One of the most challenging decisions we had to make for this issue was selecting six realtors to profile in our feature story. Real estate is one of the largest industries throughout Northwest Florida, and there were so many professionals…
Global resource questions demand innovation, answers
I will never forget that day, one on which I wondered, “Was this the beginning of the end?”
Treat yourself to a first-time experience
The 850 region is poised to become a technology hub
Northwest Florida is taking its place among technology centers as it works intentionally to diversity its economy
This is no time not to be seen
With many new developments arising in Tallahassee, adaptation has become the inevitable.
photo by scott holstein Days after the Parkland, Florida, killings in February, thousands of young people descended on the Old Capitol in Tallahassee to demonstrate and to express their anger and disappointment about our nation’s gun laws and gun culture. …
I learned a lot during a recent conversation with Katrina Rolle, the president and CEO of the United Way of the Big Bend. For a long while, I had viewed the United Way as an organization dedicated strictly to raising…
For the fourth time, members of the Rowland Publishing management team and I have completed the challenging, but welcome, task of carefully reviewing Pinnacle Award nominations submitted by readers of 850 Magazine and selecting the latest class of honorees. I…
Recently, I watched a show on HBO hosted by Bryant Gumbel, who was joined by an Ivy League psychologist. Jointly, the two men interviewed two accomplished individuals — a retired Navy SEAL and a former professional football player. The interviewees…
After 25 years in the advertising and marketing business, I am never surprised when a phone call goes unreturned. Rather than becoming offended on such occasions, I let them roll off me like water. Recently, however, I found myself counseling…
A mentor and friend shared with me his approach to assessing the level of care and concern that a business owner or corporate manager has about his or her enterprise and where that business is in its life cycle.
Giving opens many doors, creating new and numerous opportunities along our life paths. In my line of work, I interact with a wide range of people representing countless organizations, passions and fields of endeavor. For some, I have noticed, giving…
Like countless people fortunate to live on or near the Gulf Coast and the millions of people who visit our shores each year, I have a tremendous fondness for the endlessly fascinating intersection of sea and sand. For me, nothing…
I do some of my best thinking behind the wheel and, ironically I suppose, while walking. But like most of you, I suspect, I don’t often think about the roads, highways and interstates that serve the 850 region as a…
I recently had the opportunity to meet with key influencers of Santa Rosa County’s economy. The get-together was especially timely given plans by 850 Magazine to publish an economic profile of Santa Rosa County in our next issue. During the…
Freedom lovers’ confidence keeps tomorrows coming As I reflect on another year coming to a close, two realities — one very sobering and the other a cause for celebration — are at the top of my mind. The first is…
"I wrote the following column for publication in EC Magazine, whose circulation is concentrated (for now) in Okaloosa and Walton counties, but I find that it is appropriate, too, to the regional audience that 850 enjoys. The vote by the…
The Publisher of 850 Business Magazine shares his story.
Brian Rowland shares another side of Rowland Publishing.
Brian Rowland shares the accomplishments on "our winning team"
Whether it be your business or personal life, there are situations and experiences that often occur that can either bring a chuckle and smile to your face or a disappointed frown. After running through the many such experiences that have…
Having grown up in and cut my teeth on the marketing side of the publishing business, I have been faced thousands of times with the challenge of explaining to a prospective client what a “brand ad” is. Why? Because brand…
A letter from the publisher about his experience with Operation Prom Dress.
Brian Rowland; publisher, talks about the responsibilities shopping customers have.
About eight months ago I began surveying the media landscape of Northwest Florida to see if there were any empty print media niches in need of being filled and came up with the wedding market. I was reminded of a…
In an average month I’m asked several times if I feel printed magazines are fading away … or are dead and don’t have the sense to lay down. Based on very firsthand experience, print magazine publishing in Northwest Florida is…
With this issue, 850 is delighted to be celebrating its fifth anniversary. We launched this magazine in October 2008, about a month before the national economy tanked, forcing our region into a recession made worse by the oil spill of…
When a leader feels there is nothing else to learn, you, your staff and your company will suffer.
Growing up, the first and most critical mentors in life are your parents. With the decision to bear children, parents also have the obligation and duty to mentor their child’s development into an individual who can successfully move into society.…
It deeply saddens me to see such a deep divide between our two major political parties.
Ultimately, as publisher, I must take responsibility for this series of mistakes that resulted in a botched cover.
The Airbus assembly plant is a major game changer for our region of Florida in many ways.
Humor is the salve that helps relieve the stress of our publishing world, and our team does it so well.
