An interview with Bonnie Boots, Publisher of The Internet Wizards Magazine

by Judy Hill

Judy:How did you get started on the internet?

Bonnie: The internet was around for quite a while before I paid it any attention. In fact, the only reason I got my first internet connection was because a magazine I was writing for finally demanded I get email. So I got dragged onto the internet kicking and screaming. Once I was on it, however, I was hooked.

Judy: So you were writing for magazines?

Bonnie: I spent most of my working life as a writer for magazines and newspapers, and as a designer for corporations ranging from McCalls Arts & Crafts to Tandy Leather. One thing that always bothered me in that work was having to severely limit the information I gave the reader.

The cost of paper and printing ultimately controls the amount of space an article can be or how much instruction a pattern can contain. In patterns, for instance, you try to get all the instructions on one page, because a second page doubled the production cost. So my job was often trimming really useful information to save on paper.

And that’s the first thing that captured my attention on the internet. I saw that a web site could hold unlimited information. A web site didn’t have to cut out half of an article to save on paper. It didn’t have to balance the cost of printing color photos against the cost of printing black and white photos. A web site could be deep and wide enough to hold anything and everything. It was a revelation to me. Once I grasped that, I became interested in moving from print to the internet.

But what really drove me to action was having a book canceled because of a price hike in paper. A publisher had me working on a book that would have contained 100 pages of color photographs. I was just about to deliver the final artwork when the cost of paper and printing suddenly skyrocketed.

The publisher immediately canceled the book. I’d been working on it for a year, there was a good niche market for it, but there was no cost-effective way to deliver it to them.

It was a huge disappointment, but also a huge catalyst. That was the day I decided I was no longer going to let my abilities as a writer and artist be held hostage by publishers and paper costs. I decided I was going to learn digital publishing and take control of my own work.

Judy: So you got right on the internet?

Bonnie: It wasn’t a fast transition. It took me ages to learn the basic steps of getting a web site up and running.

Just mastering the vocabulary was a huge challenge. I’d read one sentence and have to look up four words.. What is “domain.” What is “host server.” It was like trying to decipher hieroglyphics.

It took me a year to get my first web site up. Looking back, I could have done it a lot faster, but working in print media had trained me never to release anything until it was as good as I could make it.

In print, you know, there’s no going back and making changes. Once it’s printed, it’s done, and it can be out there for years, embarrassing you with typos and errors. So I didn’t publish my first web site until it was as good as I could make it.

Today, I’m the first one to tell people “Just get started” —get a web site up and then start refining it. Because a web isn’t static like print. It’s a fluid, flexible medium that can and must change often.

Judy: Was that first web site a magazine?

Bonnie: No, that first web site was just an exercise in learning how to design and run a site. But I wanted so much more than just a web site.

I had a vision of a stand-alone, multimedia magazine that could deliver information in text, graphics, audio and video. I had to learn so much—how to use graphic design software, video editors, audio editors. The amount of software and skills it takes to put a multimedia presentation together is just staggering.

To be honest, if I’d known how complex it was, I might never have started. But because I didn’t know, I just dove in. And because I’m very stubborn, I kept going, even when I finally realized I’d bitten off more than I could chew.

Judy: Why didn’t you just hire out some of the work?

Boots: I tried! But I didn’t even know how to ask for what I wanted. I went to a couple of sites like eLance, where you can post jobs and freelance people can bid on them.

But I’d post a job and get six unrelated replies because I didn’t know the vocabulary, didn’t know how to explain what I wanted. I’d get frustrated and decide I’d have to learn to do it myself.

Judy: Did you start making money on the internet right away?

Bonnie: Not directly from my web sites. But what I did was leverage my skills. Each time I’d learn a new tech skill, I’d pick up some freelance work using it. And I continued to do freelance writing for several publications. That kept enough money coming in to allow me to keep working on the magazine.

Also, because the internet loves barter, I traded my skills to some of the top people on the internet in exchange for their advice. Consequently, it took a long time to pull the magazine together, but in that time I built a large bank of skills and experience and forged some very helpful relationships.

Judy: Where are you now with the magazine?

Bonnie: I’m still working on technical details, as well as getting the blog and the subscriber-only areas of the web site set up. Once that’s in place, I’ll have more time to focus on expanding the content.

Judy: Who are your readers?

Bonnie: I’m targeting entrepreneurs, whether they be “solo self-employed” or small business owners with employees, or even people working toward self-employment.

In my years writing for print publications, I reported on many topics, but what I liked best was interviewing small business owners. I’m crazy about people who have the entrepreneurial spirit it takes to risk it all on their own talents and abilities.

I’ve interviewed small business owners of every description, from the restaurant owner with 30 employees to the artist working out of his office/garage, and found they all had the same question: how could they take advantage of the internet?

Small business people recognize that the internet offers a nearly unlimited field of new opportunities, but finding out what those opportunities are and how you connect with them is so complicated. So a lot of them just start throwing money at the internet and hope something sticks. They buy shoddy pre-packaged websites or software they don’t have time to learn, and end up frustrated

When you first get on the internet and start looking for advice, you immediately get hit by information overload, especially from the internet marketers yelling “You MUST do this NOW or LOSE OUT FOREVER!” People get overwhelmed by it and get pulled away from their original goal and purpose.

I decided the best service I could provide in that noisy and overwhelming world was to deliver fair and balanced reporting about every aspect of working on the internet, not just marketing, but technical news on software and hardware, interviews with web-savvy business owners, and everything in-between.

So that’s the focus of the magazine—providing very busy self-employed people with honest and accurate information about working on the internet.

Judy: You talk about information overload. Was that something you experienced when you started on the internet?

Bonnie: I experience it every day! I have a mindset that helps me get through it that comes from growing up in Minnesota, where the winters are incredibly harsh.

To walk through a blizzard, you have to know what your goal is, like, your home. Then you put your head down and start plowing ahead, only looking up now and then to make sure you’re moving in the right direction. If you look up and find you’ve veered off a bit, you correct your course, put your head back down and keep moving, just concentrating on taking one step after another.

That’s exactly how I move around the internet—goal in mind and one step after another.

Judy: What advice would you give people just getting started on the web?

Bonnie: It takes time, effort and consistent action to build a sustainable business. Accept that and you’ll avoid the parasites out there preying on the very human desire to get rich fast and easy.

You’ll have a much better chance of success if you base an internet business on talents, abilities and knowledge you already have. I just interviewed Terry Gibbs. He’s been collecting model trains since he was twelve. He made money the minute he started selling them on the internet—but that’s because he’d been making money selling them off the internet.

And most important—stop worrying about the competition, or people stealing your ideas or any of the other things you imagine are out there in cyberspace waiting to do you harm. Your greatest foe, the one most likely to keep you from success, is within.

Learn to master the inner voice that tells you you’re not smart enough or lucky enough, that the internet is too complicated and too dangerous. Do that, and nothing in the exterior world will ever stand in your way.

About The Author:

Judy Hill, a distinguished  newspaper columnist, has recently transitioned to the internet where she  writes about nonprofit agencies, local community news and daily life. Visit her at her web site by clicking here.

 

To republish this article in your newsletter, you must agree to reprint the article in its entirety and include the author's information box. If you have questions or comments, contact The Internet Wizards Magazine here.