Would you buy?

[Andy Hamilton]

Myself and David have been bowled over by the response that this site has created.

As a result we wonder if we could create a real service for people. If any of you have heard of a drink company called innocent, we are thinking of the same sort of thing.

http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/us.html

We would both love to give up what we are doing and sell fair trade organic cotton/hemp clothes, start a self sufficiency magazine/online TV station, sell sufficient products that are hard to find....

In short help people (you lot) to live the life that you want to.

Are we going over board and sounding silly, or do you think that we should invest a years worth of time an money in finding out. Any comment would be good and we both promise that we will take no offence from any answers. If you would rather pm or email me us then go ahead.

[Wombat]

I think it is a good idea. Like anything, I am sure that it would take work and there is no guarentee of success, but it is worth a go.

As always I am willing to help where I can

Nev

[gill_didsbury]

I think its a GREAt idea

What are the smoothies made from??
We have a company here in Australia called "Boost Juice" that makes all natural fruit drinks. But they dont eliver. They are a shop.

The magazine is a GREAt idea too, hope you send it to Australia!!!

Gill

[wulf]

No idea, I'm afraid - I don't have an entrepreneurial bone in my body so can't really offer much constructive thought either way!

Wulf

[sunpuppy]

I think the magazine is a great idea and I believe there is a market for it. I had half an idea to do something like this myself (but suffer from terminal procrastination!), as there is not much of a self-sufficientish nature in mainstream shops like WH Smiths, Borders etc. The only one that is remotely related is Permaculture magazine, which I think doesn't really have the mass appeal that a Self-Sufficientish mag might have.

After all, I guess the idea would be to encourage the general public to become more informed about things like self-sufficiency, reducing waste, downsizing etc, and I think you guys would be in a very good position to "bring it to the masses", since you already have a successful website with a strong following (and we're such a friendly bunch, just waiting, poised to welcome the massive influx of newly converted self-sufficientish bods!)

As for the eco-products/clothes angle, there are already a few companies doing this, and anyway it wouldn't be half as much fun as knowing your magazine gave people the impetus (and know-how) to reduce their impact on the planet. Half the time, I think that's the problem - people just don't realise how easy it is to make small changes to their lifestyle.

BTW, I used to be a press officer many moons ago, and would be up for getting involved with writing articles, press releases, publicity etc!

[ina]

I'm sure you'd make a good thing out of a magazine, but I certainly wouldn't buy it - there's too much paper lying about in my living room already that I never get round to reading. And I am afraid the people who'd really need it, wouldn't spend money on it either...

There are a few companies that sell organic/fair trade clothes, but to my mind there aren't enough out there yet! The few there are always seem to be out of what I want, and they don't offer anything for the larger half of the population, anyway. (From which complaint you may conclude that I belong to this half.) So if you sold organic jeans in really large sizes, not just up to 34, you could count on me as a customer!

Cheers
Ina :naka:

(Know what I mean?)

[Andy Hamilton]

Clothing is a difficult one, companies seem to have woken up as far as organic veg is concerned but especially on the fair trade cotton issue, no one seems to bother about the plight of cotton workers.

[ina]

There are some nice organic clothes available in Fair Trade Shops; those are mostly of the colourful ethnic type - not very practical for work. There's also quite a lot of organic t-shirts etc on the market, and not terribly expensive, either (just ordered one for £10); I think the company I ordered that (and some other stuff) from is quite particular about fair trade, too, even if it's not especially called a fair trade company! However, all in all there's not enough of the stuff, and apart from mail order and Fair Trade Shops you can't get it anywhere.

If the availability was better, and folk became aware that it doesn't have to be terribly expensive, demand should grow, which would hopefully lead to more organic cotton being produced and fairly traded!

Well, one can dream.

Ina

[Chickenlady]

I think a magazine is a brilliant idea too. I used to work in magazine publishing as an editor (a long time ago!), so if you fancy giving me a job...

