Have You Ever Wanted to Quit?

Have you ever wanted to quit something that was important to you? Of course you have, we all have. I guess it's what we do next that counts.

I won't bore you with all the complicated details but last week, for the first time, the future of House of Fifty Magazine felt like it was in question. This venture has proceeded without any major glitches, amazingly, so I guess we were long overdue for a challenge!

What happened? During a week when you'd think I'd be taking a break after the release of our latest issue, instead every working hour was focused on fixing a tech issue with the HOF app. Just a few hours after we announced the "early release" of the iTunes app, a few emails began trickling in from users saying that they could see text but no images. WHAT?!?! It appeared to be occurring for a minority of users, but to be safe we delayed our planned campaigns to announce the issue was live until we could figure out what was going on. What a rocky start to a launch! And to make things even more stressful, it took days to identify the source of the problem.

{And FYI, if you experienced this issue and didn't notify us, update your iPad user system to iOS 5.0, delete and reinstall the app, and voila, the problem will be gone. If you need further instructions, just send me an email and the step by step instructions will be yours! For those of you who did write, thank you. You were amazingly patient and kind while waiting for further information from us.}

Anyway, during the time the developers, designer and my husband and I were busy troubleshooting, I had to face the possibility of having to remove the app from sale, if we didn't figure out what was going on. This would have been a huge setback, as the sale of the app is one of the sources of revenue to pay contributors and others that work on the publication. Doing so would have seriously hampered the ability of House of Fifty Mag to move forward in a strong fashion.

Mid week, one night at dinner, I brought up the question: What if I were no longer able to publish this magazine, what would be next? I wanted to wrap my head around that idea and be okay with it, if worse case scenarios were coming my way. I was surprised by what followed. Isabella got pretty emotional, saying "You can't quit!" It was not the response I had expected. I didn't know it meant so much to her that I work on this venture and that she is proud of me and the magazine. I realized in that moment that quitting was not an option. Not only for me, but for her...and perhaps for some of you?

Luckily, the tech problem was identified soon afterwards, I didn't have to pull the app and we could resume getting the word out about the new issue. But what a week, with the events seriously hampering our focus and ability to market our latest issue! The feedback has been wonderful from those who have found it, but the launch has had a hard time finding it's legs. So, dear readers, if you have enjoyed reading House of Fifty, I would be thrilled if you would consider sharing it with your network - if you have a blog, facebook page, or with friends you know would enjoy it as well.

Tomorrow, back to the regular routine here at Isabella & Max Rooms, but thank you for letting me share a bit about what goes on behind the scenes and particularly what goes on behind the scenes when things don't go as you hope they will!

But most importantly, for each of us...here's to the power of not quitting!