The idea is to put out an issue once a year where the entire publication is made up of mostly unfiltered voices from the pool and spa industry — talking about how they're holding up, what has surprised them and maybe what has been bothering them lately.
Most of the stories you read in trade magazines throughout the year consist of an editor calling up some people from the industry, digesting what they said, regurgitating, and garnishing it with a few quotes sprinkled here and there.
A tried-and-true method, to be sure, and one that communicates fairly well, but it's refreshing once in a while to step out of the way and let the people who actually clean the skimmers and build the concrete forms and man the water testing stations do the talking.
We just fill up the magazine with their voices — more than 500 of them, telling us how business is going and what they have in mind. Like this one: "We may replace some employees this year — and look into GPS."
An owner of a service company wrote that, and if you consider for a moment, it's easy to imagine the face of the author, and what might have happened to trigger that statement. It may be a notion you've had yourself once or twice.
Another one said simply, "I'll be slowing down a bit this year. I'm 62."
That's a whole different place to be, measuring out the last few years of a career, consciously giving yourself permission to take a longer lunch. Some of you can relate to that, too.
Just a couple of the small truths that make up real life in the pool and spa biz. Hope you find some more of these within.
