HOT PURSUIT

Growth is always a tricky thing to manage. It’s a delicate balance between what has historically happened and what may take place in the future. And I emphasize the word may.
Sometimes it seems as if it’s a crapshoot as to what will really happen.
Over the past 12 years of owning this newspaper, I have found myself in a couple of different growth spurts. What makes it especially challenging is just when you think you have something figured out, the bottom drops out somewhere else. I guess that’s how business works, though it can sting hard, especially when things don’t go the way you expect.
I was rolling along a few years back when I suddenly got slammed with employee embezzlement on top of a failed accounting switchover. With the latter, the man who was installing the system died in the middle of it. Both of those situations were major financial hits for my small company.
I find myself in the middle of another growth cycle that presents even more opportunities. This past month, we opened an office at 109 W. Rose St. in Owatonna. We actually made the announcement during the fair back in August, but it took a little longer than expected because of some supply issues related to COVID-19.
The second office is designed to better serve our readers. Having an office in the county seat makes good sense and allows people to conveniently access either our Blooming Prairie or Owatonna location.
Charlene Wolff will be operating the Owatonna office and will be available to help people from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. People wanting to pay their subscriptions or bills, drop off story ideas, pick up extra copies of newspapers or simply provide feedback on what they like or don’t like are welcome to use this new location.
We will continue, as we have for the past 128 years, with our main office in Blooming Prairie. We are excited to serve people from two great locations.
Over the past year and a half, we have added hundreds of new subscribers to our newspaper. And they don’t appear to be stopping any time soon. We continue to receive new readers every week.
I have to laugh when I regularly hear that print is dead and newspapers are a thing of the past. This recent growth shows that community newspapers are thriving and people crave local news, which I believe is a by-product of COVID-19. People are reconnecting with their communities and re-assessing what’s most important in their lives.
We are honored to assist in helping people satisfy their appetite for hometown news and sports. I feel there is significant value to what we do every week. First and foremost, democracy cannot survive without a common set of facts and a vibrant press to sort them out. The press is protected in the Constitution because our Founding Fathers realized the supreme value the media plays in society.
Along with our advertisers, I want to thank our loyal readers and newcomers for supporting this newspaper. You are the reason for this latest growth that puts us in a good position to serve Steele County for years to come.
Being in hot pursuit of providing a solid community newspaper with growth potential is what we do best.