By Casey Jarmes | The News-Review
NORTH ENGLISH – On April 27, the English Valleys History Center featured a presentation from Rhonda and C.C. Hoffman, the creators of local monthly publication Neighbors Magazine. The Hoffmans also own the Design House and Happy Hutch. Rhonda Hoffman explained that, in 2005, she moved to Sigourney to be with Sigourney native C.C. Hoffman. Rhonda, a graphic designer, wanted to work in town so she could be around for her children and began doing freelance design work. Customers repeatedly asked them if they could do print work, leading the Hoffmans to open the Design House.
“We’ve been going for about twenty years now, and it still amazes us that, in a small rural community, we were able to build a business that allowed us to raise our children, have a good quality of life, and do things for our community,” Rhonda said.
C.C. explained that, at the time, he was working as a career counselor and anthropology professor at Central College, which ended up helping when they eventually began the magazine.
“The one thing that I did bring, that eventually comes to be useful, is the whole idea of peoples and cultures and the stories that people tell that isn’t necessarily formal history…I’ve always been interested in the oral history type things, I’ve always been interested in the stories of people that don’t get told, or don’t get written about, or don’t get put in the big books or anything like that,” said C.C.
After several years building their client base and running the Design House, the Hoffmans began putting out calendars featuring old photos and the history of Keokuk County. This led them to begin discussing creating a magazine.
“It didn’t take us long to arrive at the idea of this focussing on these stories that people can tell that are local,” said C.C. “Our philosophy is that everybody’s got an interesting story to tell. And I can just about talk to anybody and we can find something that they’ve done or happened in their life that would be interesting for people to read.”
C.C. stated that, at the time, there was no single media source covering the entire area. He stated didn’t want to be subscription based or have the magazine be difficult to obtain. In 2012, after the Every Door Direct Mail Program was established, the Hoffmans found a way to easily get the magazine out to the entire community.
“I remember C asking me, in addition to the history and just stories of local interest, he said, ‘What do you want the magazine to be about? What do you want it to look like?’ from the design perspective and content,” Rhonda said. “I said, ‘You know, I want people to be able to sit down with it, I want it to be easy to read, and I want it to feel good. I don’t want any stories that tell bad things about people, I want it to all be good. If we know anything, everybody has good things they’ve done, and bad things they’ve done, and we’re going to focus on the good that exists in our area.’”
Rhonda explained that the first issue, which came out in January, 2013, left them $100 in the red, but every issue since has been profitable. She noted that there are five advertisers that are still with them, 13 years later, and that the magazine had helped promote local businesses.
“I mean, we want to see businesses succeed,” said Rhonda. “It’s not about just making sure our business succeeds, because if other businesses didn’t succeed, we have no business. We’re only as healthy as the next business.”
