Good Old Boat evolves issue by issue
Issue 91 : Jul/Aug 2013
As we celebrate our 15th anniversary this summer, my office is lined with three-ring binders filled with a steady parade of our issues: 90 of them so far. Can 99 or 100 really be far behind? In my mind a song plays relentlessly to the tune of 99 bottles of beer: 90 copies of our mag on the shelf . . . 90 copies of mag. Simple tunes get in there and stay until something else replaces them.
Like Apple Computer, Good Old Boat was a startup in the founders’ home. The Apple founders built hardware in the garage. With side-by-side computers (Apples, actually), Jerry Powlas and I started learning a great deal about publishing in our family room. Close enough, as an analogy goes. But wait! Didn’t I just read that Apple is the most valuable company in the world while the folks at Good Old Boat magazine still work out of their basements, family rooms, and spare bedrooms all over the U.S. and Canada? Maybe we didn’t think big enough?
Where did we go wrong? Or, possibly, what have we done right? Jerry and I never took a check from an investor “angel,” never had a sleepless night (well, maybe a few) over meeting payroll, always paid our bills on time, and were good to our stomach linings and life expectancies by refusing to take on frightening bank obligations we couldn’t pay.
Just 15 years ago, Jerry and I thought naively that we’d create a neat little mom and pop company we could run without the help of additional staff and, by doing all the work ourselves, we’d keep the overhead low and would never need advertisers.
How’d that big idea work out for us? These days we have the support of a handful of full-time and part-time staff members, thank God, and have created a lot more freelance opportunities for sailors everywhere. Our list of who’s involved doesn’t include just those who sell us articles, although we value them highly too. It includes the administrative types who offer financial support, technical support (fulfillment of subscriptions, website construction and maintenance, and database management), and a whole creative team of editors and designers.
As for the advertisers we didn’t think we needed, that lasted for a whole issue. Our readers said we should include advertisers whose products dovetailed nicely with the upgrades and maintenance work they do on their good old boats. Advertisers, some of whom are still with us, signed on. In response, we developed a team to sell and create ads and never looked back.
We love our good old vendors . . . new and old! We’re so glad we were convinced of the folly of our ways. Starting with Fisheries Supply, we’ve even begun a couple of affiliate programs with a few marine equipment suppliers. They offer club discounts to good old boaters. They get more business from our readers. What’s not to like about that deal?
Now that we have created a network of staff and freelancers spread out from coast to coast and on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border, where do we go from here? More of the same, of course, but with continual improvements: small changes to include more of what our readers want.
Making subtle shifts in our magazine requires some creativity. We can’t schedule an editorial meeting at 10 a.m. in the dining room, since our crew members are located all over and in different time zones. The wonders of the Internet have made long-distance communication increasingly possible, but dropping into the corporate boardroom for a quick meeting isn’t likely. Email, telephones, and video communications have set us all free to live where we want to live and work when we are at our sharpest.
Being small, our organization is extremely flexible. We are able tomake decisions and move quickly in many ways that a corporate entity cannot. Our owners’ meetings are held rather spontaneously. Jerry and I have tea in bed every morning before the day begins. Sometimes we discuss the news of the day. Other times we have a business brainstorm and begin implementation later that day.
Our spontaneous good ideas don’t just happen at teatime. They arrive frequently when we’re out cruising, generally in the cockpit when all is mellow. They can also happen when we’re crossing the country on four wheels. Land cruising is almost as good for stimulating the mind.
Right now, I could use a little mental stimulation. I need something to get that simple and repetitive tune out of my head or it’ll still be there when this issue is printed: 91 copies of our mag on the shelf . . . 91 copies of mag . . .
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
