DSU's Paulson Expands Online Publishing Venture

The Madville Times has reported previously on local entrepreneur Matthew Paulson's success with his financial advice blog, FinanceIsPersonal.com. Now Paulson is ready to expand further into the national financial press market with his new venture, American Consumer News:

Dakota State University Student Launches Consumer-Oriented Online Magazine

Madison, SD, 11/12/2007 – Today’s launch of AmericanConsumerNews.com, an online magazine which discusses money management, will provide South Dakota consumers a new source of information to help make better financial decisions and exemplifies what college students can do when they put their minds to it.

Matthew Paulson, a senior at Dakota State, got his start writing as a freshman in college when he served as the news editor of DSU’s campus newspaper, The Trojan Times. Paulson, a student with no student loans to his name, has always been a money savvy individual and hopes to help others make more informed financial decisions.

“I look forward to being a part of the next generation of home-grown South Dakota technology based businesses and joining the ranks of other South Dakota new media publications such as SD Watch and the Madville Times,” said Paulson.

The magazine, American Consumer News, will feature daily articles about topics such as money saving tips, real estate, debt, investing and insurance. The online magazine will be available for readers online completely free at http://www.americanconsumernews.com/ and as an RSS feed (really simple syndication) for its more technologically savvy readers. The publication will also create a number of consumer guides that are available for its readers in electronic book form.

Paulson is working through a newly formed organization at Dakota State University, called the Center of Techno-Entrepreneurship, which is providing logistical support, work-space and seed money to students who wish to start technology based businesses.

“The Center of Techno-Entrepreneurship has been instrumental in helping getting this business off the ground and is a great resource for budding entrepreneurs,” said Paulson. [press release, American Consumer News, 2007.11.12]

Paulson notes he has four writers on his staff from different parts of the country. There's another example of how the Internet makes possible businesses that couldn't exist here even a decade ago. He sees the possibility of expanding to five or ten local employees in the long-term. These numbers may not look big, but in small-town South Dakota, every job, every income counts. Paulson's efforts may not look as impressive as recruiting a big manufacturing plant with a hundred jobs, but when we create an environment where lots of young entrepreneurs can start their companies from scratch, we build a much healthier community growth model. What would you rather have: a few really big corporations with a handful of elites and the top controlling lots of workers, or a whole bunch of small entrepreneurs, each employing a small, close-knit group of employees, each the captain of his own economic destiny?

Keep showing the way to prosperity, Matthew!