PUBLISHER’S NOTE

from Biz New Orleans September 2022

WORD ON THE STREET

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Making Plans

Once we get past Labor Day and have our taste of preseason football, I am ready for the fall stretch — the days (especially the weekends) leading into the holidays and year-end.

Football and fall is my favorite time of year. In April, when the NFL schedule is released, I begin to plan my fall travel schedule while enjoying the dog days of summer.

Fall travel for me every year includes multiple publishing conferences, a business retreat with my EO Forum colleagues, road trips to San

Diego to see my daughter (usually around a ball game as they have baseball there), and internal company planning meetings around business operations for the next calendar year.

This year, the 2023 internal planning has started off great. The team is developing many new ideas. You will be amazed at what they have planned. I feel another blockbuster year of publishing awards are on their way.

The publishing conferences give me a chance to gather with other publishers throughout the country and share ideas and best practices. Over the past 35 years, the relationships that I have made in the media industry are deep, and valuable to me on a personal level.

The EO Forum retreat gives my forum members and I a chance every year to (figuratively) climb to 30,000 feet and see our businesses from a different vantage point. Even though our businesses are not in the same industry, we are all owner/operators, and the common macro of business ownership brings us together for great strategic planning.

Finally, the trips to San Diego are more frequent now and have a whole new purpose. My daughter and son-in-law are expecting, and Andrea and I are so excited. As you may know, we have one granddaughter now, and Penelope is the highlight of our days. Come December, we will have another grandbaby, and even though there is a distance, we will have twice the excitement in our lives. Now we just need a daily, nonstop flight from MSY to San Diego to accommodate all of our travels.

Have a great September, and maybe I will see you at the Dome cheering on our team. Go Saints! Who Dat!