I had a little extra time on my hands last Fourth of July, due to the fact that the Pepsi 400 at Daytona was cancelled due to, of all things, smoke (from the Florida fires). I spent that extra time reflecting on this magazine. It was, after all, on July Fourth, 1994, that I made the decision to roll the dice and, with no publishing experience, began publishing a magazine specifically for automobile DEALERS.
I guess I still had racing on my mind though, because I came to realize a parallel between this magazine and some words which hang on reigning Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon's shop wall:
From Unknown to Upstart
From Upstart to Challenger
From Challenger to Contender
From Contender to Champion
From Champion to Dynasty
This is half of Jeff's team's formula for success; one step at a time, not reaching too far too soon, but always striving to reach the next level. The other half is the attitude represented by the team's motto: "Refuse to Lose". That attitude, combined with a simple plan, is what has made Gordon so successful at such a young age (plus the backing of Rick Hendrick, of course).
In retrospect, I can now see that DEALER magazine has become so successful at such a "young age" with a similar formula. By making incremental improvements one issue (step) at a time and not reaching too far too soon, we have grown steadily without taking any major steps backward.
The second half of the success formula, attitude, cannot be expressed so concisely as "Refuse to Lose", but my attitude in regards to editorial content can be summed up relatively succinctly: If it is useful, relevant and not a waste of our readers' time, we will run it. If it is not useful, relevant or is a waste of our readers' time, we will not.
The dealer has always been the most important factor in any decision, change or move we have made. Our competitors may have their own erroneous assumptions regarding our meteoric rise, but the truth is, it was inevitable because we have done what America's most successful dealers and the reigning Winston Cup champion do: Grow one step at a time and focus on the goal (Dealer's goal - profitable growth and satisfied customers leading to market leadership; Jeff Gordon's goal - another championship and another and another leading to a dynasty; DEALER magazine's goal - to stay the #1 read and used magazine in the industry by continually putting our dealer/readers above all else. If reader response and advertising growth mean anything, I figure we are at the Contender-to-Champion stage, not because we're not the #1 read and used magazine in the industry (we are), but because we're going to continue to get even better. 1999 is going to be one hell of a year.