We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Laura Prather. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Laura below.
Alright, Laura thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
Publishing a magazine was never on my list of dreams at any time in my life. As a teen, I thought it would be awesome to have a job as a photo journalist for a publication like National Geographic. But, as I wasn’t the best photographer and a less-than-enthusiastic “C” student in English, I let the dream fade into nothing more than an unrealistic wish meant for someone else. Fast forward nearly forty years as I held the first printed copy of my magazine in my hand. A flashback to my dream as teenager was suddenly back in my memory and I realized that in my hands lay my heart’s desire; and I didn’t even know it until that moment.
Forty years is a long time to realize a dream. The interesting part is that this was a dream not consciously pursued. My past included several business ventures that served its purpose at the moment. However, I now clearly see my past ventures as preparation, stepping stones, if you will, culminating to the point of launching a magazine.
In a way, I carried the idea of the magazine for several years, but I didn’t perceive it as a magazine. All I knew was there was something stirring in my heart which my previous businesses didn’t fulfill; a certain “itch” unscratched. In the Fall of 2021, I notified my clients I was phasing out of my business. It was a step of faith as there was nothing in the horizon. However, I had come to adopt the belief that starting small—starting with what was in my hand—was how faith was expressed in real life. While I didn’t particularly know my next step, I knew that I wanted to write; there were thoughts, life lessons, and stories eager to come out of my soul and shared with others.
Tacking a large sheet of paper to my wall, I began to write the words and ideas circulating in my head. A name popped out and I wrote it at the top of the paper. Then a flood of ideas poured forth as I quickly scribbled them on the paper with large, colorful markers. Off to the side, in a corner, I wrote, “magazine?” but then prompting ignored it returning to other thoughts. Stepping back to observe the scrawled marks, I asked myself what could I do, right now, to move forward. It’s impossible to steer anything that isn’t in motion, I needed to to start doing something and then could alter course as needed.
While not considered an expert, I did have some skills with website building and I had done blogging in the past. So, I built a website with the purpose of blogging to see where it led. I named the blog “Paola Lane” (Paola means small and I thought it perfect). Even after announcing my new blo, I had exactly ZERO readers, but I continued to blog anyway. Then, a friend reached out to me and in our catching up said, “You need to do a magazine”. It was a nice idea but still imagined it an impossibility as I had no professional training in design or writing.
However, that conversation planted a thought that would not leave me. By January of 2022, that idea of a magazine was nearly screaming in my head so I told a few people I was going to start a digital magazine. There was no determination of WHEN, it would be someday but being convinced I did not have the skills needed, I wasn’t eager to be serious about it. On the other hand, I thought surely it wouldn’t be much different than a blog. However, by the last week of January 2022, during times of prayer, there was no question left in my mind. I was to launch a magazine and I had to pick a date. With the same eagerness of ripping off a bandaid, I chose April 21, 2022 and promptly announced it publicly as a way to force my fear and doubts to take a back seat.
Now I had three months to figure out how to design a magazine. I had no business plan or even an idea of what the magazine was to be about. In order to start my first issue I considered what was on my heart at the time—a desire to rediscover myself and the joys of life. I prayed and then the song, “For The Beauty of The Earth” came to my mind. That sounded like a great topic for my first issue. From there I purchased stacks of magazine and studied the pages asking myself what I did and did not like about the layouts, articles, covers, etc. Then I thought about people I knew who were artists and asked if they had some art I could use that reflected the theme of “For The Beauty of The Earth”.
I started one page at a time, covering every step with prayer as I literally had no idea what I was doing. I interviewed a florist in my small town where I lived. Another interview was with a friend who was, at the time, composing an orchestral work involving the telling a story through music. A couple other people contributed stories and on April 21, 2022 the very first issue of Paola Lane Magazine was published digitally! There were lots of mistakes, many of the photos were taken with my camera phone, and I had to write and edit as a “C” English student.
The next issue came three months later but the day after it was published as a digital magazine, I was connected to a local printer at a community college who could print as little as one copy of the magazine. Immediately I sent him my digital files and ordered several copies. And so, with Issue No. 2, Paola Lane Magazine was printed for the first time in August 2022.
It was at this point, holding my second issue IN MY HANDS that I realized I had not only become a photo journalist of sorts, but I was the very proud owner, creative director, editor, and publisher of a magazine.
