For I am young, and young people always believe that tomorrow will be better than today. Youth try the impossible. Scale the mountain that is supposed to be inaccessible. And dare the things that age will fear.
~ Unknown
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
~ Winston Churchhill
It was 1963, a golden age for newspapers. Budgets were high, TV a threat but not enough to take advertisers money. Photographers had stopped carrying around fake birds to frame shots and the Internet was only a word circulating through the deepest geek circles.
Then one morning, in the depths of San Francisco’s financial district, a young 23-year-old journalist was hired by the Wall Street Journal. Green, ambitious and full of energy, the young reporter worked his way to the top.
Now after 26 years, managing editor Paul E Steiger is packing his bags and moving on.
But unlike some exits, Paul took the time not to reflect just on his own career, but on the industry itself.
Best quote?
After a print journalist suggests the Journal give away its online content for free an online editor responded, “It relegated their site to “toaster status,” as in savings banks giving away cheap gifts for opening an account.”
And obviously the online guy won.
A few months ago, I wrote a post about social capital and why college is a perfect place to build your network.
In the post I referenced a very smart blog I had been reading on the subject of social capital and interconnectedness.
Now that blog has spun off into another blog, and even though I truly hope it can survive, I’m still a bit skeptical about the business model of a blog and if it can make money to support its writers.
Penelope Trunk, the “it lady” of modern Gen-Y blogging, left a great comment on Ben Casnocha’s blog regarding book deals, questioning why more people don’t write blogs instead of pursuing a book.
I agree with Penelope, but only to a point. My blog helped me get my current job as an Intern at a national magazine, but editors still want hard clips that have been printed on someone else’s dime.
Not just digital content that lacks an editor and submission process.
So then why do I continue to write a blog you might ask?
For starters, it allows me to voice my opinion on a wide range of topics in an open forum which can accessed anywhere there is an Internet connection.
Secondly, a potential employer who spends more than five minutes on my blog will see I can discuss several high-level issues regarding journalism, technology, economics, photography and others.
Thirdly, it has allowed me to make connections and build relationships with professionals who were not accessible beforehand.
For The Little Red Suit, that is exactly what building social capital is all about.
So as Tiffany Monhollon breaks away and starts another blog, I can only hope her decision to go digital will pay off .
Which is exactly why I think you should take a second and check it out.
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.
If you have a moment, I would love to hear how you consume media.
Thanks for helping,
Tim
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.
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.
A few months ago a national magazine published a scathing opinion on Gen-Y workers and their inability to be anything but narcissistic. The article, really just a long rant with no solid basis of proof, left me frustrated, upset and ready to throw down if ever in the vicinity of the apparently more-than-holy author. Though one part stuck out, it was a short story about a new employee speaking with the CEO of a major Fortune 500 company.
The employee spoke to the CEO about how he was a great asset to the company, and how he was planning on moving up one day to the level of a C-level executive. The CEO, apparently not the least bit impressed asked the employee how long he had been working for the company. The employee mentioned a few months, but emphasized that he had learned quite a bit and was well ahead of the curve.
The CEO trying not to lose his cool demeanor asked the employee what the companies mission statement was. The employee remained silent. “That is why you will never be above where you are now,” the CEO calmly said. And then he walked out of the room.
It’s a striking example of what new employees tend to miss when starting work for a new company and one I hope to avoid though my memory is usually reserved for sports statistics, trail maps and movie reviews.
(Written last Friday 10/5 – not published till now due to computer problems)
Last night was tough. Not in the I’m-sleeping-at-Wal-mart-and-these-guys-want-to-steal-my-rims type of way, but in the this-is-who-I-am-and-you-are-really-pushing-me type of way.
Let me explain.
I’m in St. Paul, MN at the moment, sitting on the porch of an immaculate house built in the late 1800’s. Inside the house lives a very smart man, who also happens to be wildly neurotic and during the period of two hours, flipped my reality upside down and shook my foundation.
It is not appropriate to go into too many details at this point, mainly because anything I say would be reactionary bullshit, but it is appropriate to talk about some of the larger themes of the discussion—The ones that left me scratching my head.
Halfway through out talk, Ken asked me why I believed in the social class structure. Now he didn’t quite phrase it like that, he’s a tenured communications professor so his words are a bit too big for my spell check, but what he was asking was why I thought there were roadblocks erected in my way.
During the majority of the conversation, Ken had asked me to describe my dream job. I rattled off the standard freelance writer gig, gym ownership idea, and business consultant, but he wasn’t buying the standard rhetoric.
Instead he wanted to know what my skills were, how they would provided value to a company, and how I was going to stop talking about things and go out there and do them.
I was left speechless.
Ken then told me a story about luck, and how being in the right place at the right time can be important. But after the story he told me how it didn’t change anything except give the participant a leg up. So why then was I making excuses for why I couldn’t do what I wanted?
I instantly got defensive. I rattled off what the guy at Outside said about my lack of participation in the journalism field, or how it seems today employers want you to give your entire identity to one specific job and hone your skills in a very narrow way.
I then went into talking about how Gen Y does not believe in the old Gen X work ethic, and that we tend to see through fake sincerity and corporate bullshit quickly.
But he didn’t buy any of it.
The unfortunate thing is that I don’t know enough about Ken to have a clear understanding of where he is coming from. What I do know is that a mutual friend who I respect greatly thinks very highly of him. Ken also has traveled the world, had a family and teaches extremely rigorous classes at the graduate level. That alone means he did something right I have to assume.
So when he gives me advice and pushes my own understanding of who I am, it forced me to work hard at consciously not getting defensive, but instead listen to his ideas, which is what this walkabout is all about. Expanding my horizons, pushing my boundaries and falling down every once and a while.
I’ll write a bit more when I have had time to think about our conversation and what I means to my own ideology, but until then, please enjoy the pics from my few days in Minnesota.
Did you know that it is estimated that a week of the New York Times supplies more information than a human would get in an entire lifetime in 1800?
How about the fact that 100% of India’s college graduates speak English?
Or that Nintendo spent over twice in research in 2006 than the US Government did on research for education?
No? Then watch this quick six minute video. Honestly folks, the stats will blow your mind.
