Analysis of Competition

Here is a list of potential competition facing Well Now Magazine.

1) Cosmopolitan

• Cosmo is the best selling monthly magazine in the US.
• 3 million US readers
• 100 million international readers
• 64 different international editions
• Both online and print versions available
• Cosmo would threaten my business because of it's size and readership not only in this country, but around the world. It is extremely well known, even to those who don't read it, and it is a pop culture icon. Also, readers are very loyal to the magazine and would be unlikely to switch loyalties to a different magazine.
• I will have to show how Well Now is better than Cosmo without actually saying anything bad about Cosmo.

2) Glamour

• 2.3 million US readers
• 16 international editions
• Both online and print versions available
• Glamour is competition because it focuses more on well being and long feature stories, and less on sex, just like Well Now would. Also, the average reader is between 18 and 49 which is a big gap, meaning that it caters to a lot of people.
• To be better than Glamour I will play up the well being and lifestyle aspect of Well Now without talking bad about Glamour.

3) Self

• 1.5 million US readers
• Both online and print versions
• Self is competition because it focuses on self-improvement and lifestyle, but it does so primarily through fitness. Well Now would be able to attract more readers because it focuses on self-improvement and lifestyle in a wider variety of ways, instead of mainly just fitness. 
• Also, the average age of Self readers is 48 and Well Now would cater to a younger audience.

4) Women's Health

• 1.4 million US readers
• Both online and print versions
• Same notes that I wrote for Self

5) Vogue

• 1.3 million US readers
• Both online and print versions
• Vogue is competition because it is read by women in their twenties although people much older read it as well. The age of the average reader is 38. 
• I could attract more readers because Vogue is a fashion magazine. Well Now would be more of a lifestyle magazine and wouldn't be so narrowly focused.

6) Teen Vogue

• 1 million US readers
• Both online and print versions
• Teen Vogue is bigger competition than Vogue because it is less fashion based and the average age of readers is 23, which is closer to the age of Well Now readers.
• I think Well Now can beat Teen Vogue for the same reasons as why it could beat Vogue though.

7) Allure

• 1.1 million US readers
• Both online and print versions
• Average age of readers: 35 years old
• Allure is competition because it is a popular women's magazine, but Well Now can do better because it will cater to a younger demographic. Also, Allure is a beauty magazine and Well Now is a lifestyle magazine.

8) Vanity Fair

• 1.1 million US readers
• Both online and print versions
• Average age of readers: 42 years old
• Vanity Fair is competition because it is a popular women's magazine.
• Well Now can do better because it caters to a younger audience and has a different focus.

Because there is so much competition, I will just list the rest instead of going into detail about each one.

9) Marie Claire

10) Elle

11) Redbook

12) InStyle

13) Lucky

14) O, The Oprah Magazine

15) Harper's Bazaar

In Depth Market Research

This list takes a more in depth look at factors to consider when doing market research for Well Now magazine.

1) Age of potential readers

• Well Now will cater to young women in college and in their twenties, making the age range between 18 and 29. According to SHP Magazines, 56% of Cosmopolitan readers are between the ages of 24 and 35. I predict that Well Now can also cater to women in their thirties, although the main focus will be on women in their twenties (as well as late teens).

2) How many women in the US are in this age range

• According to the 2010 census, the US population was more than 308 million with women making up 50.8% (158 million) of this population. For the age range of potential readers (ages 18-34) they made up about 22.6% (35.7 million) of the US population of women.

3) Some of the biggest issues affecting readers

• According to SHP Magazines, the biggest concerns for Cosmo readers are self-improvement and lifestyle (which would be the main focus of Well Now), and money, finance, and careers. Dailymail.co.uk also sited finances and careers as top concerns for women in their twenties.

4) How many online women's magazines charge for content

• Most don't charge at all, but they also don't put same articles on website that they put online. They have different content online. Some stories overlap though. On Vogue's website they use the same stories but they have pay walls for longer, feature stories.

5) Incomes of readers

• According to SHP Magazines, the average Cosmo reader makes between $2,500 - $5,000 a month. According to a website called Family In Equality, women between ages 22 and 30 make an average of $32,000 a year. They gathered this information from usa.ipums.org. The women in college though I will assume (as well as speak from personal experience and observation) that they make much less money.

Market Research

When doing market research for Well Now magazine, there are many factors to consider. Although it will be an online magazine at first, it would eventually become a print magazine as well so I included factors for both. For this post I will list out some things to consider when doing market research and in the next post I will dive deeper into five of these factors.

Elements of Market Research for Well Now:

1. Age of potential readers
2. How many in this age range
3. How many read online magazines
4. Some of the biggest issues facing these readers
5. Geographic region of readers
6. Occupations of potential readers
7. Incomes of readers
8. How many online women's magazines charge for content
9. How much do they charge
10. How much these magazines charge for print subscriptions
11. How many readers have subscriptions

Thoughts on John Christie Visit

I think that John Christie and his wife are doing a great thing by running Pine Tree Watchdog and it's awesome to see people caring about investigative reporting. Although I haven't had a lot of personal experience with it, I love investigative reporting and want to do more of it. The biggest investigative piece I've done was my article for TNH, Students by Day, Strippers by Night about student strippers at UNH. I think those pieces are worth so much more than everyday news stories (not that those aren't important). What I really admired about John is that he is willing to sacrifice relationships for journalism. He lost board members because of stories that he wrote. I like that he understands the importance of telling stories and that he doesn't shy away because of how it affects people he knows. He seemed very fearless and I liked that. With my stripper story it was actually removed from TNH's website because it negatively the girls in the article and that made me angry. The point of journalism isn't to protect people and hide their stories. Those girls agreed to talk to me and have their stories published. The fact that TNH removed the stories to protect them was upsetting and went against the point of investigative journalism. I think that if that story had been on John Christie's site and the decision had been his, he would have left it up. I admire that fearlessness and ability to stand his ground. It's a good quality to have as a journalist because it's important to be strong and resilient when telling difficult stories. I'm glad that John Christie came and talked to us and let us know that it's ok to write stories that are harder to cover.

Entrepreneurial Advice From Former Cosmo Editor

Today I was scrolling through Twitter when I saw a link retweeted by Kate White. Kate White is the former editor-in-chief- of Cosmopolitan she is amazing with career advice. She has few career books out and her twitter is full of advice and tips that she tweets out. The link that she was retweeted was to an article she had written for xojane.com and it was a list of steps to take when bringing an idea to life. The focus was mainly on entrepreneurial ideas, but could be applied to smaller ideas as well. I think this is a really great list for anyone going into entrepreneurial journalism and I especially liked it because it's coming from someone in the magazine world, which is where I want to be.

Some of the things she talked about in her list are the same things we've done in class so far. Step one is  to "Play Shark Tank With Your Concept," which we did by pitching our ideas to the class. Step two is to get feedback, which we did with our blogs, as well as in class after the presentations. I really like her step called "Slice the Salami" which is about taking little steps to achieve the overall big idea. It's true that you can't just jump right in and go for everything at once, so I like that she talked about breaking it down. I also like her step called "Let it Go" about how you can't keep planning forever and how you actually have to start. Kate White said that most people try to get their idea perfect before showing anyone or starting with it, but that after a certain point you just have to do it. I've found myself doing this, whether it's with ideas for a new blog site or an idea for a book I want to write. I do it all in my head, trying to get it all perfect, when really I should just start it and I'll make a lot more progress.

