Joe Hohmann posted:Dennis LaGrua posted:7. Always think like a businessman first and a hobbyist second.
Maybe Greenburg should buy the York franchise. No, wait...Greenburg already runs a York show in January, complete with lots of HO, and plenty of newspaper and direct mail advertising.
The Greenberg show last weekend was so well attended, that I had to park 1/2 mile away just to get in. Yes that show is a business and they do include a few HO dealers ( maybe 10%) but no matter how you spin it; ticket revenue/attendance and sales of dealer tables ( and their sales) determine what makes the show possible.
The Greenberg show is the last remaining large show in NJ because the people that run it have made the right business moves. Its a public show. Ask the popcorn vendor at the front door why he keeps coming back.
As for the York event, the ED holds the decisions on the direction that it takes, but one thing cannot be ignored is that change of all things is inevitable. If you keep doing things the same way you cannot expect a different result. There are still hundreds of thousands of model railroaders in the USA but the demographic of those that buy the trains is changing. Reacting and positioning for that change is what will keep the train business going. As for my comment "think like a business". If you don't think like a business, then you go out of business.
