Terena le Roux keeps the Ideas/Idees flowing

Whereas our print and digital offerings did not differ much in the past, the price difference between print and digital will now be substantial, with print selling at R80 and digital at R50.

We know our readers are tactile by nature and therefore offer the print option to those who want the luxury of a paper product. But we acknowledge that the economy is affecting everyone, and therefore want the more affordable digital product as well.

The team is funding the first two print runs with their retrenchment packages. How can your readers also get involved to keep the magazine on the shelf?

We’ve launched a campaign on Thundafund with clear milestones, rewards, and what they will help fund. The team contribution is to work without pay for the first two issues and the reader contributions will help us with paying our freelancers, legal costs and the smaller start-up costs.

You have three milestones to overcome in order to get the publication back on track. With R66,200 pledged so far, you’re 58% of the way there (to your dream goal of R115,000) with only 19 days left.

• Are you feeling confident that this goal will be achieved?

I am confident that we will at least get very close to the overall target. We expected January to be quiet, but pledges have started picking up again and we are planning a focused campaign for the last three weeks – the more we remind people, the more pledges we get.

Do you have any back-up plans, i.e. to extend the funding?

We can extend it yes, but we’ve also put money aside to keep the printers paid until the first payments come in and the model becomes sustainable.

What is your engagement to potential backers?

The campaign opened the door to an entirely new way of engaging with our readers. Apart from the rewards as set out in our campaign, it has started conversations, new creative collaborations and a group of Ideas/Idees friends, who will in future know every move we make before anyone else. I love this new, transparent way of communicating.

We are keeping overheads as low as we can at the moment, being very aware of the impact it can have. We all work from home, with regular get-together sessions so as to keep the creative juices and the production systems flowing.

Why do you/does the team believe in this project, and why is it your hope that others will too?

We have all lived, breathed and loved this brand for many years. Most of us have been through the entire rebranding to Ideas/Idees and the establishment of it as a new brand that submersed itself in the hands-on world of creative entrepreneurship. The feedback, goodwill and offers to contribute from our readers, the small businesses we’ve worked with, and our clients have been amazing.

IdeesFabriek will house the magazine. Do you have any other ideas on how you’d like to grow the business, should this initial venture be successful?

The brand has always leant itself to many brand extensions. In fact, we have dreamt for years about getting out of the building and into the real world where we could be more hands-on. I believe we can be much more than just a printed how-to guide. We can share our experience in many different ways. The word ‘factory/fabriek’ was not chosen without reason. But for now, we first need to get this baby off the ground.

To fund this project, go to Thundafund.com, or contact az.oc.yrotcafsaedi@anereT for any other creative ways to get involved.