Discover Hometown Magazine w/ Annamarie Jakubielsk

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it.

0:37Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs powered by Action Coach Growth Partners. You likely went into business to have more freedom and flexibility so that you could spend more time with your family, do more things or travel or enjoy your hobbies or whatever it is that you like to do in your spare time. We're here to help you find better ways to make more money, build better teams and get that time back so that you can have that freedom and flexibility. We'll help you simplify things and make sense of business, investing, and wealth building so that you can be epic and achieve all your dreams and goals.

1:10And now, enjoy the show. Hey, I'm Anna Marie Jakobilski, publisher of Discover Hometown Magazine here in Henderson County, North Carolina. Awesome. Well, welcome to the podcast, Anna Marie. Tell me a little bit about how you got into this business anyway. Well, thanks first for having me. I appreciate the time. How did I get into publishing Discover Hometown? A funny story is my husband actually started the business back in 2005 when we first moved to Western North Carolina. And about four years ago, after I was, my children had come of a certain age. I was ready to step in. He was ready to step out.

1:52And here I am. That's the very short story of it. That's a great story. So Joe, who I know, was actually started the magazine. I guess you guys started it together. You were just more concerned with family matters. And then now you're ready to get back to the workplace. But it's an interesting one to take over a business that he was tired of. It is because I watched him for 14 years be successful at it, but struggle just being tired of being in that business. It's a great business to be in. It's a lot of fun. At least I'm having a lot of fun. And I think he did too. But it was just time for him to step back.

2:35And he said, honey, I'm going to go do this other thing. Why don't you take over? And I said, okay. I mean, it was really, that was the conversation. It was sure. Yeah, so this business has been part of the family for a long time. It was. And it's not like I hadn't gone on a sales call with him or for him over the 14 years because, you know, I did a little here and a little there. And I had a have a marketing background prior to starting and raising my family. Right. Yeah. So obviously the priorities for the family were the family. Right. And then the business was was was one of the lower priorities.

3:19I think that's I think that's important for everyone to know. So tell me what you've learned since taking it over and maybe what you found that was different than what you thought as part of the family, but not as actually the day-to-day operations person and salesperson for this business. I think what I've learned was there's a lot more listening in sales than I anticipated there would be. and I find that to be helps me be more successful because I love learning about people I love knowing their stories and so that's fun I have a personal connection with all of my advertisers because I take the time to listen to what's going on in their world so I think that surprised me and I don't know why it did because I've always been a person who's interested in other people um so that's yeah i think well no i think it's a good let well i think number one i heard a couple of things number one you're doing what you're naturally good at you're a people person you like people the second thing i heard is be interested yes you know you know don't don't try to be interesting be interested right and they'll they may be get interested in what you have to offer them and why it's why it's a good thing and so yeah and it is i mean sales is i think anymore people are craving relationships and it's it's any you're building relationships with people that you know it's a win-win i mean it's a win for your family it's a win for their family and um it is a very uh local uh a local uh publication so um that's a great that's a great learning so tell us how it works of the magazine yeah yeah oh um it is a direct mail for color magazine that is filled with ads and only ads and it is mailed to a targeted audience across henderson county north carolina chosen choosing mail carrier routes with the highest income demographic each quarter, but I do look at them every quarter and I adjust a little bit each quarter so that the most affluent always get it.

5:40And then the next tier down, I switch up over the year so that of the four mailings, 17 ,000 plus go out each quarter, but in a year, 28 ,000 households see the publication in that year, which works about to be half of Henderson County households. Yeah, so you're targeting people who have... Have the money to spend. Yeah, consumable income. It is. And the advertisers that I target are restaurants, personal services, home improvement products, car care thing car care shops these are the the folks the things that you're going to need in business to run your home to run your life um and they you know things cost and people who have money like to save money i have learned yeah yeah how they got the money that's how they keep the money right well but they you know once you once they get to a point they they kind of want what they want.

6:48They do, but an incentive to call on a new business might be the offer that is in the magazine. Absolutely. No, no, I think it's great. So I want to flip-flop it. So the target, you were real clear on who your target audience for the magazine is, but the magazine, you don't sell the magazine. I don't. It's direct mail to have. So all the income from the magazine is made from the advertising so who makes a great advertiser i mean who who's who is what are the characteristics you look for in a great advertiser um something that has high use so a restaurant excuse me um and not necessarily like the high special occasion restaurant but the place that you want to go to every week you know if you have a favorite mexican restaurant that's a great fit because maybe as an appeal to the advertiser, maybe you're not as well known in the community as you want to be.

7:50So being in the magazine gives you a visibility and an introduction to the new people or new to you, customers. And then they come back because they had such a great experience. So a high use. A dry cleaner is a good one.

