As Far As I’m Concerned, It’s Always A Good Point In Time

by Rob Wilkins

Well 2009 is coming to a close and while I was planning to leave it at that and focus on the many initiatives we have coming up in 2010, I decided to stay in 2009 for one more column.

I’m not sure where I first heard the quote “This isn’t the end of time, it’s a point in time.” I think it gained currency because it puts things in perspective.

It makes you look at your situation both in business and personally in a different light.

I wondered if I could look back on 2009 and say I managed that point in time in a way I could be proud of -or at least not ashamed of. Personally I had some health issues. On top of that my knee is so wonky I can barely walk around the block. In fact I was forced to spend so much time at home my dog was getting sick of me, let alone my wife. On the other hand, I don’t think I moped too badly and I did pick up some worthwhile habits.

For instance, I did a lot of non-business reading, which is something I seemed not to have time for. Okay, I had a lot of people come over to keep me “company” and yes, I’ve always had time for that. All and all a passing grade.

On the business front we all know what happened. Truck sales were well below the norm for the past five years and that held true for most indicators.

Capable as we at Truck News believe we are, we did know we couldn’t fix the economy so we did what we usually do and in most ways much more.

Our Web presence grew dramatically. This isn’t synonymous with making profits as my bosses point out, but it goes a long way to keeping us front and centre as the leading source for all things trucking. We’ve even expanded our blogs and we’re active on social media sites including Twitter.

We expanded our weekly WebTV show, Transportation Matters and quite frankly it improves weekly.

You can even catch us on YouTube. In fact we won the Best Video Award in October as part of the Canadian Online Publishing Awards. That, as they said, is “pretty cool.”

We developed a new subscription-based online information video series at www.TheDriversSeat.ca and published our first comprehensive collection of industry stats and trends, Inside the Numbers.

Another first was our live coverage of the OTA Convention in November. You can view the transcript under Knowledge Centres on Trucknews.com.

To be honest I have yet another perspective. Yes this industry was down and none of us were immune. On the other hand, I spent 2009 working with the best team in the best industry on earth. If you’re the publisher of Truck News it’s always a good point in time.

-Rob Wilkins is the publisher of Truck News and he can be reached at 416-510-5123.


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