How to be an entrepreneur: Self-guided training

Freelancer Maya Smart and “Ask-the Recruiter” blogger Joe Grimm first taught this five-hour course during a weeklong live Webinar. We’ve gathered recordings and all of their tools and resources to offer you everything you need for a self-guided session on “How to be an entrepreneur as a journalist.”

This interactive course covers the nuts and bolts of setting up a business from legal and accounting questions to branding and marketing yourself.

“How to Be an Entrepreneur as a Business Journalist” was held late 2010, and “Sales Strategies for Freelance Business Journalists” was held August 2011.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

DAY 1: Figuring Out the Nuts and Bolts – Maya Smart will lead you through the legal and accounting aspects of setting up a journalism-based business, including how to structure and incorporate your business; what to watch for in contracts, including the issue of electronic rights; getting health, libel, and disability insurance; and figuring out what equipment and software you need.

DAY 2: Maintaining Your Social and Mental Health – Maya Smart offers tips on relationship building, dealing with isolation (home office or not?) and rejection, as well as handling ethical concerns. Are there worthwhile organizations to join?

DAY 3: Marketing Yourself – Maya Smart tells you how to find clients who will pay you well and on time and discusses whether you should specialize to make yourself more efficient. What topics sell well now, and does multimedia reporting pay?

DAY 4: Branding Yourself – Joe Grimm tells you how to define your brand as a journalist, including what you need to do to establish yourself as an expert and how to promote your brand via social media and other means.

DAY 5: Live Chat with Successful Journalist Entrepreneurs – Joe Grimm will host a live chat with five successful business journalists turned entrepreneurs. Listen as these entrepreneurial journalists tell their stories to Joe Grimm.

Take a look through the recordings, resources and tools. At your own pace, you can walk through the self-guided lesson on being an entrepreneur.