We recently connected with Danny Shuster and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Danny thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?
Like most businesses, WDW Magazine began as a solo operation but is now the work of a dedicated team of talented and passionate professionals. We have always prioritized a tight-knit, collaborative workspace, and strive to keep our team small but effective. When adding new employees to the organization we talk about finding the right person for the right seat (RPRS). In the beginning it was absolutely essential that our employees be multi-talented, in the early days you could list all the employees on one hand so everyone had to share a lot of responsibilities and roles. I’m proud to say we have grown over the last 10 years to include 13 full time employees and dozens of regular contributors which has given us the freedom to better focus and utilize the unique talents of our staff.
When we recruit we are looking for a combination of skills, professionalism, and passion. Our business is uniquely focused on a topic that so many people are passionate about. The love for Disney, its theme parks, products, experiences, and entertainment offerings casts a wide net and we are never short on candidates with a true passion for the subject matter. But being a passionate Disney fan, is not in and of itself, a job qualification for our company. We need to find the people who can channel that passion and excitement into their unique, professional abilities.
One unique aspect of our hiring process is a Disney knowledge assessment. This is a short quiz designed by our CEO (also my wife and co-owner), Stephanie Shuster. It’s a series of questions used to gauge a candidate’s familiarity with Disney parks, products, and experiences. This is not a pass or fail test and a successful hire is not necessarily the candidate who scored the highest. The Disney test is an assessment tool we use to help understand knowledge gaps and learn more about what facets of the Disney experience our potential hires are most engaged in. This is all part of helping us find that RPRS fit for the company.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
At WDW Magazine, we’re not just Disney fans. We are a team of professionals in our respective fields—leaders, photographers, writers, editors, and artists that have come together to focus our skills on bringing you the very best news, advice, information, interviews, details, and behind-the-scenes stories to celebrate our collective obsession: all things Disney. Our goal is to provide our readers with the thing we crave most: that moment of escape from the everyday, a little Disney fix to hold them over until their next trip “home”, and a safe space to express their fandom (or as we like to say, fly their Disney flags).
Since 2013 we’ve been a trusted resource for our readers and we’ve grown our company from being the only monthly Disney-focused magazine to become an award-winning media outlet that publishes two high quality, oversized, glossy Disney magazines: WDW Magazine and DLR Magazine, which are delivered to our subscribers around the world (they’re also available in digital format for our readers who prefer to read on their favorite devices). Our blog and social media channels keep readers up-to-date daily with the latest from Disney parks around the globe, Disney signature experiences and products, and Disney entertainment.
Most importantly, we’ve cultivated a warm, positive, helpful community of over 460,000 fans who just love Disney and want to talk about it, share their experiences, and help one another. They’re our kind of people!
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
Our flagship product is our monthly print magazine, 64 oversized pages of spectacular photos and fascinating, original content,all about our favorite topic: Disney. The company began as a digital only operation and the magazine was distributed to readers electronically. Our digital edition is still alive and well but our readers made it very clear from the outset that a print edition is what they really wanted. The move into print was daunting to say the least, but there is an undeniable joy to the experience of picking up a physical copy of the magazine. We knew our products had to have a strong impact from the second the reader touched an issue.
Through a series of trial and error we experimented with different print shops and different print techniques before finding our long time printing partners at Freeport Press in New Philadelphia Ohio. While we knew intuitively how we wanted the finished product to look (and that we wanted to keep printing in the USA to reduce carbon footprint and further contribute to the American economy), the team at Freeport had the experience, equipment, and knowledge to make it a reality. With their support we have refined every aspect of our print production from the choice of paper stock, to the inks, the type of printing press, and even the packaging and shipping logistics. It has been an iterative process to refine our product to ensure we can deliver a magazine with high visual impact to our dedicated audience.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
A clear focus and commitment to our core values. At WDW Magazine we foster an inclusive and safe community that connects Disney fans with the magic, no matter where they are. We do this through our award-winning magazine, with our unique Disney-themed products, and our vibrant online communities. We have built a reputation for accurate, authentic, and high-quality coverage. We may not be the first outlet to break news about Disney but our coverage is accurate and thorough. We consistently deliver a high quality product to our customers. We source our own writing and photography to ensure high quality standards and we create new content on a consistent schedule. These core values have guided us since day one and while we have evolved and expanded the business, we have remained consistent to our goal to create a space that celebrates Disney and lets fans share their mutual excitement.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wdw-magazine.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wdwmagazine/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WDWMagazine
- Linkedin: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/wdw-magazine
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@WDWMagazine
- Other: We are making preparations for our third magazine title, DCL Magazine, focused on Disney cruise line. For more information please join the wait list here: https://wdw-magazine.ac-page.com/dcl-waitlist