A rough start made one top-flight lawyer question her decision to switch careers. But then she turned her passion for upmarket travel into a successful publishing business.
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Entrepreneur: Jenny Lamattina, Chief Executive
Company: What Next? Productions Pty Ltd
Business type: Elite travel guides
Founded: 1994
Employees: 1 full-time; 1 licensee; 5-6 subcontractors (seasonal)
Turnover: (2006 - 2007) $300,000
Head office: St Kilda, Victoria
Contact details: 0419 348 917
The Beautiful Accommodation Story
Jenny Lamattina thought she had made a big mistake by the second day of her new venture as an independent publisher of upmarket travel guides. She was at the sharp end of a career change that began three years earlier in 1994 when she left a prestigious, well-paid job as a commercial lawyer for the blue-chip law firm Arthur Robinson Hedderwicks.
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Key learning points:
- Business models - What are you really selling: convenience, an image or a money-saver? Jenny Lamattina initially thought she was selling books; she is actually a third-party retailer of image for one set of customers and pleasure for another.
- Career changes - Is your current job also your passion? If not, how do you plan to get where you really want to be? Leverage your expertise by making the most of your skills. Jenny Lamattina used her writing skills and knowledge of boutique accommodation to become a freelance travel publisher, writer and educator.
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Her business idea has probably occurred to many travellers who find themselves stuck in dreadful lodgings ... ‘If only there was a reliable guide to the best boutique accommodation in Australia'. Jenny pictured glossy, full-colour travel books filled with gorgeous photos and trustworthy reviews. She says: "Nothing like that existed in Australia. Revenue would come both ways: from travellers who needed the guides and from the properties that qualified to make the guide."
Jenny knew all about fine accommodation. At the law firm she was the go-to woman for people who wanted to know the best boutique places to stay in Paris or Sydney or regional Victoria. "I developed a reputation for being on holidays, which was unfair because I didn't take more than others. But when I had free time I liked to get away to exotic places."
After six years at the firm, Jenny faced a crucial career decision: put in the work to become a partner or pursue her passion for travel. She decided to jump when a senior associate approached her one day with some advice: "He said: ‘Jenny, the way to get ahead here is to be the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave at night'. And I thought ‘No' and decided to leave."
She took a job as operations manager at a five-star resort on Turtle Island in Fiji ("Law never hurts as career background," she says). As she managed the design and production of marketing information, she realised that becoming a publisher would be easy if she could outsource all the design and print production tasks while she got the content right. And that was how the plan for the Beautiful Accommodation guides first crystallised.
The Challenge
To find a business model for selling upmarket travel guides.
The Solution
Jenny's idea depended on two key factors: finding, reviewing and signing up high-quality properties and showcasing them with brilliant photos and fine text. The wheels fell off her plan soon after she began reviewing properties for the first edition, which would cover Victoria. "I had planned to visit and review 5-6 properties a day and use their photos. By day two I was wildly behind schedule in my visits, the photos supplied by the properties were awful and I had a migraine."
By the end of her first week in August 1997, Jenny was in a crisis and talking to her husband the motoring writer Jonathan Hawley. "I thought my business model would not work and that I should just give back the money I had already taken from properties and go back to the security of a well-paid job."
Jonathan consoled her and they came up with some quick fixes. He found a photographer to get out and take good pictures; Jenny got back on the road and continued to visit property after property. By December that year, the first edition came out with 150 reviews and was a smashing success, selling more than 14,000 copies - a best seller in Australian publishing terms - and making it on to The Age and Herald Sun best-seller lists.
All of this was happening as the internet was really taking off. But Jenny initially saw the net as a threat. Her business was selling books. "I thought that putting our content up on the web would cut into book sales." But at that time only about a third of properties had web sites and providing online access was another bonus. Eventually, she put one book on line and sales were not affected. "Many properties only buy in because of the web site; the book is just a bonus."
Last year, it cost approved properties $1,320 for a slot in the guide. For their money, properties are personally visited and reviewed by a Beautiful Accommodation contributor, quality photos are taken, and it is linked to the Beautiful Accommodation web site, which draws thousands of enquiries each month.
Distribution is a perennial problem, especially through book shops. "There is so much competition," says Jenny, who decided to complement the conventional book selling route of bookstores and newsagents by taking stands at gourmet wine and food shows as well as consumer travel events. The books were heavily discounted - up to 75% off the cover price - and they sold like hot cakes. "When people get it in their hands, they want it. We would sell 400-800 copies per event."
She also began licensing distributors to sell books at offices. A display would be placed on the front counter with an order form. Later the distributor would come back and collect the money, generating total sales of 5,500 copies. At the end of last year, with a 1,000 copies unsold from her second print run, she gave 500 copies to be placed in the gift bags of an upmarket charity event in Melbourne. Within days, feedback from the properties indicated an increase in bookings from just the sort of clients they like.
Customer service is vital. "We don't just take their money and disappear until the next edition; we send newsletters full of tips, fix web site problems and are on call for problems." Jenny has also lectured at Melbourne University, giving a course for people who want to set up B&Bs.
The Result
Since the first edition, Beautiful Accommodation books have sold more than 100,000 copies in Australia. Through a licensing system, the guides now cover all Australia.
The publication achieves an almost unheard of rate of repeat business, with 60-70% of properties in each edition paying to be in the next one. "That is near 100%, given that about 10-20% of properties change hands, cease trading or otherwise leave the field," Jenny says.