August, 2009
 
Q: How did you decide to get into magazine publishing?
Jennifer:  I think it was a continual building of small events that was seeded as a child, grew in college, and blossomed while in the MBA program at Mercer University.  I grew up in a rural town in Texas where, as the Cheers theme song says, “Everyone knows your name.”  I was active in clubs and sports in school and church, and often was featured in the local paper.  I liked the feeling of getting the paper and seeing my face, as well as my friends in my community.  The paper gave me a sense of pride in not only my accomplishments, but my hometown.

I then moved away from my small hometown in Texas to attend college.  While at The University of Rochester in New York, I studied psychology and neuroscience.  I was always amazed by the unique information presented in research articles.  I thought it would be great to share this technical information in a way that anyone would understand and be able to appreciate.  So, I started Brain Scripts.  I would, for example, publish an article on how scientists use measurements of the brain’s activity to better understand how humans make decisions.  Instead of an average reader having to swim through a series of mathematics and technical jargon, readers had the opportunity to learn about the “fun stuff” and take away the
big picture.  This was my first venture into publishing.
 
After graduating, I wanted to move back south of the Mason-Dixon line.  I especially missed the feeling of community that I had as a child.  My husband and I visited Macon before he accepted a faculty position at Mercer University.  I immediately fell in love with the Middle Georgia community – the people and places were familiar… it felt much like my hometown in Texas.  While earning my MBA at Mercer, I took an entrepreneurial course taught by Ann Smith.  It was in that course that I was inspired to start my own business and create the magazine that our community has come to know over these past two years.

Q:  What came as a surprise to you about starting your own business?
Jennifer:  Starting a business is exciting, because it’s one surprise after another (which also can be tiring)!  I think I was probably most surprised by our community’s willingness to support me, and each other.  I asked community members to serve on an advisory board.  I asked community members to write in the magazine.  I asked businesses to allocate a portion of their advertising dollars to the magazine.  All of these community members said yes BEFORE I published the first issue, and they have continued to say yes since 2007!  I know for a fact that some people said yes because they saw how passionate I was about what we could do for our community, and instilled trust in me.  Before the first issue was published, we were operating on faith – faith in each other.  This mutual confidence and trust in each other surprised me then, and it continues to surprise me today.  Now, the community asks a lot of me, and I accept this responsibility.  I have a responsibility to provide what I promised, and continue what I started.  I have a responsibility to listen to our community, and change with our community’s needs.  I am surprised that my community has allowed me to have this responsibility – it truly is a blessing.

Q:  What kind of invaluable advice did you receive prior to starting?
Jennifer:  The best advice I received was probably from my dad.  When I was a child, my dad told me, “Don’t wait for it to come to you, go get it.”  I doubt my dad remembers this, because the advice actually was given to me around age 8 while playing the game Frogger.  For some reason, it stuck with me.  In business, if you wait around for opportunities to come to you, you’re not in the game.  At some point, you have to jump in and make things happen.  You might make it across safely to the other side, and you might get hit or sink… but at least you played the game.  And you never know what could be until you make that first leap. 
 
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – it’s how we learn.  You’re not going to get to level 5, 8, or 10 without having to start over, or change your strategy, right?  Well, being an entrepreneur and starting a business is no different.  My dad is an entrepreneur.  His first round in business resulted in my parents filing for bankruptcy; I was in third grade.  Our belongings were taken away from us.  That’s when I learned to fight – fight for the things I wanted in life… it wasn’t going to be given to me, and I didn’t expect it to be handed to me.  I did, however, seek out mentors and listened to their guidance.  I take these life lessons with me in business.  I’m happy to say that my dad is successfully operating his business again, and with lessons that have taken him to the next level.  It’s witnessing these struggles and successes in life that have made me who I am, and makes my business what it is.

