Happy Birthday MAC!

GREENWICH, N.Y. — Where have 10 years gone? On September 30, 2013, I sat down at a formica table on a porch by a lake, and signed an agreement, scribbled out on a yellow legal sized pad of paper, to buy the Morning Ag Clips from its creator.

Barely out of its infancy, there was an archaic system of sending emails for only a handful of states. We had a new website that was barely a year old, and we didn’t really know what to do with it. I sold advertising and forged new relatiohships, while my 2 editors, who were contract workers, put the content together every day for me.

In November of 2013, almost 2 months after my purchase, I decided that I needed to hire my own employee and get into my own office space. Brittany Hastings was hired–interviewed in an empty office space that I had just rented, she took it on.

Now, after 10 years, Brittany, along with a team of 12 others, helps me every day to produce a product, develop relationships and manage clients that we are proud to work with every day.

I have certainly learned a lot in the 10 years I have been at the helm. Some things were easy lessons, some not so easy… and some I am still desperately trying to learn.

I thought I would share some of them, my 10 lessons, for 10 years:

Unemployment insurance rates follow the business that is bought. Learned the hard way, it was a number I acquired, and it took me a few years to get that down to being low. 🙂
Highs and lows of cashflow. All businesses, no matter what the size, struggle with it. When it’s low, I channel Phil Knight, the creator of Nike. Read Shoe Dog, and you will understand why. Even one of the most recognized namebrands in the world struggled with it, to the bitter end, and he succeeded.
Thank god for my parents.
Let go of money when it is not serving you well. We have let clients go. The decision is usually painful, but streams of revenue that cost too much in sanity are just not worth it.
Falling down is imminent. The choice is always to get back up again. And we do. And we always will.
It’s all about the Team. Get the right kind of player on the bus, and then figure out what position they are going to take. And those positions and who occupies them might change and evolve, but a team made up of the right kind of people, will succeed. So blessed to have mine. 🙂
Give more than what is expected, with everything. It will pay you dividends when you need it most.
Patience. I have a saying that came from the dedication in a book I once read. “Listen to the breezes.” When the answer isn’t coming easy, be patient, and listen. Listen to all that is around you, the breezes. And the right answer will come.
Make decisions for the right reasons. Ego can be a tough thing to recognize, and in decision making you have to make sure the ego is in check, and operating out of goodness, and not just for ego’s sake. I will leave this one at that.
Have faith. Have faith in god, and have faith in your family and friends, but most importantly, have faith in yourself.

Owning a business is not for the risk adverse or weak. It is essential to wake up every day and be ready to take on the world, defend your universe, and be thankful. I know the path I chose 10 years ago has not been easy. It has been challenged with growing pains, and lots of prayers have been said. But despite all of the work and lessons, there has been far more joy than pain.

I know, with absolute certainty I am right where I was meant to be. My choice was designed around the most important thing in the world to me, and that was being the mother I wanted to be, so I could raise 3 well-adjusted, and thriving children.

Thank you, Morning Ag Clips. Thank you, audience. Thank you family. Thank you friends. And thank you Team MAC! We got the next 10, together!

With great love,
Kate