The start of bizMe

I thought for my first blog entry that it is only fitting that I address the questions that everyone wants to know. How did you start bizMe and what is a typical day like for you? Great questions so here we go:

How did I start bizMe:

When I read articles that talk about entrepreneurs that started great businesses they seem to have many traits in common. They were the children that started the lawn service at 5 years old or that generated revenue off their lemonade stand at the age of 3. It seems that all entrepreneurs from the age of 3 were destined to make tons of money and have the traits that most Americans dream of having. Well I never had any of those traits and when I look back on my childhood to try to connect the dots of how I got here.. I can’t find anything. I used to run around like any normal kid, my days were consumed by sports, not by making money. My dream was to get a Division scholarship for volleyball not to be the next Donald Trump.

When I went to college I wanted to work for an ad agency then that turned into sports marketing, then to a financial broker and then finally my junior year I took a magazine writing class and fell in love with the printed word, the four color glossy magazine and the way I felt when I went through the pages of my favorite magazine.

My first thought was “I am going to be the publisher of Vogue, InStyle magazine, People magazine,” dream big or go home, isn’t that what they always say!

bizMe was born listening to my friends talk about what they wanted to be when we left college next year, who we wanted to be, the type of lifestyle we wanted, how we were going to find jobs, where were we going to find jobs and just the plain freak out of leaving the safety net of college to move on to the “real world.”

I spent most of my senior year researching, conducting surveys, networking, talking to anyone that would listen to me about this idea I had of putting together a magazine for my demographic. People started to listen and the wheels were in motion. The deeper and deeper I got into bizMe the more and more it consumed me. I could not think of anything else expect the thought of actually doing this magazine.

After college I got a job working for a small publishing house where we actually launched a brand new magazine. This was an awesome experience because I was able to walk through the process of starting a magazine without starting my own. Then I was off to Chicago like many young professionals do. Amazing things happen in the big city…. Or so we like to believe.

I got a job with the Chicago Tribune working with the national advertising team. I enjoyed my time there but just could not shake the idea of bizMe. I started networking with I believe every Chicagoan in the publishing industry for about a year and realized just how hard it was to break into the industry. I didn’t want to give up so I decide that I would give myself the experience and start bizMe.

I quit my job and moved back home and started bizMe. I worked on bizMe full time for a year getting ready to launch it. Initally I launched a teaser website to get the idea and start a little brand developing. I loved my first website and always will.

You know what bizMe is now, check out what bizMe was that first summer I was home: http://bizme.biz/old

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Smiles,
Amanda
Publisher
www.bizme.biz