WORKING FROM HOME
Publish or perish By Warwick Smith-Chandler Acquiring and redeveloping the Greyton Sentinel monthly newspaper was a dream come true for Carol Viljoen. Taking her design skills and Apple Mac, Carol upped and left Cape Town early in 2011 after acquiring ownership of the local newspaper. Having never been involved in any form of publishing, Carol says the scariest part was the realization that three weeks after moving to Greyton the next issue had to be out. That was five months back and the rest, as they say, is history.
So what were the secrets to success, taking the Sentinel and growing the page size and circulation? Having an aboveaverage command of English, layout and design skills learnt painstakingly over 10years in the ad design industry was a great help, but ultimately it was a commitment to make a new life for herself and her son Chris as well as an overwhelming desire to make a meaningful contribution to the community that she now lives in. It was by no means all plane sailing. Greyton is largely a retirement and weekender-getaway community where the week-time population can rise from a mid week number of 250 to well over a 1000 on weekends and holidays. Greyton is about 120 kilometres from Cape Town where it seems everyone is an expert in current affairs, the goings-on of the town and they can spot a spelling mistake from a distance of 10 metres looking over the shoulders of a coffee shop full of locals. Publishing a magazine or newspaper is a complex affair and involves journalists, photographers, a layout designer, printing company, sales staff, sub editors and administration. Added to this were the practical issues surrounding deadlines, printing and distribution and that it had to be published monthly. Getting the first issue out was the hardest part. Carol soon realized that outsourcing the printing to a copy shop 50 kilometres away was both time-consuming and expensive. So the first decision was to purchase a second-hand Canon multifunction printer that could print A3 size sheets. This was a great time-saver and gave Carol and Chris the extra time as well as cost saving to concentrate their efforts full time meeting the community’s needs. Other challenges that had to be overcome included ‘ becoming known in the community’ and giving the Sentinel - which was looking a bit tired after more than 10 years of the same management - a new focus and energy on a very limited budget. Today the Greyton Sentinel is thriving; Carol and Chris have added extra pages and increased the print run quantity. As a by-product to rejuvenating the design, Carol now does extra work designing brochures, advertising material and business cards for the community. SA GUIDE TO BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES VOL 9, # 2
From home business to retail success Deep in the heart of Plumstead in the Western Cape, you’ll find a gathering of bears that is more than a picnic – you’ll find biker bears that belong to Hazel Smith and Rod Versfeld, biking enthusiasts themselves. Rod and his partner, Hazel, decided to open their own plush toy and gift shop in the hub of their local community when the demand for toys became to great to service from their home and they were finding they were spending more and more time with the manufacturers helping with the manufacturing process. With these teddies in so much demand, and their own passion for bears, the couple took their dream one step further, opening their shop, Bear Necessities. The decision to move out of home wasn’t taken lightly but with the growth of their branded bear range it was inevitable that the business could no longer be run from home. Their flagship bear is a biker with leather jacket and all, and soon they’ll be selling ‘branded’ biker bears too. “Your location is very important,” says Rod. “We had to do careful research of the area and the sorts of people who visit the mall we are located in. Once we felt comfortable that we would have traffic through the mall and to our shop, we made the decision to move in there.” The average rental for shop space in the area is around R75 per square meter per month, excluding other overheads such as electricity and municipal services. Rod and Hazel say that getting people to the shop can be tricky and the cost of advertising in the local papers and magazines is extremely high. Their best source of advertising is via social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and others. They make and distribute their own fliers. “The internet has proven priceless,” says Rod, who used to run a hardware store in Pinelands. Partner, Hazel, has always been in the clothing and toy-making business and used to work for the family business, Merlyn Toys, before joining forces with Rod to open Bear Necessities. Their dream is to have companies order their bears for their various marketing campaigns, charities and events. Concludes Hazel, “When you own your own shop, you have to be prepared to put in many hours of overtime. In our business, we are actively involved with manufacturing our bears too, and while we sell other artistic gifts and things like ‘memory boxes’ which are all the rage now, we still need to be in the shop front, serving our customers. It’s a hard but rewarding career choice.” Contact details: Email: bearnec@telkomsa.net Website…
www.saguides.co.za
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