Hindsight is 20/20.
In retrospect, I can honestly say that we saw the economic downturn of 2009 from a long way off. Personally, I was not open about what we sensed. I felt that it was my job to be cheerful around the office. It was many months before I had the courage to face the hard facts.
But by the third quarter of 2008, Springfield-area businesspeople were speaking frankly to us that it was indeed a tough economic environment out there.
Actually, we already knew this to be true because Springfield Business Journal's results for the entire year were certainly not matching up with our monthly budgets. Some advertisers were pulling back, uncertain about the future. As has been true throughout human existence, our thoughts shaped our behaviors, and our behaviors shaped reality. The rest is history.
I'm not an anthropologist, to be sure. But after 30 years in publishing in Springfield, I think I do have some perspective on local business.
It goes almost without saying that SBJ's reporting about business conditions in southwest Missouri is accurate and comprehensive beyond comparison with any other medium. The editorial and advertising staffs of this publication are out in the community talking to you each business day of the year. They know how you feel, and they know how your business is doing. And it's not only because of what you say. Actions speak so much louder than words, and so we know how you really feel and what you really believe. You tell us with the size of your advertising schedules and with the length of your subscription renewals. And we know that squeeze. We've felt it before.
It is not as widely known that SBJ's own fiscal state of affairs is also an accurate reflection of the local economy. We feel the cold draft of a downturn, we endure the sour breath of stagnation, uncertainty and fear, and we breathe in the heady perfume of warm spring breezes sweeping in new customers - or old, more confident customers - well before the new weather fronts move into the Ozarks.
I'm not at all sorry to see the last of 2009, despite the fact that it has brought so many changes to this company. We're a leaner organization now. We've often heard that thinner people live longer, healthier lives, and the same is true for companies. You could say that we're also firmer, with quicker reflexes.
I wanted to be a part of the first issue of the new year so I could pass along my growing sense of optimism to you.
This optimism is not based on wishful thinking, only on facts. With three more issues of the journal yet to be published in January, we already have booked more than 80 percent of the business we did in all of January 2009.
This is really good news for us, but I am only passing it along. It came from all of you. The behaviors that result from your own beliefs about the future are turning this economy around, and we're marching straight in to better times, and ultimately, more jobs and prosperity for all of southwest Missouri.
My optimism was reinforced today by a short telephone conversation with my friend, Sheryl Letterman, executive officer of Springfield Contractors Association.
When I asked how membership renewals for the local industry group were going, she said that usually by mid-December SCA has received approximately one-third of its annual dues. But by mid-December 2009, it already had received more than half of the renewals, a significant increase.
"Maintaining personal contact and doing business with each other locally is more important than ever," Letterman said. "Nothing will happen unless people make it happen. Nobody else is going to fix it. It's got to be us."
Rolling out The Great Game of Business for our staff later this week will be an ultimate expression of this philosophy. The SBJ Publishing Inc. staff, both in Springfield and in Joplin, will see and understand the company's critical numbers. Our coach, Rich Armstrong, from The Great Game headquarters under the SRC Holdings Corp. banner, will help each of us understand how our own thoughts and behaviors can make a positive difference on the bottom line of this business.
Black on the bottom lines of businesses all over the Ozarks will create more jobs, offer financial security and increase salaries. Good jobs mean a better community for all of us, our children and our children's children. It goes on and on.
Nobody else is going to fix it. It's got to be us. Happy New Year 2010![[In-content Ad]]
Dianne Elizabeth Osis is publisher and president of Springfield Business Journal Inc. She can be reached at delizabeth@sbj.net.
