Ask Uncle Marty: The 2nd Ask Uncle Marty™ Newsletter

The second-ever Ask Uncle Marty™ newsletter just dropped. Please check it out here and be sure to subscribe for free so you don't miss a future issue.

In this newsletter, I shared a piece titled "Write Me" and I'd like to share it here as well...

Write Me

Ask Uncle Marty™ started out as an advice column and, at its heart, it still is.

Many years ago (15-ish), small business owners, primarily in my industry, started asking my opinion on things. They wanted to know how to do certain stuff, how to handle situations, how to build a team, hire, and fire, how to reach their target market, etc. So, I began submitting articles to what was then MPC Today, the industry’s leading publication that went to both independent and franchise shipping stores across the country.

After doing this a while, I learned that I love to write. It was strange, as I was always a math, science, music, and theater kid in school; English and reading comprehension weren’t my strong points. But, as an adult, something switched. I found out that I didn’t suck at telling a story or putting thoughts to keyboard; I discovered that there was incredible therapeutic benefit for me to be able to measuredly share my feelings, experience, and lessons-learned with others. So, after articles I had submitted to the magazine had been well received, I decided to give a tongue-in-cheek advice column a try…and Ask Uncle Marty™ was born. I went Ann Landers-style, changing names to protect the innocent and giving a mixture of encouragement and hard truths to those who chose to send in letters to the industry’s Uncle-in-Chief for anonymous publication.

Eventually, MPC Today changed its name to MBC Today, reflecting a change in our industry from “mail and parcel centers” to “mail and business centers” and the industry’s leading trade association, AMPC (Association of Mail & Parcel Centers), transitioned into a non-profit and changed its name to AMBC (Association of Mail & Business Centers) to reflect that same market and language switch. Now, the industry encompasses print, storage, and so much more—an ever-evolving and expanding collection of services that makes working in it both exciting and challenging.

When the non-profit transition happened for the industry association, I was, by then, running my own store and was asked to join the founding non-profit board of directors. I was glad to do so and eventually took over as Board Chair. When my service terms finished, I stayed on as an advisor to the board and ex officio Director of Communication. Then, this January, I finally stepped down from those volunteer positions completely in order to join the AYM High Consultants team and not pose a conflict of interest as a now-vendor for the non-profit association.

When the previous editor and producer of what had now become MBC Today retired, I put in a bid to AMBC to take the magazine over. They were happy to accept my offer and I’ve served as its editor and producer for many years now, keeping that contract at the request of the current board after stepping down from board service. The now-legacy and still kinda popular Ask Uncle Marty™ column published in it still takes letters from time to time, sometimes just shares unprompted thoughts, and often gets pulled from issues—by me—in order to keep things fresh and ensure other voices are shared equally and the magazine isn’t just me rambling on and on…and on.

My site, askunclemarty.com, contains a lot of my writing in blog format, going back many years. Some of it is personal, some of it is spiritual, lots of it is opinion, a fair amount of it is ridiculous, and a good bit of it is business-related. It’s a hodgepodge and my own therapy to write and share. And I still love a good letter to answer publicly and anonymously from time to time. So, if you have any interest, please use the contact form on my blog to submit questions. If they’re appropriate (or juicy) enough, I’ll be glad to publish an answer. Please check out my disclaimer for more information.

In the meantime, if you have any interest, here are some essays, letters, co-written advisements, and columns I’ve done in the past year or so (plus two from 2022 that I love). To save newsletter length, please check out my blog’s handy archive directory for the 60-ish other older pieces on there that aren’t being shared here.

Thank you for reading.

“This Last Week” - July 5, 2024

“July / August 2024 Edition of MBC Today” - July 3, 2024

“Rethinking Systems” - June 10, 2024

“Difficult People” - June 10, 2024

“Going High When They Go Low” - May 29, 2024

“Foxwood Cottage” - May 9, 2024

“Who’s on Your Bus?” - April 25, 2024

“Wednesday Evenings With Gary” - April 13, 2024

“Firing a Client” - April 12, 2024

“One of Those Days” - April 11, 2024

“Dumpster Delight” - April 2, 2024