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