MEADOW LAKE, Sask. – Don’t dismiss the Saskatchewan consumer, magazine publisher Lionel Hughes told a rural business conference here Feb. 28.
He was one of several speakers touring the province last week as part of a promotion by the government’s
Action Committee on the Rural Economy.
Hughes gave his message to the ACRE group, which is looking for ways to keep rural Saskatchewan economically and socially alive.
ACRE member Red Williams, a University of Saskatchewan professor, told the Meadow Lake conference that the group is analyzing the costs of working and living in Alberta versus Saskatchewan. It hopes to counter the argument that people leave the province because they can be financially better off in Alberta.
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John Serhienko, an ACRE member from Blaine Lake, Sask., said he wants to get rid of the CAVEman philosophy common in rural coffee shops – Citizens Against Virtually Everything.
Hughes said he has also heard the negatives about Saskatchewan, especially when he and his wife decided to set up a business after moving to the family’s Norquay, Sask., farm from Vancouver Island.
They launched a magazine in 1998 from their home that extolled the province’s geographic beauty and people. Eight years later, the award-winning Prairies North magazine supports a full-time staff of seven and six part-timers in Norquay.
“Go lean. We went at this business like a farmer (who says) ‘if I can use baler twine to keep it going, I will.’ “
Hughes said by renting equipment, working hard and talking to as many people as they could, their business became a success. That’s partly due to the low cost of doing business in Saskatchewan compared to Calgary or Toronto.
The bad news is that Saskatchewan’s population is old. Hughes said his average reader is 60, but because this province tends to have the longest-lived Canadians, he anticipates another 25 years of selling to Saskatchewanians.
And while the population is spread out not only in the province but around the world, he finds Saskatchewan buyers will buy gift subscriptions for family members elsewhere.
He noted that the Saskatchewan consumer is initially suspicious of sales pitches, but once they commit to a product, their loyalty is strong.
Hughes produced a 2006 Saskatchewan bachelor calendar that didn’t make money. But it connected the magazine with various communities that nominated their most public-service minded bachelor and gave Hughes a way to reach potential readers.
Another common belief is that Saskatchewan consumers are cheap. Hughes didn’t dispute this but he added that they are also sentimental about this province “and that can trump the penny pinching mode.”
Hughes said finding good staff in rural areas is a matter of training ready-to-go people in the community. One of their best is a farm woman who had never had a job but who was an organized person.
Janice Stock’s way to keep a home-based business going from her Hazlet, Sask., farm was to be flexible and keep exploring opportunities.
She and two women friends started a soap-making business called Sandhills Essence in 1990. From making 120 bars a week and selling them at craft shows, the business now makes 800 bars and has branched into bath salts, talc powders, candles and spa products.
In 2002, Stock bought out her partners and changed the business to specialize in the wholesale side selling to hotels, spas and non-retail outlets.
She also added new lines to sell including high end kitchen ware and boutique shoes.
She said if she can succeed in business in rural Saskatchewan, anyone can. When asked about electronic marketing, Stock said the business has a website, but she finds it works better to sell by meeting face to face with people.
On the other side of the computer divide, Hope Martin talked about the career she is starting from her home in Outlook, Sask.
She graduated last year from Red Deer College’s virtual assistant course, which allows her to sell professional services on line such as organizing a business’s website, office and equipment. She makes the computer process understandable for her clients who are across North America.
However, she has no farmer clients because rural areas are still stuck with slower dial-up computer service.
As a single mother of three, Martin appreciates being at home to work. Challenges include interruptions from friends and family, loneliness, lack of motivation, clients who don’t understand or trust technology and the need to keep learning in her field.
