Profiles in Leadership - UW-Milwaukee

Distinguished Entrepreneur Lecture Series
Reiman’s Road to Success Began
with a Hard Lesson
Roy Reiman, Founder of Reiman Publications, told
entrepreneurship students that he would characterize most
entrepreneurs as people who are energetic, positive, fun
to be around — and as people who make mistakes.
“In the beginning, we lost $10,000 — more than we even had at
the time,” he noted of his fi rst attempt to launch a publication.
“But you learn from your losses and failures. We paid off our
creditors, and the next time around we did our homework.”
Reiman spoke in the Lubar School’s Distinguished Entrepreneur
Lecture Series, sharing the personal journey of how he
developed Reiman Publications into an industry powerhouse.
Reiman Publications (recently renamed RDA Milwaukee)
publishes 12 bimonthly magazines and one quarterly magazine
in the U.S. and Canada, including Taste of Home, Country, Light
& Tasty, and Birds & Blooms. The company has been an anomaly
in the publishing industry — building its business on
subscription revenue rather than advertising revenue.
Reiman sold a majority stake in his company in 1998 to Chicago
investment fi rm Madison Dearborn Partners. Four years later,
Reader’s Digest Association bought the company for $760
million in cash. Readers Digest was purchased earlier this year by
the private equity fi rm Ripplewood Holdings.
One of fi ve sons who grew up on a farm in western Iowa, Reiman
said he would have gone into a life of farming had it not been for
a persistent high school English teacher who spotted his talent
for writing. “Mrs. Cleaver pursued me for four years until I
enrolled in Iowa State University in agricultural journalism,” he
said in jest.
Upon graduation, he embarked on a writing career for farming
publications that landed him fi rst in Wyoming and later in
Milwaukee.
Just as his young family was starting to grow, so was Reiman’s
desire to “make a go” of his own publishing business. With his
wife’s encouragement and their entire $6,800 in savings, he quit
16 OUTLOOK
Roy Reiman
his job and started his company in the family’s Hales Corners
basement in 1964.
Then came that initial big loss. But failure didn’t dampen his
entrepreneurial drive. It may even have emboldened it. He set
out again, battle-scarred, but better prepared. And, as they say,
the rest is history.
Noting the importance of people and relationships as key to his
own success, Reiman advised students to nurture those
relationships. “Business is like a marriage, and relationships need
to be built on trust. You’ve got to surround yourself with people
you can trust,” he said. But most importantly, he concluded:
“Keep business fun.”