In Focus

The Martha Touch vs. The Midas Touch

What's the Difference?
by Chick Megan

Come on. What' s not to like? She's beautiful, intelligent, talented, successful (not to mention hugely rich) and she's a woman!! We should adore her, emulate her, and learn from her. Those who snicker and sneer at the mere mention of her name amidst rumors that she's "not so nice"... Puhhhhlease! Do you know her personally? Besides, didn't your mother ever tell you if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all?

Okay. I admit it. Her perfection and mind boggling multi-task abilities annoy me. How can she be taping a show for CBS' Good Morning America only minutes before serving an 8-course meal for 18 at her sprawling Connecticut estate? It's simply unsettling. From Internet mockery to bare-breasted skits on Saturday Night Live, everyone's having a laugh at Martha's expense. But guess who's really getting the last laugh? And judging by the stack of "Living" magazines on your coffee table my guess would be it's at YOUR expense.

Let's face it, Chicks, Martha Stewart is talking and we're listening. Like the child peering between her fingers at a horror show, we can't help ourselves. We have to look. Many of us take pride in our homes - to the nth degree. It's like that old nursery rhyme: "I love my house, I love my nest, in all the world, my nest is best." (So Chicky, isn't it?) We want our homes to be beautiful and reflect who we are. We want chintz and plaid and bright red bows. And that, my friend, is nothing new. What is new is the way one woman has conquered this concept in such a way that she could be considered the Oprah of the Lifestyle world.

Martha has her eggs in many baskets these day, including television (Martha Stewart Living, syndicated series), publishing ("Living" magazine and how-to books), direct mail operations (Martha By Mail) and Cyberspace, of course (MarthaStewart.com). Her magazines have won circulation awards; her books have done extremely well, with her first selling over 500,000 copies Her relationships with companies such as KMart, Zellers (Canada), Sherwin-Williams, Fine Paints of Europe, and P/Kaufmann, combined with her extraordinary media outlets (she can be seen by 91% of US Television households between 9 AM and Noon and in Canada on the Life Network.) give MSO the outstanding capability to become behemoth!

Another interesting tidbit about MSO is that Martha Stewart IS the management. We've all watched her become one of the most successful businesswomen EVER. She was raised in Nutley, New Jersey in a family of six. After she graduated from college she actually worked as a model to support herself for a while until she became an extremely successful stock broker on Wall Street. Eventually she got married, had a baby and settled in Connecticut. It was there that she developed her catering business and discovered THAT was her true calling. Obviously she has expanded since then, but it's always been important to her to employ other women in important positions. So it's kinda clucky that she has a couple of women for a Pres./COO and CFO/CAO, Sharon Patrick and Helen Murphy respectively. (And hey, Sharon and Martha even climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro together. Mental and physical prowess!!)

Down to the nitty-gritty now folks, how is Miss Martha measuring up? Well MSO has reported double-digit growth in every single solitary area. Net income is up 103.5% from last year and revenues are up 61.89 million (or a little over 24%). Can you think of a better Christmas present than something from Martha? Something you personally crafted, food or otherwise, something you purchased from her catalogue, or possibly the gift that'll keep on giving. shares of stock in her company. Because there it is, in black and white. Buy it, hold it, watch it grow. She owns it, she manipulates it, she turned it to gold. Now with a dusting of glitter and sequins, it's a good thing.