October 8, 2024 • 33 mins
This week, we sit down with Andrea Tetzlaff, the publisher at MaineBiz, who guides us through the publication's journey from a modest monthly issue in 1994 to a vital resource for Maine's small businesses. Andrea sheds light on how MaineBiz has consistently provided valuable content and organized networking events to support and connect the local business community. This episode is packed with insights that highlight the intersection of media and small business.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Small Business, big World, our weekly
podcast prepared by the team atPaper Trails.
Owning and running a smallbusiness is hard.
Each week, we'll dive into thechallenges, headaches, trends,
fun and excitement of running asmall business.
After all, small businesses arethe heartbeat of America and
our team is here to keep thembeating.
Welcome to Small Business, bigWorld, our weekly podcast, where
(00:22):
we talk about all things smallbusiness.
This week, my guest is AndreaTeslav from MaineBiz, the
publisher at MaineBiz.
The big wig right.
Thanks so much for joining metoday, andrea.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, happy to be here.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Absolutely so we're going to kind of talk about, you
know, the role that MaineBizand all publications really play
in supporting our smallbusinesses here in the state of
Maine.
But before we do that, I justwant to remind everybody, don't
forget, please like, follow,share, rate, review, subscribe
on your favorite podcastplatform.
We're also on all the socialplatforms at Small Business Big
World.
If you ever have questions forus or any of our guests, you
(01:00):
certainly can reach out topodcast at papertrailscom and we
will get you the answers thatyou need.
All right, andrea, let's jumpin and we will get you the
answers that you need.
So all right, andrea, let'sjump in.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
So talk to us about MaineBiz and what you guys do
and all that fun stuff for thosethat don't know.
Yeah, so MaineBiz this is our30th anniversary year actually.
So we started in 1994 as just aonce monthly publication that
was coming out.
Since then we have expanded.
Our print publication now comesout biweekly.
(01:30):
We also produce several digitalproducts, including a daily
e-newsletter, a weekly recapnewsletter, two e-newsletters
that are focused entirely onreal estate because we are a
business-to-business publication, and on real estate because,
you know we are a business tobusiness publication and
commercial real estate drives somuch of that world, whether
that's, you know, commercialbrokers, developers,
(01:53):
construction agencies, law firms, banks, like that's so much of
our readership and so folks arereally interested in that real
estate world.
And then we have our eventsplatform that we put on where we
have several events, both inthe Portland area, in the Bangor
area, that are typically kindof honoree events where we're
(02:13):
honoring business leaders orfolks who are excelling in their
field, as well as breakfastforum events where we're having
a conversation on some timelytopic with some business experts
or leaders in the community tosort of provide their
perspective and their expertisefor others to learn from.
(02:33):
And then we also have our On theRoad series, which quite
literally takes us on the roadall over the state of Maine.
We are Maine biz.
We are not Portland biz orAugusta biz or anything like
that.
So we do cover the entire state.
So we go to Ellsworth and we goto Fort Kent and we go to
Caribou and we go to Greenville.
We talk to people in thosecommunities, we have networking
(02:54):
receptions to not only connectus to those communities but also
folks in those communities toeach other and just really do
what we can to foster businessesconnecting and being successful
in the state of Maine, which isawesome.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I always know it's noontime, it's lunchtime, when I
get my daily email.
Some days I know I've lost halfmy day.
Right, it's noon already, lotsof it, and you go wait what,
that's already.
Yeah, one day you guys sent itout a little early and I was
like whoa, whoa, whoa, what ifit settled down?
Yeah, I know it was a littleaggressive that day, but no,
(03:28):
those are always great andcertainly, you know, from our
perspective, we, you know, getgreat information and great news
from you all, which we reallyappreciate too.
So thanks for that intro, thankyou.
How have you seen, you know,that media landscape change,
especially in the business world, over the last few years?
I mean, we all say our businesshas certainly transformed since
COVID, but even before thatthings were rapidly evolving.
(03:49):
How's that changing?
You guys have been around 30years.
What have you seen for changes?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, I mean business has absolutely shifted for sure
across the 30 years that wehave been around.
I personally have been withMean Biz for 12 of those years
and you know it's definitelychanged.
I think digital media and therise of all things digital has,
for sure, impacted the waybusiness operates.
(04:14):
You know, one of our largestevents 10 years ago, 15 years
ago, was something calledMomentum Convention and that was
a trade show that was done atthe Augusta Civic Center and we
had done that for many years andit was a great way for folks to
connect and showcase newproducts that they might be
having come out that year.
And that's just not the waybusiness is done anymore and
(04:36):
trade shows really aren't athing anymore, and so that's
just kind of one example ofthings shifting, Certainly the
rise of our digital products,like you mentioned, the e-news
that you get, the daily reportthat you get every day, the rise
of email and people being soconnected at all times they are
expecting information to bedelivered to their inbox.
(04:57):
We actually occasionally will doa breaking news product.
It's not something that we putout really often we reserve it
for things like news Exactly butit's important because people
are expecting to be in the knowall the time.
So certainly the rise of digitaland then, of course, social
media you know that's a hugepart of how we're getting news
(05:19):
out to the community, but itcertainly, you know community
but it certainly, you know,faces challenges, as people are
open to putting their opinion inthe world as well on anything
that we might be writing about.
Or, you know, I know it's astruggle across many media
platforms when there's kind ofkeyboard warriors out there that
are willing to just share theirthoughts and opinions on stuff
(05:42):
that's put out.
So it's kind of a good and evilthing.
But it has been a huge rise inhow information is brought to
the public.
So I think that, to me, is thebiggest shift that I've seen
over the time, is the shift inhow people are expecting their
information to be delivered tothem and then us having to make
(06:03):
sure that we're shifting theways that we're doing it to
fulfill that need.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
So that's so true.
I mean we see the same thingright, our clients and our
community.
We've adapted again through thesocial, through this platform,
through our podcast right To tryto get in front of folks how
they want to hear theinformation.
And certainly we know there's aton of information to provide
and it's finding that rightmedium and you guys have
certainly covered the game onthat.
(06:27):
How have you seen your printsubscriptions and print product?
Have you seen a decline in that?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
You know it's funny actually I mentioned I've been
with the publication for 12years and our print subscriber
number has been level the entire12 years I've been here has
been level the entire 12 yearsI've been here.
I liken that.
You know, niche publications, Ithink, have been okay in that
space and that tends to bebecause the stories that you
(06:55):
find in main biz you're notfinding on CNN, You're not
finding on Fox News, You're notfinding them anyplace else.
They are truly homegrownstories that are here in Maine
and specifically B2B stories.
So it's really helped us keepour subscriber base consistent.
You know, the other piece ofthat is our goal is to reach
(07:16):
business decision makers.
They are the people who needthe information that we are
bringing to the market, themarket, and so that number of
people in Maine sort of stayslevel as people retire out,
other people are coming intothose positions and so it's
really allowed us to keep thatbase of truly engaged
subscribers to our publicationpretty level with what we have
(07:38):
seen.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I would say nowadays, especially with the rise of
email and social and all thatstuff, the one thing I like
about your print publication ingeneral is it is a physical,
tangible item that I leave on mydesk.
