Jim Hlavac
Directories
Between 1985 and 2000 I worked on creating many directories. The biggest and the best, and the longest lasting
was the Louisiana Music Directory, which came about because of an ad I saw in OffBeat magazine in New Orleans.
I was looking for a job, and there it was. So I went down to talk to the lady who owned it (she still does.) And she
hired me. When she showed me the previous year's effort I said that it was pitiful and it would have to be much
bigger and better she was skeptical and said that "That's what we've been able to do."
"Yeah, but it only covers New Orleans, and it is tiny, with no advertising and it is missing so much information and
so many opportunities for revenue." It was a pony tab of about 28 pages. It was an insert in the Magazine, and
unless you picked that up you could never get the directory. So I said the hell with that and set my eyes on
something more dramatic. When I was done it was a 150 some-odd pages, chock full of ads, a cross referenced
compendium of everything musical from Shreveport to New Orleans, Monroe to Lake Charles. The state bought
the back cover and the governor supplied a letter (well, actually, I wrote it, he signed it on his letterhead and sent it
back) for the front and we put a price tag of $10 on the front cover. The owner was sore amazed and was a bit
intimidated by what I had wrought. She apparently feared that I would somehow steal her business so she hustled
me out the door. Years later when I went to the office for some reason or another when I introduced myself to
hench people and they said "Oh, so you're Jim Hlavac" -- which meant I was still be held up as an example one
way or the other five or six years after I left the company. Not bad, I think, to have warranted such remembrance.
And the fact that the directory has stayed the same format and same concept until today isn't bad either. I guess
what I did back in 1993 had some impact on the state and its music industry.
I also did the Hollydaze Directory for the Baton Rouge Junior League, which became the model for many years.
Palm Beach Business Expo was a one time deal for the largest trade show to be put on in Palm Beach County as
of 1995. I put on the trade show too.
Cajun Commodities Corporation was my own company, and I created one hell of a directory of every food
company in Louisiana. I went to every one between 1986 and 1993. It was quite an experience. I was even a
member of the Crawfish and Alligator farmers associations.
For Perrins Nursery I created a gorgeous booklet on the flowers that we grew. That for the company for whom I
sold 1.4 million poinsettias in about 2 months.
Cajun Cylinder was a small company in Lafayette that was more trouble than it was worth, but it did pay a few bills.
He kept using the format I created for about a decade.
And I helped created dozens for EnviroExpos across the Gulf South, though I have no clue as to whether that
continued.
was the Louisiana Music Directory, which came about because of an ad I saw in OffBeat magazine in New Orleans.
I was looking for a job, and there it was. So I went down to talk to the lady who owned it (she still does.) And she
hired me. When she showed me the previous year's effort I said that it was pitiful and it would have to be much
bigger and better she was skeptical and said that "That's what we've been able to do."
"Yeah, but it only covers New Orleans, and it is tiny, with no advertising and it is missing so much information and
so many opportunities for revenue." It was a pony tab of about 28 pages. It was an insert in the Magazine, and
unless you picked that up you could never get the directory. So I said the hell with that and set my eyes on
something more dramatic. When I was done it was a 150 some-odd pages, chock full of ads, a cross referenced
compendium of everything musical from Shreveport to New Orleans, Monroe to Lake Charles. The state bought
the back cover and the governor supplied a letter (well, actually, I wrote it, he signed it on his letterhead and sent it
back) for the front and we put a price tag of $10 on the front cover. The owner was sore amazed and was a bit
intimidated by what I had wrought. She apparently feared that I would somehow steal her business so she hustled
me out the door. Years later when I went to the office for some reason or another when I introduced myself to
hench people and they said "Oh, so you're Jim Hlavac" -- which meant I was still be held up as an example one
way or the other five or six years after I left the company. Not bad, I think, to have warranted such remembrance.
And the fact that the directory has stayed the same format and same concept until today isn't bad either. I guess
what I did back in 1993 had some impact on the state and its music industry.
I also did the Hollydaze Directory for the Baton Rouge Junior League, which became the model for many years.
Palm Beach Business Expo was a one time deal for the largest trade show to be put on in Palm Beach County as
of 1995. I put on the trade show too.
Cajun Commodities Corporation was my own company, and I created one hell of a directory of every food
company in Louisiana. I went to every one between 1986 and 1993. It was quite an experience. I was even a
member of the Crawfish and Alligator farmers associations.
For Perrins Nursery I created a gorgeous booklet on the flowers that we grew. That for the company for whom I
sold 1.4 million poinsettias in about 2 months.
Cajun Cylinder was a small company in Lafayette that was more trouble than it was worth, but it did pay a few bills.
He kept using the format I created for about a decade.
And I helped created dozens for EnviroExpos across the Gulf South, though I have no clue as to whether that
continued.