Always bite off more than you can chew.

That was advice one of my bosses gave me years ago. His point was simple. If you are working on five things and four of them fall through, then you only accomplished one. If you are working on 20 things and 16 fall through, you have still been successful with four. And, if all 20 come through, well, we will figure that out, one way or another.

That advice has served me well through the years, and it ties in with another credo I have lived by: Get bigger or get beaten.

Here’s one more: If you keep on doing what you have always done, you will keep on getting what you have always got — or less.

And let’s finish with this one: Change is inevitable; growth is optional.

The publishing industry has changed drastically in the last three decades, but, if we are being honest, what hasn’t? Some of you ask me how we are able to produce so many publications and keep launching new ones in a time when print is supposedly dead. The answer? We just keep swinging the bat.

Some publishers are hanging on to a broken model that is diminishing each year, relying on paid subscribers or tax-funded legal revenue from cities, school boards, counties and other entities as their main sources of revenue. Meanwhile, printing and mailing costs continue to rise, as do employee wages and benefits. And rolling the dice solely on digital efforts is dicey, at best.

We have sought out new models, focusing on content that our readers want and audiences that our advertisers need. Through a mix of in-home mail delivery, digital options and rack distribution, we are able to offer a variety of services for small and large businesses to achieve marketing results with us. After all, McDonald’s serves more than just cheeseburgers, and we needed to diversify as well.

So, what about digital? Well, there is no question that readers want content digitally, especially on their phones. But they will go to great lengths to avoid advertising there, and that makes it especially challenging. We are learning with email newsletters like this one and using social media to drive traffic to sites we own, but it is a continually changing educational process to be sure.

Many of our ideas come from our customers. Have one you think we should consider? Send me a note and let me know. In the meantime, we will keep striving to stay hungry — and keep biting off more than we can chew.

Have a magnificent Monday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com

View Shane Goodman's archived columns from past issues here.

CITYVIEW announced its 2023 Best Of Des Moines® readers' choices Jan. 31. You can find all the results from the poll in the February issue of CITYVIEW magazine!

Best local drag king

1. Jack Frost

2. Grimm Fox

3. Romeo Sanchez

SEE BEST OF DES MOINES® EVENT PHOTOS HERE...

Homegrown history

Foelske’s “toy barn” is a collection of memories.

By Becky Kolosik

For Roger Foelske, everything on the farm holds a memory — from the first tractor he drove to getting up early to milk cows, feed hogs and do other chores.

But, as the saying goes, “You can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy.” While the years have flown by, equipment has evolved, and family farms have grown and changed, his experiences on the farm remain priceless.

Foelske worked alongside his grandfather and father. Not only did he learn the practical side of farming, but the mechanical side of things, too.
“As a kid, I took everything apart,” he says, smiling. “It often frustrated my parents, but I just wanted to know how things worked.”

Read more in the August issue of Indianola Living magazine 

These celebrities were born on this date: David Fincher, Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Armie Hammer, Luis Guzmán, LeAnn Rimes, Shania Twain, Jason Priestley, David Soul, Billy Boyd, Scott Hamilton

SUBMIT: Send your birthday greetings and congratulatory notes to: tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com

The answer to yesterday's riddle:
What do you call a  laser-equipped skunk? PEPPY LE PEW PEW PEW PEW (Add sound effects!) - Rex Post, Gail Tomlinson. Also submitting: William Snyder

Today's riddle

Why did the farmer have his potato gun taken away?

Have a guess? Email tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com

To advertise in this daily newsletter, contact Jolene Goodman at jolene@iowalivingmagazines.com, or call 515-953-4822 ext. 319.

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