Q:  What advice would you give a potential business owner who wanted to start their own business?
Jennifer:  Consider the commitment that you are making.  Starting and running one’s own business is not a 9-to-5 job that you attend Monday – Friday.  A business is like having a child… an infant that cries in the middle of the night, requires feeding and changing, and gets sick.  A business will provide those inspiring moments, such as the first time a child says “Momma” or “Dadda.”  You will feel the rush of the first time your child takes a step.  But, you have to be prepared to experience complete exhaustion without throwing in the towel.  If you think owning and running a business is going to be all glitz and glamour, think twice.
 
Find someone in your field of interest, and shadow them.  This will allow you to get a true feel for what is involved in operating a business in that industry.  In addition, you will get to see the good with the bad.  If afterwards you like what you see, than begin constructing a business plan that measures the feasibility of your idea.  A business plan outlines the inner-workings of your idea; you have multiple boxes that you have the option to place checks next to.  However, one box that has to be checked without option is your unwavering commitment to the responsibility of owning a business. 

Q:  How does technology play a role in your business?
Jennifer:  Technology plays a large role in publishing magazines, and being a part of media in general.  The way the content in our magazine is delivered is about as important as the information itself.  Do our readers want to hold the content in their hands, or do they want to view it digitally?  Are they more likely to read it online, or on their phones?  Do they want it monthly, weekly, or even daily?  As a publisher, I constantly have to be aware of changes in consumer preferences, because our business has to change with our consumers’ wants.  Technology influences the way we reach and connect with our readers.  Technology has changed the way our audience can receive information, and therefore, has altered the way our audience wants to receive information.
 
Used to be, the only way our community could receive content in our magazine, and other local magazines, was in print.  Now, MyTown Magazine is available digitally with the eMagazine.  MyTown Magazine is available to view 24/7, and accessible anywhere an internet connection is available.  Further, we publish content on a daily basis through our website.  You might think, “Wow, that’s great!”  Well, technology has advanced past even that!  Now, social media is playing a large role in how we conduct our business at MyTown Magazine.  Our audience doesn’t only want information, they want to interact with us, and we want to interact with them!  We use social media to connect with and have conversations with our readers.  Facebook and Twitter are two of the multiple ways we strike up conversations with our readers.  Our readers can connect with us at anytime and anywhere in the world.  This is powerful!  And, it’s only the beginning – so yes, technology plays a large role in our business.  I would even venture to say that it is directing the course of how we conduct our business.
 
Q:  How do you define motivation?
Jennifer:  Motivation is to my business what blood is to my body.  Motivation is my lifeline.  In everything that we do at MyTown Magazine, from gathering content, to keeping up with accounting, it takes motivation.  The key is that these activities “take,” which means that I have to continually be replenishing my motivation – refueling, if you will.  My motivation is replenished when readers write saying how much they enjoyed a particular article, or when business owners tell me they received several phones calls about their ad in the magazine.  Commitment to my business is the pump that keeps the motivation flowing uninterrupted.

Q:  If you could look forward in your future to 10 years, what would you see?
Jennifer:  Let’s see… in 10 years, I will be 39.  I see a sunny Saturday with my husband and I chasing our two children around a wide open field where our home in the country is situated.  I see a bright Monday morning with my children crying and screaming in the back seat of the car (and Mommy masking their shrieking with music on the radio) as I drive them to school on my way to work at MyTown Marketing Group.  I enter the doors of our MyTown Marketing Group office, and see a comprehensive multi-media firm that publishes MyTown Magazine as one of its multiple media entities. 
 
I might not know what truly will happen in these next 10 years, but I do know without a doubt that I’m not alone and it’s going to be an exciting journey.  I have the support of my husband, family, friends, and our community.  Ten years earlier, I was 19.  I think about how much has happened in those 10 years, and it gets me excited to enter these next 10 years.  And, I look forward to enjoying them with our Middle Georgia community!   
 
Contact Jennifer Bucholtz at publisher@mytownmonthly.com.