Carrie Strimel – Bringing Communities Together – Magazine Publisher

Transcript

Welcome to The You World Orders Showcases program. Today we're talking to Carrie Strimel. Carrie takes pride in bringing communities together to prosper and grow through publishing a local neighborhood magazine. Local residents are highlighted on the cover of each magazine every month and local content is displayed.

Including calendar of events, sports pages, pet pages and more, she also publishes a faith-based magazines that is free online and it is not only beautifully designed, but always full of inspiring content.

With that, let's welcome Carrie Strimel

So welcome Carrie to The You World Order Showcase program. We're so glad to have you here and I'm really excited to hear about your magazine publishing thing that you're doing. It's really kind of a unique.

Program and it really relates to.

The whole you.

World Order concept of, you know, small local.

So, well, I'm so glad to be here.

So thank you for having me.

It's exciting to kind of share the story just the way it all kind of came about.

So definitely wasn't my purpose and design, so it's it.

It's fun to be where I'm.

At here now.

So let us know how.

It is that it did come about for you.

OK.

And so I contacted the publisher at the time and was they used to do a nonprofit feature page.

And so I was like, oh, we're right here in the community.

I'd love for them to know in the community.

You know about our nonprofit, and so that relationship turned to me being on the cover with my family, and this was in 20.

18 and so if you had asked that guy right there if she'd be doing anything with magazines or publishing, she probably would have laughed.

Had no clue about any of it, so previously I was working in medical sales and so of course, you know the world events happen and I'm no longer.

I'm no longer doing medical sales because I have a daughter with some unique needs and it all.

It came very much about her, her safety, our safety, but just navigating through all of that.

So Fast forward I spent a lot of time just kind of figuring out.

I was like, hustling, you know, doing, doing all that stuff.

And I realized that I was actually hustling a bit too much, like it wasn't a balance in my life.

And so I had to kind of figure out how do I get balance in my life that became very important to me because we aren't given a certain amount of time.

And so I just did a lot of prayer on that through that I.

I figured out learned how with a with a friend of mine to publish an online faith-based magazine and so that one we call it 40 dandelions. And is that 40 dandelions?

I love.

I love that name, the dandelions.

They just make me smile.

And today I saw my first dandelion out when I was on my walk for spring.

Go ahead. Sorry to interrupt.

Well, no, I'm glad you did.

The dandelion had 40.

Dandelions has.

A unique story.

Too, which, if we have time, I'll.

I'll explain.

I just will tie this one up.

So we have that.

But so through that it's a mission, right?

And so magazines online it's completely free.

But it doesn't provide income to keep it going.

And so that was my next step was like, OK, well, I have a mission now.

I'm 40.

Means is me and I have 12 to 15 writers that write each time awesome content.

I hope everyone will go check it out.

Definitely free help you get your faith kind of back in balance as well, which was something I had to kind of figure out.

So in that process of just looking for the right opportunity I connected with.

A local and she's doing another community magazine down the way and it just struck me that we need our magazine back and I can do that and.

It's not work.

It's so fun because I'm bringing the community together, the content very local to the community, we're going to thrive and prosper because we can connect in this way and you know, with the businesses that are around, it's just very local and you know prior to that I was thinking ohh.

All big, big out there.

Social media.

So it was very balancing for me personally and my family to be like here, here, right here where we're at around the people that are our neighbors and.

And so that's kind of the story of how that that came about.

And so that's kind of my mission is to connect with people who want to have that connection in their community.

It's a magazine, but it it's a connector, you know, and every family, every month. The family's featured on the.

And you know you want to read it cause you're like, hey, who's this in my neighborhood?

I'm gonna get to know them after I did our feature cover.

One of the things my daughter loved is we have this a TV and it has some flashing lights and we would drive around and.

We could stop. Hey, we.

Oh, you in the?

And you know, so that feeling was lost.

And I'm really hoping that what I'm doing is bringing it back so.

That's amazing.

So how often does the magazine publish?

It's every month.

That's kind of the space that we do.

And yeah, it's just every month the company that is backing these magazines is called Best version media and they're the fastest growing.

Print company in North America right now, they had record growth since they started. I think they got started in Ohh I should know this but 20-17 something like.

Up until this year, just record growth.

The most amazing company and best Virgin Media they are looking to make you be the best.

Version of yourself and so it's just great to have that kind of backing behind you to do something fun like this.

Yeah, and it's.

Like I said, it's all.

About small and local and connecting people who have services that they can provide on a personal level.

So you know the people you're doing business with.

It's just so exciting.

So when you publish these magazines?

You are a.

Publisher I.

I really don't understand what your job is.

Yes, I publishers are the ones who gather all well.

You have a content coordinator, so you have a content coordinator that you and this person go and gather content.

So we have a pet page, a sports page.

We feature the family, there's classified, there's calendar event.

And so we worked together to get that.

I worked together with the photographer to do the photo shoot for the family and do the write up.

And what I do is I just kind of gather the businesses that want to sponsor and be in the magazine.

I just gather all of that on a monthly basis and give it to best version media.

They help design, print and mail out the magazine so.

And they mail out to everybody in that community.

