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REZ BIZ MAGAZINE A YEAR OLD:
- Navajo publisher is out to spur business on the reservation
By Associated Press
October 20, 2006 Published in ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
ALBUQUERQUE - As publisher and editor of a year-old business magazine, George Joe admits that he has an agenda, and it's a daunting one: He's trying to spur business development across an American Indian reservation where running water and electricity are luxuries and unemployment is near 50 percent.
On the sprawling Navajo reservation, residents live far apart, the communities are small and it can be nearly impossible to start a business, according to Joe.
It's not like America's urban neighborhoods, where children get their start with lemonade stands on the street corner.
"There are no street corners on the rez," says Joe, a Navajo himself. "It's hard to be a small entrepreneur."
Joe, a few freelance writers, a designer and some of his friends have been working to change that with REZ BIZ, a monthly magazine aimed at igniting the Indian entrepreneurial spirit.
The magazine connects Indians interested in running their own businesses by providing a road map made up of the experiences of others.
A year and a few bumps and bruises later, REZ BIZ is celebrating its first anniversary.
"Incredible," Joe says of the magazine's success.
He says the more than 61,000 hits received by the REZ BIZ Web site offer evidence that readership has more than tripled in the past six months. Magazine figures also show that for each printed copy, more than three people take a look.
It's distributed at grocery stores and other businesses across the Navajo Nation and in Albuquerque, Gallup, Flagstaff, Ariz., and Phoenix. It's also used as a teaching tool at a couple of Navajo schools and at the University of New Mexico's Gallup campus.
"Reader stats just keep going up and up and up," Joe says.
"They want to know about the ups and downs, the decisions, the hardships, the day-to-day."
The magazine features native business owners. But Joe may be his own best example. He has experienced the difficulties of getting the magazine off the ground and keeping it going. Rez Biz nearly folded after the first issue because sufficient funding hadn't been secured.
Kristina Haskell, a young Navajo-Hopi woman who runs her own accounting firm in Phoenix, reads the magazine regularly.
"One of my young cousins asked me, 'What do you do?' . . . I told him I have my own company, and his eyes got so huge and he asked, 'People can do that?'"
Joe sees REZ BIZ as a national publication that will continue to highlight the accomplishments of Indians from all tribes while asking hard questions about cultural and bureaucratic barriers to business.
~SUBSCRIBE TO REZ BIZ MAGAZINE: Send an e-mail to: [email protected] ~
You can visit REZ-BIZ Magazine .. at: www.REZ-BIZ.com
SEND US YOUR REZ BIZ MAGAZINE PHOTOS: Send hi resolution color photos. We are seeking photos of businesses and people in business reading a copy of REZ BIZ magazine. Please list the name of the people in the photo, the business being represented, a brief description of the business, the web site, and phone number. The photos should be at least 1.5 megs. Set your camera to the highest resolution and send. Send the photos to: [email protected]
~ Mission & Goals ~
• To feature Native Americans who are seeking successful ways to make a living on and off the reservations
• To serve as a catalyst for positive change in matters that now inhibit community and economic development in Indian Country
• To be a vehicle for positive dialog about business development and entrepreneurship in Indian Country
• To motivate grassroot entrepreneurs and the youth
• To provide business knowledge and information in a creative easy to read inspiring and relevant manner
• To fill a void as there is no mass media publication like REZ BIZ Magazine
~ Editorial Content ~
• Entrepreneur Profiles • Feature Stories • How-To Articles • Tourism
• Up & Coming Native Talent and Entrepreneurs • Editorials • Agriculture
• Starting New Businesses • Crime & Unemployment • Arts & Crafts
• Educational Attainment • Tips for Small Businesses
• Land Development • Success in Indian Country • Letters to the Editor
• Nation Building • Business Ideas • Reservation Land Status
• Business of the Month • Fashion • The Native Entertainment Business
• Seeking Small Business Assistance
~ REZ BIZ Features, Benefits & Advantages ~
• REZ BIZ is a monthly 12x13 large format tabloid
• REZ BIZ provides an effective means to promote and to enhance your business’s image and visibility to Indian Country
• REZ BIZ encourages business ownership and self sufficiency through innovative and relevant editorial content and features
• Over 61,000 hits per month (September 2006)
~ Distribution ~
7,000 copies in the following areas (still making changes):
• Phoenix - (we need help with Phoenix distribution)
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• Albuquerque - Indian Pueb-lo Cultural Center
• Flagstaff - Conoco Gas Station on Hwy 89 North
• Tuba City - Bashas
• Chinle - Bashas
• Window Rock - Bashas, Quality Inn – Window Rock
Chevron
• Gallup - Thunderbird Jewelry Supply Co.- Yazzie Indian Arts - Safeway – north side - Jasmine, Inc. - Ellis Tanner Trading
• Shiprock - Rez Rock Café
• Farmington -
- Tuba City - Bashas
* Note: If you would like to distribute copies of REZ-BIZ Magazine in your area, please contact us at (928)245-2925 or (928) 814-5111.