Usually I read it Fridayafternoon when you send me to
eMag magazine, and then it showsup on Monday and I pass around
(08:01):
the office after I might havelooked through it again.
But you also give us thingslike the book of lists and those
type you know the fact booksand those are still on my
conference table right now andwe do refer to them and those
are kind of timelesspublications that are tangible
and gosh.
You know, nowadays being ableto grab something is actually
kind of cool, right?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, it's interesting we hear that
feedback a lot where peopleactually enjoy being able to
shut the screen and kind of nothave the distraction of this
email popped up or I need to gohere and just really focus on
the pub.
We do get audited and ourresearch tells us that people
spend on average, about 15 to 30minutes with the print
publication every two weeks.
(08:36):
So that's great.
But yes to your point, we dohave resource guides and those
are intended for people to beable to use in their ongoing
business life.
You know, the book of lists isa great tool for prospecting for
businesses and making sure thatthey hit all of the folks in
any particular vertical industrythat they're looking for.
The fact book.
(08:56):
It's a great resource if peopleare, you know, relocating a
business to Maine or expandingtheir business within Maine,
like, where are the regions,where are the locations that I
can take most advantage of theresources of that area to help
strengthen my business?
So, yeah, it's our goal notonly to be the person providing
the timely news, but alsoproviding those resources to
help make sure businesses aresuccessful.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
So, with all that research you're doing, what are
you I mean, obviously you guyshave a great team of journalists
out there what are you hearingfrom the business owners that
are their biggest challenges andstruggles these days?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
you know, in our market, yeah, I mean, like I
mentioned when we first startedtalking, we do these sessions
where we go all around the stateand we are talking to business
leaders.
We have some editorialroundtables with them where
we're asking business leaders tosit with our editorial team and
answer that exact question.
And across the board and Ialways say we don't have the
(09:49):
solution to this, but just takecomfort in the fact that you
aren't alone but across theboard we hear hiring continues
to be a struggle for folks.
You know the two things thataren't necessarily related to
business in terms of howbusiness owners operate, but are
housing and childcare, andthose severely impact the
availability of workers and thereliability of workers to be
(10:12):
coming to work.
And those are things thatpeople are struggling with all
over our state and, quitefrankly, all over the region and
nationally.
But it tends to be hiringcontinues to be a struggle.
And then the housing and thechildcare struggles make it so
that they are really having tothink differently about how
they're having their employeesin the workspace, how they're
(10:35):
accommodating employees, whatyou know what accommodations
they're willing to make forpeople and just kind of
struggling with what that lookslike.
The other thing I think thatacross the board.
People are trying to justfigure out what it should look
like.
Is the return from COVID?
You know, we worked remotelyfor two years and people showed
(10:56):
they could do it well.
And now you have employees thatare struggling with why do I
want to come in?
Because I can work from homeand swap my laundry at the same
time and still get the work done.
But you know, as businessleaders there's not really the
culture and the connectionbetween employees.
So it's sort of that give andtake of.
I want to, you know, reward myemployees that have shown that
(11:19):
they can perform remotely aswell as build some sort of
company culture and we hearpeople talking about.
They're really struggling tofigure out what that balance
looks like and everybody's doneit differently.
Some people have mandated timein the office, some people have
gone back to fully being in theoffice, some people have
remained fully remote andfigured out a mix of things.
(11:40):
It runs the gamut, but peopleare really struggling with
figuring out that culture pieceand how that's going to work.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Absolutely.
Both of those items really havehit home with us, even on our
level.
I mean, this year, you know,I'm introducing a flexible
spending account for dependingcare to try to help my employees
get to work, because thissummer I had employees that
couldn't afford to do summer daycamp and things like, even
though I, you know, we takegreat care of them in other ways
.
It just childcare has gottenatrociously expensive and it was
(12:09):
was okay.
I either need to work from homefive days a week and babysit or
you can't afford, particularlyin the hospitality world.
(12:32):
Folks, we're in the Kennebunks,right, it's a very rich area.
Real estate is not cheap, Rentsare not cheap and folks
certainly our clients are buyingreal estate to house their
employees because they don'thave any other choice.
They're not going to haveemployees if they don't.
So that's really-.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
We've seen that around.
I know Rangeley, saddlebackMountain did a lot of that this
year where they worked reallyhard Sugarloaf as well on
getting some of that housing fortheir employees while they have
the mountain open, becauseotherwise they just, you know,
if you don't have people, staffto work at the mountain, you
can't open for the winter, andso that's been a real struggle,
especially sometimes in thoserural communities that they
(13:09):
really that's what they dependon for their year.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Absolutely.
And it's that return to work,that culture piece, the remote
work.
I mean we've seen it.
I mean I have remote employeesbut you're right, you lose.
The thing I always strugglewith is how do I train someone
new, how do I get them built in,how do I build the culture, how
do I get them trained up towhere I want?
And then how, you know, how doI maintain that culture?
And you know, certainly we Italk to business leaders all the
(13:33):
time.
You know my peers because theysay how are you guys doing?
You know some people say, okay,we do.
Everyone comes to the officefor a week a year.
You know, I'll fly you in fromwherever you are in the country
to be here.
We have a week of parties andcelebrations and meetings and
whatever you know, and otherpeople say, no, we just kind of
let it, it just works, orwhatever.
And that's been a real bigstruggle for me.
So I certainly I guess I needto get to one of the in-person
(13:55):
events.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well, and that's why I'm saying these are universal
things that everybody is tryingto figure out, and I keep saying
I don't have the answer, but atleast you know it, you're in it
with everybody else.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Absolutely Well, awesome.
So when you know, as you'rediscovering, what the challenges
are, how are you as aneditorial board and as
journalists, how are you reallypicking out stories and
businesses to highlight?
And I love that.
You guys really, you know eachissue of the publication kind of
has a theme and you're reallygoing all around the state.
You're not sticking in one spot.
You know, sometimes there'sbusinesses we've never heard of
(14:28):
or people we've never heard of.
They're doing amazing things.
How are you guys coming acrossthat and choosing what to write
about?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
yeah, it's really interesting.
Our editorial team I mean Ihave to shout them out because
they do such a good job offinding those sort of
unrecognized gems and and andtelling their story and it's in
a lot of different ways you wehave a writer who lives up on
MDI so she's really in tune withwhat's happening kind of in
(14:54):
that coastal area of Maine, butshe's also really well versed in
real estate and is talking withdevelopers in Portland and in
Caribou and you know Rangeleyand so you know I think a lot of
it is helped by the fact thatwe do make a concerted effort to
get ourselves personally feeton the street all around the
(15:15):
state.
It helps us know what's goingon, what we need to be aware of,
what have we missed that youguys have going on in this
region?
And then you know the writersjust take it from there.
They are going to events, theyare talking to people and trying
to learn.
I think some of the biggestquestions are what's going well
(15:36):
and what are you struggling withare two of the biggest
questions that lead us toinformation.
But, as you mentioned, eachissue does have a focus and so
that sort of guides where theeditorial team is thinking in
their brain for what they needto concentrate on for the next
issue and then from therethey're just digging into.
