Managing 110° Magazine is fun, but we’re not doing this just for fun.

110° has been marvelous in all the ways that I had hoped it would be when I bought the magazine. I’ve met some wonderful people! My sales manager, Caroline Robertson, and I have a great time working with advertisers. We’ve had huge fun hosting our Mix & Mingle Events that are free to anyone interested in networking.

110° Magazine has worked hard to continue to tell the story of colorful people in our East County. We were the first print publication in the area to offer profiles, the first to go digital with an online version, the first to offer Reader Loyalty Cards, and are now the first to offer digital advertising. (Contact us for details.)

We launched our new Loyalty Reader Cards at the Corn Fest, and if you didn’t get one in this magazine, you can go to Spa Prima, Willy’s Bagels, or Busy Body to pick one up. Every issue will list the advertiser discounts you can receive when you show the card, giving you another reason to look forward to receiving the magazine.

You may have noticed we have more advertisements than ever.  Because of our vigorous growth, we continue to add more pages, and have increased our size by more than 50 in the last year while always maintaining more than half of the magazine as editorial content.  Don Huntington and Andrea Stuart continue to crank out incredible stories about amazing local people.

It’s been especially great working with Caroline Robertson. She is driven to help her clients towards success. Caroline spends time helping businesses whether or not they advertise with us, and expends a lot of effort in helping her clients promote their business in ways that go above and beyond their advertising. She is sharing with other businesses methods that are providing for our own growth in the face of the current economic downfall.

So we remain balanced in our goals and aspirations for the magazine. We’re all having fun, but the magazine isn’t just for fun, because we’re also running a business.

Someone said that profits are to a business as oxygen is to a living organism. The fact is that the guys who ran 110° Magazine during the four years before I came aboard somehow managed to maintain the publication on life-support long past the time when less passionate people would have allowed it to die a natural death. And such a death really would have been “natural,” since more than 90 percent of new publications in America perish before reaching the end of their first year of existence.

My partner, Don Huntington, who was one of the founders of the magazine, used to tell people:

• When we started 110° we had three goals.

• • 1. One was to have a lot of fun; and we exceeded that goal from the publication of the first issue.
    2. The second goal was to make a positive impact upon the community; judging from readers’ comments, we exceeded that goal from the beginning.
    3. The third goal was to make a wheelbarrow full of money.

And then Don would add, “I’m proud to say that it is a great accomplishment for any new business to hit two out of three goals.”

It was a great line and Don always got a good laugh. The first two goals really are the most important; I would shut this thing down if we failed in those areas. But after a while profits become essential. We have to pay our printing bills; we have to make payroll.

Fortunately, I have a talent for making money. I’m in this business because I loved the magazine and because I knew I could turn it around. I wouldn’t be trying to sell advertising if it weren’t for the fact that I really believe in our product.

Profits aren’t a measure of our success; they simply make it possible to continue enjoying the success that we’ve been experiencing. 110° Magazine is too good to die.

Don likes to tell people, “The goal is to thrive and not simply to survive.” We’re driving towards higher ground. We’ll soon be earning profits that will bless us and make us a blessing to others. They’ll permit us to make the magazine an even-greater source of good than it is now.

I’ve made up my mind about that — and I’m not going to let anything turn me back!

Our July-August issue is hitting the streets and we’re more excited about 110° Magazine than ever!
If you don’t get it delivered at home but would like to, go to www.110mag.com/subscribe.htm where you can be sure to get it delivered in your mail box every other month for $2.99. If you don’t want to pay, you don’t have to!!!! Visit our website at www.110mag.com and give us your email address for a FREE online digital version of the magazine. You can also find our list of locations to pick up the magazine for FREE.

This is, seriously, the greatest issue of the magazine we ever did. People are already remarking on the quality of the pictures, the writing, and the choice of content.

The cover story regarding the two Incredible Getaways has come at a timely point for me personally. What with getting the new issue distributed, preparing for Corn Fest, managing the affairs of the magazine, working on the next issue, trying to pay all the bills, and maintaining appropriate attention to my home, husband, and to our beloved 5-year-old, I’m sometimes worn to a frazzle.

But Wednesday we’re heading for Carmel and are going to stay in one of those beautiful rooms at the Highlands Inn that we showed in the magazine. I don’t have time to get away but, on the other hand, I don’t have enough energy reserves not to do this.

The temperatures are supposed to be 108° tomorrow when we leave, which will be 30 degrees hotter than the Carmel Highlands are likely to be. We’re going to have a great time!

We’ll get back just in time for the opening of Corn Fest. I can picture us driving out of Carmel with the temperature around 68° and trying to set up our booth in temperatures somewhere around 110°.

It’ll be great! After three days of loafing and Pacific Ocean breezes I’m going to be ready for Corn Fest (I hope).

And I’m going to be ready to support 110° — both the temperatures and the magazine.

Be sure to come by and say “Hello.” We have a fabulous promotion, unlike any you have ever seen before, and once again we will be the first in town to launch it.

I’m Tricia.

I want to talk about the article in last Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle, called Brentwood the poster child for housing bust.

I was angered when I read it because I feel the writer merely took some statistics, interviewed a handful of people, and then spun the story in the negative direction. No one reading the article could realize how many positive things are going on in Brentwood and East Contra Costa County.  We’ve got a new Bypass, a new Mall coming, and don’t hold your breath, but possibly an ebart extension.  Many families moved here because it was affordable, and offered a quality of life that doesn’t always come with a low price tag.  Well guess what, it’s affordable again!

Join with me in emailing this writer, John Temple. and let’s register our disapproval at his writing such a one dimensional aspect of our area. His email is jtemple@sfchronicle.com.

Just write him! Do it now!

And reply to this blog. Let us know any opinions you have about this — or any other — topic.

I’m Tricia.