~ Contact Information ~
• RB Publications • 2418 Hwy 66 PMB 492 • Gallup, NM 87301
• www.REZ-BIZ.com • (928) 245-2925 or (928) 814-5111
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REZ BIZ MAGAZINE MAKES DEBUT
By Susan Montoya Bryan
ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 30, 2005
Published in DENVER POST
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Frank Dayish Jr. was raised on the nation's largest American Indian reservation and knows about the living conditions – no running water or electricity in some homes, dirt roads and few places where people can find work.
A top priority for Dayish, vice president of the sprawling Navajo Nation, and other tribal leaders is improving conditions with new infrastructure and economic development.
"That's what we're trying to do here -- stimulate small business owners to stand up," says Dayish, a former business owner himself. "And if we can just saturate the Navajo Nation with that I think it would give us a real kick start."
Dayish hopes Rez Biz, a new monthly publication dedicated to American Indian business, will help that entrepreneurial spirit blossom.
The magazine aims to encourage economic development and spur small business on the Hopi reservation in Arizona and on the Navajo Nation, which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
The magazine will be available in early October at newsstands across the two reservations and at select locations in Albuquerque, Phoenix and Flagstaff. It will be free for the first few months and then, depending on circulation, it may cost up to $1.
The creators of Rez Biz hope the publication will connect American Indians interested in running their own businesses by providing a roadmap made from the experiences of others.
"Once you lay this thing out there and see what the Navajo Nation can do with all these different things and then share it with other Indian nations, I think it's going to be just a massive explosion," Dayish predicted after the independent magazine was unveiled in Albuquerque last week.
Navajos George Joe and Michael Clani (*) want to tell the stories of successful American Indian entrepreneurs, analyze government-sponsored economic development programs and give people ideas for making a living. They hope the magazine eventually will find a national audience.
Joe, who writes for regional newspapers and has worked as a public relations officer with the Navajo Nation, said studies show that 85 percent of Navajo wages and other income is spent off the reservation. If businesses can be developed on the reservation, he said they could tap into that revenue.
Tribal officials have also pointed out that Indian unemployment stands at about 46 percent.
"We are on a mission. We have an agenda," Joe said. "We need to start looking at this and talking about this. We think this is the only way change will come about."
Applying for a business license on the Navajo Nation can take as long as seven years, Dayish said.
"By the time a person puts an application in place and finally gets it reviewed and has the potential to get it approved, the person has lost interest, and I'm one of those guys," he said.
The tribe recently delegated authority to its local chapters to award business site licenses to speed up the process and spur economic growth. The tribe also started what it calls the "Buy Navajo" campaign to support Navajo-run businesses.
(*) Michael Clani left REZ BIZ Magazine after the first issue.
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