Overall, I think this is a great advice list that could be helpful to anyone in class, as well as any entrepreneur in general.

Questions for John Christie

• Of all the positions, you've held (writer, editor, publisher, entrepreneur) which has been your favorite and why?
• Why did you decide to create Pine Tree Watchdog?
• What is the hardest part of being an entrepreneur?
• What has been the most rewarding part?
• Did you ever imagine that you would an entrepreneur with your own news outlet?
• What is the best advice you have received throughout your whole career as a journalist?
• How do you balance your time being an entrepreneur with family and social life?
• If you could start Pine Tree Watchdog over from the beginning, what would you do differently?

Thoughts on Pine Tree Watchdog

My first impression of Pine Tree Watchdog's website is that it looks very professional and clean. It looks like a reputable news source that it is well organized and user friendly. I'm not sure how much I like the name of the site though. It sounds threatening and like it's some sort of organization looking to take down the government or something. I know that it's their mission to provide honest reporting, but at the same time it seems a little bit intense. That's just me though.

I think that the stories are good and that they all live up to the vision/mission statements. I also like the different tabs along the top of the page because they are very specific to this site, instead of just a general news site. The only thing that bothers me is that they don't post a lot of new stories. It seems like they don't post new content that often. I think to be more reputable, the site needs more stories and more often. I know they can't control when things happen but they should fill the time gaps a little better. If a site doesn't post often, I get the impression that they don't care.

I like the photos that they use on this site. This really stood out to me in John Christie's big story about Paul Lepage. I liked the big photo across the top and then the smaller pictures throughout with the bolded quotes. This format was very eye-catching. It'd be cool if they incorporated other types of digital media as well.

Overall, I think the site is good and the mission behind it is clear.

My Vision and Mission Statements

When I first read the vision and mission statements on Pine Tree Watchdog's website, I was a little confused as to how they were different. They seem very similar at first, but after reading through them a couple times and by looking at what other people in class wrote, I think I understand the difference. Here's my attempt at writing them for Well Now.

Vision: Well Now will fulfill the responsibility of a wellness magazine for young women by providing them with well-researched articles written in an entertaining and informative way so that they can become their best selves.

Mission: Well Now will engage young women in becoming their best selves through an entertaining magazine-style online news outlet that combines the knowledge of professionals with the real life experiences of the writers.

I'm still not sure if those are very different but I gave it a shot. It took awhile to think these through and to come up with clear and understandable wording, so hopefully these make sense.

The Class's Reaction to My Pitch

Well, seeing as I wasn't able to get my PowerPoint into Dropbox until yesterday, only two people commented on it. I had already put my pitch into two previous Dropbox folders (EJ Pitches fall 2013 and EJ Pitches fall 2013 (1)) and they showed up in both of those so I'm not sure why no one else could see it until it was in EJ Pitches fall 2013 (2). Anyways, Allie and Emily commented on my pitch and both of them were positive with only a couple ideas for improvement.

Allie said that I should expand on how Well Now is different from the competition, specifically Self magazine. I was planning on going into that more if I were to actually pitch it (which we now are), but basically my magazine encompasses more aspects of well being. Self is more focused on physical fitness, where my magazine will focus on emotional and mental well being as well.

Emily suggested that I should partner with a local health food store to promote my magazine. I think this could be interesting, but I wouldn't really want to partner with them. It might be interesting to hold some of my conferences at places like this (as well as places like yoga studios) though for when I'm first starting out and can't afford a bigger place. Maybe there could be a deal where I offer them discounted advertising for the use of their space when holding a conference. This would give them advertising and it would bring people right into their business for the conference.

I wish I had gotten more feedback before the presentation today, but I guess I'll just have to see what the class thinks when they see it today.

Using Different Media

When Terry Williams came to visit I'm really glad that he talked about using different types of media when reporting. He said that he likes to hire people who can do video, audio, and photos and that most times, only being good at one isn't enough. I'm currently taking Digital Reporting with Tom Haines and I've been learning how to use those three types of digital media and how to incorporate them into social media. Throughout college I've learned how valuable social media is to journalism and that good reporters use social media. I never really thought about using digital media though until I took Tom's class. I always figured that a paper would hire someone else who was good at using it and that they would let the reporter just do the writing. In class though, as well as at TNH, I've been realizing how important it is for a writer/reporter to be good at using digital media to report. I'm happy that Terry Williams brought this up when he came to our class because it shows that this actually is a good skill to have and that papers actually look at this that when choosing who to hire. I'm glad that I've been learning about this in Tom's class and I'm also glad that I'll be able to improve these skills and apply them to real life during my internship next semester. I'll be interning at the Nashua Telegraph and they told me that they're going to be letting me use equipment so I can do video, audio, and photos. I'm excited to be able to develop my skills even further and it'll hopefully make me a more valuable reporter and more papers will be willing to hire me. I think that this use of digital media for reporting says a lot about where journalism is going. It opens up so many more possibilities for how we as journalists can tell a story.

Reactions to PowerPoint Pitches III

5) News in Comics

• Overall first impression: It is eye-catching and it is obvious that the pitcher is confident in the company.
• Ideas for improvement: Make sure to title each slide. Most had titles, but a few didn't.
• Maybe use fewer graphics and pictures. Some slides were a little over powering. Or maybe just make them a little smaller. On a few slides the pictures took up a lot of room. For example, I think slide 9 is done well, slide 8 has too many pictures, and on slide 7 the pictures are too big.
• Make the text a little bigger so it's more of the main focus and so it's easier to read.
• Use bullet points.
• Add name and contact info to the first slide.
• Add a slide that talks about who the team for this company will be. For example, drawers, writers, editors, etc.
• What I liked about it: I like that actually numbers are used and that there is a graph. It makes it more realistic.
• The organization of slide 6 is done really well.
• I like the theme of the PowerPoint and how the yellow line is consistent on each slide.
• I like the comments from the audience/potential readers. It works as evidence that this is a good idea. 

6) Unblocked Writers

• Overall first impression: It is a visually pleasing PowerPoint but it needs more explanation.
• Ideas for improvement: I know that all of the explanation is in the notes part of the slides, but if the pitch was being presented, people wouldn't see that part. I know that it would be spoken if the presentation was being presented, but I think there should still be a little more text on the slides.
• As it said in "The Art of Pitching," use a dark background and light text.
• Explain in the slides (not just the notes) how the company helps with writer's block.
• What I liked about it: I love the idea! I could definitely see writer's using this site.
• I think each slide gives good information and adds great value to the overall slide.

7) See the News

• Overall first impression: It is very clean and professional looking. There is also a lot of good information.
• Ideas for improvement: I would say to use a little less text, but the thing is, it's all good and relevant information. 
• The name of the company sounds more like a mantra than a name, but it makes sense as a title too. I think just because it's a statement it sounds like a manta more than a title.
• On slide five the word "highlights" is spelled wrong.
• What I liked about it: I really like everything about this PowerPoint. Every slide is relevant and has good information.
• Explanations are thorough and clear.
• It is an overall good looking PowerPoint and I like simplicity of it. It makes it so the content is more important than the looks of the slides which is important.
• I like that the titles of each slide are in a different font because it's eye catching and draws attention to what the slide is about.
• Overall I really like the PowerPoint and the business idea. I could see people using this site and buying the book.

