Lawrence Business Magazine in the Spotlight

PROFESSIONAL SPOTLIGHT: Ann Frame Hertzog,
Editor-in-Chief Lawrence Business Magazine

| 2015 Q5 | story by Ann Frame Hertzog | photo by STEVEN HERTZOG |

From the first issue, the Professional Spotlight has been one of our features. As we get ready to start the sixth year of the magazine we thought our readers might like a little bit of insight into the business of the magazine, so we decided to spotlight ourselves. We hope you like the article and maybe discover something new about our vision for the magazine.

What would you say is the magazine’s most important service or duty?

We at Lawrence Business Magazine (LBM) strive to help provide a different voice and perspective of local businesses and community members, and highlight how each affect our community. We want businesses to see themselves as part of the community, not just as brick and mortar, and community members to support that by utilizing those businesses. Both businesses and community members should see one another as part of the same group, not as isolated islands, which is what’s best for the community as a whole.

What is your top priority?

We produce a quality product with in-depth articles describing and supporting our local businesses, written by determined writers who love the Lawrence community. Our main priority is to keep the magazine relevant to our community in these ever-changing times.

What have been some of the most important aspects of your success?

It is important to strive for excellence in what you do and to put passion into it. You hear people say they are “looking for their passion” – I believe that the passion comes from within and you instill it in what you do. I grew up in western Kansas and we would always come to Lawrence for KU Track alumni events with my Dad, which was special. Then I went to KU and had a great experience and then after living other placed for 20 years my husband and I chose Lawrence to raise our son. So with the magazine, from Day 1, it was important to me to take my expertise and passion in motion picture marketing and incorporate my love of Lawrence, its business and the community into my vision of the magazine. It’s not an insider’s view of Lawrence but one of someone who loves this town and is continually spending time exploring it.

How many people are involved in producing the magazine? Does your company encourage people to live in Lawrence?

It varies, but there are at least 12 people involved in pulling the magazine together each quarter in addition to myself and our Chief Photographer, Steven Hertzog (who also happens to be my husband), including local writers, photographers, designers, ad representatives and then our local printer (Allen Press). The magazine definitely helps encourage people to live in Lawrence, though that is not necessarily its focus.

How do you make a positive impact on the Lawrence community?

By showing a wide range of the best aspects of Lawrence and fulfilling our mission to highlight local community members who are a positive influence, I hope we, in turn, also have a positive impact on the community and its local businesses.

What do you see as your personal responsibility to the community?

I believe it’s extremely important, as a citizen, to be a contributing part of the community. My main goal has always been to raise my son as a good citizen and to, every day, make the community a better place than it was when I woke up.

How do you manage your day-to-day stress of the magazine?

I try to always make positive decisions and be visible in the community. When we moved to Lawrence, my main goal was to spend more time as a family and with my son, and to focus on what’s most important in life. This is how I live my life on a daily basis and, therefore, when things get stressful, I look at my son.

How do you reward excellent work performance? How do you manage poor performance?

We are lucky at LBM. All of our people are freelance/self-employed and have a personal drive to excel and to succeed. They are all excellent workers and as dedicated to this community as I am.

What is the biggest challenge you feel Lawrence businesses face?

The biggest challenge I see from my vantage point is how to continue to grow economically and, at the same time, not lose our small, college-town charm. We often see the two extremes of opinions here in Lawrence, pro-development and anti-development. Personally, I don’t like the word “development,” at all; it’s very polarizing. I prefer the term “economic growth.” Economic growth is a better way to focus on where we need to be for the future, not on development. It’s a balancing act to grow our community in the smartest, healthiest way for us. I believe Lawrence needs to manage its growth wisely, but we also do need to grow and have a strong economy and healthy tax base to make sure we keep the things that we love about living here. I hope that our magazine helps both sides to see ways they can help do just that.

Over the course of your career, what has been the single largest change in the Lawrence community?

When I hear people say they shop online, it drives me crazy. How do we get the word out how important it is to keep people shopping locally? It’s so important that people shop locally and support local community businesses during these changing times (i.e. the Internet). Our focus is to make people aware of local businesses so they can feel connected to the community and make decisions that will help boost Lawrence’s economic growth.

What do you foresee as being the biggest challenge for the magazine currently and in the future? On a local level?
Continuing to stay relevant as a local business, as well as a magazine, in this community is key. As a business, we need other businesses to continue taking out ads and support us through advertising so we can continue to cover people and businesses making a positive impact on Lawrence. We don’t see ourselves as a lifestyle magazine; we try to really explore topics and businesses that are important to our community. And then hopefully as a community as we learn more about each other and their business, we focus on our community neighbors and see that their success and economic growth is truly a success for all of us as a community.

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