Personal Branding for Entrepreneurial Journalists and Creative Professionals

Sara Kelly

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781315437552
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Betriebswirtschaft
• Subtopic: Unternehmertum

Personal Branding for Entrepreneurial Journalists and Creative Professionals outlines and describes the complete process of building and growing a successful personal brand. Focused on the independent journalist or creative professional in the new digital marketplace, Sara Kelly gives readers the ability to create the sort of personal brand that not only stands out, but remains relevant for years to come. Features such as exercises and worksheets will guide readers in creating the various components of their personal brand, and case studies of real-world branding scenarios will allow readers to analyze the practical aspects of implementing a personal brand. Covering theory and practice, this text is a powerful resource for modern journalists, multimedia storytellers, and content creators hoping to ply their talents online and beyond.

1
The Changing Employment Marketplace

In the first years of the 21st century, after the dot-com boom and bust and then the terror attacks of 2001, journalists, thinkers, and economists were hard at work trying to determine how the economic exuberance of the 1990s had so quickly devolved into the economic insecurities of the aughts. In truth, the economic slump that became so widely apparent in late 2001 had been years in the making. A general rule with economic trends is that by the time you notice them, it is too late to do much about them. They are already in full force.

Although the Internet was in common use by the turn of the 21st century, its full impact was yet to be felt. Even the best economic minds at the time could not fully grasp the effects this new technology would have on global economic markets. In fact, we do not yet know the extent to which the Internet will ultimately change human life.

Despite their inability to predict the future with complete accuracy, The Rise of the Creative Class (2002) author Richard Florida and The World Is Flat (2005) author Thomas Friedman, among others, did understand that the Internet’s effects, whatever shape they would ultimately take, would be significant. The Internet would globalize—or flatten—the world, and an infinitely connected and accessible world would bring new importance to the geographic locations where people lived and work was done.

Friedman focused on economic factors such as outsourcing, offshoring, and insourcing. He explored how new possibilities in these areas would, through the natural forces of capitalism, create class divisions among workers as work that could now be done anywhere, thanks to the Internet, would move to wherever it could be done most inexpensively and efficiently. Aside from service workers such as nurses, home health care aides, restaurant servers, gardeners, farmers, and laborers, all of whom needed to be in a particular physical location to do their jobs, employment would become increasingly virtual, more work would be done outside of offices, and geographic location would gain new significance. Florida examined the issue through a cultural lens, focusing not on how widespread Internet use would change where work was done, but rather, how the mobility of labor markets would heighten the importance of geography—particularly cities.

Figure 1.1 The “gig economy” supports increasing numbers of freelance workers.

Credit: Shutterstock ID #331645418

Although we will not embark on a complete economic analysis here, both authors, from their own quite different perspectives at the time, described the early days of a massive global economic shift that continues to this day, and pondered its future consequences. Although both books are now old, looking back at them can help us to better understand current conditions and remember where all of this started.

It is a gross oversimplification to suggest that the Internet transformed the world economy. Of course there are multiple other significant factors that have helped shape the current economy and labor markets. Yet Friedman’s and Florida’s ideas endure. Both researchers, from their different perspectives, understood technology’s power to transform economies and cultures. And both rang the alarm over global trends they thought could bring economic and social devastation. Some of their predictions have since manifested in ways that could not have been anticipated even 10 years ago.

No one could have predicted how far the “gig economy” would have come by 2016, when the term “uberization” (a reference to Uber, the technology company that manages an elaborate network of freelance cabbies while owning no cars and employing no drivers) was applied to everything from higher education and banking to healthcare and trucking. In a late 2015 report from the Brookings Institution nonpartisan think tank, Jerry Davis, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, argued that “the death of the career and the rise of the gig economy are directly connected to changes in the shape of the American corporation.”¹

The proliferation of the Internet and the accelerated globalization it has brought has dramatically increased the flexibility of world markets and employment marketplaces. It has expedited an existing move toward freelance work, an arrangement that brings increasing numbers of independent contractors more freedom and flexibility while depriving them of the benefits in-house workers often receive—not just health insurance and pensions (or 401(k)s), but also a sense of community and loyalty to the corporate or work family.

That more work can now be done remotely, virtually, and flexibly, in distributed locations at every hour of the day, has certainly increased business efficiency, allowing companies to operate more nimbly, more quickly, and with lower overhead costs and a decreased commitment to employees. These changes have allowed companies like Airbnb (which connects property owners to guests willing to pay to stay in those properties for one or more nights) and Uber to flourish.

