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If you're from the working class and too introverted to network properly, don't try freelancing. I got out of school in 2012 at the peak of newspapers bleeding

If you're from the working class and too introverted to network properly, don't try freelancing. I got out of school in 2012 at the peak of newspapers bleeding to death. All my contacts (a small pool given my non-flagship university) suggested I freelance for a living because I was young and mobile. But trying to be a freelance reporter in a hyper-competitive industry PLUS being an introvert PLUS being based in Texas PLUS not having credentials from the state's major journalism school (University of Texas in Austin) meant I was in an uphill battle. Unlike most would-be journalists I didn't have rich parents to send me money while I played newspaper reporter. So between getting offers to write for free "a great chance to pad my clips" I ended up doing low-skill blue collar jobs. Eventually I got hired by a small-town newspaper in a city you never heard of. It was worse than the blue collar jobs. Lasted about three months. Fast forward five years and I write business news. It's more money than I've ever made, it's real, impactful content, and it's in a major metropolis. Freelancing these days is for trust-fund kiddos like the author of the story. There's no place for working-class writers who are too socially introverted to play the network game.

chrisseaton 7y ago
> Freelancing these days is for trust-fund kiddos like the author of the story. What are you on about? The author has no trust fund. > There is no trust fund in my name He lives in a wet basement and has an income less than a Silicon Valley bonus check.
ridicter 7y ago
This was more or less my situation. I took an unpaid internship at Frontline on PBS while in college, accrued credit card debt, and realized this was a path for my richer peers--not me. They could afford to work their ways up to a financially sustainable role in the media hierarchy over the next decade of their lives; I needed something financially sustainable _now_. Having "only" your parents as a financial failsafe sucks, as in the case of this author. Having no failsafe sucks more. The latter situation is what the the vast majority of Americans experience--it's just that those of us in the prestige occupations or well-paying ones never really rub shoulders with these people. Props to the author. He's struggling mightily with the industry-wide decline, but still admitted his privilege within his situation.
wishrider 7y ago
So I understand it like this, if you are a journalist freelancer you take gigs on request from newspapers? What do you think about taking gigs from the crowd? I try to do this on wishpage.tv (check out the blog section). If you like it give me a shout-out or write about it, I'll reward it.

chrisseaton 7y ago

> Freelancing these days is for trust-fund kiddos like the author of the story. What are you on about? The author has no trust fund. > There is no trust fund in my name He lives in a wet basement and has an income less than a Silicon Valley bonus check.

ridicter 7y ago

This was more or less my situation. I took an unpaid internship at Frontline on PBS while in college, accrued credit card debt, and realized this was a path for my richer peers--not me. They could afford to work their ways up to a financially sustainable role in the media hierarchy over the next decade of their lives; I needed something financially sustainable _now_. Having "only" your parents as a financial failsafe sucks, as in the case of this author. Having no failsafe sucks more. The latter situation is what the the vast majority of Americans experience--it's just that those of us in the prestige occupations or well-paying ones never really rub shoulders with these people. Props to the author. He's struggling mightily with the industry-wide decline, but still admitted his privilege within his situation.

wishrider 7y ago

So I understand it like this, if you are a journalist freelancer you take gigs on request from newspapers? What do you think about taking gigs from the crowd? I try to do this on wishpage.tv (check out the blog section). If you like it give me a shout-out or write about it, I'll reward it.