Forget Facebook and Pick up the Phone

The business card is no longer. At least that’s what several new social networking sties want you to believe. I personally use a few, but am now finding it impossible to keep up. With hundreds of millions of dollars being invested by over-zealous-money-driven VC’s, and just about every superpower taking on Facebook, it’s a wonder any new network can stand out.

Take for instance my situation:

Facebook – Started in college senior year and quickly added a few hundred friends. I used the site to join frivolous groups, stalk perspective dates and post pictures. After college I started to use the site to network with potential bosses, and found myself interacting with journalists. With the explosion of apps a few months ago, I now spend minutes every day rejecting stupid invitations like: Slasher App and Top Friends application.

MySpace – Stared after college and now have almost 300 friends. Every person I can pick up the phone and call (my one criteria on Myspace). The layout is archaic, and an eyesore. I hardly use it.

Linkedin – Joined last year. Use it to network with perspective employers, journalists, co-workers and old bosses. Spend 10 minutes a month on the site, and haven’t checked it for a few weeks.

The list goes on.

What I’m finding here is that I’m spending almost an hour a day, throughout the day building my online presence, and hating it. When I could be outside drinking beer, going on a run, or actually talking to a friend, I find myself making connections, writing emails and looking at pictures of last night’s keg stand.

In other words, the applications which are supposed to “bring us together” are really tearing us apart.

So what is a young professional to do? For starters, pick up the phone. Everyone is busy, some are really busy, but in reality no one should be too important that they can’t talk to you. A CEO may be booked for weeks, or just give you the runaround, but a younger professional may not be.

I’ve found myself calling numerous editors, writers and professionals for advice. They initially clam up, wondering why the hell this kid is asking for an open ended conversation, but when they have the courage to converse it becomes beneficial for both of us.

Everyone has an ego. Online the egos are inflated by number of friends, subscribers, comments and trackbacks. On the phone, the ego is limited to time.

So I challenge the younger generation to step outside the box and connect the old fashioned way. Because as we all know when the Internet goes down it seems the world tends to stop, and God forbid your livelihood depends on such a fragile infrastructure.

Running up a mountain

I love where I work.  

For starters, we have a cabinet in the kitchen with free food.  For an Intern making enough to buy three items from Whole Foods a week, the cabinet means breakfast, lunch and a late afternoon snack.

But that is mundane compared to the real reason I don’t dread going to work everyday.  Instead it’s because for nine hours a day I am surrounded by individuals who know nothing about the word “can’t.”

Monday morning discussions are peppered with tales of mountaineering, epic ski adventures, century bike rides and micro-brew drinking competitions. 

Then, around lunchtime the office clears out and heads into the mountains.  Most bike, some go to the gym, but a handful of us head to Mount Sanitas where we walk, hike, slog, run, sprint and live at 1.2 mph.

We even write a blog about it. 

So far it’s been a long four weeks.  I’m barley being able to get my ass up the mountain, but overtime my ultimate goal of 20 minutes should be in reach.  So if you’re board check out the blog where my co-workers are always writing some new fantastic stuff about our journey up a mountain.

Elevation Profile: 

 

 

A hot night in Chicago

It was hot, just under 100 degrees when I was there, and local kids were playing in one of the many parks around the city.  I grabbed my camera and secured the following shots.    

Colorado Front Range Pics

Finally got a card reader Pics are from my house of the Front Range       

I need your help please

If you have a moment, I would love to hear how you consume media.  

 

• Do you read headlines online? 
• Do you pay for a Wall Street Journal.com subscription? 
• Do you get a local newspaper and rely on it for national news?
• When was the last time you watched one of the “big three” nightly news shows?
• Do you read blogs? 
• How do you involve yourself in the conversation?
• Do you comment on stories?  Do you write a blog?  Do you talk with your friends?
• Finally, if you read a story in print, what would it take for you to go online and pursue other multimedia facets?

 

Thanks for helping,

Tim

When just getting by isn’t good enough

I will be the first to say I’m blessed. My entire life has been easy. I’ve always had a place to live, food on my table and parents that were together and supportive. My family has remained close, I’m attending my friends’ weddings and this morning my car started despite the 4 degree temperatures.

So when I write a headline like, When Just getting by isn’t good enough, it can seem as though I’m just complaining.

Well I’m not, and this is why.

I’m getting a chance to do some really cool things at work in the multimedia space. Video, podcasting, Google earth, slide shows and interactive features are all within my reach.

The magazines editors, all extremely accomplished and successful, have little to no experience in multimedia and are looking at a young Intern with wide-eyes and amazement. I don’t have the heart to tell most of them that the technology I’m using is archaic and mundane, so instead I sit and smile wondering what would be possible if the flood gates opened, and I didn’t have to just get by.

