Investing in our future

Phil Cobb

Four years ago this week, Lana Cobb, Rita Piveral, Twyla Martin, and I put out the first edition of The Post.

I’m not going to say that we didn’t know what we were doing.

To the contrary, that’s really the only thing we had going for us.

What I can say, is that we had no idea what we were getting into.

Not quite two years in, things were just starting to get good.

We had made it past the initial challenges of starting a new business, creating a new identity, earning people’s trust all over again.

Things were good.

We had expanded our staff, adding Kaity Holtman in sales, and Tyler Piveral in distribution, giving ourselves a grand total of six employees, five of whom were full time.

Once you get a shopper like The Post up and going, I have to be honest, it kind of runs itself.

Sure, there are the day-to-day tasks of calling on advertisers, designing advertisements, making sure papers get to where they are supposed to go, billing, paying bills, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a full-time job.

But from a management standpoint, it’s really a piece of cake.

I was almost to a point where I contemplated taking up the sport of golf again.

Sure, I play golf in a handful of scramble tournaments each year, but I haven’t really played “golf” in a long time — I used to be pretty decent.

I finally joined the Maryville Country Club two years ago.

I think I’ve played that course about five times in that span.

Then, along about August of 2013, we caught wind that the ownership group of the Maryville Daily Forum had declared bankruptcy.

The local daily newspaper had all but gone away, subscription sales were at an all-time low, advertising sales were at an all-time low.

We didn’t realize it at the time, but the company was within a few weeks of closing the doors for good.

So, with things going as well as they were for The Post crew … why on Earth would we want to take on the challenge of resurrecting the daily newspaper?

It didn’t really make business sense, taking over a company that lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2013.

It certainly didn’t fit into my plan to play more golf.

A newspaper requires so much more attention than a shopper.

There are many more moving pieces, especially with a daily publication.

The Maryville Daily Forum is, for all practical purposes, a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week endeavor.

This newspaper is somewhat of an odd duck in that, although it is on the newsstand at 6 a.m., it is not really a morning newspaper because the majority of the circulation is delivered by mail, meaning you get your newspaper when you get your mail. And that is different for everybody.

When you include printing, distribution, reporting, advertising sales, production, and all, most days someone is doing something to make this publication possible at all hours of the day and night.

It, literally, never stops.

I’ll admit there are days I still ask myself why we got into this.

It is a difficult, and very stressful business.

But I believe this is what I’m supposed to be doing.

When the opportunity presented itself, there was an overwhelming desire to pursue.

Pretty sure there was something more there than just my selfish ambition.

There are many reasons we keep doing what we do, more than the reasons not to.

I think what helps most — or at least what has kept us moving forward as of late — is the number of organizations and individuals who are investing in the future of this community.

When you see other small business owners putting their best foot forward, establishing themselves with the future in mind, it provides encouragement, and hope.

When you see churches, financial institutions, private developers, and the like making sizable investments in local facilities, it makes you think that there will be a bright future for Maryville and Nodaway County.

When you see city government setting long-term goals and putting the pieces in place along the way to achieve those goals, it makes you think that your own investment has the potential of one day producing a return.

We feel like we’re putting our money where our mouths are by investing in the future of the Maryville Daily Forum and The Post.

If you haven’t already, you owe it to yourself to stop by our office at 111 E. Jenkins to see the improvements we are making to our facility.

I don’t think much had been done to this building since it was first built in the late 1960s.

The newspaper business has changed dramatically since then, and now is the time to make our facility fit our current — and future — needs.

This is an attempt to ensure the future of this town’s newspaper for many years to come.

The roots of the Maryville Daily Forum stretch back to 1869, and I anticipate it will still be around in some way, shape, or form in 2069.

We are investing in the future of Maryville.

You’ll have a chance to invest in the future of Maryville when you visit the polls on April 5.

I encourage you to vote yes in support of the two sales tax initiatives being proposed by the City of Maryville.

Your vote is an investment in the future.

The return on that investment will be a thriving and vibrant community for many decades to come.