Building a new business can be difficult even in the best of times! To take on such a challenge in today’s economic whirlwind is not for the weak of heart. So, here’s the question, dangling right in front of you! Do I have the heart of a lion, am I a little naïve, do I have an unlimited bankroll, or am I so convinced that the State Aviation Journal is a solid idea I can’t loose?
Truth be told, it’s a little bit of each, except for the bankroll! The concept has been rattling around inside my head for more than a couple of years. So why now! Sometimes timing is everything. Doors are constantly swinging open and shut and sometimes life just gets in the way. Bad economy or not, however, during the last couple of months the stars have lined up and all of the doors have swung wide open! (I find myself scurrying around stuffing all kinds of junk in front of those doors to keep them open!)
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a cakewalk! In fact I’ve never been more focused or worked this hard to accomplish a goal in my life! A friend and mentor recently told me, and I’m paraphrasing a bit, that to tackle something like this at my age shows that I’m still growing and fired up about life! I think he was giving me the benefit of the doubt that I wasn’t just crazy! With life expectancy increasing as it is, I think many of us are looking at extending our careers or taking advantage to explore new opportunities.
That’s what it’s all about for me! I’m one of those individuals that is cursed with a multitude of interests of which I have at least some training and aptitude. I was fortunate to receive many years of on-the-job training from the aforementioned mentor. I must have had something going for me, at least a modicum of talent, for over a span of some fifteen years I was fired twice, quit once and rehired each time!
So, here I am combining a passion for aviation and publishing into the fulfillment of a dream at probably the worse time economically and having a blast doing it! Life is good! It’s here that I must humble myself before each of you and recognize that any success I might have no matter how hard I work depends so much on each of you. I’m asking you to trust that I will deliver a great product; to have a bit of faith that each of us will ride out the bad times and emerge on the other side a bit stronger for it!
I recently watched a video clip on the internet entitled * “Are You Going to Finish Strong!” It’s about Nick Vujicic, a man with no arms or legs. Nick could have been a bitter person; he could have given up on life, but instead has come to terms with his lot in life and speaks to school kids about hope and finishing strong! He said it matters how you finish! Nick, who up to now has been upright on his torso, falls over on his stomach. He says that with no arms or legs he shouldn’t be able to get himself up! If I fail he says, I try again and again and again, and through much effort he demonstrates how he is able to right himself! There wasn’t a dry eye in the auditorium as his message hit home!
Nick’s message resonates with me. I don’t know if “finishing strong” says anything about my earlier life, but I do know that at a certain age I suddenly felt like everything I did, needed to make a difference; needed to have value! We live in an extraordinary time! Technology today presents so many opportunities, even the opportunity to publish a quality electronic magazine without the printing and mailing costs. However, an opportunity can be empty or shallow if there is no passion or hope in its implementation.
Plainly put, the State Aviation Journal website and e-Journal will provide a lot of information. If, however, I am to finish strong, imbedded throughout each publication will be more than just stories but as in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson stories that inspire you “to laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!”
* http://www.maniacworld.com/are-you-going-to-finish-strong.html