Category Archives: journalism

by eubie

Journalism startups: it’s a business, not a job

Reflections of a Newsosaur: Journalists running start-ups face tall odds

After talking to one enterprising journalist after another, I have found almost uniformly that they are making the mistake that has proven to be the downfall of many an entrepreneur: Instead of trying to build a business, they are trying to give themselves the job they always wanted.

There’ a big difference between running a business and working a job that is the business.

One of the best ways to understand the difference is explained in Michael Gerber’s E-Myth, which is now E-Myth Reviseted: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. It’s the best book I’ve read on how successful business owners manage and grow their businesses compare with being very good at working in the business. You can read the first chapter of the E-Myth Revisited.

For journalism start-ups, Newsosaur’s Alan Mutter nails the argument with:

While journalists at news start-ups think nothing of routinely devoting more than a dozen hours a day to running down stories and tweaking their websites, the pace typically leaves them with neither the time nor the energy to think about such key success factors as building audience and developing a healthy financial basis for their endeavors.

It’s not enough to just have traffic. A entrepreneurial journalist needs to think revenue, controlling expenses and growth. A revenue detail many startups overlook is the revenue being earned on page views. It’s a standard of looking at revenue.

Earlier this year, Felix Salmon, writing in Blogonomics: Revenue per page, and Henry Blodgett debated the importance of revenue per page. Salmon’s best quote was:

This is one area where I think that Henry could take a leaf out of Nick Denton’s book, and refuse to run deeply-discounted ads. Doing that helps to improve the value of the brand among advertisers, and it also creates interesting opportunities for rewarding staff.

See the spat between Salmon and Blodgett, retold in the AtlanticWire.

by eubie

How big would the newsroom be if starting fresh

As journalists turn entrepreneurs and run their own news operations, the question emerges of what size should the newsroom be.

It’s a key question as existing news organizations ponder web-only conversions or start-ups. Several model sizes have been shown recently.

NYT auto writer Maynard leaving paper

Maynard, a Michigan native, will be based in Chicago and lead a team of three reporters and a new media producer in the production of long form radio feature reports, special programs for radio and television, and web content. The project will also seek to engage the citizens of the region in an exploration of the region’s past and future.

Ex-Fortune Editors Plan Tech Media Launch

Former Fortune magazine editors and writers David Kirkpatrick, Peter Petre and Brent Schlender have banded together to form Techonomy, a new media business they say aims to convince leaders from all sectors that technological and social invention is central for organizations.

A key factor in their business model are conferences and they are considering regional conferences too. More: Techonomy’s press release

Richmond BizSense — This business news site founded by Aaron Kremer has hired another reporter. This site, started in 2008, now has six staffers — five in editorial/content and a v.p. of sales & marketing.

C-Change Media Inc. — this site is run by John A. Byrne, former editor-in-chief  of Businessweek.com and executive editor of Business Week. At this time, the site is still small. The site is expected to launch in June. In an interview in mediabistro.com, Byrne described the company as a mother ship with satellites. Each satellite operation will have its own editor-in-chief with the rest of the contributions will be from contract and free-lance writers.

It’s not new, but I watch TechFlash — A two-year-old web site that is run within the Puget Sound Business Journal — as an online-only model. TechFlash has three editor/writers (Todd Bishop, John Cook and Eric Engleman) and its business operations are handled by Puget Sound Business Journal staff.

There’s also Seattlepi.com, which became web-only in March 2009 and is owned by The Hearst Corp. Mónica Guzmán told a panel at SXSW in March that it’s editorial staff is 12 reporters, three producers and one photographer.

The number in these news rooms are smaller than the old print models. Technology in the workplace and in the tools journalists use make it easier for reporters to take and edit acceptable images for their articles, which saves some staff.

The news room is now more flexible. Work no longer takes place just in the office or just on this one machine. Articles are published sooner in the with fewer editors touching the copy before it it published. Changes in the article are ongoing as readers and the news develops.

And the staffs are just doing more. The hours worked are longer and the blur between work and not working is greater. They start working and posting before the leave for the office, while at the office and after they leave the office — if they even have an office. The office could be the laptop in the bedroom.

