By Chelsea Moskow, American Farriers Journal Editorial Intern
From the December 2018 Lessiter Link newsletter
Doug Anderson emphasizes our responsibility to our audiences.
Each of us plays an important role in producing content and conferences for our respective audiences. But how do we know if we're hitting the mark?
At the ASPIRE meeting on Nov. 8, a surprise guest in the form of one of our readers spoke about the impact our publications have on his life and particularly his career. Doug Anderson is just one of our many subscribers whose lives we’ve impacted through our work.
Doug brought home the meaning and purpose he finds in his work and the pivotal role we play in that. Our duty is to equip our subscribers with the education and practices they need to fulfill their goals. Our subscribers are looking for information that provides technical understanding, best practices and cost-efficiency. Providing these tools for our readers is one we at LM are privileged to do.
“There are (readers) out there that, if they haven’t learned entirely how to do something from your publication, they’ve certainly learned 90% of it from it. And they’re feeding their families with the knowledge they gain from your work,” Doug says.
Our responsibility, then, isn’t just to our audiences — it is also to their families and business associates, who rely on them to be well-informed in order to make smart decisions.
Each subscriber is paying a premium in exchange for material that will essentially change their life. It is our job to lean in and provide better results than the day before, each and every day.
There is a ripple effect in whom the products reach. Anderson tells his clients that it is through helping them achieve their hopes and dreams that he has a chance of achieving his own. And his successes subsequently emanate from our important duty as a media company. Only by putting out meaningful content and products can our readers like Anderson turn around and implement them into their daily work. If we’re indifferent about what we create and send out, our subscribers will feel it. They deeply rely on what we have to offer, and we need to lean into our role as publishers to fulfill our subscribers’ needs every day.
“Providing our readers with the education and practices they need is a heavy task, on we at LM are privileged to do.”
Each person at Lessiter Media plays a crucial role for our readers by informing them and allowing them to practice the trade they love. By "leaning" into our work and truly finding the heart of it, we are influencing lives in a positive way.
In response to Frank Lessiter’s question on how Doug views his failures and what they have taught him, he says, “I have so much more ammunition (to get it right the 2nd time around) because of the things that you do. Because of the articles that you write. The support that you provide behind the scenes.
"You have a very, very important job. A job that, if you put your best effort forward, you will change people’s lives in ways you can’t imagine. You’ve changed mine in ways that I could only dream of.”
We are grateful for the opportunity Doug Anderson provided for us. It was enlightening, energizing and even humbling to realize the vital role our publications play in our readers’ lives.
