Never in any of our many newsroom conversations about life beyond Scripps – specifically, what else could we do to stay in Vero Beach and make a living long enough to get from our mid-50s to retirement – did he ever mention a newsletter.
I’d talk about writing for other publications, maybe getting a radio show, possibly trying to sell my sports column via email.
He’d talk about doing something different, getting out of the newspaper game entirely, even starting his own business.
He was never specific.
It wasn’t until months after I had jumped to Vero Beach 32963 and weeks after he had resigned as the Press Journal’s news columnist that I learned Russ Lemmon would do exactly what he had talked about.
Become his own boss.
“I had been thinking about it for a year,” Lemmon said during our recent get-together over lunch. “This is something I really wanted to do.”
And on Monday, he delivered his 38th issue of Lemmon Lines, a weekly, eight-page, ad-driven newsletter, fittingly printed on yellow paper and anchored by what PJ readers knew as his “Lemmon Drops” column.
He began printing 2,000 copies in October – some weeks during our busy winter season, that number climbed to 2,300 – and he personally delivers at least 1,500 of them to 40 locations, covering an area that reaches from northernmost Indian River County to the Lakewood Park area in northernmost St. Lucie County.
He also mails 500 to 800 copies to local residences in different postal zones throughout this county on a rotating basis, and his newsletter is available online at LemmonLines.com.
“I’m a one-man show, so it’s all on me, but I really don’t want to do anything else,” Lemmon said. “This is so much fun. I’m enjoying pretty much every aspect of this: running my own business, distributing the newsletter around town and seeing how many people are reading it, and I still enjoy writing the column.
“The only part I don’t like is selling the ads, but that’s just my personality,” he added. “Other than that, I’m having the time of my life. The freedom, the lack of corporate BS, the simplicity of it all – this is a perfect fit for me.”
Knowing him as I do from those cubicle conversations, I’m not at all surprised that he’s having fun with his newsletter, which enables him to utilize the business connections and personal contacts he made in his seven-plus years as the PJ columnist.
He freely admits, in fact, that he could not have launched Lemmon Lines without the “very loyal following” he enjoyed at the PJ.
That said, you can count me among those who quietly questioned his decision to embark on this particular venture, especially as a bridge to retirement, which he said is more than a decade away.
I mean, of all things, a newsletter?
Sure, given his name recognition in the community, I thought he might attract enough advertisers to get Lemmon Lines up and running.
Certainly, his timing was good: The free publication made its debut in October, during the early stages of snowbird season and at the onset of the campaign-ad-crazy election season.
But I had serious doubts as to how long local businesses would continue to buy ads in a newsletter with such limited reach – even a generous estimate would put its readership at no more than 5,000 per week – especially during the slower summer months.
“You weren’t alone,” Lemmon said, adding that even his wife, Laura, a news editor for the newspaper company he left, was “scared to death” when he first pitched his plan to her.
Truth is, as much as I’m rooting for him, I still have my doubts about Lemmon Lines’ long-term viability.
And that’s after listening to him tell me about the newsletter’s rousing success.
Though Lemmon wouldn’t divulge numbers, he said he’s “making a living” and is wildly optimistic about the newsletter’s future.
“It’s been profitable from the beginning,” Lemmon said, citing printing costs as his biggest expense. “Part of it is that, because I’m basically a one-man operation and work from home, there’s very little overhead.
“But I’m also very pleased with the renewal rate of the advertisers; quite a few have been there since the first issue,” he continued. “I was worried about the summer – I thought I might have to go down to four pages – but it’s going better than I thought it would.
“As far as the financial aspect goes, this has already exceeded my expectations for the first year.”
Nine months in, Lemmon is so bullish on Lemmon Lines that he is considering expanding it to 12 pages next year, if he can find a dependable ad salesperson.
That’s impressive, considering he initially planned to start with four pages but found enough advertisers to go to eight.
“There’s no question that, timing-wise, I’ve been very lucky,” he said. “Everything seemed to happen when I needed it to happen.”
That includes connecting with someone he described as a “former newspaper publisher” he didn’t want to name but who he said helped him design the newsletter, which also features a local history column, the folksy “Meet Me at Table 51” profile and a “Top 500 Countdown” of Lemmon’s favorite songs.
“The newsletter was my idea,” he said, “but I talked to a lot of people and I’ve had help with putting it together.”
Lemmon Lines is actually Lemmon’s second attempt at self-employment.
Before coming to Vero Beach, he started an entertainment-oriented publication in Toledo, Ohio, where his wife had taken a job with the city’s daily newspaper.
He said his Toledo experience has helped him with his newsletter here.
“I learned some valuable lessons there,” Lemmon said. “I had an office and full-time employees. There was too much overhead. And I didn’t know anybody there.
“That’s why I’m doing it differently here, keeping my overhead to a minimum,” he added. “It’s also helps that I know people here and they know me.”
There is a downside to being a one-man operation, of course: It’s tough to get away from the job.
Lemmon said he missed an aunt’s funeral in Indianapolis because he “couldn’t afford to take two days” to fly up there. Nor can he afford to get ill.
“It’s something every small-business owner can relate to,” he said. “Fortunately, I had perfect attendance in high school, didn’t miss a column in 7 1/2 years at the Press Journal and missed only two days of work in my entire career.”
To be sure, Lemmon has no regrets about leaving the PJ, where he had become disenchanted with the company’s editorial philosophy and concerned about the direction in which daily newspapers were heading.
He came to Vero Beach fully expecting to spend the rest of his working life writing columns for the PJ. And to this day, he misses being able to share his thoughts and words with a larger audience.
But he had grown weary of wondering what job uncertainty the next calendar year would bring.
“I had to look at the finish line, and I didn’t see myself making it without having to worry every year about whether I was going to get laid off,” Lemmon said, adding that he believes Lemmon Lines provides a more secure path to retirement than did the PJ.
“This is it for me,” he continued. “There’s no Plan B. This has to work. This has to get me to the finish line.”
Problem is, at age 56, the finish line is a long way off.
So, yeah, I still have some doubts about whether Lemmon Lines will get him there.
But he’s already done better than I expected.
Maybe he’ll keep surprising me.
