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Keidi Keating
A clever copywriter and editor in London, twenty-nine year old Keidi Keating moved to the Costa del Sol in southern Spain in 2004 and found it difficult to find suitable work. Never one to let her environment defeat her, Keidi jumped on a rare opportunity to re-launch a popular, local, expat magazine, The Sentinella. Talented with both words and figures, Keidi tripled the magazine's pagination within just 24 months, plus transformed the business into a community magazine franchise ( The Sentinella Network) that now operates in four regions of Spain and is looking for franchisees across the globe.
With energy to burn, whilst still overseeing The Sentinella Network, Keidi wrote and launched her first book, Sol Searching: A Fun-Filled Tale of a Modern Girl's Move to the Costa del Sol. Bitten by the publishing bug, Keidi has since launched The Word Queen to help other writers realize their dreams to have their very own books in print. |
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Expat Women's Interview with Keidi |
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| Expat Women: What prompted you to leave the high life of London for the beach life in Spain? |
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Keidi: To be honest, I was sick of working in London – the stress, the commuting, the pounding rain... they all mingled to create feelings of profound negativity. When my parents announced they were moving to Spain to retire, a light clicked on in my head and I instinctively knew it was the right thing to join them. I lived in their apartment for nine months and then I branched out on my own. |
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Expat Women: How did the opportunity to re-launch The Sentinella magazine come about? |
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Keidi: The Sentinella magazine used to be called The Sentinel, owned and edited by a sociable man with a witty sense of humor. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with leukemia and died not long after I arrived. My dad happened to know his dad so I got in touch and asked if I could take over the magazine. He said yes and the rest is history! |
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Expat Women: What did you do differently with the magazine that enabled it to triple its size in just 24 months?
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Keidi: Previously the magazine had only black and white pages, so I introduced a color, glossy section to make it more appealing for larger businesses to advertise in. I also introduced more funny editorial content, such as jokes and light-hearted facts. The combination of humor and sunshine makes The Sentinella a perfect expat magazine! I also spent a lot of time speaking to my customers and clients about their life and business. By taking the friendly approach, more recommendations and renewals came my way. |
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Expat Women: What inspired you to grow the magazine into a franchise business and what convinced you that it would succeed? |
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Keidi: After a couple of years of running the magazine, I started to think bigger. I realised that the local magazine formula would work in any region of the world with an expat community. I also knew that many expats struggled to find a suitable business opportunity in their new location, especially one that would make a great income while allowing them to enjoy the new experience. The Sentinella Network franchise seemed like a great fit so I started to develop the idea.
I sold the neighboring areas immediately after launching and the franchise continues growing into new regions. I would like to introduce it into other countries, if the right people are happy to make a go of it. I believe it would work very well in any country with a strong expat community. Right now, we provide all the magazine content every month, plus the layout, so that way our franchisees can concentrate on what really matters – selling advertising space to local businesses, networking and making a super income. |
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Expat Women: Switching focus, Keidi please share with us more about your first book, Sol Searching: A Fun-Filled Tale of a Modern Girl's Move to the Costa del Sol. |
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Keidi: The book began as a diary account, which I wrote during my first three years living in Spain. One day I read it all the way through from start to finish and realised I had a book on my hands! I then spent 12 months or so rewriting and editing it. It is intended to help other people who are thinking of moving to Spain, or indeed any new country, to gauge an idea of what sorts of thoughts, feelings and emotions they may experience along the journey. |
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Expat Women: How are you now helping others to realize their publishing dreams? |
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Keidi: My book project helped me realise that writing and creating are my biggest passions in life, so I set up my own writing and publishing company, The Word Queen. My goal is to help, encourage and inspire as many people as possible to not only write their book, but to get it published and see thousands of copies sold. I offer one-on-one writing coaching and mentoring, which includes energy blockages and limiting belief release on a psychic level (yes, I am psychic too!) and I also offer editing and critique services, as well as a full publishing service. For budding writers of fiction novels, I have just released a 26-week online writing course! |
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Expat Women: What are your top five tips for women starting a business or working abroad? |
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Keidi: |
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Network like crazy at workshops, events and local seminars! |
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Use social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, to find other business people in your area; |
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Be a leader. Be the authority figure in your field – arrange a charity event, organize a weekly women's lunch, use your initiative and it will pay off; |
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Keep your ear to the ground at all times, that way you will never miss a great opportunity; and |
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Learn the language where you live and make new friends. |
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Expat Women:Finally, what's next for Keidi Keating? |
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Keidi: Now that my sister and her husband have moved to Spain to take over the day-to-day running of The Sentinella Network, I am channeling all my energy into the growth of The Word Queen, and I have time to go and stay in an ashram in India for three weeks later this year to further my spiritual (and writing) journey.
It is a great life! |
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Expat Women: Keidi, thank you very much for sharing your experiences with us. We wish you the very best of success in all of your future endeavors! |
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September 2010 |
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