We write. We edit. We speak. We teach. We mentor.
We collaborate. We create websites for our own businesses, as well as the businesses of some of our clients. We dream up apps. We build social media businesses. As a group, our knowledge base is on the cutting edge of healthcare, technology, finance and any other subject you can imagine.
There is no end to the intellectual gifts of each of you. I was reminded of that recently when working with ASJA Board Member Jennifer Goforth Gregory, who many of you know was the powerhouse behind Virtual Client Connections (in which ASJA members meet potential clients via Skype) and the SIGS forum groups. Jennifer has the capacity to think of an idea, diagram an entire template about how that idea will work, and put it into action by calling up a few more volunteers and convincing them to join in.
After about the third email of the afternoon, I finally wrote: YOU ARE A WINNER! (Yes, I wrote that in all caps. Jennifer was in a spin creating the new Member Networking and Member Recruitment and Retention committees.)
I’m a firm believer that ASJA members are all winners. ASJA today is a wonderfully collaborative, collegial group of people who quickly offer help to each other, on the forums or elsewhere. Volunteerism is rampant. Every one of ASJA’s Board of Directors spends anywhere from five to 40 hours a month, individually, ensuring that your ASJA membership stays valuable and relevant in today’s changing markets.
There are many who continuously contribute. Among them, we’ve had six amazing and well-organized conference chairs in the last year. Emily Paulsen and Tam Harbert co-chaired last year’s ASJA regional conference in Washington, D.C. This year, Lynn Freehill-Maye and Cindy Kuzma co-chaired the New York event.
And, we’re already looking ahead to Nov. 5-6 when Mickey Goodman and Echo Garrett co-chair a new regional conference. As a bonus, members Joanne Cleaver, Howard Baldwin and others are busy planning a writers’ salon for any of you who plan to join us at Content Marketing World in Cleveland this September.
Giving Back
Most ASJA members bring a collaborative spirit to the organization. But be sure, we are all in this for ourselves. We are the soul of our businesses and if we’re not looking out for ourselves, who would do that? Yet, most of us also realize that if we’re not giving back to others, getting anything for ourselves is far less gratifying.
Within the last four years, I have been among other ASJA members that have traveled the country to ASJA conferences in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington and New York. (I’ve also lived in Florida for three years, recently returning to Ohio.) It is a pleasure, as I get to know more of you, to spark ideas that turn into ASJA’s next great things.
We know that the changes we’re experiencing in the world of journalism are not going to end. But every cloud has a silver lining: as more full-time journalists seek to find their next jobs, ASJA has an advantage as being a collective mentor to additional gifted individuals. When more people collaborate, great things are bound to happen. I can’t wait to find out what those great things will be.
Still, I am bullish that entrepreneurial writers and editors can earn a healthy living in today’s economy. Flexibility, though, is key.
Why Be President?
Some of you may be wondering why a person decides he or she has the time and dedication to ASJA to become this organization’s president.
My conclusion is this: There are times in our lives in which we go with our gut. Besides the necessary tools required for managing an organization, my gut feeling is that ASJA needs leadership that is optimistic, albeit realistic, about the changing tenor of journalism; that understands the current book and e-book markets, as well as the rights that Google has usurped; that understands the current insatiable need for content created by the web; and that has greatly benefitted from an involvement in this organization before they ever thought about being a leader in it.
Here’s my story and why I’m dedicated to the good that ASJA can bring to a person’s career. I am a journalism graduate from Ohio State University. As a college gig I covered the Ohio Legislature. (GOP presidential contender John Kasich was a baby in the Ohio Senate at the time, by the way.)
Early on in my career, I was a reporter and editor at newspapers in Ohio, West Virginia and Georgia. I married a journalist and we had a son (relevant because he is now a journalist). My full-time newspaper career came to an end as I prepared to have a second child and we returned to our native state of Ohio.
This set into a motion a frantic and fruitful freelance career that has resulted in writing for national publications, regional publications, a dozen or more books, educational workbooks, as well as various and sundry content projects for private business clients and nonprofits. (Our second child, a daughter, is a marketer who appreciates good content.)
Periodically, like many of you, I have taken full-time jobs. Years ago, I was offered the combined position of editor-publisher for a weekly community newspaper that is currently owned by Gannett. Months later, I landed gleefully back into my home office, resigning that office gig in favor of managing a staff of one.
I took on another a few years later—associate publisher for an international trade journal. Again, I returned to my home office after deciding there wasn’t enough time in the day to carry on my independent writing business, in addition to the demands of that job.
In 2008, I went to Client Connections (then called Personal Pitch) at ASJA’s New York conference and four weeks later I landed a book contract after a brief conversation with a Penguin editor who was there.
I’m still paying back ASJA for the financial and emotional benefits that book project brought. Being a co-author on The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Branding Yourself changed the way I thought about my business. Today, I’m less frantic. My projects are fewer, but the pay is greater. In my core business, I write, edit and strategically brand special publications for traditional journalism markets, as well as others.
Occasionally, I take an interim gig, such as publisher for San Antonio Magazine, which I did for a few months back in 2012, immediately following the sudden death of the publisher there. (I had worked with one of the magazine’s owners as a project editor a few years before and received a call soon after the publisher’s death.)
Thanks to writing that book about personal branding, I’m more focused and deliberate in the business I do and the approach I take to clients (including magazine owners). It took a week to negotiate my contract for the San Antonio job. Put it this way: I’m no softie, but neither is any other successful CEO that I’ve encountered during my writing and publishing career.
I remember editing the 2009 ASJA conference program on a frigid December day. I was volunteering to co-chair the conference the following spring with Colorado member Sally Stich. Sniffling at my computer, I was sick with a flu as I also finished the final edit on my third book of the year. I’ll never have that kind of day again. Why? Because, thanks to ASJA, that final book of the year was the Idiot’s Guide that changed the trajectory of my career path.
So now, intellectually gifted group of writers, get about the business of admiring yourselves. Take a minute and a very deep breath. Reach up and pat yourself on your back. As a member of ASJA you have already accomplished a lot and I hope your involvement in this organization continues to enhance your career opportunities and enlighten you to the best business practices that will pay off for many years to come.