[shiney]

I think it's a great idea. If you are going to do a mag, are you going to call it Self Sufficientish? It's got to be eye catching and has to appeal to a wide audience.

Tracey would be a good person to ask about it. (She may even write an article or two for you)

I think you have to research to find your market. I only know this from the 2 years of hard work put into our business. We spent so many hours searching for good reliable suppliers, finding who wants what and for how much etc.

A long learning curve but we are now getting referred by happy customers.

Watch out for advertising. You need it, but we have been bitten a few times by unscrupulous advertisers. AND...it's very expensive!

[hay331]

I too think a magazine of this type would be a good idea. There a lot of people out there who don't use the Internet much and are becoming more aware of enviromental issues. Shiney mentioned "eye catching", some of the things that attracted me to this site was the name, logo and colour scheme. I don't know much about the business side of things but perhaps you would be able to sell advertising space to companies that produce/sell products and services of an "ethical" nature. You could even email Felicity Kendall and see what she thinks, you never know what might happen!

[leedarkwood]

I think you would need a lot of investment to put out a magazine that would reach the general public. It is a very cut throat business, and one that has a shrinking market and little advertising budget to cover costs. It is also a poor way of getting infomation to people, think of the transport needed, what the inks do to the environment, etc. I am sure you could find a good vehicle for your energy and passion, but you need to be sure that the market is there first. I would love to buy only fair trade clothing, but can't afford it, like most smallholders I have a wardrobe full of 'new to me' clothing from jumble sales! New clothes don't happen often if you are living on a reduced income. Right now, retail is the worst thing to even think about, read the business pages, people are paying off their debts not spending. Play to your strengths, you are good gardeners, how many organic jobbing gardeners are there for hire, or something like that? How about teaching people to garden in their own gardens, offer lessons?
Ian and I are both business people, come up and chat to us, we would love to see you both.

Lee

[hay331]

What you say makes sense Lee you obviously have experience in this field. I know I would perhaps buy an occasional magazine on a subject that interested me but I use the Internet for most things. I didn't realise how cut throat the publishing business was, but perhaps it's the same for most businesses these days. When you look at people like "Handy Andy" (don't know his real name) and Charlie Dimmock I bet they never imagined in their wildest dreams to be where they are today. He was an "ordinary" joiner and she was an "ordinary" gardener. Is there anyone offering a service to people just starting out with an allotment and growing organically? Hmm lots to think about in this thread.

Gill, did anyone answer your query about smoothies, just noticed it there! I have a smoothie at least once a day. I use a blender and put whatever fruit I have plus a bit of pure fruit juice and sometimes plain organic yogurt. Some people use ice cream, but really you can put whatever you like in it. I ususally grind some linseed, hempseed, sunflower seeds and mix that in as well. Loads of goodness that takes a few minutes to make and a few minutes to drink if you are on a tight time schedule. Quicker than toast and cereal! I sometimes make lollies with the mix (without the seed), great on a hot summers day

[Andy Hamilton]

Ian and I are both business people, come up and chat to us, we would love to see you both.

Lee

Most likely see you on the Lands end - John O'groats trip

I think yes the publishing business is a difficult one, but then again so are pretty much all businesses and it is all going to be a gamble.

[greenbean]

Hi Andy,
I think you should take Lee's advice and got talk to him and some other publishing professionals. I know nothing about publishing but have been self-employed in the past, one was a retail business (art and picture framing shop), I am also self-employed now. There's a lot to think about. How will you fund the magazine? You may need to convince people to invest in you. Have you thought about how to attract advertisers yourself? What is your unique selling point?
I always like to encourage anyone who has the guts to do something themselves, however I am fearful of this magazine idea. Also, reading many of your posts Andy and the feeling that you have generated on this site, I have to say I think you might be too nice a guy, I imagine the publishing world is more interested in advertising revenue than the features and stories they produce. If you have spotted a genuine gap in the marketplace then well done, your research will tell you what to do.