Meet publisher and entrepreneur Tom Brecke
Tom and I are building a community for entrepreneurs, coaches, and creative professionals. Learn more about him, and consider joining us!
My longtime friend Tom is a serial entrepreneur also my partner in a new project. We first met at the Phoenix Business Journal when we were practically kids. Now we’re joining forces to build a community together for people embracing the “second act” in their career. I thought I’d introduce him with a conversation. —Steph
Tell me about yourself and your first business.
My name is Tom Brecke, I live in Portland, Oregon, and I come from a publishing background. I began my career as a reporter at a small-yet-influential weekly newspaper in Phoenix, which is where I grew up. I worked for several publishing companies on the editorial side before realizing the money was in ad sales. My first real advertising job was at the Phoenix Business Journal, and I worked there for nearly three years.
At the time, I’d moved to a growing area of South Phoenix and realized they didn't have a community newspaper, so I decided to launch the South Mountain District News, totally self-funded. For that first year, I did everything. I wrote it, sold it, delivered it, and did the accounting. Eventually it grew, and I ran that paper for 15 years.
I moved from Phoenix to Flagstaff, Ariz., where I reconnected with a former publisher friend, and he and I launched the Flagstaff Business News, a monthly publication for Flagstaff, Sedona, and the surrounding communities. A couple of years later, we launched a sister publication in the Prescott area called the Quad Cities Business News. We ran those for 10 years or so . . . then we all know what happened to the printed newspaper business, so I shut down my original paper in Phoenix and sold the other two to my business partner, who still runs them today.
Then what did you do?
I started a sourdough bakery out of my house in Phoenix, eventually moving into a commercial production space. By the time we outgrew that first commercial space, I’d also decided to move to Portland. Then the pandemic hit. I took a job in business development at Convince and Convert, a prominent digital marketing consultancy. Eventually, I became the director of business development, until the agency was sold to another company. Now you and I are building a community around our publications, Generation Next, which is just getting started, and Cento.
What has it been like to start over each time?
Scary. But exciting. We launched the Flagstaff Business News in 2009, and if you recall, the economy was not so great following the housing crisis. A lot of people thought we were crazy, and I thought we might be a little crazy ourselves. But my business partner was very good at what he did, and we put our heads down and didn't listen to any of the negativity. We knew the community needed what we were offering. But it was a grind, there's no doubt about it.
Building the bakery was interesting because it was completely new. I had worked in bakeries before, in high school, but I’d never taken a hobby into a full-blown business. It was probably the most satisfying of any of the companies I've built, selling something I made by hand. It was very, very rewarding.
What advice do you have for those who are considering leaping into entrepreneurship?
Don't be afraid to go for it. Don't let any weird narrative that you have in your head keep you from doing what you want to do. Growing up, I always thought people who had their own businesses were some sort of magicians. They were something special, or had special entrée, or a lot of money. Then I watched a friend build a crazy successful company, and he didn't have any of those things. He just worked. And I realized that, man, if he can do it, so can I.
Any job you have is about solving problems, whether you work in fast food or as a CEO of a large corporation. As an entrepreneur, your problems just shift. But the best part is you get to solve them yourself.
What do you like about building a community for entrepreneurs?
It's exciting to bring together likeminded folks for a common goal, and they can be all over the world, which is really interesting. With this project specifically, we're talking about people who are looking to leave the corporate world and do their own thing, and that can be a lonely. Often you feel like you might be on your own island. But the truth is you're not.
I love seeing businesses grow. I love startups. I love the hustle factor that I see out there. I'm excited to be a part of the community, too. I fully expect to glean a ton of knowledge from people, not just dole out advice.
Call it the gig economy, or entrepreneurship, but a lot has shifted in the world of enterprise since the pandemic—and not just for young workers, but also for those of us who are mid-career.
Oh definitely. Lots of people are feeling disillusioned in their work, with the state of the corporate world. There are a lot of people who are not satisfied being a cog in the machine, and the time is right for a change or to consider making the leap. Since the pandemic, so many good ideas have bubbled up.
What about our partnership do you think will make this community unique?
Well, I have to mention that we met at the Phoenix Business Journal, and then we’ve worked in publishing in different capacities since. That’s exciting right off the bat, but I think our backgrounds—blending entrepreneurship with coaching—go together really well.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.