Operating Weekly Volcano is different than anything I have attempted before. I thought I could run it the same way I have the many festivals I have managed. Festivals are a business model I am familiar with. But some things are not the same at all. For example with festivals, money comes in from various sources like grants, sponsorships and vendor applications over the course of a year leading up to the event date and then, when it’s over, the money gets distributed to all the various people and organizations we hired. With Weekly Volcano, all of this happens every month. Every month we must find more advertisers. Every month we have bills with deadlines. Every month we have to decide how far we can stretch our funding and if/when our planned expansions can begin. We need more income streams and we have plans that should be implemented for the good of the company but they take time, focus and funding. I do not want to spend the rest of my life convincing businesses its beneficial to advertise with us, however, it’s crucial that we have enough income to cover the costs of all this creativity and effort. Right now I am attempting to do jobs that I would never purposely hire myself to do. What do I know about accounting and salesmanship? I can barely operate Quickbooks and it’s nearly impossible for me to find time to cold call every business in the Tacoma/Pierce County area. Ideally, local businesses would come to us, but many are not even aware that it’s back and some never knew it existed in the first place. Some still believe that they can win the algorithm game on social media. The world had pretty much decided that printed newspapers were a relic of the past. Fortunately, the tide is turning on that. Just like vinyl records, comics and paperback books, printed newspapers are a tactile pleasure that young people are falling in love with all over again. We just need a little more time for that to become obvious to businesses. We do sell more ads for the printed paper than we do for our online and social media. I found that surprising since everyone says that online advertising is the way to go. Our online ads are only $100 but most businesses will pay more just to see it in the paper. Our free weekly email newsletter has an astonishing 60% open rate – as far as email newsletters go that is a phenomenally good number. The subscriber base is also growing quickly. Even if printing papers ends up being too expensive, I believe our newsletter will grow to be something spectacular and highly valuable. But, like I said, I am learning as I go and we are still in this fight. Maybe we can continue to do both. I feel that I should be focusing on my zone of genius rather than badly attempting to do things I never aspired to do. Delegating without funding is not feasible though so I am in a catch-22 position. I’m on the hunt for Section Sponsors now. Similar to sponsoring a stage at a festival, this will give a brand the opportunity to grow their brand awareness with alignment toward a good cause - the free press. I am envisioning a Resource page sponsored by a hospital or non-profit. A Sports/Recreation page sponsored by a gym, a golf course, Metro Parks or National Park Service. Art & Music pages sponsored by an arts commission or arts organization. Calendar sponsored by Travel Tacoma, a hotel or some tourism organization. Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce or our Economic Development Department can provide some funding to keep Weekly Volcano as a valuable resource to our community? Weekly Volcano has been the backbone of Tacoma’s creative community and small business community for two decades. That should and does count for something. We are also looking into grants we can apply for. There are grants for the arts, independent local newspapers and women-owned small businesses and we intend to apply to as many as we can. That probably won’t happen fast enough though. Don’t worry, even as the bills pile up, I am still optimistic that Weekly Volcano will have its George Bailey Christmas miracle moment where people rush in to pledge their support to us in 2024. If even 1% of the businesses in Tacoma pledged to buy our smallest ad every month for $175, we would have all the money we need to fund it. If you love us, spread the word! We have a donate button on our website. I’m glad you are sticking with us while I try to fill tremendously big shoes. Someday I hope to replace the sales team, production team, and distribution team Weekly Volcano used to have. We will get there again. We also plan to produce more mini shows like “Phoenix & Friends” and “Fred Finds” and those shows will need sponsors too. We’ll bring back ART BUS and other local events too. I have already agreed to help with Art on the Ave 2024. Weekly Volcano just needs a little more time. Right now, it’s just me and my uber talented friends faking it until we make it. What could possibly go wrong?