8:12A mechanic is good, even though that's not something we do every week. We all have, most of us have cars, particularly here in Western North Carolina. We need to take care of them. So we need to know where to go for that.

8:28Retailers, we're always buying stuff, are we not? So we, you know, consumables, like you said. So you need to pick up things at the hardware store. You need to pick up things for your pets. for your home, all of those categories. Those are great categories. So the real main feature is that they need to have repeat business to stay. Even though you're giving them an incentive to go in and get to know it, but what you want them to do is to create repeat business so that those kind of clients are more valuable, obviously. Absolutely. Yeah. I want repeat business, and I want them to get repeat business.

9:21We designed the ad to get someone to use it. So my job is to bring them to your business, and your job is to get them to come back. Yeah. Do you ever have a challenge with some of your, you know, advertising working really well, but then some of the some of the people that you've sold the ad to may not be great at cultivating the relationships in the repeat business? Yes, or they don't see the value in the return they're getting. And every one of my customers has a different need or quantity of return. So I have a customer who is a retailer who said to me when he first started working with me, I want to see 100 redemptions in a quarter.

10:20And I said, wow, that's a big one. Um, so we designed something for him so that he would get high redemption. And I don't know that he made a hundred, but he made enough to be happy to stay with me now for several years. So we met his need. Then I have another client who, if he gets one or two phone calls in that quarter is happy because he knows he can do his part to convert them to a client because it's a higher volume. I mean, a higher dollar item. So it's different. And then, for instance, yesterday I went to one of my customers, new customer, and she said, and this is someone that would be a repeat customer, you know, and she said, I only got four.

11:11And we're only a few weeks into this current publication. It's her first time in. And she said, four isn't enough. I don't want to stay back. I said, well, those four people, did you book them to come back? And she said, no. Oh. And I suggested that perhaps you do that. But at that point, I recognized that no matter what I said, she didn't see a value in what she got. So I brought her customers. And no, it wasn't dozens, but it was a handful. and I feel like some folks can't hear you. Yeah, one of the things we do is help people understand their numbers so that they can know what the return, because everything's test and measure.

12:00I mean, just because this one ad didn't work or in her mind didn't work, it doesn't mean that a little tweak on that same ad in your next edition wouldn't work great. Absolutely. Yeah. I don't believe one ad is a good test and measure. And the big challenge I see with people investing in advertising is they don't measure and test. They don't get the full amount because you got to take into account the referrals. You got to take into account the repeat business. You have to take into account the average ticket sale. I mean, if they don't know those kinds of things, then they don't know whether the thing's working or not.

12:40Absolutely. Your ads are working or not. So do you ever sit down with them and teach them this stuff, or do you just leave it to people like me? Well, you've got to leave it to the professionals, right? We just want people to know. I mean, advertising is tough because you can get them in the store or in their business, but they've got to do the job. They've got to convert them to a client. Absolutely. And they've got to get them back. So if they're not doing that, then in a lot of ways, the advertisement would be a waste. Right. Yeah. Right. So if you can't do your part, so I have that one customer who thinks if one or two phone calls is all he needs because he knows his style and how he's going to convert them to a sale or push the sale along.

13:29Whereas I have people walking in with the offer and she doesn't rebook them for the next thing, the next service. that's not the magazine didn't work. No, the magazine, a lot of, hey, look, the magazine works. You know, every, I can tell, you know, I can tell you the magazine works. You can get people in to any business pretty much. And so they, you know, all advertising works for somebody. Right. And so the magazine works. right you know the the the thing is making it work for you know for those particular clients so right so but you ask do i sit down with people and go over that with you i go as far as i can with them because i think uh some folks can are open to hearing what needs to be said and other people put up that wall and no matter what i say is going to be wrong so i try is my answer.

14:35Yeah. So the answer is those probably aren't great. Uh, wouldn't be in your ideal client mix. No. And so, you know, she, um, even though she agreed to, to stay with us for a year, she asked if she could step out and I'm okay with that because I need clients who are happy to work with me, who see the value in it. Yeah. There are plenty of them. Yep. Yeah. There are plenty of, there are plenty of clients who can see the value. So why not work with the ones who do makes life a lot easier. It does. Yeah. So, all right. So you've been at this full time for, you said, four years. Right. What's the plans for the future?

15:17That's a great question. I'm kind of not sure, I'll be honest. Of course, I want to continue focusing on Henderson County.

15:29I'm not sure that I want to grow into another area or not and there's a lot of it's not a matter of can I do it because I believe in myself and the product for sure it's all the other stuff the peripheral I still have a child at home and I take care of my father and it's all excuses I know that well you know well you can call it an excuse or you could call it, hey, priorities or values. I mean, one of the interesting things that I work on with my clients a lot is values because that's what culture is about, values. And values and culture, they're hierarchical. So, I mean, what you just said is I value the time with my kid more than expanding to another territory right now.

