For over 15 years I worked with my Dad Bill on the original Bicycle Business Journal. It began in 1946 - way before I was born - and we quit publishing in 1996. I enjoyed this industry, and met some wonderful, creative people at trade shows over the years. Since then, I've produced business biographies in both print and audio formats for several industries. Today, I'm really excited that John Baro
us is bringing back Bicycle Business Journal in a 21st century format! I plan to contribute some columns to BBJ, discussing two things that were very important to Dad: (1) helping retailers share great business tips with each other and (2) helping all segments of this great industry grow. Wonder how the magazine got started? Well, here's the story, in Dad's own words:
“May I tell you how I got into this business? For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a reporter and editor. I began as a weekly newspaper writer, then was promoted to an editor. Because of this newspaper background, soon after I was sent overseas in the Army I became editor-in-chief of the Beachhead News, a mobile daily newspaper, which started on Anzio in Italy, then followed the Sixth Corps through France and Germany, and ended with World War II in Austria. After returning home, I served a short stint as editor of the Mineola (TX) Monitor. Then, in 1946 my bride Lennie (a.k.a. “Lynn”) and I moved to Fort Worth. Once in the big city, I joined an uncle and another partner to purchase The Ledger Printing Company. One of our regular printing jobs was a monthly called the Southern Bicycle Journal, but the owner wanted to sell it. I didn’t want to lose that business, so I bought his bicycle store mailing list for $1,000 ($300 down, and the balance paid out in $60 segments). My first bicycle convention was in Miami Beach in 1948. First, I received a small loan from the bank to pay for the trip. Baggage included a $9.95 Montgomery Ward camera and a $2.98 flash attachment. It was harder-than-hard, but the scant 20-page book for bicycle retailers grew, in time, into a 100-page-plus magazine that was sent monthly to the nation’s independent bicycle stores that serviced what they sold. I sure hope you'll enjoy John's new magazine and its focus on dealer business ideas. We hope that the information furnished within its pages will be something you'll want to keep around your dealership...and perhaps even read again!”
My best wishes to John, and to you as a member of this great, wholesome, and fun industry.
