1. Find your number one skill
I journalists require a wide range of skills, from writing headlines to spotting a story in a database. Everyone working in the media should take time to thoroughly understand their own strengths and weaknesses.
Summary
You need to build your career or business on what you do best.
2. Expand your work
Surviving as a freelance journalist usually means diversifying your skills outside of journalism. Working as a speaker and consultant is highlighting my strengths. Developing skills that solve other people’s problems is key. Expand your ‘slash’ work: become a journalist/videographer/data expert, for example.
3. Embrace risks
Entrepreneurs take risks and succeed because of it. They launch new initiatives, try out new ideas, and regularly learn new skills, with no certainty about how things will turn out.
4. Accept that journalism has changed
There may be some purists who don’t like using the word “promote,” but that’s exactly what we do. The work of journalists is now monitored in terms of page impressions and social media shares. Journalists have become marketers without even realizing it. Building a social media presence is a must.
5. Use social media wisely
Social media is an important part of a journalist’s role. It’s full of information, and a super fast way to find contacts. But social media comes with many dangers, not least of which is its ability to suck us in and waste our time. Those who use social media know well which platforms work. I focus on entrepreneurs, so my main network is LinkedIn, while Twitter has limited value.
The future of media is uncertain and no one can remotely predict where we’ll be in 2030. My advice: adapt, change, and be entrepreneurial if you want to survive or, better yet, thrive.
Source jounalism.co.uk










