The next in our series of tips from designers who have pioneered interesting businesses, we hear from someone who is living their dream as a magazine publisher…
How to…
Build a media empire
Cathy Olmedillas is a proud mum who founded Anorak Press in 2006 after initially working for 90s lifestyle bibles The Face and Sleazenation. She publishes Anorak Magazine, the ‘happy mag for kids’, four times a year, alongside creating Anorak TV and activity books.
1. Have bags and bags of passion for it. And then some more. Passion will help you survive through the tough times and will ensure no two days are the same.
2. Be prepared to be all consumed by this business of yours, because you are not just bringing a dream to life, you are literally replacing ninety-percent of your thoughts with it.
3. Be incredibly stubborn about your vision but incredibly open-minded about how to get there.
4. Surround yourself with people who know stuff you don’t and who are much better than you at one particular thing. And get an excellent bank manager. Or marry someone rich. Marrying your bank manager might help too. When I first launched Anorak, I had no idea what social networks were. I think back then there was only Facebook and MySpace. Neither Twitter nor Instagram existed. At a digital agency I met a chap called Alex Zamora who had a zine called Feverzine. He had built an incredible community of zinesters
just using MySpace and Facebook. He told me I should get on it. I remember laughing because I was convinced Facebook was just a dating site. As soon as I registered I was bowled over by the potential to connect with parents, businesses, the press and shops. We now have over 70,000 followers across all our channels, and they have been instrumental in the success of Anorak. So I owe Alex a lot.
Anorakmagazine.com
Read Robert Urquhart's article about entrepreneurial designers here.