The Olympics, The Recession & Never Giving Up

So are you watching the Olympics? I am. I have to admit I LOVE competition. I am sure this is no surprise to those of you who know me. The thrill of victory…the agony of defeat…falling 4 times but standing back up 5. Pushing your mind and body to the limits to accomplish what others said wasn’t possible. Wow…I am fired up right now. My team at Saratoga TODAY is very familiar with one of my favorite quotes: “Victory is reserved for those willing to pay its price.” – Rolls Gracie If you think about it, competition and challenging the status quo are what made America great. A bunch of rag-tag colonies taking on an Empire. Just down the road in 1777 the pivotal Battle of Saratoga took place (topic for another editorial) which would result in the rise of a new nation; An independent nation; A nation that would go on to lead the world into some of the largest economic, manufacturing and technological advances in history. And if you think about it, competition and challenging the status quo are what made this company what it is today. We began Saratoga TODAY in the slow economy of 2006. We scrapped and fought our way through the next two years, building a reader base and establishing our niche. We doubled down on our loans as we added products, hired staff and launched events…and then 2008 hit. The great recession; The bursting of the US housing bubble; The sub-prime mortgage crisis; The fall of Lehman Brothers; Etc… Unemployment skyrocketed and businesses began to close. Realistically there was no way we should have weathered the storm. But failure was not an option and quitting is not in our vocabulary. Some people say that newspapers are dying because readers don’t like paper. I say Absolutely NOT! Papers aren’t dying because people don’t like paper; they are dying because people don’t like what papers have been feeding them for years. But we changed the formula. Everything we publish at Saratoga TODAY is 100% local and 100% free. As long as we provide value to our readers and advertisers, there is no reason we can’t run a healthy company surviving on the revenues generated from our trusted business partners. Now is a good time to share one of our Top 10 Lists. Here you go…