There's, there's, it's homeowners.

It's free to them.

So and because of the types of services and retail that's in the magazine and the family feature, it does go to home.

Homeowners is what it is in that certain area.

Yeah, that makes total sense because homeowners are, you know, they're stationary, they're going to be part of the community because, you know, they bought home there.

And they're going to be connected to other people and to the businesses.

So how do you find the businesses to support your magazine, your publication?

So that's currently what I'm doing to get this one back into print.

I would love your sponsorship, help, help us get to print and get this out every month.

It's kind of funny.

You know, so, you know, real estate agents, they're so very involved in the community, right.

Right.

And they're the ones that knows that what's going on, buying, selling of homes and that sort of.

Thing. So you, you know, real estate's really big to be in the magazine, local retail restaurants. You know, I think when you pick up the magazine and you want to know about this family, you know, as you go through each month, you're going to be like, you know what this.

Month I need a landscaper.

I'm going to look because they're the expert in my community, kind of.

Right, right.

Brings all that.

So do you have like tiered pricing and stuff for these advertisers is so it's really easy to contact.

People. Businesses.

Yeah, it's all laid out.

It's I just go into what's called my back office and, you know, I show them the sizes.

We have 8 page, quarter page, half page full page, A2 page kind of so it just kind of fits in where they see their business.

And I I hope everyone sees themselves as, you know, much more than what, like if they see themselves on an 8 page.

Right.

You know, I hope they see themselves more than that, you know?

And I helped them to kind of realize you're very valuable in.

This community.

Right.

And yes, like and then I just kind of price really.

The best thing is is you know, do you have any room in your marketing budget?

I can probably fit you in the magazine based on your budget.

So that's really interesting.

So how would people get involved with this if they if they wanted to publish a magazine in their own community?

So they can actually one of the best things to do is just reach out to me and a resume.

A resume will be sent to best version media.

They will decide based on the resume, if that publisher is a good fit, an interview will happen.

And then I I was OK with this because I've gotten into some things before where you kind of have to put money up front and then.

You know, and I wasn't sure.

Like I kind of go into things like, where's the red flags?

And if I see any red flags, yeah, I'm.

I'm out, you know.

And so when I didn't have to have a buy in, I was, like, more intrigued.

OK.

And then you do a three day training and by the end of those three days, you are trained to go be a publisher and you're excited to go be a publisher and do this in your community, it's so doable.

Because there's so much support, you have a productivity coach that backs you at best Virgin Media.

So if you need anything answered, they're there for you.

There's calls every day that you can get on, so if you don't have appointments, learn and so that support.

So yeah, then you do your three day training and you're.

Way to go, you just have to get the to that baseline so that you have the money covered to print the magazine, and then you'll learn an income based off of your sponsorships after that.

So within a month to two months, three months, depending on your time frame and how much time you can invest and there goes my puppies.

Yeah, you could be earning income very quickly.

And we kind of what kind of income is possible with this, just to give people a ballpark mean like anything however much you're going to put into, it's what you're going.

I mean it.

To get out of it, but.

I mean, and what's cool is the sky’s the limit.

So if you're in a super super small community.

You, you. You.

May be making five $10,000 a.

Month, our highest paid publisher, who has six magazines, makes over $70,000 every single month. So I mean, it's the income is limitless.

And it is going to be based on the amount of effort and you.

Know if you if you really see.

That value it's going.

To work so easy.

So what did you think?

What do you think the like the baseline income just if?

You get enough sponsors to actually get the magazine published.

Yeah, there's a there's a baseline for that.

So what would the?

What would the starting point for?

The Commission be right, right there so.

1520% maybe of where you would be any. You know where you could be at well after that.

Fair enough.

So you want to.

Tell us about the dandelion.

Right. Yeah, would love to. So like I said, go to 40dandelions.com.

A little bit.

Beautifully done.

I'm super proud of it, but it is there to really help build a better relationship with you and God, that is something that.

When you know.

I found myself stuck at home and not hustling.

I realized, yes, I'm a believer.

I really am God.

I accepted him into my heart when I was 15, and I've never turned back.

But I was just ohh he's there.

Yeah, we're good, you know.

But it became very apparent that and it it's kind of a silly story.

But I hope maybe it will inspire somebody, but I didn't grow up with quite a father figure.

I didn't know my dad.

I had to reach out, meet him in my early 20s, and so when I sat there going OK, so.

I'm praying I'm trying to figure all this out.

I'm praying to God and he's her father.

Right?

And it dawned on me that was like, well, what does a father daughter relationship look like?

I don't know, so I had to kind of like build that.

And so I was like, well, if I was going to reach out to my dad for just anything on any given day, you know, let's just say we didn't live together, then I would call him.

And so I hope everyone laughs at this cause I laugh at it every time, so I literally would sit there and go, OK, I need to reach out to God and I'd be like.

Ring hello.

And I don't I don't.

Have to do that just.

Start somewhere.

It was it.

It's what got me to build this more comfortable and as that relationship just kind of build like.

40 dandelions grew out of that like every day something would happen that I'd, you know, he would guide me and we would start this.

And so it was very interesting because I needed to find a name.

