The Ontario Broker - August 2019 - 38

A

BROKER
SIDE
PROJECTS

"I've been skateboarding for 20 years now. I started skateboarding
the day after Tony Hawk landed the 900, back in 1999. The next day
I went out and bought a skateboard."
To contribute to the local skateboarding community, Alex started
WordZine, which he produces, publishes and distributes largely
on his own. "I make it collage-style, cut-and-paste, by hand. It's a
publication about skateboarding and culture. It's a D.I.Y., 80s-style
zine. It's black-and-white. I do the front and back cover in colour, but
I keep it very old-school."
It's important to Alex that he maintains a grassroots approach.
Through the network he's built in the skateboarding community, he
gets most of his contributions for free. "I speak to friends that are
professional skateboard photographers and ask them if they have any
photos that don't have a home and they give them to me for free. I
reach out to people and do all the interviews myself. It takes a lot of
networking."

alex
varney's
WORDZINE

AUGUST 2019

lex Varney is a Personal Lines broker with TW
Insurance in Waterloo. Despite only being on the job six
months, he was part of the winning Personal Lines team
at #YBC19's Pitch to Win competition. In his spare time,
Alex shares his long-held passion for skateboarding
through his side project-publishing an underground
skateboarding zine.

WordZine has a print-run of 500 copies per issue and is distributed
for free. Alex gives away all his ads to support local skateboard shops
and pays for production himself. "I worked with a friend that has a
printing company and gave him some free advertising to keep the
cost down, so I can afford to pay for it out of pocket. I'm happy to do
so. It's a labour of love."
Alex recognizes that skills he developed working on the magazine
help him in his role as a broker. "The magazine has taught me certain
skills that I'm able to apply on a daily basis, especially networking.
Even just negotiating in a kind and professional manner that gains
people's trust-whether it's a person giving me a photo for the
magazine or a person who I have to remarket home and auto to, I
have to convince them that I'm doing it in their best interest."

38

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The Ontario Broker - August 2019

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