A fellow journalist might not get this, but a fellow small business owner will: It often feels really, really lonely.
In our case, for nearly seven full years since DK Pittsburgh Sports was born, Dali and I have been able to discuss concepts with each other, debate how to approach this or that, all that stuff. Which has been great. I mean, here we are, still standing about ... oh, nearly seven full years after we'd been widely expected to fail.
At the same time, neither of us had ever run a business, or managed a staff, or marketed, or sought sponsorships, or designed our own app/site. And doing all of that, on top of the writing and other editorial tasks I couldn't exactly cast aside, has taken up so much of our time that there's seldom a spare second for any semblance of establishing a broader vision.
In late April, we brought on two minority partners, Ramin Baghai and David Rosenblatt, whose awesome Rob Ullman caricatures we're unveiling right here in this feature to completely blindside them this morning:
ROB ULLMAN / DKPS
Ramin Baghai, left, and David Rosenblatt.
In that time, they've both dived in headfirst. Into everything. Our finances. (We're doing ... OK.) Our future planning. (Ha!) Our tech. (Very much a work in progress.) And they've met with every member of our staff, usually one-on-one, to try to gather as much information from as many sources as possible to push us up to the next level.
What is that, exactly?
Let's just say it's beginning to crystallize into something like this:
• We're about subscriptions. All roads, all outreaches, all promotions should ultimately lead toward a goal of having someone sign up for our premium product, that being the app/site you're reading. David and Ramin talk a lot about priorities, and this one's No. 1.
• We need to strike a balance between enterprise, analysis and news in our written content, in all likelihood sliding away from some of the latter. Not every single development requires a full article. Some aren't worth more than a mention, an alert, whatever. But the serious material we offer, that's what brings people and, then, what keeps them.
• We need to promote. My goodness, do we ever need to promote. We leave far too much quality content under-utilized, even unseen. We're trying to hire -- either a company or an individual -- to help with this, but we haven't come close to a fit yet.
• We need to go where growth is. Our podcasts and now our video content are faring extremely well. If that necessitates being more of a multimedia company, that'll involve adjustments. It's a matter of how to navigate it.
• We need energy and enthusiasm. That's not always easy to summon, as I'll admit myself. The job can be exhausting, mentally and physically, as with any job. But at the same time, I'm the first to state that it's the best job in the world. In the best city in the world. And that's worth remembering -- and reminding -- for all of us when it comes to creating content but also in keeping in constant contact with our valued community, which is unlike anything else in the Pittsburgh market and, for all I know, any market.
• We need to adapt to whatever changes the pandemic has wrought that’ll stick for the foreseeable future.
There's a lot of layers there, obviously. But the crystallization is underway in large part because Dali and I now have other owners invested in the same success that we are and, better yet, bringing all kinds of expertise, experience and imagination.
We're immensely grateful.
And nowhere near done.
DADS 'N' GRADS
Have you bought your gift yet?
We're in the midst of a Dads 'N' Grads promotion that emphasizes getting a subscription for that special Steelers, Penguins or Pirates fan in your life. Father's Day falls on June 20 this year, high school and college students are graduating everywhere and, ideally, through us, everyone can stay a little more connected.
If you'd like one, they're half-off at $19.99, and here's how to go about it:
1. Tap here.
2. Tap 'BUY A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION'
3. Fill out the super-quick form
And be sure, in that email field, to make it your email and not that of the recipient. This way, you'll be the one receiving the gift redemption code that you can distribute whenever you'd like. The subscription itself begins only when the code's redeemed.
Don’t wait! Go get one!
And thanks in advance for helping this venture grow in the best way possible!
LIVE TWITTER FEED!
It's almost done -- any day now, actually -- but we're about to add a live staff Twitter feed to the app!
It'll be easy to access by pushing the bottom right button on the app, and it'll replace the current LIVE page that very few were using. One tap is all it'll take to whip up to-the-second material from all our reporters wherever we happen to be. Without having to go anywhere else.
Soon, you'll only have to leave us to eat or go to the bathroom! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!
MILITARY SUBS SOLD: 124
Inspired by Josh DeNinno at Moon Golf Club, we're striving to connect an unprecedented 2,000 military veterans to their favorite teams with free one-year subscriptions in 2021.
So far, we're at 124, including 15 sold this past week.
Thanks to everyone who's been part of this, but we'll need a lot more, obviously. The cost of a single one-year military subscription is always $20. You can contribute one, or as many as you'd like. And the process couldn't be simpler: Email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com and let me know how many you'd like, and I, in turn, can thank you personally.
WEEKLY APP TIPS
Sharing ways to make your app experience even better:
• If something ever happens that you really, really don't like on the app -- as happens on every app -- close out of it. Don't just minimize. Close out of it completely. That's done differently, depending on your phone and operating system, but do ... that. (I'm not awesome at technical advice.) Once you do, reopen the app, and it's all golden again.
Our previous two tips:
• Looking for the day's live game file in a hurry? I recently added those files -- the latest one -- to right near the top of each team page. So, if the Pirates are playing, and you're looking for the live file or score or whatever, just tap the Pirates button at the bottom of the app, thumb down a millimeter or so, and there it is!
• Go get an avatar! If you've tried before, try again, because we've made some adjustments this past week. Go to your profile by tapping the top left corner of the home page. On the next page, tap the little camera icon near the top. Insert any image that's 300x300 or smaller, tap SAVE, and that's it. This will now show as your image on comments, as well as the top left corner of your home page.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page views for the past week were 339,080, down 7.9% from the previous week and our worst week of 2021. Our most-read original piece was Taylor Haase's summation of the Penguins' history in NHL expansion drafts, at 14,967. Broken down by team, articles on the Penguins brought 21.2% of our traffic, the Pirates 20.1%, the Steelers 16.6%.
• Our new subscribers for the past week were at 27, down 3 from the previous week.
• Our new app downloads for the past week were 58 for Apple, same as the previous week, and 38 for Android, double the previous week.
• Our podcast downloads for the past week were 90,241, up 2% from the previous week.
• We're at 41,284 (+42) followers on Twitter, we're at 37,156 (+1) followers on Facebook, we're at 14,563 (-1) followers on Instagram, and we're at 3,846 (+335) followers on YouTube. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Random geographic fun, to be read in an Alex Trebek voice: This country ranks fourth on our list of highest app usage and ... I'm betting you won't get it. The top three, as ever, are the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.