Getting down to basics; The Small Business Journal has some big designs

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Oct 15, 1994 by Lori Marden

"More than 95 percent of all businesses in the Greater Cincinnati area are small businesses," notes Robert Glaser, which helps explain why he started The Small Business Journal, a monthly magazine launched in August.

Besides the large number of small businesses in the area, the 24-year-old entrepreneur was motivated by familial fealty: Glaser recalls the hours spent by his father, a small-business owner himself, laboriously researching such issues as tax and immigration laws, worker's compensation, hiring and firing procedures--with no central source of information to guide him.

Billed as the first small-business magazine for the Cincinnati area, the new title assists small businesses in learning about the resources available to them by providing first-time and veteran owners with a source of business information that reaches beyond the traditional news media.

Editorial covers business news and provides information on topics such as finance, networking, leasing equipment, compiling mailing lists, wholesaling and retailing, and customer service, as well as how to use and where to get the best fax machine, cellular phone, answering service and computer system for your business. Articles are written by experts in their fields, with an eye toward helping businesses work more efficiently and creatively while increasing their bottom lines. Aaron Horton is the top editor.

Based on results from a mail campaign to the area's small-business community, initial circulation is 10,000 paid. The company plans to expand and take the title national, increasing circulation to 30,000 by year's end. TSBJ is cover priced at $2.50 and has a subscription rate of $18. The company offers small-business owners a special subscription rate of $25, for which a business can be listed and its services described in Easy Access, a four-page resource directory in the middle of the book.

The 32-page premier issue carries 12 ad pages, enough to pay for the issue upfront, Glaser says. Most of those revenues come from the small-business community, although there are placements from national advertisers such as Ameritech and the U.S. Postal Service's Smart Solutions program. Address: P.O. Box 363, Westchester, OH 45071. Telephone: 513-321-6583.