"Getting out of the business" resource thread

Even though this non-inquisitor isn't exactly on topic, I didn't think it warranted it's own thread.

But have any of you, when applying (or at least considering applying) for a job look less at what that job can do for you and more at the market as a whole because you never know when your next layoff is? I've seen a handful of jobs, on this board included, that I think "Oh, that looks interesting" but the market is so isolated that when the inevitable layoff or frustration for working with a skeletal staff and unappreciative owners that when I eventually need to look for another job, I find myself having to uproot the family once again.

Am I alone in this?

 

Long-lost former semi-regular here (not that it really matters). Came to the board after an extended absence because I'm at a point where I think I need to pack the whole thing in as far as sportswriting goes. This thread has been really helpful, to see how many people have A. stepped away and B. not turned into crumbling hunks of SEO-friendly marketing jelly as a result.

This industry, this job, this idea, can be an awful lot of fun. But as I scrolled through page after page of job openings last night, searching only for "writing" gigs in my area, I realized there was a serious lack of openings that fit my general parameters. I always thought that was due to the elite status of good sportswriting jobs, that you just had to bust your ass for a while and get yourself in the right position to succeed. Well, I've busted my ass for more than 10 years, and I've met a lot of people and made a lot of seemingly good connections, and yet here I am, still searching job openings because the thing I have going on now is no longer any good.

And that's when it hit me. There aren't a lot of great sportswriting jobs, because what we do actually isn't all that valuable. Don't get me wrong, people care deeply about sports and want to be told about what's going on, but they don't care about it as much as they care about their health. They don't care about it as much as they care about their money. They don't care about it as much as they care about their kids' education. What we do, I begrudgingly admit, is the toy box. And it's a great toy box. But there's a reason you keep the toys in the toy box instead of strewn about your whole house. It's a box. It's got limited space. And only a few toys ever get played with. The rest get tossed in the garbage.

This is fun work, and a very fortunate few who have A. talent, B. timing, and C. luck (in the form of going to the "right" school or being friends with the "right" person or making the "right" phone call to the "right" place) are the ones who get to do it. I thought, for a long time, that if I killed myself to be good, if I pushed myself to be available and willing to work, if I made my writing better and myself more visible, that eventually the luck would come around. And it hasn't. I'm not the next Gary Smith, I have no illusions of grandeur when it comes to my ability. But I've written some things I've liked, I've written some things other people have liked, and I've carved out a semi-presence in my beat. And that took 10 years, and what I've got to show for it, really, is very minimal.

So at 32 years old, am I supposed to keep on waiting, to keep on putting aside things like a house, an engagement ring, kids, dog, etc. until I figure out a way to afford them while covering sports? Or should I find a job that I'm going to like, that's going to reward me for my hard work, and that isn't going to constantly have that underlying sense of "none of this fucking matters, really?" Because if what we did really mattered, there'd be dozens of jobs in every city. The supply of jobs doesn't exist because the demand for sportswriting doesn't exist. I admire those who stick with this, who keep that optimism alive. But I also wonder if all those talented, not-yet-lucky, able writers/editors/producers/announcers couldn't find something useful to do with their talents that would also be lucrative.

I do love doing this work. I just don't think I love it enough to let it beat the hell out of me for another 10 years. And I know it's true, because saying that doesn't fill me with a sense of dread or depression that I'm "giving up the dream."

I'm not the first or the last to come to these conclusions, I know. I guess I just needed to vent. Somehow this seemed like the place. Carry on.

 

I think you answered your own question. You obviously want out. Time to get out. You might have to go back to school to find what you want though.

 

I loved being a sportswriter. I really did. The situations I worked in (and the bosses I worked for) weren't good to me at all, but I loved my job: deadlines, brainstorming, researching and writing stories. I loved it and identified it. I was a sportswriter.

Then I left. Never mind the reasons; they're not relevant. Ya know what? I didn't miss it. I truly thought I would. I thought I'd miss it every day.

But I didn't. And a year ago, I landed in a job that uses my skills. Not my writing skills; the whole package. It's not a writing gig but it's taken -- and will take -- me places I never dreamed of going, and I mean that literally and professionally.

Here's the totally unexpected part: I love it. I didn't think I would, honestly. Last week -- after being here just over a year -- I realized I really, really love it. For whatever reason, it hadn't really occurred to me until now. To me, it's kind of bizarre -- being *happy* in my work situation. THAT hasn't happened for me, well ... EVER.

Really, I never thought anything would take the place of my love of writing. I learned that there's more than one love of my professional life, and the one I'm in now has made other one a distant memory.

I said all that to say to those who claim they're staying in because they love it and would miss it - no, you won't. Oh, maybe for little bit, but then life will take over.

You say you love it. But why? Look at those reasons and go from there. It's not like other jobs don't have the rush of deadlines, adrenaline surges, late nights or whatever you think you might miss.

Some posts on here make me think of bad relationships. If your buddy came to you and said he was miserable in his relationship but was so in love, would you suggest he stay? Or if your sister was getting the shit beat out of her by her husband, what would you tell her? Or if your teenage son or daughter came home crying because First Love dumped him or her. "Sorry, Kiddo, there's only one love of you life, so it's misery from here on out." Um ... no.

Love isn't a reason to stay in a job. There's another love out there. You deserve it.

 

That is a great post, KJIM, and so true.