16:20right you may you may want to and i know back back when joe was doing doing the magazine he had a few territories at one time he was doing two or three or i think maybe four before at one time anyway uh so certainly possible to to expand it or scale it however you however you'd like i just think it you know i think one is refreshing to have somebody say all right well this is my priorities and this is how i want to run my business so i think there's a lesson there some people want to grow and scale and other people's want to stay at home. So, I mean, I've heard a lot here, you know, number one, you can get people in the business.

16:58Number two, but the people have to convert and they have to get repeat business. And number three, you know, build a business that works for you as the owner. So those are all good things. Let me get your thought. Let's do a quick fire around here. EPIC is an acronym. And so I'm going to go down through the EPIC and, um, and get your thoughts on each one. So E stands for education. What are your, what are your thoughts on the importance of education in business? Um, I think it's, it's certainly valuable. You have to continue to learn more about your product. You have to study. Like I, I read up on what direct mail does and says and how it works.

17:42Marketing pieces, I'm always learning. It's definitely invaluable because it's always changing. Yeah, I don't think you can. I mean, we believe it's one of our core basic values that education, you know, it's one of my mentors says the only place that, you know, earning comes before learning is in the dictionary. so yeah so you got all right let's talk about planning the p is planning what do you believe the importance of planning is in business um well in my business in particular it's deadline oriented so i have to know where i am today where i need to be by my deadline so i am planning every week um how many people i want to call on how many people i intend to close um and then keep so I'm always planning um what's next and and you know you had asked me what's the future and so there in the back of my mind is the big picture planning um but I'm always short-term planning to get to the next well yeah I always say the most important plan is your daily plan like what are you going to do tomorrow and then what are you going to do next week and I love that you know your numbers like how many how many calls I need to make and how many I'm going to close and that's congruent to what your what your clients need to know as well so all right inspiration so i is inspiration we believe if you do the basics well the education the planning and some of the other basics that you'll find the inspiration to commit which is the c how about the inspiration where do you find inspiration oh it's in it's in knowing that i'm making an impact for small businesses um this does inspire me to help others grow um but knowing that i'm taking care of my family um that what's it really does inspire me to take care of those closest to me first sure i think that's awesome all right how about the c how about commitment what's the importance of committing you won't be successful if you don't commit to something it's that simple I think.

19:55Well, that's what we think too, but you know, it's, you know, people say they'll commit, but there's all kinds of people that break commitments. So yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you a hundred percent. Well, good. Well, thanks for that. That's a little bit of our quick fire around there. What, what do you wish you had known when you said, yeah, Joe, okay, I'll do this, that nobody told you? That's a great question. What do I wish I had known? Who not to talk to, who not to spend time with, and how to manage my time. Because early on, Joe started me with a base of customers, which thank God, right?

20:39I had a base. But I I found myself because I was new to getting out of the house, right? I said I had been raising the kids. So I wasted, that's a terrible use of word. I spent time unwisely with customers who will never buy. It felt good to be out and make those connections. but I had to learn to identify clients or at least people I believe would be good clients. Yeah, you know, one of my mentors said success is who you say no to. And I think that's awesome. Like who not to spend time on or how to recognize somebody who's never going to buy. Right. And, you know, who are the people that are going to buy, but you're going to, you may have to call on them for three years before they finally buy.

21:36You know, there's, there's, there, you know, there's, it's, it takes a little bit, right? It does. And I have to say that is very rewarding when you, when you identify someone and you just keep showing up because I'm a big fan of just showing up. And I tell people, if I didn't think you'd fit, I wouldn't be here. and it has taken me two or three years for some cases for folks to say okay thank you for not giving up on me yeah and then they do it and they're like and then they do it they're like oh this is great yeah i wish i'd done it two years ago um i mean you know it's it's it's good stuff yeah so listen hey this has been a great conversation how would people find you if they want to advertise.

22:20You can find me through my website discoverhometown.net You can find me on Facebook at discoverhometown 828 I think. So discoverhometownmagazine.com You certainly can look me up. You're welcome to call me on my cell phone. I prefer not to put that on the world wide web. But if you go to the web or Facebook you'll find me. and I love to connect with locals who want to meet the Henderson County market. I do pride myself on 99 % of the advertisers in the magazine are locally owned right here in Henderson County. And I think that's part of what keeps my success is that it really is the local magazine for the locals, by the locals, all the things.

23:07Yeah, well, well done on all of that. So, listen, thanks for being on the show. Thanks for having me. and until next time, all the best.

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