The opinions of the entrepreneur are expressed.
I started my journalism career in 2004. It became clear in months: the industry changes – fast. Newsroom Layroff, budget cut and decrease in employees became the routine. The whisper of the “approaching cuts” became the annual realities. Every year brought more pressure to do less resources, less colleagues and more.
Finally, the tone of the industry completely changed. We went to defend the existence than reporting the news. I remember that the audience gave scripts to read the weather that requires “supporting local journalism.” Report in the world when giving you a gentle to save your work. Was modest and discovered.
I realized that I needed a Plan B.
For about eight years, I started building an apartment marketing agency, a correspondent and anchor for Canada’s largest private broadcaster. Quietly. Side hustles rocked in the newsroom. Some managers even banned them. It was a strange conflict: everyone knew that the industry shrinks, but he did not prepare for the next.
So I did it.
Over time, this agency grew silently in the background. And one day, it was great no longer needed the newsroom. I walked away and took full step in entrepreneurship.
What I don’t expect will become a central for many of my journalism skills to build and operate a successful job.
Here’s what translation is – and why you need to solve why the uncertainty in his career today.
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Presentations create more than discipline – they build trust
In journalism, deadlines were not flexible. If your segment is not ready for airtime, he did not go to the air – it’s so simple. There was no “trying a little behind.” This kind of real-time pressure is developing you to deliver no matter what. The more importantly, it teaches other people to surrender to you.
Here, the same way of thinking is a competitive advantage. If you consistently match dead dates, customers, employees or even yourself – you build a reputation as someone who can trust. In a world-filled world, this trust is rare and valuable.
Clarity is the most crushing capacity
As a journalist, my job was to get something ink – legislation, economics, criminal statistics – and it was to make it clearly, fast. I learned how to break the ideas to understand the story of a watcher who is still noticing the story.
That skill has been directly employed. Customers don’t look for more information – they want clarity. They want them to explain everything in a straight tongue, can explain with confidence and accuracy. If you can do this, you will also gain attention and loyalty in crowded markets.
Reading room is not only a social, a workmaster
There is an unspoken energy in each newsroom. Some days are tense. Others cooperate together. You learn to read body language, wait for their reactions and adjust tone accordingly. Sometimes you learn a difficult way – by saying something wrong. But finally, you are good in that.
This emotional exploration was important in the work. I trust the same ability to measure the room, whether in a sales call, a client pitch or the team verification. Knowing when to talk, when will break, and it is not very pleasant to be pivot – it is a rapprochement, close deals and people to dry.
Your visual presence sends a signal – if you like or not
It’s part of the work you show on TV. Light, clothing, posture, eye contact – everything issues. You have taught you to be seen because you are seen because it seems just heard.
I took this forward as a business owner. If I’m in a zoom call, I celebrate the content of the video or personally meet a customer, I think I show. Not because I’m interested in surface polishing because I understand the reliability of this existence. People are judgmental. Being intentionally from your appearance – your energy, tone, body language – is part of your brand.
To ask smart questions lead to better results
Great interviews do not occur, because the journalist speaks very much, because they did not ask for the occurrence, it happens because they did not ask. They listen. They dig. They help the subject to go to something real.
This skill set is applied almost anywhere in the case. I solve a customer, to hire a new team member or solve the problem of a campaign, asking a campaign to ask all the differences. Causing notions but not answers. Your questions are more valuable than your results.
Creating content is not a noise – a daily experience
“Content Marketing” was not fashion, journalists did it every day. To write the headlines. Movie boot segments. The sounds of sound. To make clips. We created daily, last date, quality and sequence.
When I started working, this content muscle was already set. I could write quickly. I could hit the video. I was able to find the story angle. It is easier to build an institution that manages the content. But even more, it helped me to communicate consistently through blogs, videos, emails and social media.
The storyteller is the bridge between facts and emotion
The basis of each news is a story. This does not change in work. In fact, the need for a narrative is more important. Because people do not receive according to information – they buy on the basis of faith.
I ask for a sales page that I have written a sales page or a webinary script, I ask what is the story? What is tension? What does it change in the end? Who is the hero? The storyteller is not hairy. This is the structure. How to help people care.
Research – builds reliability before speaking
Journalists do not force everything to do. Drill for sources, check the facts and taught each claim. This instinct – to confirm before publication – has been translated directly.
I do not trust the intestine feeling when you give marketing recommendations. I refer to trends, performance information, reference work. The research-backed approach is confident – and helps customers feel more confident in investment areas.
Related: Entrepreneurship is better than any personal growth book
Writing is a business super power
You are writing every day in journalism. Scripts, sounds, headlines, tweets, headlines. You learn to write tight. How do you learn to write with an effect. And you learn how to adapt your voice to the audience.
Here, this was one of the most useful tools I took with me. Clearly, convincing writing helps on the board – the website provides copying, email campaigns, charms, customers. In particular, it is indeed that it is so much content and common, that is acute and intentional, so much.
Working under pressure is the last team test
TV is not moving solo. Each show depends on manufacturers, editors, camera operators and synchronization printers, dense deadlines. If someone ates the ball, everyone feels.
It taught me how to lead me under pressure – and how to hire people who can manage it. Here, work goes side by side. Customers change direction. It takes a break. The ability to stay calm, adapt and move is what lovers are separating from experts.
Bottom line
When I left the journalism, I thought I got away from an industry that shrinks. What I realized, I said that I went to something I am preparing for everyone. Entrepreneurship was not the opposite of journalism – it was evolution. The same skills that help me succeed help me succeed.
So now I have a profession that feels indefinitely, say that: look closely. After your current role is over, you are building skills that will serve for a long time. You can only collect the exact tools you need for the next chapter.
Do not wait for the crisis to start your plan B. This is now, even install it now. It can be a very quiet project, this weekend is a free concern, a small experience – it can be something that gives security when work can no longer do.