8) The 'New s'tand

• Overall first impression: The PowerPoint is visually pleasing but at first it was hard to tell what exactly the company is.
• Ideas for improvement: State what the company is/does on the second slide. Let the viewer of the presentation know right away.
• I really like the theme/colors of the presentation, but in "The Art of Pitching" it says to use a dark background and light text because it looks more professional.
• The title of the company is a little confusing. The apostrophes are placed strangely. I'm not sure if it's pronounced "the news stand" or "the new stand." I'm guessing it's the first one so maybe call the company "The Newstand" and make it one word instead of two.
• There is a lot of text. Use bullet points to break it up and write shorter, more concise sentences.
• What I liked about it: The PowerPoint covered a lot of areas and gave a lot of good information.
• I like that there is visual marketing strategy page. It makes it easy to follow.
• I like the visual on page six.
• Overall I think it's a really good idea and I could see it becoming popular.

Paid Content

I found the Forbes article about advertising and paid content to be interesting and informative. I never really thought too much about advertising from a journalistic standpoint, but as a person I've always found it to be kind of annoying online. In the article, it talked about native advertising/sponsored content and I think that's one of the most annoying things. I don't like how advertisements are just slipped into news feeds on Facebook or into the feed on Twitter. It's annoying because advertisers just throw their content in between status updates or tweets like it's just another update from a friend or something. They try to pass it off as something that's supposed to be there, but I don't think it works. It always irritates me when I see these when scrolling through my feed. I also don't like the pop up advertising. You'll be reading an article and all of a sudden a video comes across the screen and starts playing automatically. I find the display ads to be the least annoying, but as the article said, they're the least effective.

As for paid content though, I think it can work. I see it a lot in the magazines I read and they blend in well. It's still obvious that it's an ad, but if it's done well, I'll still want to read it. They usually go along with the style and layout of the magazine and are targeted to whoever is reading the magazine (or newspaper). I don't find these ads to be annoying because they're not in your face. I suppose it is kind of like native content, but it's different because it's not on social media. I don't really mind paid content because it's usually something you could see the magazine writing about anyways. If I were the editor or owner of a paper or magazine and an advertiser wanted to do paid content, I would only let them do it if it went along with the theme of the publication. For example, if it was a health and wellness magazine, I wouldn't want a big paid content ad that was trying to sell diet pills. If there was a company that was selling a health product that was actually helpful (like a yoga studio or work out gear) then I'd be ok with that.

As for journalists writing these ads, I think it's very smart of advertisers to do this. Who better to pass off an ad as journalism than a journalist? If you want the writing to be clean and in sync with a certain style, then I think a journalist would be best to write it. Also, they're not wired to think like an advertiser trying to sell a product so their writing wouldn't come off this way either. It wouldn't be over dramatic or in your face, it would be straightforward and informative. I think this is a good direction for advertising to go in, as long it's done well and journalistically and doesn't hide that it's an ad.

Building a Brand For Yourself

I really enjoyed Terry Williams' talk today and I especially liked what he said about how journalists need to build a brand for themselves. It reminds me of what John Herman said when he came to visit us a few weeks ago. That's exactly what John was talking about and it's how he's been able to be so successful. I really like that Terry brought it up again today because I think it's important for us to be reminded of. I think right now it's hard for us to do as students but I've been trying. I always tweet my articles and I also blog about my experiences in journalism. That might be too broad though and not really enough of a brand. It's not very focused. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be overly focused though or if I'm just supposed to show my personality while doing journalism at the same time. Either way, I think building a brand as a journalist is very important. It shows that there is a face and a personality behind the people that deliver the news. It also helps to make you more reliable to your audience or reader. I'm not quite sure how to grow that readership right now though. I know Terry talked about Twitter and having a lot of followers, but I don't have that many. I have 152 at the moment and I don't know how to get more. I tweet about journalistic things and use relevant hashtags. I also include links when appropriate and I include other people's handles so that I can get the attention of bigger names and companies. I want to know what I'm doing wrong or what I can do to improve. Terry said that reporters should have a few hundred followers or more, at the least. I think that when I graduate and start writing for a paper outside of UNH then I'll be able to start building a bigger readership and my brand will be able to grow. It can't hurt to start now though. If only I knew how to do it more effectively...

Reactions to PowerPoint Pitches II

3) The Source

• Overall first impression: The grammar is bad, there is too much unnecessary text and it is unclear what exactly the idea is until you get halfway through the slide.
• Ideas for improvement: Make sure spelling is correct. The first slide after the title slide is full of spelling errors. Most of the other slides have spelling mistakes as well. A lot of the news/social media sites are spelled wrong.
• There are also a lot of unnecessary punctuation marks throughout and capitalization is wrong at times. Make sure words that are supposed to be capitalized are and words that aren't supposed to be aren't. Also, sometimes in the titles of the slides all the words are capitalized and on others only the first word is. Be consistent. 
• There should be a name and contact information on the first slide and there isn't. The person viewing the slide should know who's company it is.
• As said in "The Art of Pitching," the slide background should be dark and the text should be light.
• There is way too much focus on other sites (good and bad) and not enough about why this company is good. Actually, there is barely any information about this company. I'm not sure why all of the information about history, hyperlinks, and other sites is included in this slide. It is irrelevant. 
• This pitch talks up other sites sometimes and I think that's a bad idea because it makes this company seem less necessary.
• There is no business model included in this pitch. There is also nothing about marketing/sales or the team that will run the company. Also, where is the company going from here?
• The sixth slide should be the second slide. There should be no question about what the company is and in this case, I was confused.
• What I liked about it: I like the overall idea for the company. I think a lot of people like the idea of having everything organized in one place.

4) Focused Fencing

• Overall first impression: It is very straightforward and informative. Also, the passion is very obvious.
• Ideas for improvement: As said in "The Art of Pitching," make the slide background dark and the text light. I do really like this theme though, especially the title slide with the little graphic.
• On the title slide make sure to include a name and contact information.
• I think there are too many pictures throughout and too much text. Less is better. Just keep it simple. Also, if this was actually being presented there wouldn't be a need for so much text because it could be explained orally.
• To go along with the opinion that there's too much text, it would be better to use bullet points instead of blocks of text.
• What I liked about it: It covered a lot of different aspects of the company. Each slide provided good information and added great value to the overall pitch.
• I like the slide about the sport itself. It showed why this company would be so important.
• I like that there was an offer. It made it seem more real.
• I really liked the passion behind this. It is obvious that this company actually cares about what it is doing.

Looking Forward to Terry Williams

After reading through Terry Williams' biography I am excited to meet him and hear all that he has to say about his experiences in journalism. I like that he has experience in both the business side and the writing/reporting/editing side. Our previous guest, Joe Burke, was all business and that was way too confusing. Then Meg Heckman was pretty much all journalism, which was nice but would have been better if she had talked a little more business. I think Terry will be a good mix of the two seeing as he has experience on both sides. I think it'll be really helpful for the class to get to talk with someone with him. He'll understand that we're journalism students who know nothing about business or math or numbers, because he was a journalist too before going into the business side of it (at least that's what I'm assuming from reading his bio). Anyways, he seems like a guy who's had a lot of experience in a lot of different areas and I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say. He seems very well rounded and I think it'll be very beneficial to hear his advice.

