I'm a horrible blogger, but with reason!!
Okay, here it goes... I am a horrible blogger. I can't even begin to tell you how bad I feel for not keeping my posts up to date, and the sad part is that every seveal days I would think of my poor lonely blog floating in space somewhere and I'd valiently make up my mind to once and for all make a post by the end of the day. Clearly, I was procrastinating. Not to make excuses for my absence or anything, but there is very good (and even amazing) reasons why you haven't seen me around lately.
In my last few posts I discussed that my boyfriend and I were planning on creating a publication to distribute here in Halifax - we did! The ball started to really roll in July 2008. After the business plan was completed, we met with several people - the bank to open an account, to see about loans, etc. We also met with our local ACOA agency about different things we would need, like advertising contracts, environemental research, etc. Once we had a partnership areement in place and set defined our roles for each other, we set out to make it happen. I took the role of advertising and marketing manager, and my boyfriend took on the role of graphic designer and layout artist. Our skill sets and abilities really fit well in this particular situation, and it was a healthy challenge to really work harmoniously together as a team. After many long hours, and basically working two full time jobs for a few weeks (my regular Inside Sales job, and trying to simultaneously make contacts and land ad contracts with eco-friendly businesses), the deadline for printing was closing in. We were both very stressed out with the pressue of carrying this project solely on our two backs. The night before printing submission, we were up all night, cranky and tired. But once the final PDF was completed and ready to send to the printer, the world was beautiful again, and we were very pleased with our hard work. After an intense all-nighter, we took a stroll to Point Pleasant Park to watch the sunrise. It felt amazing - like the Journal days all over again.
The first issue of Halifax Retro saw daylight on September 13th, 2008. It was launched at the local Farmers' Market (they were very big supporters to us). After the preliminary launch, we packed up our book-bags on a few nights and made personal deliveries to all of the little nooks in Halifax. Halifax Retro is Halifax's Sustainable Publication, which covers a lot of environmenal and political content that mainstream media wont touch. Needless to say, our tight-knit, local supporters loved it - students, environmentalists, and local businesses alike.
Halifax Retro is a tool for people who understand that they should be more weary about the environement, sustainability, and supporting local businesses, but don't know where to start, or why to care. Halifax Retro is a learning process for its writers and readers to try and figure out ways in which we can make a difference, starting in our own lives.
We have completed 3 back-to-back issues now, but due to the monumentous responsiblity of attaining and maintaining advertisers throughout every issue and trying to manage the content between just two people, it was becoming more of a burden than a thing of inspiration. After all, Halifax Retro wasn't created to profit off of - it was created so that we and everyone involved (writers and readers) could have a common outlet, to be educated on their immediate and distant environments, and to create peaceful change in our city. And because Halifax Retro only advertises eco-friendly and small local businesses rather than huge conglomerates (aka tabacco companies), breaking even, let alone making a profit, was a little too much to expect on our part. So, the best solution we could think of was to scrap the overhead of printing all-together and fully concentrate on the content and development of the Halifax Retro cause. And, therefore, Halifax Retro goes online!!!
We are still currently working on the look and content of the website itself - creating a user-friendly interface among other things, and playing around with various designs. One of our main concerns is the fact that it will be difficult to cater strictly to Halifax with a website, and we want to include whoever is interested in our content. What we plan to do is have a dedicated section for Halifax Retro, while the rest of the website will include topics and subjects that apply nationally, and even globally. Keeping Halifax engaged is very important to us, as we have deep roots here, and believe Halifax is an incubation zone for positive action - environmentally, socially, and politically.
We have a facebook group - just search for Halifax Retro. All recent updates can be found there. I have tons and tons more to post, but I don't want to ramble on and on and on, so I will save it for another day (in the not-so-distant future!). I hope this explanation of my MIA suffices - I wouldn't just leave for no good reason! I hope you check back soon!
Keep Bizzy!!!
In my last few posts I discussed that my boyfriend and I were planning on creating a publication to distribute here in Halifax - we did! The ball started to really roll in July 2008. After the business plan was completed, we met with several people - the bank to open an account, to see about loans, etc. We also met with our local ACOA agency about different things we would need, like advertising contracts, environemental research, etc. Once we had a partnership areement in place and set defined our roles for each other, we set out to make it happen. I took the role of advertising and marketing manager, and my boyfriend took on the role of graphic designer and layout artist. Our skill sets and abilities really fit well in this particular situation, and it was a healthy challenge to really work harmoniously together as a team. After many long hours, and basically working two full time jobs for a few weeks (my regular Inside Sales job, and trying to simultaneously make contacts and land ad contracts with eco-friendly businesses), the deadline for printing was closing in. We were both very stressed out with the pressue of carrying this project solely on our two backs. The night before printing submission, we were up all night, cranky and tired. But once the final PDF was completed and ready to send to the printer, the world was beautiful again, and we were very pleased with our hard work. After an intense all-nighter, we took a stroll to Point Pleasant Park to watch the sunrise. It felt amazing - like the Journal days all over again.
The first issue of Halifax Retro saw daylight on September 13th, 2008. It was launched at the local Farmers' Market (they were very big supporters to us). After the preliminary launch, we packed up our book-bags on a few nights and made personal deliveries to all of the little nooks in Halifax. Halifax Retro is Halifax's Sustainable Publication, which covers a lot of environmenal and political content that mainstream media wont touch. Needless to say, our tight-knit, local supporters loved it - students, environmentalists, and local businesses alike.
Halifax Retro is a tool for people who understand that they should be more weary about the environement, sustainability, and supporting local businesses, but don't know where to start, or why to care. Halifax Retro is a learning process for its writers and readers to try and figure out ways in which we can make a difference, starting in our own lives.
We have completed 3 back-to-back issues now, but due to the monumentous responsiblity of attaining and maintaining advertisers throughout every issue and trying to manage the content between just two people, it was becoming more of a burden than a thing of inspiration. After all, Halifax Retro wasn't created to profit off of - it was created so that we and everyone involved (writers and readers) could have a common outlet, to be educated on their immediate and distant environments, and to create peaceful change in our city. And because Halifax Retro only advertises eco-friendly and small local businesses rather than huge conglomerates (aka tabacco companies), breaking even, let alone making a profit, was a little too much to expect on our part. So, the best solution we could think of was to scrap the overhead of printing all-together and fully concentrate on the content and development of the Halifax Retro cause. And, therefore, Halifax Retro goes online!!!
We are still currently working on the look and content of the website itself - creating a user-friendly interface among other things, and playing around with various designs. One of our main concerns is the fact that it will be difficult to cater strictly to Halifax with a website, and we want to include whoever is interested in our content. What we plan to do is have a dedicated section for Halifax Retro, while the rest of the website will include topics and subjects that apply nationally, and even globally. Keeping Halifax engaged is very important to us, as we have deep roots here, and believe Halifax is an incubation zone for positive action - environmentally, socially, and politically.
We have a facebook group - just search for Halifax Retro. All recent updates can be found there. I have tons and tons more to post, but I don't want to ramble on and on and on, so I will save it for another day (in the not-so-distant future!). I hope this explanation of my MIA suffices - I wouldn't just leave for no good reason! I hope you check back soon!
Keep Bizzy!!!
posted by MissBiz | 9:36 PM
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