This Just In...

Press Club Members Get Tips On Planning For Their Future

 
On Wednesday evening, Jan. 14, the Atlanta Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists teamed up to present New Year, New Career: Planning for the Future, a discussion session focusing on, you guessed it, careers in this crazy business in these crazy times.
The workshop featured a panel of folks from different occupations: Glen Fagan, of Constangy Brooks & Smith, an employment law firm; Emily Sanders, president and CEO of Sanders Financial Management and Caroline Wilbert, head of Wilbert Content Co.
The session’s moderator was Helen Cauley, a freelance journalist and co-host of the radio program Weekend Dish.
Cauley led an informative discussion that focused mainly on freelancing and its benefits and challenges.
She has been a successful freelancer for years, with much of her work appearing in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She talked about how, as one might expect, a key to being successful as a freelancer is to establish a relationship with one or more clients that will produce a consistent stream of work.
While that can be challenging, the rewards can be rich, if not financially at least in the flexibility that it affords.
Wilbert echoed that sentiment.
She is a former reporter with the AJC who left a few years ago seeking more flexibility. As a mother of young children, she wanted a work schedule that would allow her to spend enough time with her children, but also pay her enough, she said.
It wasn’t easy at first, she said, because while she found an arrangement that let her continue to write and keep a schedule more to her liking, eventually that arrangement ended when the company had to make cuts.
So she struck out on her own.
It’s been a tough road trying to develop clients, she said, but she’s gaining momentum now and feels pretty good about things.
Fagan talked about some of the legal issues one might face in trying to go it alone.
He pointed out the benefits of incorporating by taking on S corporation or LLC (limited liability corporation) status.
What are the benefits?
If something goes wrong, and for some reason you find yourself the target of a lawsuit, having the corporation status protects your personal assets, allowing only your company’s assets to be at risk.
Sanders agreed. She was a former financial executive at BellSouth who decided to start her own company.
Like most who attempt such an endeavor, she faced challenges, including a divorce not long after she began her venture.
But by developing and making use of a strong network of connections, she was able to succeed, and has now been in business for several years.
She also recommended using a payroll service, even if your payroll consists of only you, because it can help with tax and compensation issues.
For communications professionals - journalists, public relations practitioners and the like - these are difficult and uncertain times.
The days of being able to count on one employer that you can stick with for 30 or 40 years then walk away from with a gold watch seem to be over.
While that can be unsettling, it can also be invigorating. It forces you to think of new ways to do what you want to do.
That can be beneficial, because it allows you more of an opportunity to set your own terms.
The downside of course, is the risk of failure.
Also, it forces you to do some things that you might not have ever imagined yourself doing, such as selling.
Caroline and I talked a little about how for some of us, that can be the toughest thing. Finding potential clients, pitching ideas for projects and negotiating the terms isn’t necessarily what we signed on for when we studied journalism or communications in school.
But you might have to do it.
If you’re able to get some good advice, though, from people who have been there, done that - such as those on the panel - you can see that it’s not impossible.
The APC and SPJ will team up on another workshop, this one focusing on networking, on Wednesday, Jan. 28.
Come on by - it might be a good chance to learn something, and of course, do some networking.
 
 
Rob Douthit, formerly of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, writes a blog, www.atlantaautobeat.blogspot.com, and for other Web sites including Carlist.com and Blackprofessionals.com.