You know they do a great job ofmaking connections all around
(15:59):
the state, whether it be with,you know, local economic
development officers in towns toreally understand what's going
on in certain regions, whetherit's with, you know,
associations like Merida or amain association of nonprofits,
and just really making sure thatwe are in touch with what's
happening with the differentbusinesses so that when it comes
(16:20):
to looking at what are we goingto write about that we have
great sources and then justreally kind of brainstorming as
a team and thinking about what'shot right now, what topics are
people talking about, whattopics are people struggling
with and how do we make surethat we are showcasing those and
highlighting them.
We may not always bring theanswer, as I mentioned, but
(16:42):
recognizing that other peoplemight be talking or struggling
with the same thing, orhighlighting, you know, great
stories of success, highlightingstories of how people have
overcome something I always say,you know, to me I can't learn
anything from you if you tell melike I had this great idea to
start a business and I washaving a beer at the bar and the
(17:03):
guy next to me said, great,I'll invest, and you got $5
million.
Like that doesn't tell meanything, but if you want to
tell me about, I had this greatidea and I had my first
prototype and brought it tomarket and it failed and this is
what went wrong.
And then my investors backedout and this is what I did.
Like those are the things thatyou really learn how to, how to
persevere and how to build yourbusiness and how to, you know,
(17:25):
carry on and move forward,forward.
And so a lot of times we'retrying to tell those stories to
really help business ownersunderstand it's not all.
You know rainbows and sunshine,that it's a struggle a lot of
times, and here's how you canwork through it and here's how
you know people have foundunique solutions to things.
I think those are always funstories to hear.
(17:45):
Here's unique approaches to howpeople are solving problems or
dealing with their businessapproaches to how people are
solving problems or dealing withtheir business.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
So you know, that's really really cool.
I love that kind of process andhow would you recommend that?
We've certainly done somepodcasts on PR and promoting
your business, but how would yourecommend if businesses want to
get in front of you or anypublication you know or media
outlet, what's the best way todo that?
Is it send a press release andpray that you pick it up, or
what's that look like?
What's your recommendation forthat?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, I mean, I definitely think it's certainly
not a one-pronged approach.
So it's not send us a pressrelease and then just go home
and I hope they reach out to me.
It's out much like a salesindustry.
The editorial industry is basedon connections.
Our team needs to know thattheir sources are reliable, that
(18:36):
they're trustworthy, thatthey're going to give them
current, correct information andthat they're going to get back
to them in a timely manner.
So if you are a person that isbringing expertise to the
editorial staff, so for sure besending in your press releases.
Make sure that we know what'sgoing on in your company,
because that's also sort ofkeeping your company as top of
(18:57):
mind as we're thinking aboutthings, but also just providing
your expertise to the editorialteam, making sure that they know
when you're reaching out.
You're not reaching out to say,hey, let me tell you about us
and why we're a great company,but you're reaching out.
You're not reaching out to say,hey, let me tell you about us
and why we're a great company,but you're reaching out to say,
hey, here's an interesting thingthat's happening in the field
(19:17):
of HR, here's an interestingthing that's happening in real
estate.
Or here's something that I knowfolks are struggling with.
Here's a unique idea around it.
I don't know if that'sinteresting to you, but here's a
take that I had that could beinteresting.
Maybe others have differentsolutions to it.
But sort of looking at it fromthat broad view of an industry
(19:39):
challenge or something that'sreally hot right now, that has
that is topical, as opposed tolet me tell you why my company
and I are great.
It's more, you know, at the endof the day, we are providing
information for business owners,and so what they are looking
for is what can help them dobetter in their business, and
(20:01):
that's what we are trying tobring to the table.
That's those stories of howpeople have persevered, that's
the stories about, you know,unique happenings in a certain
vertical market, any of thattype of stuff.
So just showcasing yourself asan expert, continuing to kind of
put yourself in front of that,you know, certainly connecting
with our editorial, showing thatyou can be this trusted source
(20:22):
for them, a reliable source withcurrent, correct information,
is invaluable to them.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And I would say that correct information is probably
the most important.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
It's very valuable.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
We don't want you to have an egg on your face, just
like we don't want it Exactly so.
Have you heard of any successstories?
You guys have done a greatarticle on X, y or Z and that's
led to results in any fashion,whether it's legislation or
business accomplishment or justkind of promoting a business.
What successes do you?
(21:08):
What do you guys see as successwhen you are writing?
I guess?
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, I mean, you know, at the end of the day, as
I mentioned, what we're tryingto do is just make sure that we
are bringing the informationthat people need on a daily
basis, and so I don't know thatI can necessarily point to a
particular legislation or aparticular story, point to a
(21:35):
particular legislation or aparticular story.
What I can say is when we areout in the community, we
regularly have people who knowwho we are.
That to your point.
Like you were saying, I get thedaily report at noon every day.
Like that makes me so glad thatyou know it comes at noon every
day.
At half the time I think likeoh, people don't know when it
comes in, it just comes in andthey see it, so that you know in
and you know.
That's who yelled at me acrossthe hall.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Did you see that article?
Exactly like that's.
Those are what yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So just knowing that you know, getting that feedback,
that we are a relevant part ofpeople's um, business, business
learning, business decisionmaking, just continuing to keep
themselves in the know for thestate of mean, that's great
feedback for us to receive.
I will say, conversely, when wehear that we've gotten something
(22:22):
wrong, we hear it and it'salmost reassuring in a way,
because if we got somethingwrong and nobody was telling us,
then we're concerned becausethat means nobody's reading us
or nobody's paying attention tous.
If we got something wrong andyou call us out on it and we
will, you know, obviously if itwarrants we issue any sort of
(22:43):
apology or update or anythinglike that.
But just saying the fact thatpeople notice it and feel the
need to to point it out to us isreassuring because that tells
me that you count on me for thatinformation being in front of
you and you're paying attentionor what that looks like.
(23:12):
But all I can tell you is, whenwe go into these communities,
the amount of just love is theonly word I can think of for it,
but the amount of kind of youknow we appreciate you, we need
your product, we need you guysto be telling the stories of
main businesses.
You know you don't get thesestories elsewhere.
There's certainly, you knowthere are other no-transcript
business stories, but I don'tthink to the depth and to the
(23:35):
amount that we are putting outon a daily and every two-week
basis and we're really proud ofthat.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I mean I see all the time the other major
publications in the state citeyour articles and your content.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, which is great.
You know, that's a greatfeeling.
We try to do that.
We try to make sure that we'reas up-to-date and cutting-edge
and aware as possible.
Yeah, which is great.
You know, that's a greatfeeling.
We try to do that.
We try to make sure that we'reas up to date and cutting edge
and aware as possible.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Which is great, and certainly you know we're talking
a lot about the main market andmain biz in particular, but
there are publications likeyours across the country.
I know there's New Hampshireand Massachusetts of a company.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's called new england business media and so
our company also owns worcesterbusiness journal and hartford
business journal.
So we have I'm in maine, wehave a an owner and publisher in
worcester and an ownerpublisher in hartford, but we do
.
There are business publicationsall over the united states and
we actually have an associationwhere we learn from each other
and take best practices fromeach other.
And you know the editors Idon't know 85 publications will
(24:34):
get together every year and talkabout like how do you guys
figure this out and how do youdo this and what works for you
in this situation, which isgreat because it only makes us
better at what we're trying todo.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Absolutely so.
When you get together witheveryone, where's the industry
growing?
