It's all in the scheduling.....

It's amazing how incredibly busy our lives are. Actually, to be perfectly honest it's kind of sad. In the scheme of things, we shouldn't have to work four or five jobs EACH to survive. Even sadder, we are barely surviving. Aren't most of us anymore? Turning on the television is depressing and I don't read newspapers because it's usually just bad news too. All of society is bad anymore. But, we've turned it that way over the course of many, many years and it's not going to fix itself overnight. That's certainly obvious.

Last week, I was asked how I was going to fit in this new job I have, with everything else I currently do. After all, there's the magazine and all that entails each month, then throw in the farm and the daily chores that are involved in running it and I stay busy. But the truth is, running the magazine has only gotten more difficult over the years, between all the competition that has sprung up around us and - again - the economy. We don't have the heart to raise our prices, and really haven't in all the years we've been doing it, even with all the improvements such as going to the magazine format.

Not to mention, it's hard enough to get small businesses to buy ads with the prices we've always had so I can't imagine how many advertisers we'd lose if we raised our prices. We've asked for donations before and put up donation jars with the books, but that didn't really work either. Mama Hazel's Bakery in Grayson always has change in it when we visit there and I get such a smile on my face when I look in there.  But they are one of the few jars that ever contain change.

So we do other jobs too. I do graphic design and typesetting for people when I can. Most of the time, I do that type of thing during the evening hours, after dark when I can't be outside. Needless to say, I get alot more work done inside during the winter months. I tend to stay outside as much as I can during the other seasons.

The Dave person is now working at WSKV 104.9 FM over in Stanton two days a week, so that's been an adjustment to the schedule. Getting up at 4am throws things into a tailspin on Mondays and Tuesdays. But, I'm thanking the Lord for the job and would do it every day of the week if he worked more over there. That's down the road though.

And now, my new job as Booking Agent for The Velvet Blue, a local bluegrass band that I've been following for the past 18 months or so. I've never done this sort of thing, but I'm all for getting this band known - both around here and nationwide - and getting them booked as much as possible in 2014. After all, this is just promoting a small business and those that know me know how much that means.

For some reason, bluegrass groups don't make much. And they have to really work and travel all over the place just to make a living. If you don't believe me, check out Rhonda Vincent's schedule sometime. That girl is all over the place, all the time. And I'm sure she's not making millions like some of the performers out there. There was one group that performed at Poppy Mountain on Wednesday, Thursday they were in North Carolina, Friday they were in Maryland and Saturday - back at Poppy Mountain. And this group actually has a dedicated show in Branson too. Yet, they were up on stage reminding everyone to buy their merchandise because it's what pays for them to be on the road.

My observations on bluegrass music? You won't find a better bunch of people than you'll find at a bluegrass event - right down to the bands. Every one of them will visit their merchandise table after their performance and pose for pictures, give you their autograph and even sit and chat with you. The Judge Talford Band performed at Poppy Mountain this year. They drove up from Tennessee in the middle of the night, performed twice the next day - after getting dressed in their utility trailer and drove all the way back to Tennessee that night. I'm guessing they didn't make $100 each. Not a big money-maker.

Why do they do it then, you might ask? The only thing I've been able to figure out is they genuinely love bluegrass music. They love the challenge of the instruments, which are some of the hardest to play in the music industry. Goodness, have you watched someone play the mandolin? Amazing is all I can say. Taylor Hampton of The Velvet Blue won't even consider a girlfriend because it would interfere with his music. And you can tell when he plays just how much he loves it.

The same reason that The Dave Person and I do what we do. Because really, we do love to stay busy. We have no kids or grandkids living close, so we watch the kids around here and live vicariously through them. We truly care about the businesses that have supported us over the years. We truly care about our publication and all the areas that we travel to each month. I just watched people travel to every state around us this past week for their fall vacations, yet some people have never even been to West Liberty, Kentucky since the tornado hit. They've never seen Broke Leg Falls or hiked in the Red River Gorge. It's stuff like that that keeps us doing what we're doing.

I hope you have a great week. And remember, come by the AlpacaBerry Farm sometime! We love kids, and we love showing off the alpacas. And above all, we are just another small business we hope survives these tough times!

Blessings to all,
Pam

Strange twists and turns

Life has sure thrown us some strange twists and turns along this journey we've been on with All Things Country Magazine. When we started it, there were hardly any free newspapers out there. Goodness, aren't there a lot of them now? Some of these publications even use the same printers as us. Of course, none of those publications have the Dave person. I figure I've got a leg up on them.

When we started the magazine, every ad in the first edition was given away free. Three of those from the first edition never advertised again. That was dis-heartening right off the bat. But we kept at it, and kept improving, until we got to where we are today.

Have I wanted to quit? Oh, just about once a month - every month since I've started. I'll be having a really terrible day and then check the mail and read the most wonderful letter about the magazine and I just get a big smile on my face and say "yes, maybe another edition or two." And we just keep on keeping on.

With the economy the way it is though, I'm really not sure how much longer we can keep it up. As it is, both Dave and I have taken second jobs. And we take on added jobs all the time. It's harder and harder for us to drive around each week to twenty different counties and not sell a single ad. And it's hard to get it across to our advertisers that we simply cannot come back four or five times each month.

We could hire someone to help us out. We've tried that - several times - and it just doesn't work out. And with the current government shut down, we couldn't afford it anyway. No one is doing anything right now. The whole country is just petrified at where we'll be even in a week. I can't blame people for not wanting to spend their money. But, I also can't deliver our magazine to them if they won't advertise. So it really is a vicious circle.

We do have some excited news to share though - we've made it to round two in the Intuit Big Game Sweepstakes. If we get enough votes in round two, we'll advance to round three where the folks at Intuit will select 20 businesses for the final vote. If you'd like to help us out by throwing us a vote or two, here is the link: https://www.smallbusinessbiggame.com/KY/All-Things-Country-Magazine/374560. You can vote once a day - and if you'll go through each little story, you can vote on those pages as well.

Many blessings to you - today and always.
Pam