Issue #18
June 12, 2025
Starting a Business, Take Two
You didn’t think we’d miss budget season, did you? 🙂
Welcome back Smithville! I know it’s been a while since our last newsletter, but we’ve been hard at work behind the scenes.
We created some new audio and video content (see our samples below!), a new lineup to help keep you informed throughout the week, and we are forming new partnerships to add more business and entertainment content.
We are still ramping back up, so we are not quite back to publishing weekly. But we plan to keep rolling out new content and a full website in the coming weeks, with our goal of being back full-time in August.
If you want more details on the restructure, check out our update article here.
Smithville Minute Audio
Remember how we kept talking about an audio version of the Smithville Minute? Well, we finally sat down and recorded a sample!
This is from the April 10 edition, and we would like to apologize in advance if we mispronounced anyone’s name.
Personally we feel it could use a jingle for an intro and outro, and maybe even something for the sports section. This could be a partnership with the Smithville High School Band, or a local musician.
What do you think Smithville? Hit reply to this email and let us know. If you like it, we will publish these to Spotify in the future.
Video Recaps
Like it or not, we live in a video world, and in order for digital media to be seen online, we have to create video content.
So instead of writing a recap from Monday’s city council meeting, we created a video summary instead.
Is this kind of content useful? Do you like it and want us to continue doing this for all of Smithville’s public meetings?
Hit reply to this email and let us know. If you want us to create more content like this, we will put it on our YouTube channel going forward instead of in an X article.
We Are Reader-Supported
Smithville Texas News is reader-supported, so in order for us to continue making the content that helps keep you informed, we need capital.
We need to build a new website to make our stories more searchable and shareable online. We need microphones, stands, and cables to get our podcast going. We need to pay for the monthly service fees. And let’s not forget FOIA requests!
For the next 30 days we are having a fundraiser to get us back on our feet and pay for the new content we aim to provide. Please consider donating to help keep the free press in Smithville.
You can also share this link with your friends and family or on your social media (just like a Go Fund Me!).
Thank you in advance Smithville!
From the Publisher
Did you guys follow Sailing with Phoenix last month? I randomly saw it on Instagram and was immediately hooked.
The guy, Oliver, had an incredible story:
-He quit his corporate job
-Decided to buy a boat, and sail around the world
-Cashed out his 401K
-Bought a boat
-Taught himself how to sail
-On April 29th he took off on his maiden voyage with his cat, Phoenix, sailing from Oregon to Hawaii
His story of quitting his job and living his dream resonated with so many people and over the course of his 25-day journey, he became an internet sensation and a national news story. Like many people, I found myself following him on the map and checking for a new reel or story every day when I woke up and before I went to bed.
The entire journey was highly entertaining, but his Day 9 post, where he talked about going all in to make his dream happen, really resonated with me.
“I went all in man, all in! And it worked! I’m in the middle of the ocean, on my boat!”
~Oliver
“Anything is possible. I am the example to that, because I am so below average. And I’m not smart…I’m not some crazy smart guy, a super social person. I have always been an odd duck.”
~Oliver
“There is NOTHING special about me. Other than, one day I just went for it, man. I went for it, put everything into it and it worked. It worked!”
~Oliver
(seeing these as quotes don’t do it justice…you have to watch the video).
Like Oliver, I’m an ALL-IN person. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it 1000%, all gas, no brakes. And when it came to Smithville Texas News, that’s how I approached it–ALL IN.
I knew it wasn’t going to generate any revenue early on, so I had a full-time job while working full-time on the project. Like Oliver, I neglected all other aspects of my life, and just focused on making the best product I could. I gave all my time, all my heart, and every penny I had.
Oliver’s video came out two days after I paused Smithville Texas News, and I’ll be honest, the first time I saw it there was a pang of jealousy. I completely resonated with the lifestyle…but I’d just had a catastrophic crash and burn.
As I was talking with a friend they reminded me to not get lost in the illusion of social media. Yes, Oliver realized his dream after going all-in. But there was a year between when he quit his job and set sail.
How many repairs did he have to make just to get the boat working? How many rice and bean dinners did he have before that celebratory steak when he arrived?
Going all in isn’t just about the victory lap. It’s about diving headfirst into what you believe in and having the courage to dream again if it crashes. Oliver’s energy in that post reminded me that setbacks don’t define all-in people. Our willingness to keep chasing the dream does.
Looking forward to see what we can build together,
~K
Kristen Meriwether
Publisher, Smithville Texas News
Kristen@smithvilleTexasNews.com
Follow us on X @NewsSmithville