Reactions to PowerPoint Pitches

1) The Gamer's Gazette

• Overall first impression: I really like it. It's very informative and straightforward. 
• Some ideas for improvement: I think the colors of powerpoint should be changed. In "The Art of Pitching" it says to always use a dark background and light text otherwise it'll look cheap. I don't think that this one looks cheap, but I think that it should follow the advice of the expert.
• On the second slide where it addresses what the company is, it only talks about the video games based on the news but says nothing about the fact that it's also a gaming news outlet.
• I think there should be a slide towards the beginning that talks about the problem that exists without this company. It talks about why this company is good, but it should also talk about what would be wrong if this company didn't exist. There should be a "problems" slide and then a "solution" slide.
• This powerpoint didn't talk about how it's going to market the company and make people aware of it/want to use it. There should be a slide dedicated to that and it should talk about where it will advertise and how.
• What I liked about it: I like that the prices for the game are already known. It shows that the company already has a firm idea for a business model, which is important.
• I like the "why video games?" slide. It's a good question to answer since it is such a different idea. People may wonder that so I like that it's answered right away.
• I like that it has the gaming news outlet component to and is not just video games. An idea I have would be to include actual news stories in addition to the video games stories. Then at the end of each month check which news stories got the most page views and then use those statistics to decide which stories to make into games.

2) Exploring New Hampshire, Discovering Asia

• Overall first impression: I really like this powerpoint. It is very informative and covers many different areas.
• Some ideas for improvement: I really like the theme of this powerpoint, but in "The Art of Pitching" it says to use a dark background and light text because it looks more professional. I do really like the theme of this though even though it breaks the rules.
• I think there should be a slide right after the title slide that says what the product is. Then the person viewing the powerpoint will know what it is right away. Take the first bullet point on the third slide and put it on a new slide after the title slide.
• Just a question: On the fourth slide about the consumers, why is it only for residents of Manchester, Nashua, and the seacoast? I thought it was going to be for all of New Hampshire. Maybe once there was a bigger staff it could expand to the whole state.
• Put contact information on the title slide.
• What I liked about it: I really like how the title of each slide is written as a question.
• I like the "who is the consumer?" page because it shows that there is a very good market for this company. I like all of the possibilities and how it could really appeal to anyone.
• I also like the "what will it look like?" page because it goes into more of the specifics instead of just generalities. Also, those are very good ideas and offer a lot to consumers.

What I Thought of Meg Heckman

I really liked what Meg Heckman had to say when she came to class last week. I like that she's thinking about the future of journalism, especially in the digital realm. She was very informative, not only with journalism, but with life related to journalism as well. I liked her advice about not going to grad school right away. So many people have been asking me if I'm going to grad school when I graduate and when I say no they always ask me why not. I also know some other people who have gone to journalism school right after college and it's made me feel guilty about not going. I liked that Meg said that if you do go, then you should definitely wait. She said that you should wait until you are confident about what type of journalism you want to do. It was a little scary when she said that what we think we want to right now isn't what we'll want in ten years. I think it's really good for someone to tell us that and not be afraid of letting us know the truth. Right now I'm so sure that I want to write for a women's magazine, but who knows, maybe I'll completely change my mind within a couple of years. I'm just glad that Meg came and talked to us so honestly so I won't be so surprised when I start to change my mind.

An Idea for the PowerPoint Pitches

Seeing as there were so many problems with uploading the PowerPoints and hearing the audio, I think it would have been a cool idea if we had presented them to the class. It would have felt more like a real pitch that way. We would have been able to be more animated and we would have been able to actually talk to real people. Recording myself on the computer was hard because the recordings wouldn't last long. I had to talk fast and I felt rushed. For a lot of the slides I didn't get to say everything that I wanted to. Also, it felt robotic and forced. I feel like it would have felt more natural talking to the class. I think it would have been very good practice and could have helped us prepare for actually doing pitches if any of us actually go on and do them for real investors. Just a thought.

Well Now PowerPoint Pitch

Well I couldn't figure out how to post the PowerPoint directly into a blog post, but here's the link to it in Google Docs so hopefully this will work.

Well Now Pitch

But I Have No Money...

One of the main problems I'm finding with making the power point for the pitch is that my company obviously has no money. I don't even have a prototype. No one in the class does. On Shark Tank all of the entrepreneurs had already been in business for awhile. They had products and sales to back them up and show that they were a serious business who was worthy of the sharks' investments. I know that my business obviously has no money or product because it is just a project for class, but I wish that we were at least pretending that we did. I wish that we could have spent some time making a business plan and coming up with rough estimates of how much money our business would have after a year. Then we could work those numbers into our pitches. That would help a lot in our pitches because we could explain the money we were making as well as make diagrams and charts to show it. In The Art of Pitching it says how important to have visuals such as this so I wish that we could be doing that. I think it'd be helpful because then it'd be a more realistic pitch and it would also gives us more hands on experience in working with numbers, even if they were fake.

Meg Heckman Article

I found Meg Heckman's article "Optimism Reigns at Hyperlocal News Confab" to be inspiring seeing as it directly relates to what is probably the main focus of this class. It's about people taking their journalism and writing skills, mixing them with business, and creating a great publication. As Doug Miner said in the article, "I'm a journalist, but it's really got to be a business. If not, you can't do it."

I like the idea of having a group such as LION, Local Independent Online News Publishers, because it's a great way to bounce ideas off others and receive feedback. I like the community aspect of it because all of these people are striving for the same goal in their own way. This kind of reminds me of the thing that John Herman told us about, the NH Media Makers meetings that are held each month. I like LION better though because it's a bigger group and it's always the same people. The community can really grow and people can form relationships and be able to help each other. It reminds me of class and the way we talk to each other about our ideas. It's nice to have people who understand what you're trying to do (since they're working on something as well) because they tend to have some really good ideas that you may not have thought of. Overall, I really am in favor of groups like this. They're definitely a step in the right direction when it comes to saving journalism.

The Art of Pitching

I think that Chapter 3, The Art of Pitching, was very interesting and informative, but I'm trying to think of how I would apply it to myself. With my idea of an online magazine, who would I be pitching to? I don't really need investors and I don't know if you pitch to advertisers or if they come to you. The only people I could think of pitching to would be my audience/readers. How would I do that though? I don't think it really makes sense. My idea seems more like something that spreads through word of mouth or by stumbling upon it. I know that's not much of a business plan, but it's not like I would go around to different places and hold presentations. The chapter we read seems more like for when someone is selling an actual product or service. Also, the author kept talking about going into a company and trying to sell them on my idea. I wouldn't be going to a specific company for my business idea. I guess this whole chapter kind of confused me because I couldn't imagine how I would apply it to myself.

Don't Be the Paranoid Entrepreneur Who Talks to His Dog

At the end of Chapter One, The Art of Starting, I really appreciated that the author addressed fear and paranoia. One thing I always thought was that if you have a good idea, then you should keep it to yourself until it's so far along that it'd be too late for anyone else to steal it. The author said that sharing your ideas offers room for them to improve though. He said, "There is much more to gain - feedback, connections, opened doors - by freely discussing your idea than there is to lose." This is something that I'll need to remember if I want to actually start a business and make something happen. People always say that two heads are better are one but I guess I only applied that to people who are actually working on a project with you. I've always been scared about asking other people for advice or help if I thought that maybe they would steal my idea. Obviously I'm not afraid of asking my parents or my friends, but I've never reached out to others who would be able to actually put my plan into action for themselves.