Employees are expensive, healthcare and insurance costs are always rising, and organizations—including many in the media and creative industries, and across higher education—are increasingly turning to independent contractors to do the same work once done by traditional full-time employees. Historically, these workers, who were often well compensated by companies that were actually invested in their welfare, even when they were not at work, enjoyed a sense of community and an attachment to both their fellow employees and the company itself. You may recall stories of longtime employees receiving gold watches at their retirement, along with generous pensions that would sustain them for the rest of their living years. Those stories are rare today.

Younger workers and workers new to the employment marketplace may not recall the era of company loyalties and corporate community. You yourself may have spent all of your working life in the era of the gig economy. Yet freelance, casual, or gig workers, as they age, and more advanced workers who remember the old days will notice that the shift to contract work requires a different and more diverse skill set than they may have once needed.

Regardless of how you may feel about it, the reality is that the entire global economy is moving toward a casual workforce, or flexible, temporary, or part-time workers who adjust their hours to accommodate employers’ needs, and who receive no benefits or health insurance, and must pay their own taxes and expenses. There is a good chance this describes you.

The morality or appropriateness of this arrangement is something best left to our political leaders to sort out. Your job is to make the most of the current employment marketplace, and to find ways to work within it. Of course there are many attractive aspects to contingent or casual work. Among the better-known perks of the new employment paradigm are flexible schedules and the ability to work from home.

While office work fosters a sense of community those who work from home sometimes miss, few workers complain about being able to stay home and spend more time with family and friends. Compared to traditional nine-to-five desk jobs, flexible work has real appeal. The arrangement can improve work-life balance; however, it can also lead to isolation or even longer work hours, as work life bleeds into home life in ways not possible when both lives were physically separate.

Like it or not, we are living in a gig economy. With decreasing support from governments, industries, and employers (as even large legacy corporations downsize their full-time workforces to become more nimble and efficient), we are increasingly on our own to create, build, and maintain our own careers. Even those who work traditional jobs for established companies no longer enjoy the guarantees their predecessors might have taken for granted. None of us can afford to assume that a good job will sustain us until retirement. Many, both creatives and those employed in more easily defined industries and positions, now find themselves having to think about things they may have never given much thought to before, and in ways they may have never previously imagined. Essentially, they have had to think like businesspeople, marketing, shaping, and selling their skills and themselves just to maintain a distinct identity in an increasingly crowded field. It is a challenge for most, and personal branding lies at its heart.

Whether you work in a traditional environment or you are carving out an independent career for yourself, you need to conceive, develop, and grow your personal brand. This alone can seem like a full-time job if you are not organized and strategic about it. That is why this book exists.

A Glance at the Official Picture

In the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks employment trends by occupation, employment sector, geography, and other characteristics. BLS statistics are robust, offering in-depth insights into all aspects of the job market, identifying trends, and providing a big-picture view of the economy. However, BLS data does not account for entrepreneurial and freelance activity. That is largely because, although the trend is toward freelance and entrepreneurial work, most of the workers the government knows about are employed by companies and other people.

BLS data do track some creative jobs and industries you may want to learn more about. After all, most people preparing to graduate from college and begin new careers still plan to take jobs rather than launching an entrepreneurial venture right away. Yet it is important to keep in mind that entrepreneurship, or working for yourself, is a viable and growing possibility—if not now, then perhaps in a later phase of your career. Most of us know of entrepreneurs who have done pretty well for themselves. (Perhaps you’ve heard of Bill Gates or Sir Richard Branson? More on them later.)

Figure 1.2 The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks employment trends in the U.S.

Credit: Shutterstock ID#476166214

The vast majority of entrepreneurs work incredibly hard—usually more hours than those who labor in traditional offices—and lacking the safety net that an employer provides, the work often never really ends. An entrepreneur is on the clock around the clock. That said, many believe the tradeoffs are well worth the extra work. How often do you hear people complain about their jobs or their employers? You’ve probably done this yourself. By contrast, how often have you heard people declare a desire to work for themselves or to be their own boss?

Case rested.

According the BLS, the fastest growing occupations through 2024 are in the service sector. These are jobs that, by and large, cannot be outsourced to other countries. The list includes no inherently creative or entrepreneurial occupations; however, many positions that may have once been firm-based (such as consulting and sales positions) can now be done independently.

The BLS does track the growth of some creative professions. Following are highlights of a few. Keep in mind that the numbers don’t ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• Preface
• 1 The Changing Employment Marketplace
• 2 What Is Creativity?
• 3 How Brands Began
• 4 Brand You
• 5 What’s Your Story?
• 6 Naming Rites
• 7 Creatives Need Content
• 8 You Are an Influencer
• 9 Check Your Skill Sets
• 10 Time for a Tune-Up
• 11 Manage Your Time
• Resources
• Index