Founder's message: Learn something new every day

Some famous philosopher once said, "When you stop learning you might as well roll over and die." Most of the successful people I know keep open minds, learn and grow every day. The ones who know it all, eventually fade away. Don Imus taught me something this morning that I already knew, but now it's been substantiated so it counts. He was reading the latest on-air ratings and noted that his station wasn't even in the top ten. He went on to note that his station profited millions and most of the leaders actually lost money. Reason? Simple! It isn't HOW MANY listen, it's WHO. His advertisers pay to reach his niche listeners and he personally has their backs. Especially in tight times it is more important to find a media who is reaching your market, and that may not be the mass media. You could pay $1 million for a 30 second Super Bowl ad and reach 60 million viewers, but how many of those are your market? Our newspaper that is designed with you in mind, can be found in the office of commercial property owners, developers, investors, brokers, managers, banks, contractors, attorneys, mayors, EDICs, senators, appraisers, architects, engineers, auctioneers - anyone who relies on the commercial real estate industry for their livelihood. Hey, that's your market and our editors and publishers have been trained to have your back. So when you see your picture in the paper or your ad, be assured that the people you want to reach are also seeing it. And, while we're on the subject of how many and who, the same is true of our commercial investment real estate website www.rejournal.com. It logs thousands of visitors a month and it is obvious what those people are interested in. So, thanks to Imus in the morning, I don't have to search anymore today to learn something, and now, neither do you. Roland Hopkins is the founder of the New England Real Estate Journal, Norwell, Mass.