One of the questions in the back of the chapter that the author answers is "How far along should I be before I start talking to people about what I'm doing?" and he says that you should start right away. This is another example of something that I don't do. I keep the idea to myself until I actually get started on it. That why I seem to know more about what I want to do and it gives me a feeling of security that someone won't steal my idea. For example, today was the NH Media Makers meeting that John Herman told us about. I had it written on my calendar and I wanted to go, but then I decided not to. I felt that my idea wasn't solid enough yet and I didn't have enough of a plan. I thought that the people would think that I was wasting their time by not having a solid enough plan. In this chapter though, the author said that it's ok to do that because people will give you ideas and help you make yours stronger. He said, "The more people you talk to, the richer your thoughts will be." Maybe if I had gone to the meeting, people would have helped me develop my ideas and I could have a solid plan. Now I have to wait until the next meeting and in the next month I'll have my own ideas, but that's all they'll be. They'll only be mine. They won't have influence from others. Now I realize that the influence of others is a good thing and that I should be seeking this out. I'm glad I read this article because not only has it given me a new perspective on how to grow my ideas, it's given me the confidence to do so.

A Site Designed to Help Entrepreneurs

The other day I was reading the Boston Globe when I came across an article called "Hang Up a Shingle 21st Century Style." It was about this website called Kickstarter which allows new businesses and start ups to ask for donations in order to help get themselves started. The article I read focused on new restaurants in the Boston area that were using the site to Kickstarter to raise money so they could start their business. The site is for anyone though, not just those in the food industry. Anyone with a creative idea or a business plan can sign up to "start a project." Then people on the site can see your plan and if they like it, then they donate money to you. One of the perks of donating is that whoever donates gets a small benefit from the person whose plan they donated to. In the Boston Globe article, a benefit that one restaurant was doing was that if you donated, then you got your name put on a big mural in the restaurant. Other things I've seen on the site are perks such as a one-time discount if you buy from the company once it's up and running or if it's something like a book or CD then the donator would get a copy before it went on sale.

I think that this site could be great for anyone in our class if they actually wanted to follow through with their project and make it into a real business. I know that most college students don't have a lot of money which is why this site would be so helpful. I actually thought of Corinne first because she said that Etsy was too expensive for her and she didn't want to sell her knitting things on it. A site like Kickstarter could really help though or it could help her so much that she wouldn't even need Etsy. She could just have her own site. Overall I think the site is just a great idea and it seems as if they've had a lot of success come from it.

Joe Burke's Visit

Joe Burke's visit was a lot more intense than I thought it was going to be. I know that we were kind of warned, but it still took me by surprise. I think it might have been a little too intense though. I think he may have overestimated how much we would be able to grasp. I would have preferred to go cover less material but in more detail. It was just a lot to take in, especially for a class where most of us are not good with math or numbers. Half the time I had no idea what he was talking about at all. I know that we all read the homework on the accounting website, but this was a little over my head. By the end of it I decided that one day when I do have enough money to be a successful person, I'm going to be hiring someone to do all of the math and spreadsheets for me.

On the other hand though, I think Joe was very smart and knew so much about business, accounting, and numbers. It was very impressive to hear him talk. I wish I had been able to follow him though. It was clear that he knew exactly what he was talking about the whole time and that he obviously knows so much more as well. I just wish that he had been able to communicate the information to us in a simpler way. I know that's not his fault though because it's probably not how he's used to talking about it. It just would have been nice if he had broken it down a little or gone a little slower.

Assets for My Business

After reading through the pieces and reading the word "asset" over and over, I began to wonder what assets my company would have. I wouldn't be selling anything because it's an online publication and would be free for people to read. I guess my writing skills would be an asset because that's what would get me traffic and page views. Good content would also be an asset I guess. One thing that I could have would be intangible assets, like a trademark or a logo. It's hard to think of tangible assets though. Also, would I have fixed assets? I guess my computer would be a fixed asset. Maybe my blogging platform would be a fixed asset as well.

While reading all of the pieces, assets made sense to me, but now as I try to apply it to my own project/company, I'm confused. Also, is advertising an asset? My company would use advertising on the site, but is it an asset? I wish there was a site which applied accounting to journalism. That would be a lot easier to understand.

An Entrepreneurial Idea...Maybe

As a big fan of Cosmo magazine, I really enjoy the lists that they post on their website. For example, a recent one they did was "Ten Things Women Should Know By 25" and it was just a list of things that women should have or be good at by the time they turn 25. They do a lot of lists like this and judging by the amount of likes and comments that they get, they seem to be really popular. One thing I noticed through reading the comments though is that people wanted more serious lists and less about men and drinking. I then decided to write a post on my blog about this and then I tweeted out the link. Well, the writer of those lists saw my tweet, read my blog post, and tweeted me back saying that she loved it and is going to write a more serious list for Cosmo. I love Cosmo and I freaked out and was extremely excited. I still can't believe that Cosmo is writing a story based off of my idea. Anyways, I got to thinking about the lists and their popularity. I love reading the lists, but I also love making lists. I started thinking about making my own website (or for now, just a blog) that featured only lists. I could do a wide variety of things and make one to two new posts a day. An example could be "Ten Things to Do  While in College" or "Ten Ways You Can Beat Senioritis" or anything like that which could relate to girls my age. I would make a list and then write a short description for everything on the list. I don't think I could do that idea for this class because it's not too journalistic, but I definitely want to do it on my own. I would call it something like, Kate's List or something like that. Just an idea.

Right Over My Head

When I was first looking at the glossary of all the accounting terms I might as well have been reading Latin or Japanese or Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was bad. The only words that I could easily understand were profit, loss, corporations, and asset. Every two minutes I had to ask my boyfriend (an accounting major) to explain to me what the words meant. It took me awhile to get through the whole list and then I was dreading reading all of the articles that followed it. Today when I finally started reading them though after staying away out of fear, I realized that they weren't so bad. I know it wasn't because I had read the glossary though. I think that just seeing the words used in sentences and applied to situations made a lot more sense to me than the straight definitions did. It kind of made me wish that I hadn't spent so much time on the definitions because just by reading through the sections I understood so much more than I did from reading the glossary. I guess the real test will come tomorrow though when I take the quiz and listen to the guest speaker.

Meeting John Herman

I really enjoyed John Herman's visit to class last Monday and I think it was really helpful and encouraging to hear his story. The whole time he was talking though I couldn't tell if he was inspiring because he showed that I could do the same thing, or if he was depressing because I realized that I will never be that successful. By the end I decided that he was inspiring. At the time it was very overwhelming though and I was just trying to take in everything he was saying.

I think that John shared a lot of really useful information with us that could be applied to anything that you wanted to do. He didn't really give advice or tips though, he just told his story of how he jumped from one thing to the next but that was advice in a way. It showed us through example how to be successful and make a name for yourself. I like that this type of advice can be applied to any type of business venture, whether it's a magazine like I wanted to do, or Allie's Asian culture site, or Catie's graphic novel. It could even be applied to something completely different, like a coffee shop or a delivery service. John said one thing about the way he works that I wrote down and I think that any business or person could use it to improve themselves. He said, "I take things people use, flip them, and give them back to them in unique ways."

Now, I need to think of how I can take a magazine, flip it, and give it back to people in a unique way. I know that the fact that it'll have more of a focus is a good thing, but I'll probably need more than that. I'm just not sure what that is yet though. I guess I'll just have to do as John does and just jump into things and see where it takes me.

