

I once operated a small grocery, not your usual convenience store, just a 15 X 30 space room with two large coffee pots. In the mornings, I could not make the coffee fast enough. People would linger to just talk and talk. I can imagine what it would be like today, if there were a couple of personal computers with access to the Internet.

Why do you need a federal grant to get started? All you need is a little research material and a good book designed towards helping a first time novice tremendously. I would recommend the following books if you are interested in starting a coffee bar or shop. - Espresso! : Starting and Running Your Own Specialty Coffee Business, by Joe Monaghan, Julie Sheldon Huffaker, Start and Run a Profitable Coffee Bar, by Tom Matzen, Marybeth Harrison and Start Your Own Coffee & Tea Store, by Joann Padgett

Hello, my name is Linda B. and I'm the President/Owner of a Home Day Care Business. The name of the facility is Watoto's (childern) Play Room, in which is not located in my home. There are actually three locations, two for infant/toddler care and one for preschoolers. All three locations are located in the inner city high-risk areas and services mostly maltreated children. The childcare is quality care; we exceed standard regulations and take pride in our infant development and preschool program. I have been funding this project, however the project has outgrown my purse. Tuition alone is not enough to sustain the business. I have thus thought about 501-c3. I'm hoping you can share some of your wisdom with me.

AskRecy Response:

The description of the type of services you are providing may qualify you for several state and federal grant programs. There are grants available for Childcare meeting certain criteria, At Risk children and Head-Start. It may also help you to change the primary focus of the locations and apply for non-profit status in one or more of the schools.

There are specific grants available for infants, toddlers and childcare, ranging from infants with disabilities, special education requirements. These grants for these purposes must be use for specific purposes: quality expansion; infant and toddler quality improvement; and child care resource and referral and school-age child care activities. Applicant Eligibility is a State educational agency, a local educational agency, an institution of higher education, any other public agency, a private non-profit organization, an outlying area, an Indian tribe or tribal organization (as defined under section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act), and a for-profit organization

Head start grants must be at least 90 percent of the enrollees in a program must come from families whose income is at or below the poverty guidelines as established by the Office of Management and Budget or from families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Training and technical assistance grants are available to Head Start programs and to agencies, which provide services to Head Start programs. Applicant Eligibility is any local government, federally recognized Indian tribe, or public or private nonprofit or for profit agency, which meets the requirements, may apply for a grant.

For At-risk students, grants will support basic and applied research, planning, training surveys, evaluations, and demonstrations in the education of at-risk students. Applicant Eligibility is institutions of higher education, public and private agencies and organizations, institutions, and individuals or a consortium thereof may apply.

Go to http://www.cfda.gov/query/query.htm and type separately in the words "Child care," "day care," "At risk students, and "Head start." You may be surprised at the funding sources available.

From: Brenda
As a Mexican-American female trying to start a small business other than SBA loans, agencies have grants or easy low interest loans available. You constantly hear about government grants that are available but trying to access this info seem to be impossible. I have a small mobile repair service for recreational vehicles and would like to start a daycare center for low-income people. Our DHS system will not offer grants for daycare centers until after one year in business. I thank you in advance for any help you can provide. Brenda in Owasso, Ok

AskRecy response:

Brenda,

Starting a daycare center for low-income people especially involving recreational vehicles and potential customer do not require a low interest loan or grant. When I youngest son was born in 1983, my wife and I was short on funds and heavily in debt.

One day in April of that year, we just simply decided after reviewing our alternatives that we would start a home day center with our new born son and additional child in the neighborhood. Three months later, my wife was providing childcare services for six other children. We did not apply for any grants. The irony of this story, is that a friend of mine, Joseph, did the exact same thing and he now has over four child care centers with a combined total of over six hundred infants, toddlers and children including grades from first to six. Granted, he did obtain a loan to build his second day care center, but this was after he had over one hundred kids in the first day center. In other words, start small and then grow into your desired goal. If you truly believe in your idea, then do not wait on anyone to show up with the money, act now, do not hesitate, you have the necessary tools and opportunities to proceed forward. What are you waiting on?