I Join the Fourth Estate - A New Career?
I have a pretty good job history.
I graduated Ball State in December of '92 without a job. I moved back in with my parents which didn't really work out that well. In mid-January, my father looked over at me while watching t.v. and said it was about time for me to get my own place.
With that nudge, I moved to Fairborn, Ohio (a Dayton suburb) to live with the future Divine Mrs. M. While there, I got a job at Circuit City selling T.V.s for four months until Fidelity Investment in Cincinnati saved me from a life of selling extended warranties.
After 6 years, I joined my current firm. I don't really plan on moving any time soon. But I'm now going to moonlight a little....by joining the fourth estate.
Regular readers know that I had a brief obsessive stint writing letters to the editor to my regional newspaper, The Sunday Challenger. I wrote ten in ten weeks and had all published over eleven weeks. At some point, I started to get tired of responding to what the paper wrote. I saw this ad for a freelance reporter and applied. I sent the editor copies of all my letters to him, a copy of The Pure Investor, and this blog's address.
I waited, I left a few messages and finally on Monday he called and said I was the paper's newest freelance reporter.
Great! What does that mean? I wasn't quite sure and said so.
The editor told me that he would every week or so e-mail all the freelance reporters with stories he needed covered. Whoever responded first and said they could meet the deadline got the job. Later that day, I received my first e-mail from him and jumped on it. It's now mine. I go on my first assignment next Monday at 2:00. I have to write a 750 to 1,000 word article on an estalished local business I won't mention yet and I'll get paid enough for a nice dinner. Is that good? I don't know-or care. Does it sound like fun? Yep, so I'm doing it.
So it's not a new career. I've only had two "real" jobs in 14 years - I'm not counting Circuit City. I'm solid, consistent, dependable, and a little boring. Maybe this freelance thing will take off, who knows. But it sure beats selling extended warranties on big screens.
Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted.
I can't wait for my first by-line.
Stay You.
Back to Main Page
I graduated Ball State in December of '92 without a job. I moved back in with my parents which didn't really work out that well. In mid-January, my father looked over at me while watching t.v. and said it was about time for me to get my own place.
With that nudge, I moved to Fairborn, Ohio (a Dayton suburb) to live with the future Divine Mrs. M. While there, I got a job at Circuit City selling T.V.s for four months until Fidelity Investment in Cincinnati saved me from a life of selling extended warranties.
After 6 years, I joined my current firm. I don't really plan on moving any time soon. But I'm now going to moonlight a little....by joining the fourth estate.
Regular readers know that I had a brief obsessive stint writing letters to the editor to my regional newspaper, The Sunday Challenger. I wrote ten in ten weeks and had all published over eleven weeks. At some point, I started to get tired of responding to what the paper wrote. I saw this ad for a freelance reporter and applied. I sent the editor copies of all my letters to him, a copy of The Pure Investor, and this blog's address.
I waited, I left a few messages and finally on Monday he called and said I was the paper's newest freelance reporter.
Great! What does that mean? I wasn't quite sure and said so.
The editor told me that he would every week or so e-mail all the freelance reporters with stories he needed covered. Whoever responded first and said they could meet the deadline got the job. Later that day, I received my first e-mail from him and jumped on it. It's now mine. I go on my first assignment next Monday at 2:00. I have to write a 750 to 1,000 word article on an estalished local business I won't mention yet and I'll get paid enough for a nice dinner. Is that good? I don't know-or care. Does it sound like fun? Yep, so I'm doing it.
So it's not a new career. I've only had two "real" jobs in 14 years - I'm not counting Circuit City. I'm solid, consistent, dependable, and a little boring. Maybe this freelance thing will take off, who knows. But it sure beats selling extended warranties on big screens.
Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted.
I can't wait for my first by-line.
Stay You.
Back to Main Page
posted by Howard McEwen, CFA at Wednesday, October 20, 2004
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