Chapter 8 in Entrepreneurial Journalism: Marketing

In Chapter 8 of Entrepreneurial Journalism, Briggs talks about how to market your product and draw in an audience. This is something that worries me with my project because of all competition I would have. This is something that the three people I talked to about my site talked to me about and they all said how hard it would be to make my site stand out. I feel like most people go to sites with big names, such as Cosmo or Glamour, and that less would be likely to visit an unknown site made by a college student. At the same time though, I could always use that to my advantage. It would be a site for college students by a college students. Most of those articles on other sites are written by people in their thirties, or possibly older. I think my age will make me more relatable and it could be used as a good marketing tool to draw in readers. At the same time though, it would still be difficult to find an initial audience and build up a good reputation. Maybe other people in class will have good ideas for how to market and grow a product (especially with so many competitors) and hopefully it's something we can talk about in class. Reading Briggs's book is a good start, but I think having a conversation will bring forth more ideas.

Question and Answer

Question: I have read your idea and I would like to understand a little more about it. What need does this idea fill? Is this a need that you have yourself? Who would share this need?

Katie Gardner: The need that this fills is providing young women with informative and relatable articles about personal wellness and being their best selves. It would be like any women's magazine out there, minus the trashy articles. It would be focused on how to make yourself happy, not how to please men or the general public. It'll be focused less on outward appearance and more on who people truly are, and how to make people happy with that. This is a need I have because I would enjoy reading stuff like this. I'm tired of seeing articles titled "50 Ways to Please Your Man" because there are much more important things to write about that can actually be helpful to young women. People who would share this need would be women in college or their young twenties.

Q: At this point you should have some idea of who the average user of your product will be. What is the profile of that person?

KG: This person is a girl who is in in college or in her young twenties. She would be the type of girl who reads magazines such as Cosmo or Glamour, but is looking for more. She may enjoy the articles on sex and beauty, but she wants to learn more about bettering herself. She's looking for inspiration.

Q: Who wants this product that you intend to develop?

KG: Young women who want to develop themselves will want to read this site.

Q: What problem or need are you satisfying for your customers? (Remember, the customers aren't necessarily the people who will be using your product. For example, television audiences aren't customers unless they pay for the product, as in HBO. The customers are advertisers.)

KG: Customers, such as advertisers, will want to use my site to advertise because if their product is intended for young women or even teenagers, and if my site gets a lot of traffic from that demographic, then the customer would want their ad on my site. They would want to advertise in a place that their consumer goes, and my site could be that place.

Q: We all have to live. Where is the money in this product?

KG: The money would come from advertising. If this became a bigger product, then it might be cool to expand into a magazine (which would offer more content) and I could make money from sales and subscriptions. Most money would come from advertising though.

Q: You are a journalist. Where is the journalism in this product?

KG: I would be doing a lot of writing, and although it may not all be news, some of it will be. I would talk to health professionals and interview them and write about what I find. I could find other people to interview as well, potentially even young women so that I could find out what issues matter to them.

Q: We've read that passion is key to success of a new venture. Money alone will not sustain it. So where is the passion in your product?

KG: My passion in this comes from a love of writing mixed with a love of reading women's magazines. I also believe that young women should be given more interesting and inspiring articles to read. The fact that some magazines are only interested in writing about sex (because they think that it's what can make you a more intriguing woman) frustrates me. I'm looking to offer more because it's something that I care about and think is important.

Socializing My Idea

When looking to talk to people about my idea I decided to talk to three of my friends. My project would be directed towards girls their age, which makes them relevant people to talk to, and as my friends I knew that they would be honest with me about what they thought of my idea.

Lily Bourey, 20, UNH Student

Lily said that as a girl in college, she could see this site being useful for other girls her age and that she would probably check out this site herself.

"This is definitely the stuff that girls like," she said.

She was a little concerned about being able to make it popular though. With so many other sites out there that are similar in nature, she wonders how I can make mine stand out.

"It's a tough market because there are so many things like it," she said.

Colleen Kelly, 20, UNH Student

Colleen was also thinking about how I can make my site better than others that are out there. She says that college girls would like to read a broader range of articles, including gossipy things and celebrity news, as opposed to only personal wellness.

"You'd have a lot of competition," she said, "I can think of three sites I'd rather go to than yours."

She understands that I don't want to write about celebrities or gossip though and that I want to write about more positive and helpful things. She said that to do this, I'd have to present it in an entertaining and interactive way.

"You should make it very relatable. It should be about everyday thoughts that people have," she said.

She also had the idea of doing promotions and prizes that relate to my subject matter as a way of drawing people in.



Lily O'Gara, 20, UNH Student

Lily said that this is a site that she would be interested in and that she could see herself reading it. She said that it could become popular, as long as I stay unbiased in what I'm writing.

"I think you have to be careful how you market it because you don't want to seem like you're preaching to the choir," she said.

She thinks that I should cover a wide range of topics because there are many things that are important to young women. She says that I can talk about sex without it coming off as trashy. She said that I should be informative and just make it relatable.

"You could make it an empowering female-centric site because girls are into that," she said.

Project Idea

For my project I would like to make a site directed towards young women in college and their early twenties which would focus on personal wellness in a way that interests and entertains them. Many sites out there are becoming trashy and I would like mine to provide young women with credible and relatable information that can help them to become their best selves.

An Idea For Journalism on Campus

The other day in my Digital Reporting class we were sent out onto campus to interview a random stranger and talk to them in depth for around half an around. We were given only one question to ask them: "What is the value of a college education?" We had to open with that, but then we were able to let the conversation go wherever it went. Talking to a random stranger like that for so long started to feel like talking to a new friend, as we told each other about our lives at home and at school. When I walked away from the girl I had met, I got an idea.

I think it'd be a really cool idea to go around to random college students and ask them the question: "What is going on in the news?" Keeping the question simple like that makes it so that a broad range of responses can be given. They could talk about world news, national, local, or just something that happened on the UNH campus earlier in the day. A broad range of students, or even professors and faculty as well, could be interviewed and their responses would be the content of the news site. It would be like a personalized news site and there could be ones for different campuses around the country. The thing is though, it's obviously not straight news. It's students' perspectives of the news and how they view what's going on around them. There could also be pictures or videos of the students that could go along with the articles.

This might be a hard thing to get going, but I think it could be very interesting to see take off. The conversations would all be unique and it would provide a very different perspective into news and into students' lives.

Entrepreneur Q & A: Todd Krutchoff, Sidetrack Products

Todd Krutchoff, a business entrepreneur from Massachusetts, started Sidetrack Products two years ago as a way to produce model trains for kids that live in, or are visiting, the Boston area. The model is based off of the T and the business has now expanded to include other products as well, such as clothing, magnets, and keychains.

KG: What is the main purpose of Sidetrack Products?

Todd Krutchoff: To fulfill my long-time desire to start my own business and work for myself. 

KG: What inspired you to start the business?

TK: My son had been interested in toy trains since he was three years old. He had a Thomas the Tank Engine train set that was his absolute favorite toy, and we accumulated many of the trains that were available at retail. We lived near a MBTA Commuter Rail stop and I used to take him there just to see the train come and go. As the holiday approached, my son asked if he could have a toy MBTA Commuter Rail train for Christmas. I searched high and low for any toy MBTA train anywhere and I was shocked to find that there was none to be found. I immediately saw it as a business opportunity. I thought that a toy vehicle that was unique to Boston would be the souvenir of choice for families visiting Boston, especially those with young boys. As this was going on, I learned that I was getting laid off from my buyer position at a Boston-area retail company. You could say that desperation enhanced my inspiration.

KG: How did you go about starting the business? What steps did you take?

