True Business – Page 6 of 6

Niche Masters Who Can Kill You

Posted December 5, 2021May 19, 1998 in About, Media, Speaking, True BusinessLeave a comment

by Randy Cassingham, Founder, This is True Presented to The Online News Summit II* Washington, D.C., May 19, 1998 Copyright 1998 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. Megatrends author John Naisbitt coined the phrase “Global Paradox,” which he says is, “The bigger the world economy, the more powerful its smallest players.” In Online Media, the Global Paradox … Continue Reading

No Contest

Posted August 25, 2018December 7, 1997 in Trivia, True Business1 Comment

For awhile, I ran contests among the readership, with various little “games” to play.

Roto-Reuter

Posted August 25, 2018November 10, 1997 in Reader Feedback, Trivia, True Business1 Comment

Every once in a while I get a note asking why I use the credit “(Reuter)” instead of “(Reuters)”.

I Finally Nail a Copyright Infringer

Posted January 14, 2022June 22, 1997 in True Business1 Comment

One of the most irritating things about publishing online is people who think that if it’s online, it’s free — and they can copy it. Wrong! Copyright infringement is stealing.

H.U. — A Prequel

Posted January 14, 2022February 2, 1997 in Firsts, Other Projects, True Business2 Comments

The “Honorary Unsubscribe” doesn’t exist yet, but this week’s Premium issue — the first Premium edition ever — had something at the top that previewed the idea:

A Premium Idea

Posted January 27, 2021January 12, 1997 in Firsts, Technology, True BusinessLeave a comment

The daunting task of using poor-quality email software finally make it too hard to publish True by email every week, so I came up with an idea: publish it every other week.

No Looking Back

Posted January 14, 2022July 7, 1996 in Online Life, True Business1 Comment

My business plan for True predicted I’d be able to quit my Day Job two years after launch and work online full time.

The First Hundred

Posted January 27, 2021April 7, 1996 in Trivia, True BusinessLeave a comment

This week Jordan becomes the 100th country (that I know of) on my distribution list, less than two years after the publication’s launch.

Another Year, Another Dollar

Posted May 7, 2022September 10, 1995 in Celebrities, Firsts, True BusinessLeave a comment

Clearly, the “commercial activity online” taboo is a bit slow to die off, but my first paid ad is a good one. I wasn’t depending on ad income to survive …which is an awfully good thing! That’s what enabled True to survive in the long run.

True Joins the Web

Posted May 22, 2022June 4, 1995 in Firsts, Trivia, True BusinessLeave a comment

Nearly a year old, This is True didn’t even have a web site until this week.

Trademarked Out of a Title

Posted August 3, 2023April 30, 1995 in True Business7 Comments

Around the first of the month I asked my lawyer to trademark “This Just In” — the title of the column and newsletter that is coming up on a year old. The request results in the first “uh oh” of the publication’s short life.

First Newspaper Client

Posted August 25, 2018January 21, 1995 in Firsts, Marketing, True Business1 Comment

The second income stream called out in my business plan gels with my first newspaper client carrying TJI as a newspaper column.

Maybe It’s A Tumor

Posted August 25, 2018September 4, 1994 in True Business1 Comment

This Just In continues to grow: I had three more countries joining this week: Malaysia, Korea and Finland.

Genesis: “This Just In”

Posted January 30, 2019June 26, 1994 in Firsts, True Business3 Comments

Once I had the business plan set, I looked at the pile of upcoming bulletin board items and decided how I would format them — and started writing. Over the weekend, I designed what I thought a “plain text” email newsletter should look like, including how long I thought it should be, and finished the first issue.

How I Invented For-Profit Email Publishing

Posted March 5, 2023June 22, 1994 in Firsts, True Business9 Comments

I “invented” for-profit email publishing on Wednesday, June 22, 1994. I’m not aware of any others who claim to have invented it before that time [but see the update below]. This is a brief description of what I came up with, and how.

Introducing My Blog

Posted January 30, 2019June 22, 1994 in True Business9 Comments

This obviously wasn’t written in 1994 (the date showing on this posting, and the date This is True was born, albeit under a maiden name) — blogs didn’t exist in 1994. When “web logs” — blogs — started showing up years later, readers kept asking when I was going to get one.