|
Site map & index of businesses, articles & discussions
|
|
|
||
|
|
History
|
|
|
|
The original idea for Children’s Guide was inspired by a job I was doing for a client (actually, my local council) some years ago. Having worked on council projects in the past, my events & communications company was contracted to help develop a Residents’ Guide and Go Local Directory which was printed and 50,000 copies distributed for free to the whole community in 2007. It was a great guide to the various services provided by council and other local community organisations, sports facilities, health services, retailers, tradesmen and so on.
I did think, however, that it would be fantastic to have a similar publication directed at families. As a parent I regularly collected dozens of flyers and brochures which ended in cluttered, collapsing piles, visited difficult to navigate websites, and tried to decode directory and search engine terms, just wishing I could have everything accessible in one place.
My council wasn’t in a position to publish another book so soon, so between my two kids and work I wrote a proposal and approached other organisations. With no interest and no takers I suggested to my darling NJ that I write the book myself. I think the insane look in my eyes was infectious because he completely supported me and away I went.
Looking further out of just my local council area to the whole of Sydney’s inner west, I turned my proposal into a project plan, received advice and familiarised myself with copyright and publishing laws, got printing quotes and prepared a budget, and designed info packs and registration forms for local businesses. I displayed it all beautifully in folders which I put in the bottom of my 2 year old son’s pram and started pushing. We walked up and down the streets of Ashfield, Balmain, Leichhardt, Rhodes and more, saying hi to businesses and telling them of my grand idea. Like NJ, some of them were infected by my insanity, signed up and handed over money to register and advertise.
I hired an amazing graphic designer and photographer and ran an art competition amongst local schools in search of a cover picture. Not enough businesses handed over money, so NJ and I look several very deep breaths, went to the bank and drew a rather large cheque from our personal savings. We sent the book to print and Children’s Guide, City & Inner West 2008 – 2009 was born.
We were also expecting another birth as I was pregnant with my 3rd child. The largest and most uncomfortable pregnancy of all my 3 kids, I suffered morning-noon-night sickness and woke up with a headache every single day for 8 and a half months. This was during the time that I was pushing the pram, phoning businesses, doing a lot of data entry and setting up a basic website, mostly laying on my side on the sofa with the laptop because I just felt so blah and yuck!
Children’s Guide was launched at the 2008 Sydney Pregnancy Babies & Children’s Expo. 3,000 copies of the book were delivered to our home along with posters, flyers and our first newsletter. With the help of some of my designer’s friends, at 7 months pregnant I stood around the PBC Expo for 3 days with serious heart-burn and a lot of pride. I’d written a book! It really was the worst time not to be able to drink champagne.
Books were distributed to newsagencies throughout the inner west and a few weeks later I got a phone call from the City of Canada Bay Council saying that I’d been nominated for the most child friendly business category in their annual Sustainability Awards. I never found out who nominated me but a massive thank you! NJ and I took our 2 week old son to the ceremony and I won!
Armed with an award, a book and a plan to write similar books for all the other areas of Sydney (yes, all around my 3 kids and still running my business) I started phoning other councils and businesses. I also started receiving fantastic feedback from other parents about what they liked and what they would like to see more of in Children’s Guide. The most significant feedback throughout 2010 was a majority desire to see the information available on the internet, rather than in book form. I really wanted my books, but I thought it was more sensible to listen to what other parents wanted.
So I took all the feedback and suggestions, rewrote my project plan yet again, and with a lot of assistance from the drop-down help menus of my website and database programs, redesigned the simple brochure-style website to be, as requested, a comprehensive website for Sydney in 2011. And as I didn’t have printing costs to think about anymore (the insane look in my eye has returned) I could go national with an interactive website in 2012!
I can’t really say “and the rest, as they say, is history” because this is really just the start. I sincerely hope it does well, because I’ve put a note on my company’s website saying it’s temporarily closed for business. My little team and I have to work hard to make Children’s Guide work or we’ll be looking for other jobs soon so we can feed our kids.
Julia Publisher
Comment, like, Tweet or share this page via our blog….
|
|
Comments
link below....