15 replies to this topic

[Peter]

Bad News from MRM:

Hello to those who ventured this far with us....

The support from you the readers has been nothing but incredible---and we've always talked straight with each other---so we need to give you a heads up about what's going on with the magazine.

We tried to go monthly, cut the ad costs, but did not get new clients. Janice and I have had a challenging few months, as we crunched the numbers we realized we have to delay/suspend/scramble the publication of the December issue.*

While growth has been steady over the past 20 months, we burned through our little launch fund---there were a couple scary situations with our kids, the chicken pox, the ridiculous cost of chicken pox medicine, collection agencies and Isuzu Trooper O2 sensors that cannot be accessed without a full machine shop---we realize we need to find a better way to do this.

Of course we expected it to be a great challenge, everyone told us that, but I think we've already realized how much greater the reward was. We love this thing and are going to do our best to find a way to get back over the Mendoza line.** At this time though, Janice and I are scrambling to find our next careers at a hill, so if you hear of anything, let us know. Please don't be surprised if a Skinner resume lands on your desk, maybe even from our kids, it's funny to think our oldest is almost the same age I was when I got my first comp pass and paycheck.

We really want to thank you for all the support since early '05, it has been a great, great run. We knew from the history and the traditions this would be a difficult area in which to effect change, but perhaps by trying, it has already helped everyone a little. That was our goal—we took a shot, and this industry is about risk and progress—so win, lose or draw, we're really proud of the last couple years.

Thanks again, thank you very much for all the pictures, stories, emails, and long chair rides where you told us, under your breath, that we were doing a good thing. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of you now that we've gotten to meet and count as friends.***

-Gard n Janice
252-261-3437
gard@mountainresortmag.com
or you can post replies in here, no login required, anonymous is fine.

*This site will continue at least through February, please feel free to use the Photo Gallery and Classifieds all you want.
http://mountainresortmag.com

**We've had a lot of talks with people, many suggested charging for subscriptions, but we've been in everyone's boots and it's hard to pay for food let alone magazines.
--Every industry out there has a great, independent, free trade for its people, so we are just not going to go that route, it was never a consideration, you need access to the information to be successful.

***I won't throw out some cheesy line about how that makes us richer. What it really makes is a pretty good story to spin over a fire somewhere, and this industry is definitely rich with those stories. Thanks again for letting us tell a few...

[SkiBachelor]

Wow, this is sure a shocker to me since I really enjoyed the magazine.

[lastchair_44]

That's a shame...I'd pay for a subscription if they wanted to keep it rollin

[Lift Kid]

Shoot....
I really enjoyed their website. Lots of cool info and pictures! I too, would buy a subscription if they were going to keep it going. I hope they can keep the website up for a while at least.

[chairliftpaint]

Yeah. I would pay for a subscription as well. Our management staff really like the Mag. Hopefully it will continue and grow.

[WBSKI]

Im sort of confused, are you telling me the magazine was free?? Or was it just free for mountain staff or something? I was planning to get this magazine but i guess not now..

[Emax]

This post was buried by "hit and run skier".
Thought I'd put it back on top.

This post has been edited by Emax: 15 December 2006 - 08:19 AM

[liftmech]

The magazine was sent to mountain staff and members of the industry; Gard can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the funding was solely from advertising and classified ads. There wasn't really a subscription that I recall, it was meant to be a trade magazine not for general consumption.

[Emax]

How about a re-launch as LMM - Lift Maintenance Magazine? Or Resort Technology? Paid subscriptions? There's more than enough up-to-date information here on this site to put SAM's feeble tech efforts into the weeds.

Seems to me that all publications relating to this industry cater to too large a cross-section – made up mostly of glad-handers, money changers and trinket vendors. A real technical publication focusing on cableways would be not only a first, but welcomed by many. Some of you must get “Machine Design” or “Sensors” – tech trade publications that are just full of new products and ideas and which include reader’s feedback sections that actually are of real use. It’s hard to put one down before reading it cover to cover. Such a monthly devoted to the things we do and are interested in would likely fly.

[gs3]

Thanks guys, I'm here, been drinking a lot of beer lately. Just straight up, I think we did well out of the gate, got to break-even, but it never grew and we did/do have some debt here and there.

We own John for a story, Tom P., our sales guy, the printer, I feel like shit too, it's not much and we'll pay but it's like this... a few of the big suppliers really stuck with us, Prinoth and PistenBully were huge, tell their guys that if you run into them, they are good humans.

to make this work, there are about 5-10 others who were key, they are established and solid in the industry, we talked to them all the time, and most of them told us each month "you're doing great, call us next month, or "show us a year of publishing."

so this summer, we're on fumes, we thought, hey, we'll cut rates, go monthly so they double their exposure, if that doesn't get them to pull the trigger they never will.

