GREENWICH, N.Y. — I reflect today…of that life changing Monday morning when I jumped into business ownership, wrote a large check and became the owner of a very infantile Morning Ag Clips—4 years ago, today…
A part of me felt a great sigh of relief, as I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to do it: figure out and come to an agreement on the purchase price and then pay that price. Yikes!
I felt strongly though the Morning Ag Clips was meant to stay with me. I had nurtured, grown and evolved it for 2 years prior, from the day I walked into my new place of employment to start my first day of work. Only a month after a separation, and with the look of a deer in the headlights, I wondered if this was going to be the answer.
I knew that I needed to find an employment situation that allowed me flexibility for the sake of my children; 2 were in school, one was only 2. It would have broken my heart to leave them every day commuting to a regular 8 hour a day job because I loved being a mother more than anything. Yet, I knew there was more in me. I just had to figure out what it was…and how to make it all work.
Due to the turn of events in our personal life, I was forced into figuring it out. Life took me by the hand and led me down the path. Sometimes all we can do is go with it and pray for the best.
So little ol’ Morning Ag Clips, one of the many facets of my new place of work… it went into production every day at around 8 am. It was sent through Constant Contact, with no graphics, just links, and went out to one group of recipients in the state of NY… landing in inboxes before noon.
My task: to sell advertising for it, and deal with the problems.
So I did… and I did more.
The first “more” was that I encouraged the creation of a logo, and then quickly started a Pennsylvania edition.
And from there it went…
Almost two years into my “more” with the addition of lots more editions and a new customized email send system… the creator decided it was time to sell the Morning Ag Clips, too many problems that needed too much more money. I became frantic inside.
I loved the clips, they were like my baby, so much growth, so much more to come.
We still needed a more robust emailing system, and a website… yes, we did not have a website. Can you believe it? It was going to cost 10’s of thousands of dollars to do all of that. A little daunting to say the least. But not to me, I just knew, I had more to do.
Now to figure out how to do it. Where there is a will, there is a way… never give up, never give in. So I didn’t… and I still don’t.
As a sideline, I am reading the book Shoe Dog, written by the creator of Nike, Phil Knight. To read about all of his trials and tribulations of getting the Blue Ribbon Shoe Company (now Nike) off and running is great reassurance about the power of tenaciousness and believing in your company. (A great inspiration as we head into the 5th year.)
And for me, I believe in what we do every day. I looked and still look at the Morning Ag Clips as filling a niche. A dependable place where national ag news and local ag news come together, for that quick-one-two every morning. We help every farmer and ag industry leader who reads our clips know what is going on in their industry every day. Knowledge is power.
I loved this concept and I had so much vision for it, how could I ever let the clips go?
But owning your own business takes quite a bit of fearlessness. Even though I didn’t own it yet, I was vested, and I kind of felt that I was already there in the fearless department. I was always ready to jump with a new idea, a better way of doing things, never settling for status quo. Life is too short to live mediocre.
So I took the leap, signed the agreement, handed over the money, and haven’t looked back.
It’s amazing how faith takes over, and at the very last second, like a cat, you get yourself righted around and land on your feet.
My turn of events reminds me of that great line in the song “The Gambler”, “…cuz every hands a winner, and every hands a loser.” I chose to look at my hand in the positive. The owner was going to sell, so that meant that I was going to have to buy. Let’s do this! I fearlessly moved forward with my vision for my life and my Morning Ag Clips—they went hand in hand.
So here we are, 4 years later… The kids and I went out to breakfast Saturday morning to celebrate at our favorite, The Village Cafe—which ironically is where so much of our business is discussed over lunch and coffee.
I have looked forward, and managed to stay intentional in my decisions. I will stay on that course. With the launch of our Portal coming this week, and the addition of a new newsletter coming this winter, and some other fun things that I can’t yet reveal, I am ready.
The Team is ready, and we are going to charge into our 5th year, to make the Morning Ag Clips even better.
Stay well, and thank you for being a part of our agricultural news organization. Here we go!
Have a great week!
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