Do you want to be a b4(&after)school licensee?...

b4(&after)school magazine serves families with young children in day nurseries, playgroups and in their early years in school. It is a listings magazine aimed at the parents of those children thus providing a marketing and advertising platform for businesses and services aimed at the family market.

I’m Alan Diggory and I started the business at Easter 2003. I had a background in marketing and had become interested in producing my own magazine when desktop publishing software became affordable. Since then I have evolved the business into a one-man-band process where one person can do it all.

b4(&after)school magazine publishes five, six or seven times a year, across a whole county, and makes its revenue from the advertising which runs in each magazine. The business financial model - put crudely - equates to advertising revenue minus print and distribution costs. That (gross) sum goes to run the business and its overheads and to provide income for the licensed proprietor. Everything necessary to establish and to evolve a magazine is provided from day one. The new licensee (simply) adds energy, enthusiasm and commitment.

What sort of person makes a good licensee?
The business model has been tailored deliberately for the parent with children in pretty much full time daycare or at school. The magazine can be run in a nine-to-three, five day week, no problem. The cycle of publishing is about eight weeks and the work involved ramps up towards going to press but allows time off after that, coincident with school holidays.

A licensee needs a professional character, a pleasant manner and the ability to step up to running their own business. We'll train you in using top class software to produce your magazine and encourage your creativity in becoming an editor. You’ll need ideas to raise the profile of the magazine in its territory through pertinent articles and features and in your ability to conceive of promotional opportunities for your clients.

A designer’s eye, computing ability, a sales background, marketing and advertising knowledge are all desirable. But the only skill which is essential is the one that lets you talk to prospective advertisers on the phone. Other skills can be substituted if doing it all from day one is a bit daunting.

Software
The magazine is designed entirely within - and as a - Quark XPress document. Quark XPress is the leading typographical design and layout software used by almost all magazines and most newspapers. Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop both serve the photographic and graphic needs of Quark and Adobe Acrobat renders creative work for customers to see their ads and creates the finished document to go to press. Our printer, the ever-helpful and reliable Lawson - holds your hand through the last, sometimes nerve-wracking process of printing. You get used to it. You'll learn to use all the software in good time. Symantec’s Act Customer Resource Management Software manages and aids the sales process and takes care of reporting back to the licensor, that’s me. Microsoft’s Excel, Word and Outlook manage office functions like the distribution lists, finance spreadsheets and other documents. Outlook is critical to the approval process for ads and to the increasing propensity for clients to deal only electronically. The licence includes your b4school email address.

Hardware
A multi-media PC with a 2GHz Pentium 4 processor, 100GB HDD minimum or similar, a scanner, a printer. You’ll need a broadband connection, good internet access is vital.

Other
We’ll provide you with an operational manual with answers to how to do all the tasks that go to making a magazine happen. You’ll also develop and keep a sales manual from the sales training. We also supply 2000 letterheads, ‘How to’ books for the software packages supplied and password-restricted access to the b4school website which serves as a repository of articles, fillers and so on.

How much?
The price for a county licence is £10500. Some of the more valuable territories are dearer but all licences include a computer system (PC, scanner, printer and software) in this price. If you want to launch a magazine but you aren’t sure about taking on the creative and publishing tasks straight away we can do that for you until you’re ready. Managing sales into a county is essential though and you have at least to organise and manage your own distribution to start with. We'll print the first magazine run too, within your licence fee (15000 copies to get you going).

...and ongoing
A management licence fee is payable on publication of each magazine. At the end of year two or twelve publications - whichever comes first - we’ll review the licence fee and renew the licence agreement. We want licensees to stay and prosper so the fee will not go up and all licences are renewed automatically if a licensee is in compliance with the agreement at that time.

Ownership
The licensed territory will be the commercial property of the licensee. Should they want to give up then the licensor would have first refusal on buying back that territory. A third party buyer would need to be approved by the licensor but the licensee would keep the proceeds of a sale minus a small admin charge.

Benefits and Risks
Most start up businesses fail within one year of beginning. Those that survive into a second year of trading usually overcome a second problem - often cashflow - before they enter their third year of trading. Only a few per cent make it to year three. When buying a licence for an established business model the risks of failure are hugely reduced because it's a proven business model, you have knowledgeable help at hand and on tap, you're part of a group so you don't get lonely and it's not your idea - it's already been tried and tested. It's harder to make a fatal mistake when someone is on hand who's been there and got the t-shirt.

Sales Training
A week of product familiarity, sales messages, marketing training and immersion in the values and benefits of the magazine. How to use Act. How to build a sales book, how to confirm business and how to invoice and manage the business. Delivery of the operational manual.

Software Training
How to make an advert in Quark, then how to make a page and then how to make a magazine. Three days spread over a three week period covering all aspects of design and print. Tasks and projects to develop the creative sense and to meet customers’ needs. Introduction to Photoshop and Illustrator and Acrobat as they apply to the task in hand.
The Business - How to keep up to date. Required records for running the business. Distribution and its challenges. Building a map of your territory.

And continuing...
Meetings in between every other publication hosted by the licensor. Free biscuits.

If you fancy running your own business which is fun, occasionally hard work, ethical and fits in with your family responsibilities call me on 01453 755456 and have a chat. If you're not dynamic enough to pick up the phone this business is not for you.