& most of them were not satisfied with what they were doing before we came along, told me that a lot,

but in the long run, it is their company and in the end they just didn't feel that we were something they would choose to use for their advertising.

As far as paying subs goes, this is just my opinion, but every good industry out there, sporting goods, bikes, zoos, theme parks, they all have a good free trade mag. I don't think you should have to pay for the information to make you successful, and we're all poor, if we weren't our secretaries would post for us while we porfolioed and interviewed eye-candy receptionists.

Our industry got onto a different track, it pays for its trade mag, it doesn't know anything else, we tried to change it, but I wouldn't make you guys pay. One ski school guy who dug it told me he might shoot a note to all the directors at the hills and tell them to start buying classifed ads, that was funny, imagine if PSIA saved our ass, holy shit. strange world.

We are going to keep trying though, it's small time compared to other magazines, me, the wife, our garage, so the solution might just be one idea away. We could have coasted until January and not said anything but it wasn't right to do that,

And Ryan B, the RIP thing made me chuckle, I know you think I'm an asshole, I kinda think you're one too, the funny thing is there aren't a lot of people who stand up and try to change things and risk their ass doing it, so maybe someday we'll look back and laugh and I won't have to kick your ass. I'll tell you one thing, I still get shit about that article of yours, it really rubbed a couple people.

Thanks for the kind words,

G

[Shawn]

Its nice to see that you havent lost your sense of humor... Or your honesty.

[Emax]

"Its nice to see that you havent lost your sense of humor... Or your honesty."

Not at all. Stay tuned for "round 2"

The folks on these forums need the kind of voice that Gard can provide. He needs our support - as soon as we can determine what that might be.

[Shawn]

I'll second that!

[Bill]

gs3, on Dec 15 2006, 01:07 PM, said:

Thanks guys, I'm here, been drinking a lot of beer lately. Just straight up, I think we did well out of the gate, got to break-even, but it never grew and we did/do have some debt here and there.

We own John for a story, Tom P., our sales guy, the printer, I feel like shit too, it's not much and we'll pay but it's like this... a few of the big suppliers really stuck with us, Prinoth and PistenBully were huge, tell their guys that if you run into them, they are good humans.

to make this work, there are about 5-10 others who were key, they are established and solid in the industry, we talked to them all the time, and most of them told us each month "you're doing great, call us next month, or "show us a year of publishing."

so this summer, we're on fumes, we thought, hey, we'll cut rates, go monthly so they double their exposure, if that doesn't get them to pull the trigger they never will.

& most of them were not satisfied with what they were doing before we came along, told me that a lot,

but in the long run, it is their company and in the end they just didn't feel that we were something they would choose to use for their advertising.

As far as paying subs goes, this is just my opinion, but every good industry out there, sporting goods, bikes, zoos, theme parks, they all have a good free trade mag. I don't think you should have to pay for the information to make you successful, and we're all poor, if we weren't our secretaries would post for us while we porfolioed and interviewed eye-candy receptionists.

Our industry got onto a different track, it pays for its trade mag, it doesn't know anything else, we tried to change it, but I wouldn't make you guys pay. One ski school guy who dug it told me he might shoot a note to all the directors at the hills and tell them to start buying classifed ads, that was funny, imagine if PSIA saved our ass, holy shit. strange world.

We are going to keep trying though, it's small time compared to other magazines, me, the wife, our garage, so the solution might just be one idea away. We could have coasted until January and not said anything but it wasn't right to do that,

And Ryan B, the RIP thing made me chuckle, I know you think I'm an asshole, I kinda think you're one too, the funny thing is there aren't a lot of people who stand up and try to change things and risk their ass doing it, so maybe someday we'll look back and laugh and I won't have to kick your ass. I'll tell you one thing, I still get shit about that article of yours, it really rubbed a couple people.

Thanks for the kind words,

G

Hey Gard,

Shoot me a call when you get some free time between drinkin'. :)

[Emax]

"Shoot me a call when you get some free time between drinkin'. :)"

...play it again SAM. And they will... over and over and over again.

[gs3]

hey hey, talked to a few of you by e-m and on the phone this month, so the feral cat's partly out of the bag for some of ya, but here's an update. the 3 cat/heli associations have agreed to partner for a quarterly consumer magazine that would promote their product to the general public, not a trade like MRM.

we're likely going to give it a shot. if we can get ad sales to the hard and softgoods manufacturers going, it might turn this whole thing around so we spent the bucks and built a site for it. it's not done yet but it's cool what 42 bucks will get you.

if you are bored you could help us out by punching random answers into a survey form we are testing: http://www.mountainr...rvey.php?sid=28

the answers will be reset prior to a press release going out, but if you want to give your honest opinions and write what you think in the boxes, I'll save the answers and post them back in here. Thanks go to Emax, Bill, Cameron, John, a few others too who had some damn good ideas, like bundling ad sales between the quarterly consumer mag and MRM, that could work, we'll see this month I think.

G