The majority of homes in the UK will receive some sort of advertising literature through their door each week. It might be a free paper, or just a take-away menu. It might be a parish magazine or a flyer for a new local business. My business is based around the amalgamation of all those things: it’s a local community magazine paid for by advertising.
Now you may have read in the press or heard on the radio that advertising has seen a real downturn, especially during the recession last year. Headlines such as: “Without the X-Factor ITV would be out of business”; “Another local newspapers closes down” and “Advertising revenues are down again”.
Well I don’t doubt that’s true for most advertising businesses. But very quietly in the background, hundreds of local magazine owners have been ticking along doing very nicely thank you. What I heard throughout 2009 and into 2010 was “This is my best year ever”, “I’m up 15% on last year” and “I’ve added 
another section to my magazine”. You see, while the corporates have been slashing revenues and staff, left, right and centre, the little guys have been advertising like mad. All those plumbers, carpet fitters, beauticians and independent garages have said “I can’t rely on word-of-mouth so how can I advertise with a small budget?”
Where better to advertise that directly to the people who are most likely to use you – the residents within a couple of miles of your base? And the quickest and most cost-effective way of doing this is to place an advert in a community magazine.
Although many areas do already have a community magazine, there are more town and villages not covered than there are.
We have run our own magazine – and at times several magazines – for well over six years now. I say ‘we’ because three years ago my husband Kevin gave up his business knowing there was more profit and less work in mine, to concentrate on helping our own business to grow.
And for the last five years I’ve helped other individuals across the UK to achieve their dreams: Through my business startup program – called Mags to Riches – you too could have a highly profitable work from home business running a local community magazine.