After spending 20 + years in Florida the time was ripe for change. For a young and growing family boarding up the house and running from hurricane after hurricane was finally too much for us. Besides with the fire ants, oppressive humidity with no time to boat, fish or golf...why stay?
I'm Joe Jakubielski (jack-a-bill-ski) and along with my wife Annamarie, we own and operate the Hometown Value Guide direct mail marketing program. This is the story of how we got here.
Since just after the Macintosh was invented, I've been using it as a tool to help local businesses get exposure. I've been designing ads and collateral for a long time and managing the printing of those items. I helped publish a weekly newspaper and monthly magazines for several years. I landed at a progressive printing company when I met my wife to be. After making our vows we started our family right away. It wasn't long before I was looking for more income opportunity.
That's when I met S.B. at a company that publishes local direct coupon magazines. I was trusted with converting the analog art process to a modern digital one. It was a good run. The corporate position was paying very well, but as many know, often the trade-offs are tough. Travel, late and long hours and a sense that if the company leadership faltered, I'd be looking for a new gig in no time flat. 7 years and 3 children later, it was the turbulent hurricane season of 2004 that sent our family in search of something else.
It was August and we were on the run from Hurricane Ivan. We were sitting in a grassy playground field outside Knoxville. The children played in the grass with no fear of fire ants and a breeze kept us from feeling too hot. Annamarie dropped the bomb: "You have one year to get us out of Florida!"
After digging deep about what we wanted, things became crystal clear. It was to create a life where our family was in the center and we could wrap our business life around it. We asked God to guide us and we leaped into the unknown by deciding to publish our own direct mail magazines. We had fallen in love with the mountains. And when we searched for mild climate, four seasons, and positive business atmosphere: Asheville and Henderson County was on top of the list. I took my oldest son on a scouting trip on January 1, 2005 and declared, "We can LIVE here!"
It had only taken us six months to move and another three to get our business underway. Without direct selling experience, in August of 2005 we published and mailed the first quarterly issue of the Hometown Value Guide. Some of the clients in that issue are still advertising with us today.
Making the choice to change our life was a scary one. We moved away from family. We started something from scratch. We know by keeping a grateful attitude for all the people and each opportunity God places in our lives we are certain things will work out just fine.
Seven years have past and we're still at it. We have three magazine zones and our family now has four children, a great dog and a crooked little cat. We look forward to helping more local business owners to grow and profit for a long time to come.
Joe Jakubielski
Publisher / Owner
Hometown Value Guide
828.335.3553
www.hometownvalueguide.com
www.facebook.com/hometownvalueguide
www.twitter.com/hmtownvaluguide
www.twitter.com/JoeHVG
