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.