New Magazine Will Focus on How to Start a Business

The publishers of Irvine-based Entrepreneur magazine are launching a how-to publication for prospective small-business owners.

The magazine, entitled New Business Opportunities, is scheduled to appear in February, 1989. The magazine will be bimonthly, but could change to a monthly format if sales pick up quickly.

Clare Thain, publisher of Entrepreneur and New Business Opportunities, said management began conducting market research for a new magazine about two years ago by surveying subscribers of Entrepreneur. The data showed that many readers had questions on how to start their own business, and Thain’s answer is New Business Opportunities.

Thain said that the new magazine will be geared toward the millions of Americans who are actively interested in pursuing their own business but lack the organization or creative resources to make their dream a reality.

“That will differ from the focus of Entrepreneur,” he said. Entrepreneur “is oriented towards those who already own their business and to those who aren’t owners but who have sufficient capital to invest in an outfit with high-profit potential, like a franchise.”

The new publication, he said, will go after those who don’t have $50,000 or $100,000 to start a franchise or restaurant but who may want to start a business from their home or garage. Marketing research indicates that the audience will be 75% female and under 40.

“In many ways,” he said, “New Business Opportunities will have a how-to approach.”

But the small-business magazine industry is already crowded. In addition to Entrepreneur, publications such as Venture and Income Opportunities are trying to compete for the same readership.

The 11-year old Entrepreneur has a subscription base of more than 250,000, according to recent calculations by Verified Audit Inc. Venture reportedly reaches about the same number. Analysts for the small-business magazine industry wonder if the market can withstand more segmentation.

“It’s a difficult market to codify, much less grasp,” said an advertising director at Inc. magazine, a publication oriented to the top executives of fast growing businesses. “There are three or four (publications) in direct competition with Entrepreneur already.”

The promoters of the new magazine paint a different picture. They say that the market for those who are interested in starting their own business--but don’t know how--is a distinct one that is untapped.