Where's the?
Where are you guys?
What's the next steps for mainbiz?
What's the next step for theindustry in terms of business
publications?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Yeah, I mean, certainly, digital is just the
growth of where everything isfocused.
Right now, we are veryfortunate that people still
value our print publication andstill want to receive it.
As I mentioned, we haven'treally seen a decline in
subscribership for print, but wehave seen an increase in the
want for all things digital,both from an advertiser
(25:16):
standpoint and from a consumingnews standpoint.
And so just figuring out youknow what those platforms look
like, making sure that we'repushing content in a way that
people want to receive it andduring times that people want to
receive it.
You know we are a businesspublication, so we try to be
(25:36):
conscious of the fact that maybewe shouldn't be pushing content
out on a Saturday or Sunday onLinkedIn or Twitter, because
that's the time for people to bewith their families, those
changes and sort of the howpeople are, how and when people
are consuming their news.
But it's absolutely digital.
(26:03):
It's figuring out where thatgrowth is.
Certainly AI, I mean in the newsindustry, we have to be really,
really cautious with AI.
You know, I certainly am notgoing to write an article, but
there have been things like Imean, you're not using ChatGP to
write your stories.
We are not using ChatGP towrite stories.
I have writers on the street,but we have used some AI in
(26:23):
design work, which has beenreally interesting.
My art director has used it tocreate covers that have been
really interesting.
We had a cover last year whereone of our writers, renee Cordes
, had written a story on bankingand Matt is our art director.
He had created a cover thatkind of had a Jimmy
(26:45):
Stewart-esque person with abanking behind him and it was a
really cool kind of matchup ofAI, which was great.
But then we had to sort ofinternally look at how are we
marking those things?
Again, we try to be a fullytransparent publication and we
don't want to be puttinganything out that we're not
appropriately citing ormarketing, and so it's sort of
how do we make sure that we'rebeing transparent with the fact
(27:07):
that this was generated using AI?
So that you know that, I thinkis still a big unknown for a lot
of people.
So that you know that I thinkis still a big unknown for a lot
of people, um, and and we're nostranger to that as well
figuring it out, um, and thenyou know, looking ahead to next
year, my, the big thing that'son my brain right now.
Um and you're probably you knowup on this as well is there's
(27:28):
going to be a lot of uh, familymedical leave stuff that's going
into effect in 2026 that Ithink a lot of people are going
to be talking about in 2025 andtrying to figure out what I mean
.
It affects every business andthat's what we are is talking to
businesses, so that's we have awebinar that we're hosting in
September on paid family leave.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I think we've just started promoting it.
We already have over a hundredregistrants for that webinar,
just of our clients and ourpartners, and I mean we we see a
lot of folks.
We have Luke Monaghan, who'sthe director of Paid Family,
joining us that day and you knowwe're all the accounts that we
work with, the attorneys we workwith everyone is kind of
looking.
We're all looking for answers,right, and I'm really hoping
(28:08):
that Luke is going to give ussome of those answers and it's
definitely the next big thingfor us.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
It's keeping us busy and you're right, it's going to
keep everybody busy.
Yeah, it's affecting everybusiness and so we're looking at
it.
But, yeah, so that I think,similarly to that point AI,
people are looking for answersand you know the attorneys I
don't know that they have themyet because there isn't really
any established law, so they'retrying to figure out what that
looks like, and so some of thesethings are becoming really hot
and we are reporting on them.
But the struggle is also wecan't report on the end yet,
(28:40):
because we don't know what theend is, we don't know what the
result is, we don't know whatthe final decisions have been on
things.
A thing and we'll keep youupdated as we're learning more
and, as you know, decisions getmade but I think that that
family medical leave act isgoing to really have a lot of uh
impact on businesses around thestate next year, for sure, for
(29:02):
sure.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
So what?
I always like to give peopleone takeaway, one takeaway.
What if someone had to, uh,come to you with a story or use
you as a resource, be a resourceto you?
What would you want of them forthat?
If someone wanted to be aresource to you guys, or be a
source or give a story to you,what's the one thing that you
want them to be thinking aboutfirst and foremost and bring to?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
you.
I guess at the end of the day,I would just say how is this
information that you're tryingto put out there impactful to
other business people?
What is the big thing thatbusinesses need to know about
this?
And that's your starting point.
Again, it's not going to be astory about my great I don't
(29:48):
know widget company and how Ifigured out how to make orange
widgets Like it needs to be.
I saw something lacking in thisfield and it had such an impact
because of X, y and Z.
You know, one of the greatstories this year not certainly
not any unearned press here,we've talked about them a lot as
(30:09):
well is a company called TimberHP.
They were born, I believe, outof the University of Maine, and
it's this new kind of way to usewood fiber in building homes,
and so they were looking at anindustry that Maine has had for
years, which is timber andlumber, but was for sure dying
off with the loss of a lot ofour paper mills, and took that
(30:32):
mill in Madison and revitalizedit, and now they are producing a
whole new product, but stillusing the same industry that
came out of Maine, and so, justyou know, that's one of those
stories.
That's like an amazinginnovation story of utilizing a
product that Maine has beenknown for to solve a problem
(30:52):
that was in the buildingindustry, and utilizing Maine
resources and Maine industriesand things that were already
existing in our state to makethat happen.
So just figuring that out, likewhat problem am I solving in
the business community?
Or what problem do I see in thebusiness community that I think
needs some attention drawn onit, and why is that important
(31:16):
for businesses and for businessdecision makers?
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Good advice.
Good advice.
So well, we've really taken adeep dive into how business
publications work today, sothank you very much.
We appreciate that.
How do folks get in touch withyou or MainBiz if they have
questions or want to learn more?
What's website social stuff?
Speaker 2 (31:34):
sure, uh, yeah, our website, mainbizbiz, um, you can
find we have our events pagethat has all of our events
listed up for the rest of theyear and we'll soon be working
on 2025 events.
Before we know it, and any ofour staff, their information is
right on that page the uh, theeditorial staff, the advertising
staff, um, and then connectingwith us on LinkedIn, facebook,
(31:57):
twitter.
We put our news out on all ofthose platforms and really are
just trying to make sure that,no matter how people are trying
to find us, that they are ableto do so.
You can subscribe to our dailyreport, weekly report, real
Estate Insiders, and you can geta subscription that allows you
to have unlimited access to thewebsite, as well as the print
(32:18):
publication and our e-news rightthere from the website as well.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Awesome, thank you, thank you.
Thank you.
Certainly all of our listenersdon't forget like, follow, share
rate review, subscribe at SmallBusiness Big World, wherever
you get your podcasts, and,again, any questions, you
certainly can always reach outto us at podcast at
papertrailscom.
Andrea, thanks so much forjoining me and we'll talk to
everybody next week.
Thank you.
Thanks for listening to thisweek's episode of Small Business
Big World.
(32:43):
This podcast is a production ofPapertrails.
We are a payroll and HR companybased in Kennebunk, maine, and
we serve small and mid-sizedbusinesses across New England
and the country.
If you found this podcasthelpful, don't forget to follow
us at at Paper Trails Payrollacross all social media
platforms and check us out atpapertrailscom for more
information.
As a reminder, the views,opinions and thoughts expressed
by the hosts and guests alone.
