Now that I’ve got skills, what am I gonna do with them?

photo courtesy of Another Sunshine

I’ve got skills. I’ve got mad skills.

I can tweet on Twitter. I can hang out on facebook. I can create slideshows with Soundslides, doctor photographs with Photoshop, paste all that to a website that I created with the help of Dreamweaver.

So what the problem? It’s pulling it all together and getting paid – oops, my bad. Wrong lingo. Even though I have myriad capabilities, I’m finding it difficult to monetize.

Am I overcompensating? Probably. Stereotyped thinking says boomers aren’t adapting to the new media landscape; I’m trying to prove that thinking wrong.

Can I do too much? Is being able to do too much the flip side of not being able to do enough?

See, I’m getting conflicting information from the experts in the marketplace. All the (non-journalistic)entrepreneurial advice I’m receiving urges concentrating on a goal. No sweat. I want to create content. In the old days, I could simply write a story and email it to an editor.

But it’s an on-line world and mere words are not enough. If I blog for pay, I’ve got to find visuals to go with them. Or upload video. Or create audio. Not that I’d mind, but I’m only getting paid to write.

It’s like I’m getting dressed for a night out on the town, and I have to choose the right accessories to go with my outfit. And after I show up, looking G-gorgeous, my date doesn’t want to pick up the tab.

Trying to launch a book without a platform to stand on…

…is damn near impossible in this day and age.

Journalist by choice and mission

I was walking around my neighborhood a couple days ago. Suddenly, it seemed, all the businesses had Obama posters in them. But I was struck by the sign at one of the barbershops.

Christopher, the owner of Untouchable Barbers is promising a free haircut or manicure on Mondays to anyone who registered to vote. The promotion is going through the October cut-off date for voter registration.

It’s well known, of course, that Barack Obama is more than a candidate. Still, I’m always amazed by the creativity, commitment and passion that has surfaced during this election.

So I went home, got my camera and drove to the barbershop. I walked in, introduced myself and asked to speak to the owner. His portrait illustrates this posting.

When I left, I remembered why I am a journalist.

Don’t get envious; get inspired. Don’t get angry; get busy.

Ava creates powerful, provocative video on her site www.peacetakescourage.com

Three years of design/multimedia courses have taught me that inspiration is everywhere. You just have to train your eye and brain, so you recognize it when you see it.

I saw it when I read about Ava Lowery, an Alabama teenager, and her vlog, peacetakescourage.com .

She’s an amazing spirit who wields images with artistry and power. She started making these “animations”- her term, not mine – back in 2005, as a way to protest the Iraq war. News reports say she was 16 when she started.

Her work has brought her national attention, both good and bad. She’s been on CNN. She’s gotten death threats. And she keeps on doing her thing.

I love her sophistication. I love her commitment. Despite her youth, she’s a role model. If she can have such an impact at 16, what can I, a woman in her 50s, do? So whenever I get blocked or overwhelmed, I look at Ava’s site and her work.

Then I remember the slogan that serves as today’s headline.

An interesting book for the designers in my midst

The Design Entrepreneur

I came across a book I thought might interest the graphic designers/visual journalists  who are cruising through this blog.  It’s entitled “The Design Entrepreneur: Turning Graphic Design into Goods That Sell” by Heller and Lita Talarico.

The jacket blurb claims graphic designers are confronting a brave new world where the market reigns.

“Design entrepreneurs must take the leap away from the safety of the traditional designer role into the precarious territory where the public decides what works and does not, and this is the book that shows them how that feat is accomplished.”

Hmm, this book might have tips that will work for writers, too. I’ll check it out and let folks know.

And it’s one, two, three, what are we writing for?

Eric Deggans’ column from the St. Pete Times will have you wondering even more.
According to Deggans, the Tampa Tribune – the Time’s competition across the way – is seriously considering a one-section paper for weekdays. Read all about it here.

Blogger Doug Fisher, of Common Sense Journalism, takes the story even further. He claims prototypes have been circulating around the Tribune’s newsroom.

Thanks to Jim Romenesko, at www.poynter.org for publishing these links.

If you’re a writer – like me – I have to say learning Photoshop looks like a great career move right about now.

Hatching a plan for life after a buyout

Matt Peiken wished himself right out of a job.

He’d sat out one buyout from his employer, the St. Paul Pioneer Press. But he’d been assigned to cover suburbs after a decade spent covering the arts.

“I was out to lunch with former colleague, and I said ‘If they offer another buyout, I’m leaving, ‘ ” Peiken recalled. Three hours later, the company announced another buyout. This time, he signed the papers.

Photo courtesy of sxc.hu

That was in July, 2007, a little more than a year ago. Now Peiken is about three weeks away from launching 3minuteegg.org,  a website showcasing the arts community in St. Paul. Peiken plans to post new videos and podcasts daily. He claims he’s scooping both the mainstream and alternative media by offering a unique venue for arts-related news.

“I know my town, I know this community,” he said. “I can out hustle and out beat any other journalist.

I found Peiken through the discussion board at “Newspaper Escape Plan,” the facebook.com group that inspired this blog. His posting “Go Independent”(you might need to join facebook to read the thread) was passionate and intriguing. Peiken claimed he had gone beyond freelancing into “entrepreneurship.”

I balked at that one. As far as I’m concerned, freelancing is running a business.  After talking to him, though, I understood his distinction.

As a freelancer, I cede final control of my copy to the editors who buy it. But Peiken is creator and publisher, the ultimate one-man band.

It also means he’s responsible for everything.  He looked at the business model of public broadcasting and decided to form a non-profit, so he can get funding from grants, donations and sponsors.  Financing came courtesy of his 401-K, he said. In order to succeed, 3minuteegg.org has to become a destination for a fair amount of  visitors.

“If I can get 3,000 regular subscribers, I become a viable entity to a sponsor. It’s a matter of coming up something that’s interesting to a local audience,” he said.

He admits he’s taking a risk. But experts say such a willingness is common to many successful entrepreneurs. Peiken also exhibits another necessary characteristic: he’s willing to fail.

“And the worst that can happen?” he wrote on on facebook.com. “I go back to the job world — much more marketable than when I left it.”

That frame of mind recalls advice I’d heard from Joe Grimm, who writes the “Ask the Recruiter” column for www.poynter.org.  Learn to think in terms of projects, not 30-year plans, Grimm told a gathering of mid-career journalists.

If we follow Grimm’s advice – and Peiken’s example – we’ll always be looking for the next opportunity. We’ll  act as if every job is ours for a season, not a lifetime.