The purpose of the launch parties is to get people to connect. I want it to be a place where people can come out and meet the writers, meet me, meet anyone who contributes to it. And, see that if they have an interest in doing any of those things, that they can do it too. And just figuring out there are a ton of people in my community that I don’t know that I can connect with. The Love IT parties are also our way of creating less of a footprint and only giving magazines at the party so that we’re not creating a ton more waste within the magazine industry. I wanted to give the experience of a higher-end event but making it attainable for more people. We have very harsh economic lines here in Evansville, and I really wanted to see a mingling of “classes” within these parties. So, the people who love fancy things and are used to that can come, and then the people who are not so used to fancy things can come and meet different walks of life at the parties.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a small business owner? How would you describe the small business community in Evansville?
I’d say the advantages are the disadvantages of being a small business owner. You get your own schedule, but you also have to work really hard to be gone for a week because no one is going to pay for your week vacation. So it’s kind of a catch 22 with everything. As far as being a small business owner here in Evansville, the main thing is support. We have so much more of a local movement going on now, but there are still a lot of people that don’t see that it makes a difference to shop local. So just trying to help that mindset of — hey, maybe instead of going to Walmart, I can find someone in the community that sells this thing or getting a service from a service provider within the community instead of going online. I think the struggle right now is just getting people to realize that shopping local does matter.