Beside the editorial desk of America’s Best magazine, there is an irregular stack of paper over two feet tall. Until recently, it was growing by about an inch at the end of every workweek, and its creation clogged the office copying machines to the exasperation of my coworkers. The stack, soaked with the ink of a dozen red pens, was not the product of printing routine office e-mails or company invoices, but rather of the proofing process required to produce a single issue of this magazine. Sometime this week, I’ll toss the stack in the office recycling bin and the next stack will begin growing beside the desk, and at this point, I am worried that it will be taller than the first.
So I admit it—we’re guilty. Over this last year, we haven’t done our absolute best to be green in a world concerned about consumption and the decline of natural resources. With my recycling bin at home and my brimming trash can at work, I’ve learned all too well the hard lesson that it’s one thing to say you’ll go green at home but quite another to keep it up at the office. Looking at that stack has therefore given me a New Year’s resolution to keep of my own: In 2008, America’s Best will be much less wasteful in the production of our issues.
In this issue, we provide you with 10 resolutions that you yourself can easily keep, no matter your situation. Being “green” is certainly one of the ones we’ve listed, but we’ve also added a little something for everyone, whether you’re interested in saving the world or just saving for your next vacation. In many cases, the articles we’ve written come from our own personal experiences. You’ll learn, for instance, how I dropped the pounds that have been weighing me down since I started this job last March and won my personal war against the hot dogs of the lobby cafeteria.
It’s quite fitting that our best issue yet focuses on resolutions since our company was founded on one: the resolution to make the dream of opening and successfully maintaining one’s own small business an attainable dream once again. After just two years in business, after the launch of this magazine, after teaming up with a number of major suppliers to bring bulk pricing to your small business, America’s Best Companies has shown that it has the strength to keep the resolutions it makes.
The resolutions you’ll find in the next few pages are easily realized; the resolution to renew the strength of small businesses in America will be much more difficult. But if we can overcome these 10 challenges holding us down, it’s not hard to believe that we can achieve our larger goal as well. As we advance into 2008, we resolve to bring you even more. As editor of this magazine, I resolve to make this magazine even more useful for you and your business. Above all, America’s Best Companies resolves never to give up on the dream, and that’s a resolution we can all keep.

All the Best,

Leif Johnson
Managing Editor