TK: After I received authorization from the MBTA to proceed with the project, I wrote up a business plan. I set up an appointment with SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) to get some objective criticism. The SCORE consultants were skeptical about startup consumer product companies and cautioned me about investing. They did, however, admire my enthusiasm. The next months were spent working on developing the flagship product - a miniature Boston MBTA Green Line trolley.

COURTESY PHOTO

That meant finding a manufacturer, getting the product to hit my target price, and gaining the approval of the very meticulous MBTA Product Marketing Team. At the same time, I had to figure out my projected cash flow and I borrowed the necessary funds from my parents.

KG: What has been the most rewarding part of having your own business?

TK: When I got laid off and thought about the next phase of my career, I thought a lot about the fact that I hadn't really made a mark on anything in my career to this point. There was no real legacy that I could hang my hat on. Starting my own business, my own brand, and my own line of products that are making kids happy has given me a sense of accomplishment that I hadn't had in my career to this point.

KG: What has been the most challenging part?

TK: Patience. It takes time to build a business and I have found that every product that I have produced has taken at least 33% longer than I originally anticipated. I was expecting to be able to make an income with this business after two years but that timeline has been pushed out. Every dollar has been put back into the company. Not being able to contribute to the family bottom line has been very trying. There have been times where I thought that maybe I should find a steady job and develop this business on the side but I have held off. I still need the flexibility to be able to meet with customers on their schedule and I need to exhaust every new business option before make that step.

KG: What is the biggest or most important thing you've learned from having your own business?

TK: Things don't just happen. That big break you are looking for is only going to happen if you make it happen. In fact, the big break may never happen. It could be a series of small wins that builds up the business to where you need it to be. You have to continually be thinking about how you can grow the business and then act.

KG: Where do you want the business to go from here?

TK: I would like to be able to build up my business to the point where it I can make a living on it. To do this, I will need to keep adding products and expanding into new markets. I would like to produce non-MBTA branded goods so that I do not have all eggs in one basket. I plan on re-visiting SCORE, or a like consultant to help me with a business expansion plan.

KG: What advice do you have for a young entrepreneur?

TK: Take off your rose-colored glasses. I still have this problem. I think everyone will see the value of my products like I see their value but this has been the case just a portion of the time. The sales projections on which I built my business plan were much higher than the actual sales. I have had to lower my wholesale price in many cases in order to hit the retail threshold that customers have dictated. Be realistic. This comes from consulting with trusted people within your network from all walks of business. 

Newsonomics: Chapter 11

One thing I really liked about this chapter is what Ken Doctor said about having to blend the old with the new. At the bottom of page 187 he said, "Among all these new, flexible, multimedia, forward-reaching skills, the bedrock journalistic skills must form the foundation. Reporting. Interviewing. Editing. Writing. These basic tools remain important, even though the way they're done...is morphing." I think that this is very important to remember as things change in the journalism industry. Although everything is moving to digital, journalists still need to maintain quality. Writing will always be the base  of journalism and no matter how digital your site may be, it won't be worth anything if the writing is bad. We actually just talked about this in my digital reporting class the other day. Students were complaining that all we've done in class so far is text posts and they were upset that we haven't done any photo or video yet. My professor explained that we have to perfect our ability to write short and quick for the Internet first though, because that is what's most important. Then from there we can move on to the more digital aspects. I think that no matter how far ahead we move in the digital age, the actual writing will be what's most important, and I hope that journalists will remember that.

Project

For my semester project for this class I think I'd like to do the personal wellness site that I mentioned in a previous blog post. I would focus it towards college-aged women/women in their twenties. I could pull information from other sites and write my own stuff to go along with it. It would be the kind of site written for people by someone who's just like them. You hear the phrase, "For Kids, By Kids" and it's kind of like that concept. I think it feels more personal and relatable that way. I want this to be a source of legitimate information though so I would also talk to health professionals and do stories with them. I hope that this project counts as a "journalism-related venture" because although it's not always about news, and is not like a newspaper at all, it would involve a lot of interviewing and writing on my part. I think it would be a lot of fun to work on a site like this because I love to write and I'm also interested in this sort of topic.

NowThis News

Scrolling through my twitter feed today, I stumbled upon a link to a news site that I had never heard of before: NowThis News. The site posts videos of news reports and has little blurbs written alongside them. The thing that I find most interesting about this site is their use of social media. They are currently doing a series where they interviewed Newark mayor Cory Booker using Instagram. Every night for a week or so they will publishing a new video clip to their website and Instagram account. I think this is a really interesting and innovative idea because so many people are using social media and it is something that they understand and enjoy using. Reaching out to readers (or viewers in this case) through a platform that they use on a daily basis is a great idea. Also, doing it in series of short, 15 second clips that highlight the most important parts of the interview is a great idea because it keeps the readers coming back for more each night. I found this to be a great example of entrepreneurism because it's a new idea and it is a great way to connect with readers. It's working for the site too seeing as they have 29,000 Instagram followers and the number is rising daily. In the article about the interview series, the social editor for the site, Drake Martinet said that using Instagram for the interview series was "something that would be, we think, a first for the platform and a great experiment in bringing interview content in short bursts to people's pockets." It seems as if the site, which was created last year, really undet

Entrepreneur Profile

Two years ago when Todd Krutchoff was laid off from work, he realized that he was going to have to do something in order to continue bringing in an income. Opportunity struck when his son Max was going through a model train phase. Max had collected trains from a few cities around the country and seeing he lives in Massachusetts, he decided that he wanted one based off of the T in Boston. After searching everywhere for one, Todd was finally told that they didn't exist. Seeing a chance to make his own business, combined with not wanting to let Max down, Sidetrack Products was born.

"I was shocked no one was doing it for Boston," Todd said.

Sidetrack Products started with models of the Boston MBTA green line trolley car and soon expanded to include t-shirts and onesies with the T printed on the front. Recently Todd wanted to make the business even bigger and Sidetrack now sells magnets and keychains as well. the products are sold through Boston gift shops and are official licensed products of the MBTA.

One of the biggest challenges that Todd has faced is staying patient because he said that things take so much longer than you anticipate. Because these types of products never existed before though, the MBTA is grateful that they can now sell them. As an entrepreneur Todd knew to take advantage of that fact.

"I saw it as an opportunity cause no one else was doing it."

Thinking of Myself as an Entrepreneur

It's pretty obvious (at least to me) that writing is my biggest passion in life. I think that in order to be a good entrepreneur though, you need a little more than that. Lately I've been trying to think of another interest of mine that I could combine with my love of writing so that I could make a cool and interesting site that people would want to look at.

An idea that I thought of the other day that I might want to actually try out is a website dedicated to personal wellness (emotional, mental, physical). I've been really interested in this for some reason lately and I always enjoy those types of sections in magazines. I want to target this towards girls my age (college age and young twenties). I think it's an important time in life and it's important for girls to have good info out there.

I would probably want to use WordPress for my site because I think it's a good publishing platform. I think I would probably be a site that gathers info from different places around the Internet and organizing all it together in a place where young women can find it. I would also like to write some of my own stuff too though. What might be a good idea is taking other people's articles and use those as the base of a post and then add my own stuff to it as well. I'm not really sure how I could do this, but I think it could work well if done correctly. I just wouldn't want it to seem like I was ripping off anyone else's material. I would have to work out all the kinks of this idea, but I think it could be a great tool for young women.