The material presented in thispodcast is for general
(33:04):
information purposes only andshould not be considered legal
or financial advice.
By inviting this guest to ourpodcast, paper Trails does not
imply endorsement of.
This is Small Business, big World, our weekly
podcast prepared by the team atPaper Trails.
Owning and running a smallbusiness is hard.
Each week, we'll dive into thechallenges, headaches, trends,
fun and excitement of running asmall business.
After all, small businesses arethe heartbeat of America and
our team is here to keep thembeating.
Welcome to Small Business, bigWorld, our weekly podcast, where
(00:22):
we talk about all things smallbusiness.
This week, my guest is AndreaTeslav from MaineBiz, the
publisher at MaineBiz.
The big wig right.
Thanks so much for joining metoday, andrea.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, happy to be here.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Absolutely so we're going to kind of talk about, you
know, the role that MaineBizand all publications really play
in supporting our smallbusinesses here in the state of
Maine.
But before we do that, I justwant to remind everybody, don't
forget, please like, follow,share, rate, review, subscribe
on your favorite podcastplatform.
We're also on all the socialplatforms at Small Business Big
World.
If you ever have questions forus or any of our guests, you
(01:00):
certainly can reach out topodcast at papertrailscom and we
will get you the answers thatyou need.
All right, andrea, let's jumpin and we will get you the
answers that you need.
So all right, andrea, let'sjump in.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
So talk to us about MaineBiz and what you guys do
and all that fun stuff for thosethat don't know.
Yeah, so MaineBiz this is our30th anniversary year actually.
So we started in 1994 as just aonce monthly publication that
was coming out.
Since then we have expanded.
Our print publication now comesout biweekly.
(01:30):
We also produce several digitalproducts, including a daily
e-newsletter, a weekly recapnewsletter, two e-newsletters
that are focused entirely onreal estate because we are a
business-to-business publication, and on real estate because,
you know we are a business tobusiness publication and
commercial real estate drives somuch of that world, whether
that's, you know, commercialbrokers, developers,
(01:53):
construction agencies, law firms, banks, like that's so much of
our readership and so folks arereally interested in that real
estate world.
And then we have our eventsplatform that we put on where we
have several events, both inthe Portland area, in the Bangor
area, that are typically kindof honoree events where we're
(02:13):
honoring business leaders orfolks who are excelling in their
field, as well as breakfastforum events where we're having
a conversation on some timelytopic with some business experts
or leaders in the community tosort of provide their
perspective and their expertisefor others to learn from.
(02:33):
And then we also have our On theRoad series, which quite
literally takes us on the roadall over the state of Maine.
We are Maine biz.
We are not Portland biz orAugusta biz or anything like
that.
So we do cover the entire state.
So we go to Ellsworth and we goto Fort Kent and we go to
Caribou and we go to Greenville.
We talk to people in thosecommunities, we have networking
(02:54):
receptions to not only connectus to those communities but also
folks in those communities toeach other and just really do
what we can to foster businessesconnecting and being successful
in the state of Maine, which isawesome.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I always know it's noontime, it's lunchtime, when I
get my daily email.
Some days I know I've lost halfmy day.
Right, it's noon already, lotsof it, and you go wait what,
that's already.
Yeah, one day you guys sent itout a little early and I was
like whoa, whoa, whoa, what ifit settled down?
Yeah, I know it was a littleaggressive that day, but no,
(03:28):
those are always great andcertainly, you know, from our
perspective, we, you know, getgreat information and great news
from you all, which we reallyappreciate too.
So thanks for that intro, thankyou.
How have you seen, you know,that media landscape change,
especially in the business world, over the last few years?
I mean, we all say our businesshas certainly transformed since
COVID, but even before thatthings were rapidly evolving.
(03:49):
How's that changing?
You guys have been around 30years.
What have you seen for changes?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, I mean business has absolutely shifted for sure
across the 30 years that wehave been around.
I personally have been withMean Biz for 12 of those years
and you know it's definitelychanged.
I think digital media and therise of all things digital has,
for sure, impacted the waybusiness operates.
(04:14):
You know, one of our largestevents 10 years ago, 15 years
ago, was something calledMomentum Convention and that was
a trade show that was done atthe Augusta Civic Center and we
had done that for many years andit was a great way for folks to
connect and showcase newproducts that they might be
having come out that year.
And that's just not the waybusiness is done anymore and
(04:36):
trade shows really aren't athing anymore, and so that's
just kind of one example ofthings shifting, Certainly the
rise of our digital products,like you mentioned, the e-news
that you get, the daily reportthat you get every day, the rise
of email and people being soconnected at all times they are
expecting information to bedelivered to their inbox.
(04:57):
We actually occasionally will doa breaking news product.
It's not something that we putout really often we reserve it
for things like news Exactly butit's important because people
are expecting to be in the knowall the time.
So certainly the rise of digitaland then, of course, social
media you know that's a hugepart of how we're getting news
(05:19):
out to the community, but itcertainly, you know community
but it certainly, you know,faces challenges, as people are
open to putting their opinion inthe world as well on anything
that we might be writing about.
Or, you know, I know it's astruggle across many media
platforms when there's kind ofkeyboard warriors out there that
are willing to just share theirthoughts and opinions on stuff
(05:42):
that's put out.
So it's kind of a good and evilthing.
But it has been a huge rise inhow information is brought to
the public.
So I think that, to me, is thebiggest shift that I've seen
over the time, is the shift inhow people are expecting their
information to be delivered tothem and then us having to make
(06:03):
sure that we're shifting theways that we're doing it to
fulfill that need.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
So that's so true.
I mean we see the same thingright, our clients and our
community.
We've adapted again through thesocial, through this platform,
through our podcast right To tryto get in front of folks how
they want to hear theinformation.
And certainly we know there's aton of information to provide
and it's finding that rightmedium and you guys have
certainly covered the game onthat.
(06:27):
How have you seen your printsubscriptions and print product?
Have you seen a decline in that?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
You know it's funny actually I mentioned I've been
with the publication for 12years and our print subscriber
number has been level the entire12 years I've been here has
been level the entire 12 yearsI've been here.
I liken that.
You know, niche publications, Ithink, have been okay in that
space and that tends to bebecause the stories that you
(06:55):
find in main biz you're notfinding on CNN, You're not
finding on Fox News, You're notfinding them anyplace else.
They are truly homegrownstories that are here in Maine
and specifically B2B stories.
So it's really helped us keepour subscriber base consistent.
You know, the other piece ofthat is our goal is to reach
(07:16):
business decision makers.
They are the people who needthe information that we are
bringing to the market, themarket, and so that number of
people in Maine sort of stayslevel as people retire out,
other people are coming intothose positions and so it's
really allowed us to keep thatbase of truly engaged
subscribers to our publicationpretty level with what we have
(07:38):
seen.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I would say nowadays, especially with the rise of
email and social and all thatstuff, the one thing I like
about your print publication ingeneral is it is a physical,
tangible item that I leave on mydesk.
Usually I read it Fridayafternoon when you send me to
eMag magazine, and then it showsup on Monday and I pass around
(08:01):
the office after I might havelooked through it again.
But you also give us thingslike the book of lists and those
type you know the fact booksand those are still on my
conference table right now andwe do refer to them and those
are kind of timelesspublications that are tangible
and gosh.
