Biznik - Business Networking That Doesn’t Suck

As you know, I’m a big fan of businesses that set out to fill a niche with passion, creativity and style. Darrell Kirk, who recently became a supporting member of Biznik, is the publisher of Coffee News Seattle, a newspaper that certainly fits this description: it’s distributed only in coffee shops and restaurants, only in specific Seattle neighborhoods, and only carries fun news. I interviewed him to find out more about his business, and and the importance of finding a niche and filling it.

Q: Tell me how Coffee News got started and your involvement with it.

Coffee News was started back in 1988 in Canada in a small town in Manatoba. I saw a copy of it about 3 years ago while on a fishing trip with my dad and immediately thought that this would be a great paper for Seattle with all its little neighborhoods. We’ve been publishing in Seattle now for a little over 2 years and my prediction was correct - our readers and advertisers love it.

Q: What are some local cafes and restaurants where it’s available?

At this time Coffee News has three editions: Ballard, Loyal Heights, Sunset Hill, Shilshole Bay edition; Greenwood, Phinney Ridge, Crown Hill Edition; and the Queen Anne Edition which covers both upper and lower Queen Anne. We will begin publishing a West Seattle Edition in November and then a Bainbridge Island edition in early 2007. In these neighborhoods you can find Coffee News in over 95 percent of coffee shops and restaurants. Coffee News has a high acceptance rate at coffee shops and restaurants as they are not allowed to advertise with us. At first they don’t understand this as they host our publication, but soon they realize that they don’t have to worry about their patrons reading about their competition in their very own establishment. We do list all the locations that carry Coffee News on the back of each paper.

Q: What sort of businesses could benefit from advertising in CN? How much does it cost?

Service industries do very well in Coffee News. Categories like Real Estate and Mortgage Brokerage are very hot in all editions and we have a wait list of 4 - 5 people per edition. Looking at the ads in an edition of Coffee News you will find: Insurance agents, Martial Arts instructors, Dentists, Automotive Repair, Law Offices, Off Site Secretarial Services, Pet Food Stores, etc. In my opinion, Coffee News is the best choice of advertising for small to medium size business as we are very affordable, only $34.95 per week for a 2″ x 3″ display ad. The advertising is also very fair for all advertisers as we only allow one size ad. The ads are also rotated each week so everyone has a chance at being on the front, or back where the horoscope section is. We also hide the “Coffee News Man” in someone’s ad every week. Our readers scan through the ads every week to try to find him so that they can enter our monthly contest to win $100.00!

Q: You used to be a photojournalist? Tell me a brief overview of your experience with that, and why you got out of it.

I worked as a photojournalist for General R.R. Porter while serving in the United States Marine Corps in Okinawa Japan. I worked directly for the General for over 3 years and we traveled extensivly throughout Asia on our mission with the 3rd Force Service Support Group (3rd FSSG). To this day, I’m the only photographer in the Marines that ever worked directly for a general as a photographer. I left the Marines and spent 6 months in China and Tibet photographing the beautiful people there and then headed to Seattle to pursue a degree in photojournalism culminating in a BA of sociology at the University of Washington. My work has appeared in American Photo, Perterson’s Photographic, The Journal of Gastronomy, International Examiner, Ray’s Boathouse, The Pacific Stars and Stipes, and Okinawa Today Magazine.

Almost as soon as my photojournalism career started, it ended when I was approached by an ex employee of Roffe Apparel in Seattle. He asked if I would like to run an apparel company he was starting. He made me President of the company and a few months later orders were rolling in from Lands End, The Orvis Company, Inc. and from all over Japan.

Q: That’s quite a switch. What was the name of the company, and how long did you run it? And if you could give one piece of advice to indie business people learned from your experience there, what would it be?

I was president of Kitzbuhel for a little over 2 years. I marketed extensively in Japan and in the process got an offer to start a Japanese-owned apparel company in America called The Outdoor Fitters.

I have a couple of words of advice for all indie businesses: do what you love, and follow your passion, but at the same try to create a niche market. Don’t compete with an existing product, try to create something new, something that’s never been tried before. Business is tough no matter what so go for the gold. If people are laughing at you, then you are doing something correct.

Whatever you do, be sure to market yourself and your product religiously, create a name brand–advertise, network, and do lots of guerilla marketing if you are on a budget. Learn about trends, money, financing, marketing, and most of all bugeting, have a budget-learn to manage your finances now as a small business, then when the money starts rolling in you will know what to do with it and make it work for you and your company.

Q: Are you still into photography?

Photography is still my true love. In October I hope to gain access to the “AIDS Villages” of Henan Province China to document the tragic outbreak of AIDS there where more than 60 percent of the people of some towns are HIV positive.

Q: Wow. Sounds like quite a story. Is gaining access difficult? And if you do go, will you be shooting for a particular publication or freelancing it, or something else entirely?

Yes, gaining access will be extreemly difficult, especially with the Olympics coming to Beijing in 2008-the government is keen on keeping this story under wraps for now. As the world knows, China is on the road to massive economic development and investment; the scale of AIDS in Henan Province and many other parts of China may proove to be one of the biggest hurdles China faces in its quest for economic reform. For this reason, strict measures are being taken to keep reporters out of the many “AIDS Villages” within Henan Province. The people want to tell their story, so I’m contacting local AIDS activist groups there that may be able to connect me to these communites.

I’m shooting this assignment on spec, and hope the photos can be used to educate others around the world to the plight of the people of Henan Province. Experts estimate that anywhere from 150,000 to one million people in Henan have HIV. The scale of relief needed for so many people affected is beyond precident.

Darrell’s website is www.coffeenewsseattle.com.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 4th, 2006 at 11:00 am and is filed under Interviews. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.