That is also where much of the perspective that those of us who have left the business comes from -- experiencing the fact that things can be, and in many cases, are, just as good as, or even better, now than when we were still working in journalism. It is possible to be happy -- and maybe even happier -- doing something else, and to wind up not missing journalism all that much at all.

 

Going to raise a question on here, and if it's been talked about as a thread elsewhere then my bad...

Who all here is in sports information? Waiting to hear if I'll get selected for an interview... one of our NAIA schools is in need of an assistant athletic director for communications. Several ADs and coaches said I'd be a shoo-in for a job like this because I've got two decades of journalism experience.

Some colleges won't look at you if you don't have any SI experience, even though you could be a journalist for 30 years. Other schools don't mind.

Anyone here with experience in a college SI office who used to write for newspapers?

 

Well, I finally walked across the stage to receive my Masters in Behavioral Sciences. Hope to get things going to become a counselor in the next month. Wow, I am really close to being completely out of the business.

 

Congratulations on obtaining your masters. That's a truly great achievement.

I won't say the same with regard to being out of the business, or on the verge of it. You must be excited for something new and different, though. At least, I hope you are, and certainly, I think you should be.

 

I've been pondering leaving the business lately, and this has nothing to do with my passion for my job. I've been in the business, be it full-time, part-time or freelancing for 25 years. But in the past month I've found myself just being more and more bitter with the situation. Cutting to the chase, I would be what you would consider a trailing spouse. My wife, who is also in the business, has made the last two moves based on her career. So I followed both times. The first time worked out real well for me. This time, not quite as much. I've had some neat gigs, but nothing that compares to my previous job both financially and rewarding from a sense of accomplishment for where I was working. My pay has been cut by 1/3 from what I was previously making, but the family, as a whole, is doing better because her career has taken off. There's been some positives for me, mainly getting back into writing after 10 years on the copy desk and winning multiple awards. But my professional satisfaction isn't being met. Top on that that most of the jobs around here are going to younger folks just out of college and more digital savvy, or so that is the perception, I've gotten the feeling that I'm just being left behind. Throw in there the sense of where I could be now had we not moved seven years ago and I'm just a wee bit bitter and disappointed. Two years ago, I went back to school to work on a degree in Economics. I'm almost through my Associates with the intent to transfer out to finish my Bachelor's. I've started to look at more sports management and economics careers. Right now, I just need something to get me excited about a change because it feels as if all the folks around me -- wife, close friends, former colleagues -- are succeeding in their careers, while I'm just floundering as the big fish in a very, very small pond.

 

Make up your mind that the economics degree is your going to be your focus. Based on your current situation, it sounds like it can be, and if you are thinking of doing something else, then it probably should be. Once you've decided this, the stuff related to your current job will become less important, and less seemingly emotionally paralyzing when it comes to thinking about whether you're "a success," or not.

You might be being left behind. But it doesn't matter, because you have other plans anyway...You see what I mean?

 

WriteThinking, I appreciate that. A change would be good for me no matter what.

 

I'm currently looking at a new opportunity outside of journalism — working for an advocacy group in which I'd be an office manager/communications person for the organization. Pay would be slightly more than what I'm making now and my schedule would be a lot better — mostly 9-5 during the week, no weekends, holidays off and 4-day work weeks in the summer). I'd be running its office, but I'd also be writing press releases, blog posts and run all of its social media, among other things. And I already have a couple of people within the organization that have encouraged me to apply for the position.

I thought about whether I'd miss being at a newspaper covering sports, and assessing my current situation, and my future prospects within the profession, I have determined that there aren't too many places for me to write sports and stay in the region in which I am now. There are only a handful of media outlets — none of which are hiring and all of which have laid people off in the last year. My current job is an hour from where my wife works, so she gets up early, often works late and we have one day a week we see each other for more than a half hour in a day. I also don't get much autonomy to pursue my own stories.

The potential new job's schedule aligns closely with my wife's, and, because it's in the same city where she now commutes an hour to, we'd eliminate the drive for her and live in the city both of us want to live in. I'd also have some freelancing opportunities because I'd still be free on evenings and weekends to supplement my income and fulfill myself to stay connected in the sports world.

My wife has asked me (because she's the one who told me about this particular opportunity) if I'm going to miss the job I have now, because while she has encouraged me to pursue this new opportunity, she wants to be sure I'll be happy with it.

The truth is, though, that there's no place for me to go at the paper I work for, no raises forthcoming for anyone and my SE gives me next to no freedom to choose my own stories. This new position would actually give me some creative freedom, a better schedule and a less toxic working environment. It would also allow my wife and I to spend more time with each other, not to mention more pay and the opportunity to earn more over time.

I'd love to have the opportunity in sports journalism to have more creative freedom and the opportunity to make more money and/or earn a promotion now and then. But it's not going to happen where I am now. And, because I don't want to leave the region where I am now, because I love the area and because my wife has a very good status at her job and would have to start from scratch anywhere else, I think the new opportunity would work out well and give me fulfillment.

For anyone else looking to get out, you have to do what's best for your current situation and what's going to make you happy and put food on your table. This will do it for me and my family. Will I miss being a sports writer? Yeah. I've loved covering the games, developing my own social media presence and even co-winning a couple of awards. But I'm confident my overall quality of life will be better if this new opportunity works out for me. Good luck to anyone else considering a change outside of journalism.