Journalist Raymond Joseph shares his top tips for surviving as a freelance journalist.
Veteran journalist Raymond Joseph, a South African freelancer, shared his 24 tips on surviving the world of freelancing at the 2018 African Investigative Journalist Conference (AIJC) on Wednesday, October 31, at Wits University.
1. Have many skills and not just one
Writing, take photographs, make video and do everything in-between.
2. Have a method of saving
Set up a way of saving money so that when December comes you are comfy.
3. Attend any training available
Look for opportunities and continuously reinvent.
4. Always try out new tools
Keep trying out new tools, never pay for them and if they don’t work, move on.
Look for opportunities and skill yourself up to make yourself unique to the market #AIJC18
— Nemo (@NaeemahDudan) October 31, 2018
5. Invest in a good quality phone that can take videos and pictures
6. If possible, get a contract
Always talk money and send an email to capture the discussion if there is no contract.
7. Make folders on your email to keep track of everything
It’s a good trick for organisation and it will be easy to search back in the future.
8. Once you’ve done the job and delivered, send an invoice
9. Get to know people outside the news desk
Make friends with someone who is not the news editor, like people in the accounts department who are key people to know.
10. Don’t be afraid to walk away from a job
Be very careful of starting off cheap. You need to respect what you are doing and demand what your job is worth says Joseph #AIJC18
— Nemo (@NaeemahDudan) October 31, 2018
11. Always meet deadlines
If you are not going to meet your deadline, let your editor know in advance and not on the day.
It is also important for journalists to meet deadlines and find people they can trust, such as credible sources, while working on stories. #AIJC18
— Letlhogonolo Mooketsi (@FefeMooketsi) October 31, 2018
12. Pitch something they couldn’t have done themselves
13. Work out what rate you should be getting
14. Try not to work from home
@rayjoe: work away from home. Share premises. You can’t get up and wear pyjamas all day. If you become sloppy, it will reflect in your work #AIJC18 #freejournalists
— AIJC (@AIJC_Conference) October 31, 2018
15. Find people you trust to bounce ideas off
16. Keep Notebooks
Write story names on the inside of the cover to locate story-specific notes.
17. Keep a spreadsheet of all the work done
Do this on Excel and write the job name, date, commissioned by, pay, tax, number of person the word was done for.
18. Keep the slip for everything that is an expense for tax
19. Build a good rapport
Your reputation is your greatest asset.
20. Apply for reporting grants
Read the conditions of the grant and meet all the requirements.
21. One story = many sales
One can produce many stories from one event based on different angles.
22. Negotiate your copyright
@rayjoe: you own your story. The copyright lies not in the idea, the copyright lies in the idea. You’re selling the right to publish #AIJC18 #freejournalist
— AIJC (@AIJC_Conference) October 31, 2018
23. It’s all about contacts
Build contacts up as much as you can.
24. Always give a helping hand where you see fit
When seeing a young journalist on the field always remember that you were young once.
Closing off, @rayjoe advises young journalists to help people and affirms that, “it always pays off”. #AIJC18
— Letlhogonolo Mooketsi (@FefeMooketsi) October 31, 2018
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