You know, nowadays being ableto grab something is actually
kind of cool, right?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, it's interesting we hear that
feedback a lot where peopleactually enjoy being able to
shut the screen and kind of nothave the distraction of this
email popped up or I need to gohere and just really focus on
the pub.
We do get audited and ourresearch tells us that people
spend on average, about 15 to 30minutes with the print
publication every two weeks.
(08:36):
So that's great.
But yes to your point, we dohave resource guides and those
are intended for people to beable to use in their ongoing
business life.
You know, the book of lists isa great tool for prospecting for
businesses and making sure thatthey hit all of the folks in
any particular vertical industrythat they're looking for.
The fact book.
(08:56):
It's a great resource if peopleare, you know, relocating a
business to Maine or expandingtheir business within Maine,
like, where are the regions,where are the locations that I
can take most advantage of theresources of that area to help
strengthen my business?
So, yeah, it's our goal notonly to be the person providing
the timely news, but alsoproviding those resources to
help make sure businesses aresuccessful.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
So, with all that research you're doing, what are
you I mean, obviously you guyshave a great team of journalists
out there what are you hearingfrom the business owners that
are their biggest challenges andstruggles these days?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
you know, in our market, yeah, I mean, like I
mentioned when we first startedtalking, we do these sessions
where we go all around the stateand we are talking to business
leaders.
We have some editorialroundtables with them where
we're asking business leaders tosit with our editorial team and
answer that exact question.
And across the board and Ialways say we don't have the
(09:49):
solution to this, but just takecomfort in the fact that you
aren't alone but across theboard we hear hiring continues
to be a struggle for folks.
You know the two things thataren't necessarily related to
business in terms of howbusiness owners operate, but are
housing and childcare, andthose severely impact the
availability of workers and thereliability of workers to be
(10:12):
coming to work.
And those are things thatpeople are struggling with all
over our state and, quitefrankly, all over the region and
nationally.
But it tends to be hiringcontinues to be a struggle.
And then the housing and thechildcare struggles make it so
that they are really having tothink differently about how
they're having their employeesin the workspace, how they're
(10:35):
accommodating employees, whatyou know what accommodations
they're willing to make forpeople and just kind of
struggling with what that lookslike.
The other thing I think thatacross the board.
People are trying to justfigure out what it should look
like.
Is the return from COVID?
You know, we worked remotelyfor two years and people showed
(10:56):
they could do it well.
And now you have employees thatare struggling with why do I
want to come in?
Because I can work from homeand swap my laundry at the same
time and still get the work done.
But you know, as businessleaders there's not really the
culture and the connectionbetween employees.
So it's sort of that give andtake of.
I want to, you know, reward myemployees that have shown that
(11:19):
they can perform remotely aswell as build some sort of
company culture and we hearpeople talking about.
They're really struggling tofigure out what that balance
looks like and everybody's doneit differently.
Some people have mandated timein the office, some people have
gone back to fully being in theoffice, some people have
remained fully remote andfigured out a mix of things.
(11:40):
It runs the gamut, but peopleare really struggling with
figuring out that culture pieceand how that's going to work.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Absolutely.
Both of those items really havehit home with us, even on our
level.
I mean, this year, you know,I'm introducing a flexible
spending account for dependingcare to try to help my employees
get to work, because thissummer I had employees that
couldn't afford to do summer daycamp and things like, even
though I, you know, we takegreat care of them in other ways
.
It just childcare has gottenatrociously expensive and it was
(12:09):
was okay.
I either need to work from homefive days a week and babysit or
you can't afford, particularlyin the hospitality world.
(12:32):
Folks, we're in the Kennebunks,right, it's a very rich area.
Real estate is not cheap, Rentsare not cheap and folks
certainly our clients are buyingreal estate to house their
employees because they don'thave any other choice.
They're not going to haveemployees if they don't.
So that's really-.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
We've seen that around.
I know Rangeley, saddlebackMountain did a lot of that this
year where they worked reallyhard Sugarloaf as well on
getting some of that housing fortheir employees while they have
the mountain open, becauseotherwise they just, you know,
if you don't have people, staffto work at the mountain, you
can't open for the winter, andso that's been a real struggle,
especially sometimes in thoserural communities that they
(13:09):
really that's what they dependon for their year.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Absolutely.
And it's that return to work,that culture piece, the remote
work.
I mean we've seen it.
I mean I have remote employeesbut you're right, you lose.
The thing I always strugglewith is how do I train someone
new, how do I get them built in,how do I build the culture, how
do I get them trained up towhere I want?
And then how, you know, how doI maintain that culture?
And you know, certainly we Italk to business leaders all the
(13:33):
time.
You know my peers because theysay how are you guys doing?
You know some people say, okay,we do.
Everyone comes to the officefor a week a year.
You know, I'll fly you in fromwherever you are in the country
to be here.
We have a week of parties andcelebrations and meetings and
whatever you know, and otherpeople say, no, we just kind of
let it, it just works, orwhatever.
And that's been a real bigstruggle for me.
So I certainly I guess I needto get to one of the in-person
(13:55):
events.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well, and that's why I'm saying these are universal
things that everybody is tryingto figure out, and I keep saying
I don't have the answer, but atleast you know it, you're in it
with everybody else.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Absolutely Well, awesome.
So when you know, as you'rediscovering, what the challenges
are, how are you as aneditorial board and as
journalists, how are you reallypicking out stories and
businesses to highlight?
And I love that.
You guys really, you know eachissue of the publication kind of
has a theme and you're reallygoing all around the state.
You're not sticking in one spot.
You know, sometimes there'sbusinesses we've never heard of
(14:28):
or people we've never heard of.
They're doing amazing things.
How are you guys coming acrossthat and choosing what to write
about?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
yeah, it's really interesting.
Our editorial team I mean Ihave to shout them out because
they do such a good job offinding those sort of
unrecognized gems and and andtelling their story and it's in
a lot of different ways you wehave a writer who lives up on
MDI so she's really in tune withwhat's happening kind of in
(14:54):
that coastal area of Maine, butshe's also really well versed in
real estate and is talking withdevelopers in Portland and in
Caribou and you know Rangeleyand so you know I think a lot of
it is helped by the fact thatwe do make a concerted effort to
get ourselves personally feeton the street all around the
(15:15):
state.
It helps us know what's goingon, what we need to be aware of,
what have we missed that youguys have going on in this
region?
And then you know the writersjust take it from there.
They are going to events, theyare talking to people and trying
to learn.
I think some of the biggestquestions are what's going well
(15:36):
and what are you struggling withare two of the biggest
questions that lead us toinformation.
But, as you mentioned, eachissue does have a focus and so
that sort of guides where theeditorial team is thinking in
their brain for what they needto concentrate on for the next
issue and then from therethey're just digging into.
You know they do a great job ofmaking connections all around
(15:59):
the state, whether it be with,you know, local economic
development officers in towns toreally understand what's going
on in certain regions, whetherit's with, you know,
associations like Merida or amain association of nonprofits,
and just really making sure thatwe are in touch with what's
happening with the differentbusinesses so that when it comes
(16:20):
to looking at what are we goingto write about that we have
great sources and then justreally kind of brainstorming as
a team and thinking about what'shot right now, what topics are
people talking about, whattopics are people struggling
with and how do we make surethat we are showcasing those and
highlighting them.
