By Rebekah Morris for AZBEX
In the upper right-hand corner of every page of every issue, we dutifully count volume and issue numbers. I suspect very few readers ever ponder what they mean (and really, why would you?), but for us, they do keep pace with our rigid publication schedule.
This week marks the 1,400th issue of AZBEX and what we consider our ‘birthday’. The first issue of AZBEX was published on Feb. 16th, 2010. Oh, what a time that was to start a business!
If you come to our events, especially the annual Construction Forecast event we just held a couple of weeks back, you may remember me poking fun at the ‘worst possible time to start a business:’ Early 2010. The Arizona construction market was falling apart, as evidenced by flailing employment and construction revenue metrics in tandem.
In hindsight, starting a business in a depressed economy and especially a hard-hit construction market did give us some unique skills and characteristics we continue to use to this day—we’re a bit scrappy and bring plenty of grit with us.
As we look forward into another year of publishing AZBEX, I am ever thankful for the support of my family and the BEX team I have, our clients who value the work we do (hey, that’s you!), and the robust construction market we are lucky enough to participate in. We really love what we do – from finding out that last bit of information on a project to bringing together hundreds of people at our events and presenting what we love best – market analytics and insights.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support us. We look forward to the next year – whatever that may bring!