Mankato Times

Photo: Art Sidner

Mankato: Mankato Times

Joe Steck opened the community news website MankatoTimes.com on January 1, but in many respects the genesis for his business began six years ago. He was a steel salesman for Hutchinson Manufacturing when one day his world was turned upside down.

Said 51-year-old Steck, “One day I was fit as a fiddle, and the next bedridden for a year. They were flying in doctors to figure out what was wrong with me.” He had intense soft tissue pain, and saw 35 doctors over two years before being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. He would spend most his life savings on finding a cure that would never come.

After assessing his chronic physical limitations, he began MankatoTimes.com to be an “asset to society” and “do good,” he said. “I’ve been proving people wrong that you don’t have to write negative things to get people to look at you. I’ve been in sales my entire life, know people, and know how to make people smile and get along.”

MankatoTimes.com most recently reached 70,000 unique monthly visitors and has been covering a 40-mile radius around Mankato and North Mankato—often the “little” events larger papers won’t or don’t have the time or money to cover. Many organizations take pictures at events for him, send in a paragraph of copy, and get their important events covered.

Steck grew up in Mankato. His father was a fireman and his mother a Carlson Craft proofreader. Although feeling a fondness for his hometown—he attended West, East, and graduated from Loyola—he takes special pleasure in covering smaller communities, such as Madelia, Le Center, and Janesville. As for political coverage, he said: “I try to write how politics will affect people. Also, everyone was acting like the recent government shutdown was happening for the first time, when in fact it’s happened 17 times—ten with Republican and seven with Democratic Presidents. I inform people (about politics) in a nonpartisan and factual way and am friendly about it.”

Mankato Times
Web: MankatoTimes.com