We may not always bring theanswer, as I mentioned, but
(16:42):
recognizing that other peoplemight be talking or struggling
with the same thing, orhighlighting, you know, great
stories of success, highlightingstories of how people have
overcome something I always say,you know, to me I can't learn
anything from you if you tell melike I had this great idea to
start a business and I washaving a beer at the bar and the
(17:03):
guy next to me said, great,I'll invest, and you got $5
million.
Like that doesn't tell meanything, but if you want to
tell me about, I had this greatidea and I had my first
prototype and brought it tomarket and it failed and this is
what went wrong.
And then my investors backedout and this is what I did.
Like those are the things thatyou really learn how to, how to
persevere and how to build yourbusiness and how to, you know,
(17:25):
carry on and move forward,forward.
And so a lot of times we'retrying to tell those stories to
really help business ownersunderstand it's not all.
You know rainbows and sunshine,that it's a struggle a lot of
times, and here's how you canwork through it and here's how
you know people have foundunique solutions to things.
I think those are always funstories to hear.
(17:45):
Here's unique approaches to howpeople are solving problems or
dealing with their businessapproaches to how people are
solving problems or dealing withtheir business.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
So you know, that's really really cool.
I love that kind of process andhow would you recommend that?
We've certainly done somepodcasts on PR and promoting
your business, but how would yourecommend if businesses want to
get in front of you or anypublication you know or media
outlet, what's the best way todo that?
Is it send a press release andpray that you pick it up, or
what's that look like?
What's your recommendation forthat?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, I mean, I definitely think it's certainly
not a one-pronged approach.
So it's not send us a pressrelease and then just go home
and I hope they reach out to me.
It's out much like a salesindustry.
The editorial industry is basedon connections.
Our team needs to know thattheir sources are reliable, that
(18:36):
they're trustworthy, thatthey're going to give them
current, correct information andthat they're going to get back
to them in a timely manner.
So if you are a person that isbringing expertise to the
editorial staff, so for sure besending in your press releases.
Make sure that we know what'sgoing on in your company,
because that's also sort ofkeeping your company as top of
(18:57):
mind as we're thinking aboutthings, but also just providing
your expertise to the editorialteam, making sure that they know
when you're reaching out.
You're not reaching out to say,hey, let me tell you about us
and why we're a great company,but you're reaching out.
You're not reaching out to say,hey, let me tell you about us
and why we're a great company,but you're reaching out to say,
hey, here's an interesting thingthat's happening in the field
(19:17):
of HR, here's an interestingthing that's happening in real
estate.
Or here's something that I knowfolks are struggling with.
Here's a unique idea around it.
I don't know if that'sinteresting to you, but here's a
take that I had that could beinteresting.
Maybe others have differentsolutions to it.
But sort of looking at it fromthat broad view of an industry
(19:39):
challenge or something that'sreally hot right now, that has
that is topical, as opposed tolet me tell you why my company
and I are great.
It's more, you know, at the endof the day, we are providing
information for business owners,and so what they are looking
for is what can help them dobetter in their business, and
(20:01):
that's what we are trying tobring to the table.
That's those stories of howpeople have persevered, that's
the stories about, you know,unique happenings in a certain
vertical market, any of thattype of stuff.
So just showcasing yourself asan expert, continuing to kind of
put yourself in front of that,you know, certainly connecting
with our editorial, showing thatyou can be this trusted source
(20:22):
for them, a reliable source withcurrent, correct information,
is invaluable to them.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And I would say that correct information is probably
the most important.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
It's very valuable.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
We don't want you to have an egg on your face, just
like we don't want it Exactly so.
Have you heard of any successstories?
You guys have done a greatarticle on X, y or Z and that's
led to results in any fashion,whether it's legislation or
business accomplishment or justkind of promoting a business.
What successes do you?
(21:08):
What do you guys see as successwhen you are writing?
I guess?
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, I mean, you know, at the end of the day, as
I mentioned, what we're tryingto do is just make sure that we
are bringing the informationthat people need on a daily
basis, and so I don't know thatI can necessarily point to a
particular legislation or aparticular story, point to a
(21:35):
particular legislation or aparticular story.
What I can say is when we areout in the community, we
regularly have people who knowwho we are.
That to your point.
Like you were saying, I get thedaily report at noon every day.
Like that makes me so glad thatyou know it comes at noon every
day.
At half the time I think likeoh, people don't know when it
comes in, it just comes in andthey see it, so that you know in
and you know.
That's who yelled at me acrossthe hall.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Did you see that article?
Exactly like that's.
Those are what yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So just knowing that you know, getting that feedback,
that we are a relevant part ofpeople's um, business, business
learning, business decisionmaking, just continuing to keep
themselves in the know for thestate of mean, that's great
feedback for us to receive.
I will say, conversely, when wehear that we've gotten something
(22:22):
wrong, we hear it and it'salmost reassuring in a way,
because if we got somethingwrong and nobody was telling us,
then we're concerned becausethat means nobody's reading us
or nobody's paying attention tous.
If we got something wrong andyou call us out on it and we
will, you know, obviously if itwarrants we issue any sort of
(22:43):
apology or update or anythinglike that.
But just saying the fact thatpeople notice it and feel the
need to to point it out to us isreassuring because that tells
me that you count on me for thatinformation being in front of
you and you're paying attentionor what that looks like.
(23:12):
But all I can tell you is, whenwe go into these communities,
the amount of just love is theonly word I can think of for it,
but the amount of kind of youknow we appreciate you, we need
your product, we need you guysto be telling the stories of
main businesses.
You know you don't get thesestories elsewhere.
There's certainly, you knowthere are other no-transcript
business stories, but I don'tthink to the depth and to the
(23:35):
amount that we are putting outon a daily and every two-week
basis and we're really proud ofthat.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I mean I see all the time the other major
publications in the state citeyour articles and your content.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, which is great.
You know, that's a greatfeeling.
We try to do that.
We try to make sure that we'reas up-to-date and cutting-edge
and aware as possible.
Yeah, which is great.
You know, that's a greatfeeling.
We try to do that.
We try to make sure that we'reas up to date and cutting edge
and aware as possible.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Which is great, and certainly you know we're talking
a lot about the main market andmain biz in particular, but
there are publications likeyours across the country.
I know there's New Hampshireand Massachusetts of a company.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's called new england business media and so
our company also owns worcesterbusiness journal and hartford
business journal.
So we have I'm in maine, wehave a an owner and publisher in
worcester and an ownerpublisher in hartford, but we do
.
There are business publicationsall over the united states and
we actually have an associationwhere we learn from each other
and take best practices fromeach other.
And you know the editors Idon't know 85 publications will
(24:34):
get together every year and talkabout like how do you guys
figure this out and how do youdo this and what works for you
in this situation, which isgreat because it only makes us
better at what we're trying todo.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Absolutely so.
When you get together witheveryone, where's the industry
growing?
Where's the?
Where are you guys?
What's the next steps for mainbiz?
What's the next step for theindustry in terms of business
publications?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Yeah, I mean, certainly, digital is just the
growth of where everything isfocused.
