“If you keep on doing what you have always done, you will keep on getting what you have always got — or less.”
I heard that quote from a speaker at industry conference a few decades ago. I don’t recall who the speaker was, but his words certainly stuck with me and continue to drive me to this day.
Whether you run a business, work at a tax-funded institution, or volunteer at a nonprofit, you know the importance of growth. To experience growth, you usually have to try new things. Here are a few we have completed recently or are in the process of doing. And, as you will see, many of the best ideas are borrowed.
Panorama Girls Basketball Souvenir Edition
We published a souvenir edition of the Panorama girls basketball state finalist team recently, complete with large individual player photos by Betty Cooper, statistics on each player, and comments from Coach Boettcher, all in a full-color magazine. We presented these magazines at the awards banquet and provided copies for players, coaches and family members.
When I was in junior high school, 44 years ago, my hometown newspaper published a similar piece on our undefeated state championship wrestling program. It was a broadsheet publication with huge photos of each wrestler with statistics and coach’s comments. I modeled our effort after my best recollection of that, but we modernized it with full color in a magazine format and with a full digital edition. See the girls basketball digital edition here.
Veterans Salute
We are in the process of collecting photos of Guthrie County veterans for a special section we will publish in October that we hope to have packed with pictures. This will be modeled after the efforts of another Iowa company that has done this superbly. We have more than 50 photos already with many more to come. There is no cost to run the photo, and they can be submitted online at https://gctimesnews.com/veterans/ or you can stop by our office in Panora at 111 E. Main St., and we will scan them and return to you immediately.
Times Vedette deliver via text message
We have had great success in growing this Times Vedette email newsletter, surpassing the number of print subscribers we had previously in just a matter of months. We also realize that many Guthrie County residents are not frequent email users and would prefer a way to have this sent to them via text message on their phones. We are in the beta stage with this option and will be rolling out the details in weeks ahead, along with some other ideas we continue to develop — or borrow.
Have a fantastic Friday, and, as always, thank you for reading.
Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital newsletter
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115