Teach. Cheer. Share. Help.

Recently, Galesburg.com, home of The Register-Mail, a Galesburg, Ill., newspaper, featured an article on how all home businesses need a plan.

It wasn't an especially enlightening idea, although it is very true. Like anything you do, having a plan makes you more efficient and more likely to be successful.

However, what struck me about this particular article was the writer's appeal to home-based businesses to get in touch with him and/or the newspaper as a way to jumpstart their marketing. "If you’ve started a new small or home-based business, call or send an e-mail. It may interest us enough that we’ll write a story, which will be read by thousands of people," he wrote.

It's one thing -- admirable even -- to write informational or how-to stories in an effort to help at-home companies grow or manage their business. But in my opinion, the writer, Mr. Pulliam, went a step beyond when he said, Hey, we can help you. Write to us. Use us. "Take advantage of the newspaper's free, new business listing." Great idea. And he tells you how. "A form can even be ordered online."

Mr. Pulliam has taken what could have been a run-of-the-mill story about home business and created something more. He involved himself and made the reader feel not like she was reading an article, but getting advice from someone who knows and cares. I'm not sure what old-school journalism professors would think of his efforts, but, for me, the article connects with readers/aspiring home workers on a variety of levels -- as a how-to manual, a pat on the back, a classroom, a life preserver -- and reflects the kinds of things we try to do with WHY magazine.

Teach. Cheer. Share. Help.

I can't think of a better mission statement for a new year.