The start of July triggers a trip down memory lane for me as I reach my 17th year of writing this Dealer Outlook blog, always thinking I’ve gone the extra mile, but I suspecting I really just keep missing the exit!
Still, I look back with genuine gratitude to all of you who regularly read this.
I well remember I was first invited by Lois Caliri, then editor of Soundings Trade Only, to write a regular blog. She wanted to start publishing a blog in Trade Only Today back in 2007 and she wanted to call it “Dealer Outlook.” Blogs were not common in ’07 so I didn’t tell her I had no idea what a blog was.
I discovered that some leading business publications were adding blog content. Soundings Trade Only wanted to be the boating industry leader in presenting content through blogging. Caliri envisioned two blogs a week. I think I was so behind most things at the time that I thought lacrosse was something you find in a church.
However, after some research, I agreed to give it a trial shot for a couple of months. Today I’m looking back at more than 1,500 blogs (see my head shaking) and I’m happy to admit I’m still having fun doing them.
Now in all truth, I must give sincere thanks to Trade Only editors that followed Caliri and, in particular, my current editors, editor-in-chief Gary Reich and deputy editor Michael Labella. They give me the freedom to write about anything from new ideas that may be adaptable for marine retailing to political and regulatory actions that could impact dealers (a never-ending list these days, it seems). But most of all, I’m grateful these two editors never cease to make me look better than I am.
And special thanks to all of you readers who take time to suggest ideas and/or alert me to things happening in your state or market area that others in our industry should know about or might benefit from. From you, so many of these blogs originate. [email protected] is where you can reach me.
I’ve signed on for a while longer, primarily because it’s still fun and hopefully helpful. And, while I know every blog and every subject cannot be interesting to every reader, my objective is to craft some in which you can expect to find interesting ideas, opinions, comments, suggestions and usable news that could help improve the retail side of our industry, your business and the experience of your customers.
I must admit I’ve gotten heavier as I’ve gotten older, but that’s because there’s a lot more information in my head to share. That’s at least my story today, and I’m sticking to it!