Right now, we are veryfortunate that people still
value our print publication andstill want to receive it.
As I mentioned, we haven'treally seen a decline in
subscribership for print, but wehave seen an increase in the
want for all things digital,both from an advertiser
(25:16):
standpoint and from a consumingnews standpoint.
And so just figuring out youknow what those platforms look
like, making sure that we'repushing content in a way that
people want to receive it andduring times that people want to
receive it.
You know we are a businesspublication, so we try to be
(25:36):
conscious of the fact that maybewe shouldn't be pushing content
out on a Saturday or Sunday onLinkedIn or Twitter, because
that's the time for people to bewith their families, those
changes and sort of the howpeople are, how and when people
are consuming their news.
But it's absolutely digital.
(26:03):
It's figuring out where thatgrowth is.
Certainly AI, I mean in the newsindustry, we have to be really,
really cautious with AI.
You know, I certainly am notgoing to write an article, but
there have been things like Imean, you're not using ChatGP to
write your stories.
We are not using ChatGP towrite stories.
I have writers on the street,but we have used some AI in
(26:23):
design work, which has beenreally interesting.
My art director has used it tocreate covers that have been
really interesting.
We had a cover last year whereone of our writers, renee Cordes
, had written a story on bankingand Matt is our art director.
He had created a cover thatkind of had a Jimmy
(26:45):
Stewart-esque person with abanking behind him and it was a
really cool kind of matchup ofAI, which was great.
But then we had to sort ofinternally look at how are we
marking those things?
Again, we try to be a fullytransparent publication and we
don't want to be puttinganything out that we're not
appropriately citing ormarketing, and so it's sort of
how do we make sure that we'rebeing transparent with the fact
(27:07):
that this was generated using AI?
So that you know that, I thinkis still a big unknown for a lot
of people.
So that you know that I thinkis still a big unknown for a lot
of people, um, and and we're nostranger to that as well
figuring it out, um, and thenyou know, looking ahead to next
year, my, the big thing that'son my brain right now.
Um and you're probably you knowup on this as well is there's
(27:28):
going to be a lot of uh, familymedical leave stuff that's going
into effect in 2026 that Ithink a lot of people are going
to be talking about in 2025 andtrying to figure out what I mean
.
It affects every business andthat's what we are is talking to
businesses, so that's we have awebinar that we're hosting in
September on paid family leave.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I think we've just started promoting it.
We already have over a hundredregistrants for that webinar,
just of our clients and ourpartners, and I mean we we see a
lot of folks.
We have Luke Monaghan, who'sthe director of Paid Family,
joining us that day and you knowwe're all the accounts that we
work with, the attorneys we workwith everyone is kind of
looking.
We're all looking for answers,right, and I'm really hoping
(28:08):
that Luke is going to give ussome of those answers and it's
definitely the next big thingfor us.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
It's keeping us busy and you're right, it's going to
keep everybody busy.
Yeah, it's affecting everybusiness and so we're looking at
it.
But, yeah, so that I think,similarly to that point AI,
people are looking for answersand you know the attorneys I
don't know that they have themyet because there isn't really
any established law, so they'retrying to figure out what that
looks like, and so some of thesethings are becoming really hot
and we are reporting on them.
But the struggle is also wecan't report on the end yet,
(28:40):
because we don't know what theend is, we don't know what the
result is, we don't know whatthe final decisions have been on
things.
A thing and we'll keep youupdated as we're learning more
and, as you know, decisions getmade but I think that that
family medical leave act isgoing to really have a lot of uh
impact on businesses around thestate next year, for sure, for
(29:02):
sure.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
So what?
I always like to give peopleone takeaway, one takeaway.
What if someone had to, uh,come to you with a story or use
you as a resource, be a resourceto you?
What would you want of them forthat?
If someone wanted to be aresource to you guys, or be a
source or give a story to you,what's the one thing that you
want them to be thinking aboutfirst and foremost and bring to?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
you.
I guess at the end of the day,I would just say how is this
information that you're tryingto put out there impactful to
other business people?
What is the big thing thatbusinesses need to know about
this?
And that's your starting point.
Again, it's not going to be astory about my great I don't
(29:48):
know widget company and how Ifigured out how to make orange
widgets Like it needs to be.
I saw something lacking in thisfield and it had such an impact
because of X, y and Z.
You know, one of the greatstories this year not certainly
not any unearned press here,we've talked about them a lot as
(30:09):
well is a company called TimberHP.
They were born, I believe, outof the University of Maine, and
it's this new kind of way to usewood fiber in building homes,
and so they were looking at anindustry that Maine has had for
years, which is timber andlumber, but was for sure dying
off with the loss of a lot ofour paper mills, and took that
(30:32):
mill in Madison and revitalizedit, and now they are producing a
whole new product, but stillusing the same industry that
came out of Maine, and so, justyou know, that's one of those
stories.
That's like an amazinginnovation story of utilizing a
product that Maine has beenknown for to solve a problem
(30:52):
that was in the buildingindustry, and utilizing Maine
resources and Maine industriesand things that were already
existing in our state to makethat happen.
So just figuring that out, likewhat problem am I solving in
the business community?
Or what problem do I see in thebusiness community that I think
needs some attention drawn onit, and why is that important
(31:16):
for businesses and for businessdecision makers?
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Good advice.
Good advice.
So well, we've really taken adeep dive into how business
publications work today, sothank you very much.
We appreciate that.
How do folks get in touch withyou or MainBiz if they have
questions or want to learn more?
What's website social stuff?
Speaker 2 (31:34):
sure, uh, yeah, our website, mainbizbiz, um, you can
find we have our events pagethat has all of our events
listed up for the rest of theyear and we'll soon be working
on 2025 events.
Before we know it, and any ofour staff, their information is
right on that page the uh, theeditorial staff, the advertising
staff, um, and then connectingwith us on LinkedIn, facebook,
(31:57):
twitter.
We put our news out on all ofthose platforms and really are
just trying to make sure that,no matter how people are trying
to find us, that they are ableto do so.
You can subscribe to our dailyreport, weekly report, real
Estate Insiders, and you can geta subscription that allows you
to have unlimited access to thewebsite, as well as the print
(32:18):
publication and our e-news rightthere from the website as well.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Awesome, thank you, thank you.
Thank you.
Certainly all of our listenersdon't forget like, follow, share
rate review, subscribe at SmallBusiness Big World, wherever
you get your podcasts, and,again, any questions, you
certainly can always reach outto us at podcast at
papertrailscom.
Andrea, thanks so much forjoining me and we'll talk to
everybody next week.
Thank you.
Thanks for listening to thisweek's episode of Small Business
Big World.
(32:43):
This podcast is a production ofPapertrails.
We are a payroll and HR companybased in Kennebunk, maine, and
we serve small and mid-sizedbusinesses across New England
and the country.
If you found this podcasthelpful, don't forget to follow
us at at Paper Trails Payrollacross all social media
platforms and check us out atpapertrailscom for more
information.
As a reminder, the views,opinions and thoughts expressed
by the hosts and guests alone.
The material presented in thispodcast is for general
(33:04):
information purposes only andshould not be considered legal
or financial advice.
By inviting this guest to ourpodcast, paper Trails does not
imply endorsement of.
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