Between the Lines: How Long Has This Been Going On?

Twenty years ago trying to look hip for my photo on the editorial page.

It’s been 29 years this month. That’s how long I’ve been involved in the office technology/document imaging industry.

Call it luck, call it fate, call it whatever you will, but out of all the many jobs I’ve had in my life, that initial associate editor position with Office Systems magazine back in 1986 is the only job I ever got without knowing somebody. All I did was respond to an ad in the Norwalk Hour, went in for an interview, and was hired a few days later.

I didn’t expect to stick around this long. My goal was to do this for a year then find an editorial position that was more me.

My previous job was with a cable TV magazine called On Cable. That was my dream job, covering the entertainment industry. When the publication was sold less than a year after I started and the entire staff let go, I was devastated. After that job ended I had a temporary job as a freelance proofreader for a book publisher in Westport, CT. I remember sitting in their office in January 1986 staring out the window reflecting on the unfortunate turn of events that ripped me from my dream job. It was while working here one morning that I got the call and was offered the position at Office Systems.

I stayed there for two and a half years, spent another two and a half years with a competitor, then went to work for Canon’s public relations agency in New York City, still focusing on office technology. I did that for a year and a half, then spent six months at a small PR agency where I was briefly involved with some clients on the outer fringes of the entertainment industry. That one didn’t work out and after being unemployed for less than a week I received a phone call out of the blue asking me if I was interested in returning as editor of Office Dealer and Office Solutions (formerly Office Systems) magazines.

I won’t bore you with the details of my two tenures there as editor in chief before starting The Week in Imaging in 2010, or my years in between as a freelance writer still connected to this industry, but I will emphasize once again that nothing I did before my first editorial position in this industry and everything I’ve done since happened because of networking and knowing people.

A few years ago I was a guest at a dinner for MBA candidates of Rowan University in New Jersey where the guest speaker shared this simple albeit brilliant business advice with the future MBA’s, “it’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.”

If that wasn’t the truth, I wouldn’t be here telling you this story today.

And by the way, turns out this industry is more me than I could have ever imagined 29 years ago.

Thanks for reading.