Newsroom Notes: Upcoming Inside Business sections explore new theme

Now that 2004 has officially been rung in and is off to a rolling start I'm excited about things to come. Lest you expect me to explain my New Year's resolution, relax. You can look for information about a specific goal I've set for myself in the upcoming Health Care issue, which will hit the newsstands Feb. 23.

As SBJ Inside Business section editor, I look forward to a new year because with it comes a new editorial calendar and, usually, some exciting areas of business that we'll focus on during the year.

We've added some new issues to the lineup for 2004, and I'm looking forward to exploring related news. The 2004 lineup includes standard favorites such as health care, real estate, construction, financial services, and insurance and employee benefits, but readers also can look forward to several new sections, the first of which debuts Feb. 9 – Starting and Growing A Business. In addition to stories and information about issues specific to new businesses and entrepreneurs, this issue also will include a new and, we've discovered, short listing of business brokers. Turns out, business broker companies do a lot of business in the Springfield area, but there are fewer business brokers than there used to be, the result of recent mergers.

In March, we'll bring out the Business & Retirement Travel issue. Travel's not a new coverage area; pairing these two types of travel is.

In April, a section devoted to Lakes & Recreation will be presented. I'm excited about this new Inside Business focus. In addition to it being a new section, it's one of three Executive Lifestyle & Leisure focuses this year, each of which is a special pullout with a glossy cover. The other two are Transportation/Automotive (June 28) and Executive Gifts and Giving (Nov. 22). We did one special pullout in 2003 the 2003 Executive Planner and enjoyed the outcome so much that we thought we'd try it some more. Editor Clarissa French and I would both like to see more Inside Business sections presented in this way.

In May, we'll bring out what's possibly my favorite of the new additions to the editorial calendar. The May 24 focus will be on Family Issues, and it's something I think is very important.

No matter what profession someone's in, everyone has a family. Maybe not children, maybe not parents for whose care they are responsible, but families nonetheless. We'll probably look at some nuts-and-bolts household issues such as budgeting, planning for the future and child care, to name a few. Because if you think about it and as a married mom of three, I often do running a household is not all that different from running a business. There are bills to pay, tax issues to consider, and a bottom line that has to be met in both arenas.

I'm looking forward to that issue, and to the growing list of issues we can cover. And if you have any ideas, or items you'd like to know more about, for that or any other issue, I'd love to hear from you.

In July, we have the Fast Growth/Mid-Year Economic Report. We did a Fast Growth issue in 2003, which originally was to have been called Fastest-Growing Companies, but once we explored the news, Fast Growth was a better fit. This year, we're adding the Mid-Year Economic Report because the timing is good as far as taking a look at the growth revenue, population, business and otherwise of cities and counties in the region.

Aug. 2 will bring Sports & Business. While sports isn't my favorite topic I'm what you might call the opposite of athletic I do enjoy writing about business. And by mixing sports and business, I don't necessarily have to know the ins and outs of any given sport. That's a good thing, given that the most interesting thing I know about a particular sport is that in bowling, a turkey is three strikes in a row.

We've written about retirement often in years past, but at the behest of our publisher, the Sept. 6 issue is focused on Active Retirement. Publisher Dianne Elizabeth always makes a point to note each time a retirement issue comes out that not everyone who is retiring is old and gray, and not all retirees want to sit quietly and watch time go by after they've left the office.

So we'll take this opportunity to look at some of the fun and exciting options available for retirees, be they travel, unique hobbies, volunteerism, the arts or mentoring, to name a few.

In December, we're trying something new by mixing small business with networking for the Dec. 13 issue. It seems like there are many new networking groups available, and we look forward to finding out more about them for a new listing that will debut in that issue.

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