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Friends in media, create your own platform apart from your job and social media. It's always been a good idea but especially in these times. Make and maintain your own raft in case the bigger ship capsizes or throws you overboard
things I miss from regular job life -- security, insurance, a set salary that comes on a specific date, office parties (kinda).
Things I don't miss -- disrespect, being taken for granted, shenanigans and bacchanal. And I empathize with anyone enduring those things right now.
Things I don't miss -- disrespect, being taken for granted, shenanigans and bacchanal. And I empathize with anyone enduring those things right now.
You can be a fancy editor with crazy perks and celeb contacts one day, and the next day looking for freelance scraps with the rest of us. I've seen it happen.
We all gotta figure out how to stay afloat under the most turbulent of circumstances.
We all gotta figure out how to stay afloat under the most turbulent of circumstances.
When I left my old job the powers that be didn't think my articles needed to be archived because my job was in the calendar section and so much was attached to a specific date.
5 years of my articles were mostly deleted. I kept the newspaper copies. But again, a valuable lesson
5 years of my articles were mostly deleted. I kept the newspaper copies. But again, a valuable lesson
if I hadn't created my own site while working there, I wouldn't have had a track record of my own capabilities. Other publications can just decide they don't have room or interest and delete everything you did. Just because.
Build your own platform and that won't be a problem.
Build your own platform and that won't be a problem.
For years I moved with a heavy box of yellowing newspaper, planning to scan & upload my old articles. Never did.
Every so often one of my old newspaper articles appears online out of nowhere & it's a nice reminder. Like oh yeah I did interview Richard Lewis or Bob Saget in 2005
Every so often one of my old newspaper articles appears online out of nowhere & it's a nice reminder. Like oh yeah I did interview Richard Lewis or Bob Saget in 2005
Also! If you can, save PDFs and photos from the great things you've done for other platforms.
Recently I went to link to an article I wrote for a prominent magazine and guess what? It was gone. Thankfully I had a screenshot somewhere.
Recently I went to link to an article I wrote for a prominent magazine and guess what? It was gone. Thankfully I had a screenshot somewhere.
Thinking about this brought me back to the memories of an ad network/beauty site I wrote for. The CEO turned out to be a corrupt piece of work. Everyone got fired and freelancers were out of luck. OG bloggers remember this story.
I lost quite a bit of $ there. Again, a lesson.
I lost quite a bit of $ there. Again, a lesson.
Staying friendly and being approachable to everyone who went through that experience has led to great relationships over time. I'm still super pissed at that CEO but so were all the former workers there. And we have kept in touch, they still think of me when opportunities arise.
