How I Got Here

Sometimes I wonder -- particularly this early in the morning and this close to a big nostalgic holiday like Christmas -- how I got here, how life is hinged by momentary decisions. For those who don't know, the concept for WHY magazine came about as I was standing in my kitchen cooking up breakfast and wondering what kind of publication would be good for Lucille and me to start. Way too many parenting mags out there. Pets? Don't have one. Then it sort of came to me like the proverbial light bulb. I remember staring at my husband, who was sitting at the dining room table, and saying, "I got it! A home-business magazine. We'll call it WHY, which stands for Work, Home and You."

That was in January 2007. Four months later, WHY was born -- with very little fanfare and with pitiful traffic by two highly motivated, albeit web-challenged founders. Word about us spread slowly, thanks to a good concept and execution -- at least we'd like to think so -- and in large part to creative marketing performed by a gal who suddenly regretted eschewing business classes in college (the only one I took was Marketing 101, which was required).

Now here we are in a recession, but we're holding our own, buoyed by low overhead and two founders who continue to be highly motivated. What 2009 will bring, I don't know... There's so many people joining the work-at-home ranks that, I think, our magazine is needed more than ever, but as many wells of income are drying up, there are more of us going after the ones that remain. It's challenging, but, I have to say, exciting too.

Our goals for the new year are to continue to offer you important information -- in a dynamic and easy to read format -- that will help you start your own business, grow the one you already have or just work more efficiently out of your home. We'll hang in there if you will!

As we say in our magazine all the time, sometimes you just gotta take a chance, go with your gut, learn by doing and hope for the best.

It's kind of like parenting. Or owning a pet -- or so they tell me.