The safe opens and there are lines of coins. I can’t count them, but I pause from my homework to stare as the front end manager grabs a few rows of bills and coins. She counts silently to herself and I watch, completely mesmerized. When she is finished locking the door behind her, she chats about the figures I’m tracing, and I answer her questions even though all I want to do is ask about the money she is holding.
As an adult, I would wonder how I was ever mesmerized by something as simple as a safe. Especially when I graduated from high school and began working at the same grocery store I had grown up doing my homework in. But the things we don’t understand or have never seen before make for the best mysteries.
Idaho Falls Magazine used to be one of those mysteries for me when I began working at Harris Publishing. I would watch and wonder before eventually asking how the magazine was assembled every month, learning from the efforts of my talented mentors before taking on the task myself.
I can now break down the steps I participate in monthly as I assemble Idaho Falls Magazine:
1. Outline the issue as a team.
2. The editor writes and assigns articles.
3. Once the deadline for assigned articles arrives, the editor proofs submitted articles.
4. Share finished articles with the graphic designer.
5. Graphic designer puts together entire magazine, combining photos and text.
6. The magazine is critiqued repeatedly for errors.
7. Ship the magazine to Falls Printing.
And this is only what happens on the editorial side. There are numerous other jobs required to ensure Idaho Falls Magazine is printed monthly, including the work of our sales staff, circulation manager, publisher and the jobs of those at Falls Printing who do the physical assembling of each magazine we print.
However, one of my favorite parts about being Editor of Idaho Falls Magazine is the first-hand experience I get when I interview community members of various backgrounds for our monthly issues. For one day, I get to be an architect, a cashier, a jewelry store owner, a software engineer or any number of responsibilities taken on by talented Idaho Falls residents.
Our business issue highlights your stories, and the steps required to make your work happen. Just like our magazine, your business has its own assembly line and we love to learn what we are able to glean from that process. Who knows? Maybe a young mind will be inspired by what to you seems like a mundane task.