Introducing...
Jeff Walker

Enough of the ulcers, the petty office politics, corporate policy, flying all over the country only to stay in different hotel rooms night after night, and eating alone. Tired of being away from his wife Janell and young son Nolan. "I looked at my superiors to get a sense of what I was aiming for, and was appalled. High divorce rates, ulcers, chain-smoking and the 'selling of souls' for political gain. Not exactly a pretty sight!" Jeff said. "Lily Tomlin once said that 'the trouble with the rat race is that even if you win it you're still a rat.' And I saw lots of rodents ahead!"

Having a background in marketing with some advertising and publishing experience, Jeff decided he wanted to publish something of his own. "I knew I wanted to do Coffee News even before I found it on the Internet." Jeff says. "Sixteen years ago I had come across a similar publication in a small town near where I grew up that was put together by the local Chamber of Commerce. I knew then that one day I would do something like it."

In April 1999 Jeff was ready to try, but decided to do some research first to see if someone had already "invented the wheel" so that he wouldn't have to start from scratch. He began by surfing the Internet. "I can't even remember as to how I first stumbled across Bill Buckley's(U.S.A. Head Office web site) , but after a few minutes of looking through it I was getting pretty excited. After a phone conversation with Bill and my receiving a package of information in the mail from him a few days later, I was ecstatic. I'd found what I was looking for!"

Jeff will eventually have four editions of Coffee News published in Lincoln. With a lot of different "papers" competing for advertising dollars, he has had to become more creative. But more of a stretch for Jeff has been having to become more aggressive.

"I joined a local BNI (Business Network International) chapter and became president this spring. I immediately began a weekly fax mailing to my clients and prospects each Friday that I dubbed the "5 Minute CoffeeFax".

This April we launched our web site, CoffeeNewsLincoln.com, in an effort to expand our "Coffee News Network" even further. Efforts have been made to brand our logo everywhere we can, through the "Network", scratch pads,T-shirts, coffee mugs, pens ... anything we can to make Lincolnites familiar and comfortable with Coffee News."

Jeff says he continues to struggle with the normal small business tasks:growth and expansion, cash flow, recognition and time management just to name a few. But he says progress is being made. "We have never lost sight of our vision of what Coffee News will become in the near future here in Lincoln. Our mission statement hangs on the wall right in front of my desk in my home office and I see it every day."

Our mission is to establish Coffee News as an effective and affordable advertising solution for local business, recognized as a viable center of influence through print, word-of-mouth, and web-based advertising.

Jeff also contributes to the success of other franchisees with his weekly "CoffeeFax" publication. This 1-2 page publication is used by many franchisees as a "value added" tool that keeps you and your advertisers in touch. Franchisees can pick up this week's Coffee Fax by Jeff Walker in our (franchisee only) section of this site. It is available in Acrobat for easy printing. For more advanced users we have a Pagemaker file version. Thanks Jeff!

Thought I would touch base with you. A lot has been going on the last 10 days or so. I jumped into the coffee news with a vigor after returning back from a vacation on Jan. 8th and have been going hard ever since! My first publication made it to the printers yesterday at 5:00 and this morning, I am a stress free women! What a job - I was still selling ads the night before. I managed to get 27 paid ads in - selling over $9000.00. I have 1 - one week, 2 - 5 weeks, 16 - 10 weeks and 8-52 weeks with a couple more starting the week after. I am truly a happy women!!!! I just pray that Bill (Martens) delivers the quality he promised. I will be absolutely crushed if he does not. I put soooooo much work into the layout and was actually quite proud of what I was able to accomplish. Bill did compliment me on my layout - the true test will be when it hits the streets! I distribute on Monday and was actually able to secure 5 new places - making distribution up to almost 40. I am very nervous and probably won't sleep well until that is out of the way.

Oh, and this too. I have a sister-in-law who lives outside of Brandon (about 20 miles). She is interested in the Coffee News Franchise. I could not find this area to be reserved. She is also considering just the Virden area and surround communities. I am not sure this area could handle the franchise (the population is probably 8,000/9,000 combined). She does not have access to a computer right now to ask for information so I told her I would ask on her behalf. Would you be able to send her a package ? Thanks Jean Maxine Larway Thompson, Manitoba Coffee News