Caribbean Business Digest - Valuable resource!

I have often heard that the key to any small business is marketing. At every convenient (or inconvenient) opportunity, you should market yourself, your product, you business. Basically, it comes down to constant marketing. I recently went to the barber shop and overheard a conversation where one barber was talking about opening his own shop. I told him about the magazine that I am producing and he was intrigued. He asked about how much it would be to take out a page in advertising and seemed very interested in how I went about making the magazine a reality. I told him about the contacts that I made with the people over by the Florida Atlantic University Small Business Development Center and offered to give him the different contact info that I have. I explained what it is that the Center provides and how they can help. While there is no guarantee that he will end up using the folks over by the FAUSBDC, at least he will know that there is help available out there. The 2007 Volume I issue also has information on the SCORE organization so I will give him that information too.

Where there is an opportunity to pass on information I uncover during the production of my magazine, I am particularly pleased. After all, that is one of the aim that I have for the magazine: to be viewed as a resource.

My barber friend sounded interested in the magazine and wanted to see a copy of the next issue so I will save him a copy. There might be the opportunity to get some business from him in the future. In the meantime I will nurture this relationship and see if it pays off. He also talked about starting his own magazine catering to barbershops across Florida and even Georgia. I told him how I got started and while I am not yet at the level of Businessweek or Forbes, I think I can offer some advice on how he can get off the ground. Assuming he is serious, I would be more than willing to share my knowledge to shorten his learning curve. Who knows? This could be the beginnings of a productive symbiotic relationship. I will make sure to document any update about this in this blog. Watch this space!