Thank you for reading Lexington Life Magazine. This January marks our 20th anniversary of publishing Lexington Life Magazine and what better way to celebrate our 20th birthday than by going back in time to 2004 when Lexington Life was merely an idea filed in the back of my head.
I have been involved in media since my days at the University of South Carolina when I worked at the student newspaper, The Gamecock. Working there for five semesters, I learned the ins and outs of advertising sales and management. I learned that working on commission was something that I was comfortable with because my efforts directly contributed to my financial compensation. I loved working at The Gamecock and other than the ridiculous number of parking tickets I racked up trying to hustle in and out of the Russell House, it was an absolutely fabulous experience.
Upon graduating from USC in May of 1994, I soon ended up at 104.7 WNOK radio working in advertising sales and quickly realized the “real world” was much different than the “scholastic” one. I was not very successful in radio sales at first, but it was during this time a bright, bubbly, bleach blonde named Donna Clark made her presence known. She showed me how to be successful in radio. She worked at Fox 102.3, and we worked under the same ownership umbrella which she had experience with during her time in Sarasota, Florida. We quickly became friends and began selling 104.7 (female demo) and 102.3 (male demo) together as a combo to clients who benefitted from this new (at the time) groundbreaking synergy.
I still think it is crazy that Donna and I started working on the same exact day in radio sales. God made it clear we were meant to be together. During the company’s white elephant Christmas party, she randomly pulled my gift, a giant salami of all things, off the stacked table loaded with presents. We began to date after the New Year’s Party and just celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary last September.
After a brief stint in law school, I took a job selling advertising on Time Warner cable with CableVantage. I learned much there in four years, doing video production, media placements, and on-air commercials for networks like ESPN, USA, and CNN. Soon, I realized that I was limiting myself, and in 1998, I left CableVantage and started my own advertising agency. I handled and managed creative design and implementation of multi-faceted ad campaigns in newspaper, radio, television, and billboard advertising. My specialty was automotive advertising and business was booming.
Everything changed when the Twin Towers were attacked in 2001. Ad spending was curtailed after the tragedy as America tried to figure out a “new normal.” Sound familiar? This was a turning point for me, professionally. Yes, I was successful in automotive advertising. However, I questioned myself and whether I was best utilizing my God-given marketing talents by targeting “bad credit” customers to purchase new vehicles for the rest of my life.
Thankfully, God clearly revealed to me that it was not His intention. In 2002, I rebranded my business into a public relations and media firm specializing in medical marketing. At that time our kids, Joey and Jenna, were both under 3 years old and we chose Lexington to raise our family. It seems like yesterday when we visited Publix and watched all the customers talking to each other. We knew that Lexington was the special, close-knit community we wanted to become a part of.
Soon, I was handling the Oakleaf Village grand opening. I was also working with Palmetto Pediatrics and as their business grew, they rebranded and opened a new location in Lexington. While working with my medical accounts, I reached out to the Lexington Chronicle and met a sales representative named Anne Rabon. She had a wonderful energy and spirit that I was immediately impressed with. I saw a need for local businesses to garner additional exposure in Lexington and while in the shower I had an “AH-HA!” moment that was the idea for Lexington Life Magazine. Lexington Life, a direct mail magazine, would serve as the thread connecting the local schools, churches, businesses, and the people of Lexington.
Lexington Life was born, and my partner Mike Burney and I hired Allison Caldwell and Anne Rabon to help with our startup. In August 2004, the first edition of Lexington Life hit mailboxes. There was no Facebook or social media at the time and our recipe for local exposure went gangbusters. The magazine continued to grow, and we added Lake Murray Life, now called Irmo-Chapin Life, as a solution for businesses on the “other side” of the dam.
I wanted to protect and serve Lexington, so I ran for Lexington Town Council in 2006 and served through 2016. Losing that election in 2016 was one of the hardest challenges I have ever had to mentally overcome. Until recently, I had no idea how much that loss affected me. I became more introverted and essentially like an ostrich, buried my head in the sand. To quote Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, “You can’t live in your fears.” I was living in my fears and fearful to make the necessary changes for growth and evolution into a digital multi-media brand.
With the help of my life coach Dorri Smith, I began to understand why I lived in my fears and how unhealthy it was. She was right and after “floating” through the pandemic it became crystal clear that I had to adapt to survive. As an organization, we needed to offer more opportunities to our customer base. When true change happens, tough decisions need to be made. Working with Donna we had all our eggs in one basket. Fortunately, she secured a sales position with WIS-TV 10. Existing staff were offered partnership opportunities and encouraged to bring new ideas to the table. Their empty notebooks provided me a clear sign that after a of decade working together, finding new personnel was essential for the metamorphosis to occur.
Stressful would be the kindest way to describe the transitional process as I have worked tirelessly to rebrand Lexington and Irmo-Chapin Life from one-dimensional products to multi-media brands. One of my mottos has always been “You can’t do it for the money” if you want to be successful. I don’t produce magazines to make money, I produce magazines to help customers achieve a significant level of exposure greater than what they could achieve on their own. In essence, having a mutual fund of over 200 customers provides an economy of scale that benefits everyone. I describe that as a win-win situation and any time a win-win develops, good things follow.
One of my pet peeves is when businesses are taken advantage of by fly-by-night media companies. They cite exorbitant, inflated readership numbers and attempt to blur the lines, which can be confusing to advertisers. Here are a couple of tips businesses can use to compare apples to apples. First, ask to see a print bill to verify the number of issues printed. Legitimate businesses should have no problem providing this information to you. Secondly, ask to see the USPS postage receipt to ensure that each magazine is mailing the quantity they claim to be mailing. Postage is a significant expense and one that differentiates magazines.
What a whirlwind! I can’t believe 20 years have flown by since the first Lexington Life was published. Joey and Jenna are now out of college and our youngest son Noah will soon be a senior in high school. Media landscapes are changing fast and so are we. We are now offering digital and video services unique in the market, at a price that is fair and reasonable. Customers depend on our organization to promote their businesses and provide positive exposure, and community goodwill, while having some fun and laughter along the way.
I’m super excited about 2024! I am also only a phone call or email away. In addition to evolving Lexington and Irmo-Chapin Life Magazines, we will be producing social media content and programming (podcasts, videos, news, and reels) for old and new customers who want those services. We are storytellers. Todd Shevchik Consulting has been created to help businesses with media campaigns and purchases, plus political consulting and guidance for anyone needing assistance navigating local municipalities concerning zoning, variances, and other governmental red tape.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Unfortunately, some competition is imitating the 2006 version of our company. I will admit that change is tough, however, change is necessary for survival. I have resurrected a popular saying from my high school days, “No Fear!” This month, I made an extremely sizable investment in the business, so that I can provide additional digital, video, and media solutions to Lexington businesses and non-profits. Twenty years is a long time. Moving forward, I’m adapting to reach both younger and older generations providing a superior product that is second to none.
Come join me, it’s going to be a lot of fun!