Related:

by eubie

What happens after the newspaper closes

High Country News: Former Rockey Mountain News reporter reflects on his time since the paper closed.

Some mornings I still wake full of resentment about the newspaper’s closing. I’m still feeling divorce aftershock. Three months ago, I stopped paying the mortgage. Last winter, to survive, I sold off some of my camera equipment. I’m still not sure how I will make ends meet.

But on most mornings I feel like the luckiest man alive. If I was still employed at the Rocky, I would have never written a novel or traveled to Africa; I wouldn’t have floated the San Juan and Salmon rivers with my sons, worked for Mrs. Li, hammered nails, fired up a chainsaw, or looked at a hundred happy dancing brides.

by eubie

Percent of births to unmarried women

Suggested from WSJ article: Our Big Problem

For much of the population, family meals are a ritual of the past: Thirty-six percent of British children never eat a meal at a table with another member of their family or household (we have now passed the milestone long desired by radical social reformers, more children being born illegitimate than legitimate).

Percent of births to unmarried women in the United States

Chart source is National Vital Statistics Report: Births: Final Data for 2006. PDF

by eubie

Small Biz Survival focus on small towns and rural areas

I enjoyed hearing and talking with Becky McCray, a principal blogger for Small Biz Survival at SXSW 2010.

The list of businesses she runs vary from a cattle ranch (she lives in western Oklahoma) to a liquor store to a web site to a consulting firm for small businesses. “I fill out four Schedule Cs with my income taxes.”

It’s easy to get focus on tech entrepreneurship in major cities but Small Biz Survival focuses on the smaller areas of the country. It also has good advice for those on smaller budgets too.

Here are two good posts recently I enjoyed reading:

How do you make FourSquare relevant for small towns

On location-based data:

Now, that same scenario makes less sense in a small town. We just don’t need that kind of location data. We already know what all the local restaurants are like. There are only four, and we’ve eaten at all of them this week. (Sad, but true.)

Can you teach entrepreneurship

Being a successful entrepreneur requires some particular skills. Many programs exist to teach entrepenuership in schools, in community organizations and in entrepreneurial support groups, but debate continues over whether entrepreneurship can really be taught. Are you born an entrepreneur, or can you learn to become one?

A featured article on the blog by her  is Say NO gracefully

Small businesses are constantly hit with offers from potential suppliers, hopeful partners, and even potential customers. Then there are the constant requests for free help, volunteer work, donations, and even jobs. You can’t possibly do it all. Let’s face it. Being in business means saying “no” a lot.



by eubie

10 good quotes from SXSW Interactive 2010

Chris Shipley, Guidewire Group, on the state of venture capital and entrepreners:

“Today revenue is the new venture capital.”

“Even the state department now believes that world peace will come from entrepreneurs. So you guys are ambassadors of peace.”
Brian Solis, author of How your Brand Can Succeed on the New Web on social media :
“Social media feels like our summer of love. Twitter is our Woodstock.”
On brands and social media:
“Brands are going to have to think like media … Just checking in on the wall is not enough.”

Jesper Anderson started his business, freerisk.com from anger over the financial meltdown, the lack of information and wanted to do something about it.

“When you live in San Francisco, you’re obligated to try.”

Alan Martin, Campus Book Rentals, on why his company did not need social media to succeed:

“Luckily we had an angry audience. College students are angry about the college textbook deals. We had an audience that was angry and ready.”

Matt Chasen, uShip, on starting a new business:

“Go into a business where everyone attending the conference is over 70 and doesn’t own an iPhone.”

Paul Graham: Y Combinator, on picking the best seed accelerator group:

“It’s like picking a girl friend or a surgeon. With a girl friend you pick the one that’s right for you. With a surgeon, you pick the one that’s best. I’d pick one like I’d pick a surgeon

Naval Ravikant, Venture Hacks:

To be successful in a start-up you have to have high intelligence, high integrity and high energy. Inteligence and energy are easier to mesure. Integrity is the most important factor

David Cohen, TechStars: “If everytime you talk with the founders you get more excited. That’s a company I want to work with.”