Thank You
We can not say thanks enough or often enough.
Please accept our apologies for being two days late with the publication of the October issue. As some of you already know, we publish this magazine as a part time enterprise and sometimes this thing called life jumps up and bites us in the rear and so it was with the publishing of this issue.
This is the last of our regular issues for the 2010 riding season. As advertised we publish for the months of April to October. We say regular issue because in November we are going to publish a Holiday issue. This Holiday issue will be created to allow our supporters and the various clubs to highlight their Holiday events, sales and parties. This is our small way of saying thank you for the support that has been shown us this year.
As I sit at my laptop and write this, I am looking back on the past seven months and cannot believe how far the magazine has come. We could not have had the success that we have had without the support of numerous champions. In particular there are some individuals that deserve special recognition.
How do we ever thank Glenn Kelsey and Sportline Power Products.? When I first spoke with Glenn he was immediately 100% on board with the concept of the magazine. All summer long they have been encouraging purchasers of new bikes to fill out a subscription form for us to enter in the system and a large number of the staff are subscribers. His input was invaluable in making the magazine what it is today.
Britt at the Boars Nest hosted the Schedule of Events Meeting held by the clubs in February 2010 and put together the schedule of events. When I asked if I could come, she extended an open invitation. We talked about the magazine and she even provided us with the schedule of events in digital format. Since that time, Britt and Dennis have become friends of the magazine and the Boars Nest was the first Tavern / Restaurant to advertise with us.
We have to also take time to thank Marybeth and Alise of McDermott’s Harley Davidson. To them, advertising with us was just a business decision but to us it meant the world. When I personally thanked Alise for the ad placement her statement to me was “Your magazine is what we are all about and your magazine is where our advertising should be placed”. When you are just starting out and someone like Alise tells you that, it is confirmation that you are doing the right thing.
We need to thank Rabbit (Riders Group 574) and his wife for being evangelists for the magazine in the very early stages. We were not even aware that they were doing this until three or four months had passed. Rabbit was also instrumental in arranging for us to host a vendor tent at the American Legion Post 574 when the riders group had their “Run for Veterans and Community”. We gained exposure at that event but more importantly we gained acceptance and recognition.
Speaking of the American Legion Post 574 Riders Group, we need to thank Dan Nolin the Director. When I covered the “Run For Veterans and Community” Dan sent me an e-mail and said he had some video that was taken of the run and would I be interested in it. I received the video and learned how to use video editing software and created a video to go with the article covering the run. To Dan it was a small gesture but to us it has heralded what will be a huge strategic change in direction. You are going to see more videos and fewer photos next year in the magazine. We will be procuring a helmet cam and will be shooting more videos before, during and after the rides. We are increasing our volunteer staff to do this.
Priscilla Dearborn (Ladybug) is the VP of the Crazy Train Riders in Corinth NY. She is an avid reader of the magazine, has submitted her own article, has managed to get most of the Crazy Train Riders to be subscribers and promotes the magazine on a scale that can be called zealous.
When we first started the magazine the first person we talked to was Sporty at Sporty’s Iron Duke Saloon. He was instrumental in guiding us down what I now see as the correct path with the magazine. He invited us to participate as a vendor at the custom bike show that he stages in cooperation of the Goat Brothers. It is too bad that it rained that weekend but in spite of the rain we made some new contacts and garnered some more exposure.
When you are venturing out into uncharted territories it is always best to have a guide. In our case, that guide was Jim Hull. Jim is the President of Chapter 80 of the Boozefighters and when I told him of the idea for the magazine, he was there to point out the things that we should be aware off and things that we should avoid. It was Jim who actually pointed us in the direction of Sporty and made us realize that the Schedule of Events would need to be the heart and soul of the magazine.
We had a blast this year. We were on the road virtually every Saturday and Sunday that there was a ride scheduled. We put a large number of miles on the bike and had the privilege of making a large number of new friends and business acquaintances. We feel that we are serving a genuine purpose for the riding community in our area of coverage and it appears that we have been accepted favorably by that community.
During the winter we are going to add maps and tours to the magazine’s web site in the hopes that we can make it useful to those riders that are visiting and touring in this area. The good thing about this concept is that once we get it in place, we will have to do very little maintenance on the maps and we will still be able to focus the magazine on the local events during the riding season.
Karen and I want to thank everyone who has had some small part in making this magazine the success that it has become. The magazine is in a state which we did not believe we would be able to achieve in less than three years and yet we are at that point now.
We will be back on schedule in April 2011 and look forward to serving your needs for the 2011 riding season.
Ride Safe and Ride Well
Ed and Karen Frulla
Publishers
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Sunday, October 03, 2010 Daniel