Marie Sherlock
Editor, Metro Parent Magazine
Our
MOM-E of the Month is Marie Sherlock, owner and editor of Metro Parent
Magazine. Marie is mom to Ben, age 19, and Scott, age 17.
Parenting magazine serving the Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA metropolitan area
Target audience: Our readers are parents of kids, mostly ages 14 or so and under. Our advertisers are trying to reach this demographic.
Job held before you started this biz:
Editor of Portland Parent, Metro Parent's predecessor (before that, I
was a freelance writer/editor/author and - in a previous life! - a
lawyer)
Initial Start-Up Costs: about $85,000 (and slave wages for the first year or so)
Initial Funding Source(s): Personal savings
First "woohoo!" business moment:
I don't know if it was the first such moment but winning multiple
awards from Parenting Publications of America (a national trade group
for parenting magazines) certainly was the biggest "woohoo!"-
especially this past year when we won seven. It's far more gratifying
to get that kind of feedback - that we're putting out a quality
publication - than it is to make money at this (although that's
important, admittedly!).
Biggest Mistake-Turned-Teaching-Moment: I
think the biggest mistake we've made (and continue to make!) is not
getting enough help - as in, trying to do too much ourselves,
especially in the tight economy...
How you feel about competition in your industry: Everyone locally is very kind, super nice - and I think we're all struggling with the economic downturn.
Greatest source of clients for your biz: For
the most part, our salespeople just keep their eyes and ears open and
approach those businesses that they feel would be benefited by a
presence in the magazine.
Your inspiration:
Since I was a young child, I always loved to write. I got off track -
going to law school, trying that for awhile - but fate took me back to
writing. I think being the editor of Metro Parent (and one of the
owners) is sort of what I was meant to be. That sounds corny when I
write it down - corny but pretty accurate.
#1 piece of business advice everyone should follow:
The same advice I give my kids about life in general: follow your
passion. Life's too short to work hard at something you don't love.
#1 sanity-saving tip for work/life balance: Haven't figured this one out yet!