If this ever became an actual site with some money and funding, I could have people write for it and I could also have events on the site. One idea I have is to have live video streams of conversations with professionals in the health field and they could answer questions from readers. I know that one is a long shot, but it's something to think of. I could even expand the idea into something more as well. I always thought it'd be cool to have some sort of company focused on young women and they could do seminars and workshops to work on self-confidence and personal wellness. I think a lot of this society is about fending for ourselves so I think it'd be great to stop thinking this way and create a program where people can see that they aren't alone. It'd be a great way for people to better themselves and learn more about who they are.

So at this point I'm getting way off track from my original idea. I think starting with a website could be a fun idea and it'd be easy enough for me to start up on my own.

A New Way to Present Journalism

So as I continued to think of ways to save journalism, I thought of the idea of making a website that would give people news in a new way. It would be set up pretty much the same way as the site Stumble Upon, in which the user clicks the "next" button and a new random website appears. If this was done with the news, the person would click the button and it would give them a different random news story from that day. They could also filter the content of what they're receiving if they would like to, just like on Stumble Upon. For example, different categories could be politics, sports, entertainment, crime, etc. Or if the person wanted to just get news based on their location there could be different categories such as local, regional, national, or world. The site would pull articles from that day from various news sources all over the Internet and the person could just click through them. If they find it interesting then they can read it, but if it's not for them then they hit the "next" button and a new article would appear. I think this would be a popular site because it's customizable with what type of news you want to read and it helps you to find interesting stories that you might not have found otherwise. It would give the reader a lot of variety and would keep them from getting bored.

Blog Traffic

One thing that I wish Mark Briggs did differently in his book would be to describe in more detail how the entrepreneurs got their blogs and sites noticed. I know he said over and over that they filled a void in the news world, but how did they get themselves noticed? Did they network like crazy or post their link all over the Internet? I have a blog and it's not for news (I just use it to write about my experiences with writing and journalism) but I find it hard to get people to look at it. I post my links on Twitter and Facebook, but it's not enough. I want to know more about how these entrepreneurs did it so that I can apply it to myself. It's not enough to know that they did it and that it's possible for us to as well, but Briggs should explain more about how to do it. I know that every story must be different and not everyone does the same thing, but it'd be nice to read a few stories of how people did it.

Maybe it'll be harder because my blog isn't filling a need or being beneficial to anyone, but it'd still be nice if it got more traffic. I like to think that the things I post will be entertaining to someone but I don't think anyone besides my family and friends read it. I know that I can always send the link to potential employers so they can see my writing in that kind of format, but it'd be more impressive if I could tell that employer that I actually have readers. Maybe this is something that we'll talk about in class or that will be discussed in the book later on, but I'm definitely curious about it.

Not the Brightest Idea

Looking through the blogs of other people in the class I kind of realized that maybe I didn't do too well with my list of how to save journalism. I was thinking more of saving print and I focused my list more around that. I wasn't really thinking digitally because for some reason I thought we were supposed to think of how to save print. Anyways, a lot of my list had some really strange and not too bright ideas. I tried to think of ten in one sitting and you can see as the ideas get progressively worse as the list goes on. It's actually really hard to think of ideas to save print because as we all know, digital versions are becoming more and more popular. As hard as it is to think of ways to save it though, I don't think print will ever die. It can't. I think that even if newspapers were to stop producing print copies, magazines would still continue to. There's just something more intriguing about buying a magazine in print than on an e-reader. I think it's a visual thing or the glossy cover, but either way, I don't think print magazines are going anywhere. Basically what I'm trying to say is that even though it seems hard to think of ways to save print, it's also going to be kind of hard to get rid of it.

Back to the idea of saving journalism in a digital realm though. There are so many different options for this one. The main idea I've taken away from Mark Briggs's book though is that you have to think of something new. You can't keep doing the same thing as the person before you because then you'll never go anywhere. In chapter two he said, "Each of these new-era news startups has a different approach to the same business opportunity: publishing news on a topic area in a way that no one else is doing, then attracting an audience and becoming an influential voice" (51). That sounds way easier than it actually is. I'll start thinking of some ideas and save that for my next post.

Entrepreneurs: Inspiring or Depressing?

As I was reading through Entrepreneurial Journalism by Mark Briggs I wasn't quite sure how to feel. On the one hand, seeing how these everyday people have become so successful on their own is very inspiring. On the other hand though, the chances of achieving their levels of success is rare and comes only with a lot of hard work, which is rather depressing. It's not that hard work scares me, because it doesn't. What scares me is putting in all of that hard work and still not getting anywhere due to the competitiveness of this field and the lack of financial stability that it provides. This is the field I love though and I have no intentions of backing away from it. I might as well continue reading the book and learn what I can for my best chance of survival.

A lot of the people featured in Briggs's book started out as average people just trying to fill a void they saw in the news world. They had to dedicate their lives to their blogs and start-ups in order to be as successful as they are today. I think a big reason that this sounds so scary and intimidating to me is because I'm a student. I don't have sixteen hours a day to dedicate to something that won't provide me with money or a degree. This is the depressing side of entrepreneurism.

Being a student is also where the inspiration comes in though. I still have two semesters left to learn all that I can so that when I graduate in May, I'll be as prepared as I can be. It's no longer like I'm taking classes just to get a good grade and move on to the next thing. I'm taking classes that will give me skills that I will actually use to apply to my future and the career that I'll have. I have all of these resources available to me (this class included) so that I can come up with awesome ideas and become more prepared for when I'm out there trying to create something. I think that's pretty inspiring.

Women's Magazines as Actual Journalism

When most people think of women's magazines they think of articles on sex and beauty and pages full of fashion spreads. While many of these popular magazines do still have these elements, some of them are actually producing real journalism and I think it's important to take note of this.

For a long time now my favorite magazine has been Cosmopolitan and I would love nothing more than to write for them one day. If I could change one thing about the magazine though, it would be it's lack of journalistic articles. I'm not necessarily talking about news stories, but I would like to see some more issue stories with investigative reporting. One magazine that is doing this great though is Glamour and lately I've found myself reading it a lot more than I have in the past.

The September issue featured stories such as "Cocaine Almost Killed Me", which talked about abuse and addiction, "Stop That Woman", which investigated the desire that some women have to be perfect and why it isn't actually possible, and "Are You a Nearlywed?", which looked at the trend of how more and more couples are forgoing marriage. Obviously these aren't hard hitting stories, but they're investigative and they're the type of stories that should be featured in women's magazines. They have substance to them and I believe that they are of journalistic quality.

Glamour also routinely features stories on rape, as well as other legal and social issues which affect women. I think it's important for women's magazines to feature these type of stories because they keep women informed of the issues going on around them. These stories are interesting and they are the kind that I would like to write one day.

With all of that being said about Glamour though, I would like to point out that I do believe Cosmo is getting better, especially since Joanna Coles became editor-in-chief. In the September issue, they had issue stories such as "I Fought for the Right to Get Married - and Now I'm Divorced" and "I'm Too Young...For Parkinson's Disease." In the October issue there was "I'm Too Young...For a Brain Tumor" as well as a special report called "The Ambition Gap." The report spanned ten pages and explored how many women are earning more than men and have more ambition, and how this affects relationships.

I think that women's magazines are a great place to feature journalistic and investigative pieces and I think that these magazines should be doing it more. Stories on fashion and sex can only be appealing for so long and women's magazines should work on incorporating more feature articles into their pages. Cosmo claims to focus on woman empowerment but I want them to realize that this shouldn't be done only through articles about pleasing men. I believe that featuring more investigative journalism could actually help to up their readership.