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The Big Issue and big business team up

The magazine known for giving people a chance to work - is relying on some big names to help it celebrate a milestone - the 450th edition.

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The Big Issue celebrates it's 450th issue.

2 min read

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Updated

By Greg Navarro

Source: SBS


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Celebrities and CEO's are selling copies of The Big Issue this week and at the same time getting a glimpse of some lives the magazine and its unique business model help each day.

Glen Freeman sells the magazine on the streets of Sydney. For him, it's not just a job, it's how he survives.

Daily rejection is part of the job but what sets the 41- year- old apart is the way he handles it and the way he perseveres.

Arthritis and other health issues have kept Mr Freeman from being able to find work, so one day he decided to start selling the magazine.

"I was walking along one day and I saw Big Issue, so I thought i'll go and have a chat to them," he says.

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After seven years, Mr Freeman has developed his own unique pitch and found a job that keeps him going.

"I'm able to save money and do the things I need to do," he says

The Big Issue concept was already successful in other countries when it was launched in 1996.

It gives people who are homeless or need help a chance to work.

They become vendors, working for themselves and keeping half of every sale.

For it's 450th anniversay, the Big Issue has enlisted some big names to help reach it's goal of putting $100,000 into vendors pockets including Melbourne's Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and Sydney law firm partner Keith Bethlehem.

 

Just 15 minutes of selling, mostly to people he works with, also gave Mr Bethlehem a glimpse of what it's like for many on the streets.

And organisers say the system they've created to sell this magazine actually saves all of us money by reducing the demand on social services - which they estimate could be as high as $20,000 per vendor.


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