What Keeps You Up at Night?

I talk with contractors almost every day and I talk with manufacturers every week. By ruminating on all that anecdotal information and by comparing notes with our sales folks and Kim Johnston, our associate editor, I like to think I'm able to keep Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction and seminar programs at the two National Pavement Expo shows on track. But I want to make sure, so several times each summer I make it a point to visit contractors to find out how they're doing. Kim Johnston (more on her next week) does the same thing, as do all the editors on our magazines. By visiting contractors specifically to talk about their business, their market, their problems and concerns, and their long-term outlook, we have a better grasp of the issues of concern to our readers. That helps us plan issues, articles, and seminars because we have a better grasp of the types of questions we need to find answers to -- so readers can improve their business. Some of these visits end up as articles in the magazine, some visits turn up potential speakers for NPE or NPE West, and some simply provide fodder for future articles or seminar topics. But everything we learn helps us make sure we're doing what we need to do to make sure Pavement, NPE and NPE West, and our ForConstructionPros.com website are valuable to the industry. So tomorrow I'm headed out to start some of my 2008 reader calls, to ask the most important reader call question: "What keeps you up at night?" I'll let you in on what I learn when I return next week.