I was asked what it is I actually enjoy about this journalism world, its form and practice.
So I rattled off some answers:
All of my interest and focus on business has come from these passions, though, entrepreneurship itself has certainly become intertwined, as building your own company is one hell of an education.
Simply put, we build audiences.
At the beginning of December, I left another role and promised greater details on what I would doing. Here’s a start.
In the past few weeks, I’ve chosen a payroll services company, applied for tax status, requested a business operating license, closed an existing account and otherwise finalized the incorporation of a new business, of which I am now a full-time employee, answering early a resolution of mine.
Technically Media Inc. is a media services consultancy with three founders: Sean Blanda, Brian James Kirk and myself.
And, while I could get you lost in the details, all you really need to know that at its simplest form, we build audiences online.
Continue reading Technically Media Inc.: introducing a media services consultancy
I’ve decided to step away from self-employment.
I’ve spent the last year of my life freelancing, by some accounts, at perhaps the worst time to do so in my life and arguably the worst time in the history of journalism.
After a meeting of the most influential media leaders in the region made clear no drastic foundational investment would be made into niche news anytime soon, I knew I needed to secure my finances — as a new homeowner, especially — and take a more cautioned approach toward building News Inkubator, Technically Philly and NEast Philly.
A funny thing happened not a week or two after I made this decision. A friend made me aware of a job opportunity I actually wanted.
On Mon. Jan. 18, I walked into a Locust Street building in Center City Philadelphia and began defining what a media director should do for homeless advocacy nonprofit Back on My Feet.
Continue reading A new job: Media director for nonprofit Back on My Feet
Americans aged 24 or younger could be part of a “lost generation,” says a new cover story from Business Week.
For people just starting their careers, the damage may be deep and long-lasting, potentially creating a kind of “lost generation.” Studies suggest that an extended period of youthful joblessness can significantly depress lifetime income as people get stuck in jobs that are beneath their capabilities, or come to be seen by employers as damaged goods.
It’s the latest stylish trend piece at a time when general stories on an economy that might not return for two or three years are already old hat. A lot of the numbers are fuzzy and the effect may be questionable, but there’s no questioning that it’s daunting for many 20-somethings.
We graduated and walked into perhaps the worst economy since before our grandparents were our age. A few more distinctions this author has taken on has made those statistics seem even more frightening, but outside of the occasional sobbing, I try to remind myself that there’s no better time or place in the world than where I am now.
Continue reading Five reasons I should be professionally scared, but am (usually) not
I have at least three fairly different resumes stored in my Google Documents, ready to e-mail to editors, mentors, advisers or welfare agents.
For Philadelphia’s newest admitted freelance journalist, it’s a must because I am never quite certain exactly how I am branding myself and for what sort of work I might be pursuing.
How many resumes do you have? Are you ready to bust them out the moment someone of even the vaguest professional merit comes within sniffing distance?
Continue reading How many resumes do you have?: paper promotion of the young and unemployed
Google Reader I am back.
Last month I returned from five weeks backpacking Europe and moved into a new home in Frankford, a neighborhood in lower Northeast Philadelphia.
Somehow, even though I was travel blogging and video podcasting at WeDontSpeaktheLanguage.com, my month-plus European tour was an Internet vacation (IV) for me.
It was a chance to look at what social networking devices are easiest to put on hold.
Continue reading Web presences, social networking that can be put on hold
I probably could travel forever.
Traveling can be cheap. That’s something I relearned early on the European backpacking trip from which I just returned. I could freelance a bit, and continue out in the world.
But I’m not. I came home and am on the prowl for more permanent work. I still had money in my back account, places I wanted to see and people I wanted to meet. Why did I come home? Why are you working?
Continue reading Why I want a job: do you really want one too?
When I mentioned that yesterday to a neighbor, he asked for one of my business cards to pass off to a friend.
I don’t have one. I didn’t want to spend the money. I never knew what to write on one. Being young and transient, I feel like my information and location would change to quickly. …I think I’d feel uncomfortable slipping one to someone.
Continue reading Should an unemployed journalist have a business card?
During recent weeks backpacking Europe, I have had a great deal of time to think about my future – mostly on long train rides between the great cities of Western history, Vienna and Berlin, Brussels and Prague. I want very badly the opportunity to write, to tell stories in a resurgent metropolis.
Right now, I am trying my very best to make that Philadelphia – the home of my alma mater, Temple University, from which I graduated in May.
Since the world seems to be in financial meltdown, it might seem silly for me to question the sluggish hiring of me and my peers, but I can’t help but wonder if Philadelphia is on the road to better retention of graduates from its many, varied and respected colleges and universities.
Continue reading Can Philadelphia retain its best college graduates?: media industry looks bleak
Hire Christopher Wink, a journalist and writer in Philadelphia. See my resume here, and my portfolio here.