Recession hits Martha Stewart

I got my latest Martha Stewart magazine last week. It was immediately obvious that the recession has hit her company. I showed the magazine to David--it was about half the size as normal. In fact, it was about the size it used to be during the time span when Martha was under a cloud of suspicion, convicted, and in prison. The magazine was downright skinny during those days, a ghost of itself in better times.

So the moral is that the advertisers have pulled their ads--or at least some of them. The Martha magazine has been hefty the last couple of years, even up to the latest months. But the economics have caught up and those chicken advertisers are trying to save their dollars for better days. I don't think it will faze Martha though; she is a tough one. She certainly didn't let prison keep her down.

She has done two things that so many people would love to do--brand themselves and do what they love all the time. The rest of us should be so lucky.