It, I hope 40 dandelions will be way more than the magazine.

It's going to be a mission.

It's really gonna impact a lot of people.

I hope that's how I feel, but I was trying to figure out a name because I'd been given a tip that if you find a business name, you go to this website, you put it in and it will tell you what social media.

Is available.

You want to find a name where you have all the social media.

So I love words like longevity, transformation, anything to you know, make you healthy and happy, you know.

And so I'm looking at all these names.

I'm Googling like longest living tree because I'm like, maybe there's a cool name in there, you know, and through this search, I have found this sermon about the dandelion.

And it basically goes like this.

God sent out an Angel to go find the perfect.

Power. He's out into the world bringing back. You know, we have some amazing beautiful flowers on this planet. So he's just bringing back all these beautiful flowers and you know, God's like. No, that's not it.

That's not it.

He's a few months into a search and he's kind of like, man, am I ever going to find this flower?

And he walks by this field of dandelions.

He picks this yellow flower and you bring him back.

And God's like. Yes, that's the perfect flower. And it kind of went off on a on a different way, where it's like it was more geared towards kids and being yourself and all that.

So I was like, I kind of got disconnected, but I was like, but what is this about the dandelion and God's perfect flower?

You know, so I started researching just kind of the dandelion.

Well, you know, I've forgotten it was the puff that we blew as kids and made wishes on.

You know what I mean?

And the dandelion does all the things.

It's has longevity.

Keep pulling that sucker out is going to keep coming.

Back it's.

Yeah, deep roots.

Yeah, the roots.

And all parts of it are edible.

All and medicine, all like every part of it.

And it opens in in the morning, closes at night, kind of like how we wake up and it just kind of mimics like and it goes through transformation.

It is the first flower to bloom.

To feed the.

Bees and the ants and the get their process started for the spring.

And once that phase is done, it has to go back into itself and kind of like a dark place.

And then it becomes that puff and then so I see a lot of people, whether it's faith or health and Wellness or anything in their life.

But they have to do a transformation.

They'll come out as that bright flower in the beginning, but then they're going to hit a wall and they're going to have to dig deep and they're going to have to find.

You know a way to push through that hard part and then they come out of the other end like the pup and then their gifts can go out into.

The world and so.

And 40s, the number of transformation.

And it was on 40 days of quarantine that my friend sent me this slip that had all the ways that 40s mentioned in the Bible and.

And so I actually called my partner and I was like, I really love the idea of the dandelion.

I'm sold on that.

I really love this idea that 40 like it's significant and she was like, oh, why don't you call it 40 dandelions?

And I was like, that sounds awesome.

Let's do that.

That is the fantastic story.

Carrie gosh.

That I'm like.

Tearing up over here, it's just like.

Man, I think when we stop and take stock of what we have around us and you know really decide to figure out who, who we really are and what our purpose is here you it can happen.

You can do it, you know.

You can do it.

Anybody can.

There's so much opportunity right now.

I know we.

Hear it's doom and gloom.

And everything.

Terrible, but really, in the terrible times.

That's when people.

Rise up and.

Be the.

They want to see in the world, and I'm just so impressed with what you're doing and and.

Just how you who you are.

You've been an inspiration to me.

I've followed you for probably 15 years.

Long time, a long time and we've never actually really connected in a meaningful way.

And just like an amazing.

I'm the same as.

Mine on Facebook, yeah.

You really are the same person.

In real life.

And your husband's a race car driver. That's really cool. And you play the drums.

That was another thing that I was like, why am I not doing things that I want to do?

I've always wanted to play the drums.

Funny story.

The dad that I've sought out met in my 20s.

We are on Facebook.

We kind of talked well when I started just over a year ago learning to play the drums.

I had posted that video on Facebook and he commented.

And he's like, Oh my gosh.

Like, I don't think you know this, but I've been a drummer my whole life and I was like I knew.

I got it from somewhere.

Those epigenetics.

They just run right through you.

So it's fun to be doing.

Something that I've always wanted to do, you know.

So if you're going to leave the audience with one thing that was really significant that you want them to take away from this conversation.

What would that be?

I we all.

Have ups and downs in our lives, every single one of us.

And unfortunately, it's never all at the same time.

It's all over the map, right?

So whenever you're in in a situation, whether you're living on on, on the highs of life or or you're down in the lows of life, you're that dandelion.

You aren't going to go away.

You will grow and grow and grow, and when you hit that dark spot, you don't have to worry.

You're going to come.

Out as a pup.

You're going to be able to help people with your story in some capacity, even the small little.

Changes somebody's life. It doesn't have to be this grand thing, but we're all a dandelion. We're all God's perfect flowers.

That's so great.

Is how do.

People get ahold of you.

Yeah. So I'm on Facebook. Carrie Hudson Strimel. And that's STRIMEL. You can e-mail me at info@40dandelions.com and it's 40.

So info@40dandelions.com you can go to the website and contact me there, yeah.

That's the best way. Perfect.

And we'll put the links in the description.

Thanks so much Carrie.

This has been amazing.

Ah, thank.

You I wish.

I could give.

You a big.

Hug. Yeah. Same here actually.