With each edition I have learned volumes and increased my skills. Nine editions later, my first issue is still one of my favorites because it holds so much meaning. That first edition is a beautiful picture of starting with what’s in my hand, adding a bit of faith, and watching God multiply what little I had into something amazing and beyond what I could have dreamt, fulfilling my hidden heart’s desire.
Laura, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
In addition to what I shared previously, I also own a vintage typewriter business, Jot & Tittle Vintage Typewriters. It’s a business I do with my husband. The typewriter business was started more for fun and an inspiration for my urge to start writing. The business flourished and was the source of funding for the magazine since I am choosing to not use advertisers at this point.
As I mentioned previously, I began the magazine without any thought as to it’s purpose other than it was a platform to write what was on my heart and the life lessons I learn. As the magazine grows it has certainly defined itself to really be a journey. I created something I needed. More than something entertaining or beautiful to flip through, I wanted to provide something of substance without neglecting the beauty and delight readers crave in a magazine.
Paola Lane began to develop out of my desire for rediscovery of myself, of how to enjoy life more, and see the beauty in everything. With our kids out of the home and grown I found my purpose shifted from being so focused on raising my son to realizing many years had passed since I thought about what I wanted to do. Now, I was asking what I had to offer. There was still a drive to create and be active mentally. But now with years of “life” behind me, it was like I looked up and wondered if I had the same passions or what had changed within me. If anything, I had a very different view of the world and there seemed to be so much more to discover and learn. I wanted to slow down reap the wisdom of nature and live a spiritually rich life.
At first, I thought the magazine would be for women of any age but then I saw how different each season of life is. The younger readers like the look, imagery, and flow of the magazine but either didn’t have the time to read or found the content more introspective than what they desired. Surprisingly, multiple stories of husbands picking up their wives magazine trickled in. The men especially enjoyed reading the articles. Now, roughly 20-25% of my subscribers are men. It never occurred to me the need for deep introspection by women AND men as we reach the time in our lives when our kids are independent, we’ve lived at a furious pace for decades, and now we want to slow down to drink of the joy and wisdom of life.
As time went on, it was clear that my own questions and ponderings out of the season of my life resonated with others and there wasn’t the mental or spiritual depth available in magazines that also carried the visual and emotional delight I found in many of my favorite publications. I am bringing those together.
This magazine has become a whole life journey. Each theme I bear personally for three months before the launch of a new publication. Taking the themes, I read multiple books, listen to videos and podcasts, ask myself tough questions and live out the theme in my daily life. As a result, each magazine is a piece of my heart, my own experience, along with the stories and experiences of others. Many of my readers have commented how they can feel how much I put myself into each edition and, somehow, that makes it relatable and intriguing for them.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
My magazine subscriber base is extremely small and grows by word of mouth, However, it carries a very high retention rate (95% as of this writing). The reason for this is a consistent email list. I learned, quite by accident, through my typewriter business, the power of an email list. Before I ever published my first magazine, I began an email list. Every Wednesday morning at 7 AM, I send a short email with quality content for free. A meditation of the week, if you will. Roughly 20% of my email subscribers are magazine subscribers and I’d love to increase that conversion. Relationships and loyalty take time and my weekly emails are an investment into my future, an investment into relationships expressed through the magazine and through a private membership group.
If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?
I created a membership group for those readers who wanted an even deeper experience. It’s call UNVEILED. While the magazine is introspective and spiritually rich, I am careful to keep it on the lighter side, leaving space for the reader to search out and ponder. However, I had so much that I wasn’t sharing and desired to connect on a deeper level with others that I created a membership group. It will max out at thirty participants, at which point I’ll start a wait list. For this group, I make myself available to them personally. I send out a snail mail letter every month, host a monthly live zoom call, and have a private Facebook group. In addition, the members get extra content with each magazine. This is my favorite part of the business as my members are becoming friends and very dear to my heart.
Additionally, to generate more revenue, I am slowly offering gifts that are either created by me or support the themes within the magazine. I have notecards that I’ve designed and this fall I’ll offer handmade leather portfolios that I make in my studio. I have several in production at the moment. Anything I do offer will support the topics and personality of the magazine.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.paolalane.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paolalanemag
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paolalanemag
Image Credits
Photos by Samantha Jacobs