HOW IT ALL STARTED!

Originally from Toronto, I was visiting Belize Central America 1998-99.  I had ridden there in my hippy day lifestyle on a 1994 Kawasaki KLX 650 motorcycle. It was all fun and adventure until my bike broke down and I had to sell it as I could not afford to fix it, and I had virtually no cash.

Those days the internet was just starting and in Belize, it’s still really old school so the only option available for me to sell my motorcycle was to put a 25 plus word add in the classified section of the local newspaper called The Amandela Press. I had asked if there was a magazine like “The Auto Trader” and they had no idea what that was. EUREKA! That was my moment of inspiration. 

Within that same day using a friends Packard Bell computer and Microsoft Word plus some graphics from Powerpoint I designed a mock-up of a magazine/flyer to be printed on an 11″ x 17″ inches black plus one colour –  I called it WHEELS! 

With my mock-up in hand and a simple advertising price table and my camera, I simply walked into all the tire and auto repair, gas stations, dealerships and introduced my self and this new concept. Within a few days, I sold enough advertising took photos for 27 cars to sell @$25 per spot plus some commercial ads. Also, I sold my bike in my first issue! You can see it in the photo top left-hand spot! 

I continued to publish a new issue of Wheels Magazine every two weeks in over 175 locations and 4 countries and mailed to subscribers worldwide until I left Belize 4 years later to start a new adventure in Miami Florida publishing Destination Travel Magazines throughout the Caribbean. 

Today I am living in Winnipeg and proudly promoting Bright Idea Graphics a full-service web and print marketing and design studio. I never thought I was going to have a career in the graphic design and publishing as I never went to school for that but now 20 years later I have never missed a single day without having graphics to design for either the web or print media.