You see, in today’s work environment, entry-level employees looking for a leg up cannot rely on just getting by. Slow computers, old programs, lack of training and financial support are just a few of the obstacles one must overcome when working in the fast paced environment of multimedia and publishing.

Take for instance the following scenario.

I own a one-year-old 13inch macbook. The screen is cramped and cumbersome. I bought the computer because I needed portability and a desktop was just not feasible. Now, one year later, the lack of screen space is putting a major speed bump in my work.

So why not just go buy a cheap monitor, would be the next logical question. Well unfortunately, cheap monitors are cheap for a reason, and since I’m working the precise color correction, fine details and my future, the need to not cut corners is imperative.

But then comes reality.

A screen alone costs upwards of $1,000 and that’s not even including the thousands of dollars of computer programs needed to create professional multimedia presentations. Add in the fact that computers need to be updated every six months to a year, and it’s a wonder I’ll ever be able to climb out of the desperate 13-inch reality and into the more realistic professional world.

So is it ok to just get by today? My gut says yes, but reality, says no.

Paying for an Internship — Why one magazine’s charity is pushing young journalists apart

It is so competitive for an Internship today, the free labor that most of America’s media giants rely on, that people are actually paying to get in. Harper’s Bazaar is offering a one-month internship with them as part of Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project’s Hulaween Auction. The magazine, one of the largest fashion rags on the market, is donating the Internship in the name of charity.

Myself, a struggling 25-year-old Intern, can’t believe his eyes. Internships are part of the professional fabric when it comes to piecing together a successful career in today’s media. Editors talk greatly about the need to understand the pain of relentless fact checking, getting coffee, stuffing media packets and working with little to no pay. It’s a right of passage almost every successful editor has been though, and many point to it as the reason they are successful. But it’s changing. So fast actually, that it has become a class war, where the poor are left helpless, scratching for clips and the opportunity to succeed, while the rich roll in, designer sleeves up and drink copious amounts of beer at happy hour after turning off their computer.

Just about four months ago I was rejected for Outside Magazines Internship. I was willing to leave a well paying job, pack up my life and move four states away to make $8.15 an hour. The research editor told me I didn’t have enough experience in my resume and therefore would not work.

I stood there, phone in hand, mouth open, ready to scream. “What do you want me to do!” I wanted to yell. “I am on my own financially, have been reduced to working to live at a young age when some of my competition is benefiting from daddy and mommy. Here I am willing to sacrifice just about every materialistic item I have to fact check for you and eat pasta every night!” I was distraught, upset, livid and more determined than ever.

Four weeks ago while sitting in a turnout somewhere outside of Chicago, I had my first and only Interview with Backpacker magazine. I remember praying before hand asking God to guide me in the right direction. I was edgy inside, unsettled and anxious. This was my chance to show them that even though I don’t have a masters degree, clips from the AP while working in France, or a high-level contact inside their magazine, that I was qualified for the position.

I don’t exactly remember the interview, but what I do remember is that the words seemed to come to me effortlessly. When asked delicate complex questions, I provided short concise answers that proved I had done my homework and understood the industry. When it was over I felt relieved, almost sure that I was at least in the running. That night I ended my month-long journey drinking beer with a very wise man who opened up my eyes by being vulnerable in wisdom.

“Find out what you can provide,” he said, “and hone that skill. You may be able to write well, but is it writing that you enjoy? Or storytelling? So many people try to do it all themselves, but what you don’t know, is that you may meet someone that can take your skill and bring it to the masses. When you find your skill, work on the vehicles to get it out there, but until then, work hard, work smart and always push yourself.”

Our conversation lasted over three hours, and it changed my life. At the end we discussed the Internship with Backpacker. We talked about the pros, the cons and the advantages to ending my trip early and pursuing my dream. It was clear by the end of the night that given the chance I would drive west the next day and find a place to live in Boulder, Colorado.

The past three weeks have been a blur. The past two have found my immersed in Backpacker’s office, wide-eyed and grinning from ear to ear. But regardless of how well I do, how much impact I make, there is still the great possibility of being laid off in six months when my Internship ends and going back to unemployment. It’s that uncertainty, that level of vulnerability that seems to set the dedicated apart from the wishy-washy. Unless of course you are able to pay the bills without a paycheck, then it would just be another adventure.

“I don’t have a problem being the 31-year-old Intern,” a fellow Intern at Backpacker said yesterday on the drive home. “It’s what you have to do,” she added. I nodded my head in agreement. She was dead on.

It makes me wonder if whoever bids the most for Harper’s Bazaar really wants to be there as much as the washed-up hardworking American girl waiting tables and stringing for a small daily to build clips. I know it’s not a fair world out there, but paying to participate in an Internship? Have we gone too far? It’s almost like paying for people to vouch that you worked for them on your resume, and last time I checked that took money, not skill.