From the Publisher
Entrepreneurial Spirit Early hustles foretold a career in business
When I was a teenager, my best friend Ned and I conspired most every Saturday to find ways to earn extra money so we could live large at the movie theater. I came up with our schemes, and Ned helped me execute the plans and keep track of our earnings.
10
|
SPRING 2021
|
850businessmagazine.com
In the past year, Steve Roden, the CEO of Guy Harvey Enterprises, approached me. He was looking for someone to take over Guy Harvey Magazine and develop a marketing campaign to attract global businesses willing to align their brands with his. That relationship has stoked my entrepreneurial fire, and I find myself back on the front lines of sales again. When RPI got involved with Guy Harvey Magazine, we had a sales goal of $ı5,000 to hit for our first edition. We sailed past that figure to $ıı5,000. Now, we are developing a new program that will yield significant dollars in support of the Guy Harvey Foundation’s marine research and ocean conservation efforts, and we’re having a lot of fun doing so. Ned’s grandmother was right. She saw a serial entrepreneur in the making, someone whose biggest compulsion is developing success and whose biggest phobia is failure. I am happy doing what I love to do, and with Guy Harvey on the line, I have lots of spectacular fishing trips to look forward to. Thanks, Ned, for having been a great partner. And thank you, Rowland Publishing team, for your commitment to excellence. Dream big,
BRIAN ROWLAND browland@rowlandpublishing.com
PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN
During the holiday season, he and I would gather mistletoe, package it and sell it for a buck a bunch while standing in front of a Publix grocery store. During the summer, we would canvas the neighborhood looking for folks who would pay us $3 to mow their lawn or $2 to wash their car. Always, we were collecting soft drink bottles and turning them in for the 2-cent deposit on each. Given those income streams, we went to the movies most every weekend and enjoyed whatever we wanted from the concession counter. At the time, I had no awareness that I was a businessman and entrepreneur in the making. There was a time when I had my sights set on becoming a doctor. Ned’s grandmother was a retired small-business owner from Chicago. She always supported our entrepreneurial inclinations. When I shared with her my interest in going into medicine, she responded immediately by telling me that I would find my future in sales. Ned became a certified public accountant. Meanwhile, my med school ambitions were derailed by a course in organic chemistry. I just wasn’t wired to think in three dimensions. Flash forward a decade or so. I had discovered a passion for media development and, as Ned’s grandma had predicted, for sales. I seized an opportunity to acquire Tallahassee Magazine and to establish Rowland Publishing. Over the last 30 years, RPI has grown to become the publisher of 30 titles and has produced dozens of book projects. I am pleased to be part of a team of publishing professionals who massage and polish all that we do, ensuring that it meets the highest standards of writing and design work. Our business continues to discover and embrace opportunities.
