how to set up a coffee news layout ?

Wolfdogg,

Thanks for sharing more on their pricing.

When CN started they were Only charging $499 for a franchise. And with such a small price it didn't take them long to get up near 500 franchisees. At That time they were also only charging $70 a week for the Content - that was the Minimum price, as at That time her Take was a minimum $70 or a percentage of Gross Sales whichever was higher (which Punishes those who can get Top Dollar for their ads).

$70x500 franchisees is $35k a week - minimum.

No wonder the owner was able to Hire a couple of Helpers to find the content and upload it so the franchisees could download it to their own computers.

But within the above there are some Important Lessons to be learned...

=> Keep the franchisee fee low and you'll have more franchisees.

=> Give them something for their ongoing weekly fee - too many franchisers just call it Royalties and give nothing for it, which creates disgruntled franchisees over time.

=> Keep the weekly fee Fixed as additional Incentive for franchisees to Generate More Money.

(Years ago a franchiser came to see me about selling more franchises. With his % for royalties, % for marketing (which was one ad in the yellow pages), % for Admin and so on, he was sucking 20% of the money. So someone who did $1,000 a week had to pay $200 off the bat to this guy. They were probably paying $300 tax After that - leaving them $500 to live on and pay the business running costs - which involved a Lot of driving around.

A guy doing $1,500 a week, had to pay $300 to him. take away the additional tax money too and these guys had to earn Big just to make what they could make in a job.

If he'd charged them a flat $100 a week, or even $50, he'd have had Loyal Franchisees instead of complaining ones who began to see him as a leach. And he'd have franchisees who had Incentive and could Keep the fruits of their efforts instead of paying more of it to someone without getting any extra for the additional money.

Michael Ross

The guy (and his wife) who do this in my area...just finished a "2-Sheet edition" in South County....5 restaurants with about 150 tables total for which he got $395 per business card size ad from 20 advertisers for a 6 month term.

He gets ALL his biz from his home in Grants Pass. He goes to restaurants first because they have to see what the piece looks like....then, he phones businesses near the restaurants (and gets a nice referral List from restaurant owners)...explains the program and price and I'm not sure how he gets the advertiser's business cards to scan. He might spend a day or 2 picking them up when collecting money.

He now has a BIG area up and down the Interstate 5 corridor.

WELL worth pursuing.

Don Alm

Some of my Biz programs
http://www.midasreports.com

Sounds like he might be shooting himself in the foot in the way of what he's charging.
150 tables.. figure 10 people a day at each table (and most of the time, there will be multiple people at the table so he's probably getting at least twice as many views than that) and that's 10500 views a week. All of this for a 3x2 ad that he's charging $15 a week for?! And this is direct marketing in the exact locale of the business. That's beyond dirt cheap. He could easily charge twice and still be about 1/4 of what any advertiser would have to pay in a paper, for the same size ad. The Coffee News publication starts at $30 a week for the same size ad and goes up to $50 for bigger cities. His publication sounds like a great place to advertise!

Great idea though.. and granted.. printing costs would be extremely low with his business model.

Hello Everybody;
What a great board. I am so glad I found it. I hope I can in someway contribute to it.

Hey Wolfdogg: it sounds like you and I are at the same stage in the game. I also want to do this on my own. I am leaning towards something between a Coffee News and a Tidbits...a shopper without the classifieds.

I was originally writing this post to address what Don is refering to in post #18but having re-read the thread it appears he has sent you a copy so you can see it is totally different thing. I happened to come across it about a month ago.

Your comment about finding the content word for word on the net brings up a good point-Copyright Infringement. I am not a lawyer but my understanding is you cannot copyright an idea. Nor can you copyright a fact. Or a quote. ( I may be a little off on the quote thing.) You can however copyright the way it is presented.

You also address the question of differentiating yourself from CN in your original post. I believe what CN has copyright protection on is not only the layout but how, that is the order, in which the information is presented: news snippets (Everybody's Talking),quotes (Quoteable Quotes) ect. IMHO one should take care not to copy to close. Just like Karunnt states in post #15. I can infer from your posts you already have a good understanding this.

In my searches I have found Coffee News, Flying Cow, The Free Weekly Jive, and The Patience News. Then there is Tidbits, The Funny Paper and hundreds of shoppers. Aside from the shoppers, all franchises or business opportunities. I would sure like to learn of any others. Especially any independents out there.

I will Research a project....find out who is doing the project now...what it looks like...where is it going....what are they charging...etc.

THEN....I will STOP THE RESEARCH....create my own Sample and....GO OUT TO THE MARKETPLACE AND SELL IT!

I've seen too many people over the years....spend an enormous amount of TIME researching a project....wondering and worrying over it.

"Are we too close to what's in the Market now?"

"Does the Main outfit have a "Design Patent" on it?"

"Do they have a "Master Copyright" or Trademark?"

"Can WE be sued by the Main Outfit because OUR preoduct is too similar to theirs?"

My advice has always been;
"GO FOR IT!" "LET WHOMEVER IS GOING TO SUE YOU...SUE YOU!"

Don Alm

For "Info Product Sellers"...learn how to "STOP REFUNDS COLD"!
http://www.midasreports.com/stoprefundscold

Actually you really don't need to do any research at all. Get a copy of the competition - all you need to know is probably on the publications itself. It is easy to find what to charge.

Get yourself a graphic designer and create a few samples. Then get a list of establishments that will agree to display your paper. Then take that list and and see if anybody will buy.

Have the local copy shop create them on their digital printer. It will be more expensive than using a duplicator but you are not paying the franchise fee or monthly 'royalty' fee either.

If after a few months it looks like it will be profitable and you like doing it then you can get a fancy duplicator, accountant etc.

Originally Posted by Adman

My advice has always been;
"GO FOR IT!" "LET WHOMEVER IS GOING TO SUE YOU...SUE YOU!"

I like how you think, Don! I'd already resigned myself to the same thought. Chances are pretty slim and hey.. got to just go for it sometimes.

Micropub, I have a thought... you sound like you're serious too. Maybe we should consider doing this together? No charging each other for anything.. just creating a project together and even working up/sharing content every week. I was actually pretty worried about providing content for the longest time, but not anymore. After getting a layout down, I now realize that I'm looking at 1 night a week of creating content. That is soooo much worth doing myself and not paying a hefty franchise price! I have a very slick website already up.. and I'm working on my paper design now... which I largely have finished too. If we got 2 or 3 different people doing 1 in different states, we could divide the content creating up.. and advertise that our paper exists in many states.

Anyway... just a thought I had just now.. haven't given it much thought myself!

Interesting idea Wolfdogg. We should at the very least trade notes. I have a website but nothing really on it yet. Today I got a few display stands delivered. I think they will work nicely. I have a pic of my paper in one I could show you.

You had mentioned in a previous post finding others who have been successful on their own. Are others in your neck of the woods doing something like this?

Content is what makes or breaks any publication. I am curious how you plan to come up with your content in one evening. Are you a writer? That would be great if you are.

Anyway...your thought is an interesting one.

I'll shoot you an im.

great stuff wolfdogg

if i cant get your im look for my email from your site. great job on the site dude. real nice. i definitely what to speak with you.