A Model for Rural Development: Womeninc is Expanding Again
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A Model for Rural Development: Womeninc is Expanding AgainBy Lee Egerstrom Minnesota 2020 Fellow This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Forget New York’s Madison Avenue and London’s Fleet Street. In our backyard, students of entrepreneurship might want to look near the Iowa border to see how Fairmont, Minn., is becoming a hub of publishing and advertising. Fairmont isn’t really a small town by southern Minnesota standards. But with a population of 10,403, it isn’t the first city one might think of for publishing and ad agency services. As a mid-point location between Mankato, Minn., and Sioux Falls, S.D., and in close proximity to other center city communities in Minnesota and Iowa, Fairmont is surrounded by larger cities. It is home for entrepreneur Kay Sauck who sees geography in market terms, not as a barrier for starting and operating businesses. That was reason enough to plant her business roots right where she lived. Sauck started the Sauck & Brown advertising agency in 1991. It evolved to provide special graphic arts services for a select group of clients, while it still operated as a basic advertising and promotion agency for Fairmont area businesses. Along the way, the company changed its name to the Center for Advertising and Promotions, although it remained a privately held company. The company now does business under the name The Ad Pros. The company’s momentum was building. Three years ago, Sauck started Womeninc magazine in Fairmont. This is where Sauck and her enterprises become candidates for case studies of entrepreneurship. Looking back at the earlier years, “It wasn’t a successful business by any means,” she said. One day while visiting a gift shop at a resort in northern Iowa, she wondered how the store operator reached people beyond her small community. “It was a problem for her,” Sauck recalled. And it got Sauck thinking of new ways to reach broader markets, using what the publishing world and social scientists call “old media” techniques in an era when everyone else is rushing toward “convergence” on the Internet. Sauck started Womeninc as a bimonthly magazine geared toward, but not exclusively, to women in south-central Minnesota and north-central Iowa. Since Fall 2004, Womeninc has expanded from six free editions a year to a combination of the six bi-monthly issues and six special editions with both free and paid circulation of 26,000. While starting the magazine intent on serving businesswomen and the advertisers who wanted to reach them, she quickly found her “stakeholders” had diverse interests. Focus groups pointed out that they wanted stories about everyday life and human-interest stories about overcoming challenges as well as stories about women in business. A doctor in Fairmont writes a column in each issue. So does Bryan Stading, who operates the Riverbend Center for Entrepreneurial Facilitation at Mankato, who was the economic development and business specialist who helped Sauck with her business plans. Employment at her enterprises grew from two to 14. Demand for the magazine has her expanding to include readers and advertisers in 30 counties in Minnesota, Iowa and eastern South Dakota. To support the expansion, she is now looking to add from eight to 12 new employees who will serve both the magazine and the advertising agency in the larger geographic region. The Womeninc story has lessons for why states and local communities should support creative entrepreneurs instead of simply trying to get large manufacturing plants to relocate to their communities. The benefits of small business growth affect Fairmont and other rural communities in direct and secondary ways. Fairmont, in Martin County, had a population loss of 4.5 percent, from 10,889 to 10,403 from the 2000 Census to the 2005 mid-census estimate. The surrounding county went from 21,802 people in 2000 to 21,002 in 2005. Sauck’s businesses are at least helping to hold the community together if not reverse the negative demographic trends. Some of her graphic designers have married and moved to other towns. Using the tools of the “new media,” however, they continue to work for her firms via the Internet. Then there is the value-added component, added Ruth Theobald, the operations manager for the The Ad Pros agency. The graphic design team at the agency also does the artistic work for the magazine, she said. Secondary benefits extend to other rural-based businesses as well. A modern publishing company at Long Prairie, Minn., prints the slick magazine. A nearby Iowa publishing firm prints special sections for the magazine. The gender component of Sauck’s enterprises is only of marginal significance. Foremost, these businesses show the importance of encouraging entrepreneurship in Minnesota because growth and development from these firms are real and lasting. This component comes into play only because Minnesota isn’t the leader is should be in encouraging women business ownership and entrepreneurship. The Center for Women’s Business Research notes that Minnesota ranks 17th among the states with businesses where women own 51 percent or more of the enterprise. These firms rank 27th among states in providing employment, and 22nd among states in sales generated by these firms. The trend lines, however, aren’t as impressive. The research center found Minnesota ranks 33rd among states in the growth of these women-owned companies, 49th in employment growth and 39th among states overall by using a combination of measures. For information about Womeninc magazine, check the website. For data on women-owned business in Minnesota, check the Center for Women's Business Research. And for helpful information on women’s business issues and development, check the Minnesota Women’s Consortium; the National Association of Women Business Owners, Minnesota Chapter; the Global Women’s Network; and WomenVenture. Courtacy of: Minnesota 2020 2324 University Avenue West Suite 204 Saint Paul, MN 55114 Phone: 651-917-1026 Fax: 651-917-0765
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