Hey everyone! Long time no blog! Sorry about that. I’ve been on the road a lot this last month, and also trying to write 4,000 things at once. It was not a good combination, as I’m sure you can imagine. And now I’m off this week for PPAI Vegas, so hooray, MORE TRAVEL! But, I do have a little downtime today, so I thought I would share some of my 2013 work resolutions with you all. Boring? Exciting? Who can say? All I know is I always like reading yearly resolutions from the writers I follow online, so hopefully I can deliver a similarly interesting experience. So, here we go! Arranged in no particular order are my goals for 2013:
1. Take more vacations.
I took my first vacation in maybe two years last week. Definitely very much needed! I find it easy to get locked into “workworkwork” mode sometimes, where I don’t pick my head up all day and just keep grinding away at what’s in front of me. This is a terrible and stupid habit for a ton of reasons, and it was unbelievably helpful for me to step away for a week and just let my mind relax. So next year, more downtime!
2. Get better at social networking.
This was my first year at PM where I could say with confidence that I did “okay” with my share of our social networking responsibilities. Now I’ll grant that “okay” is better than my usual “nonexistent,” but obviously I would like to do better. Hopefully 2013 will be the year that I get a solid grasp on social media and can finally say with confidence that I can use it well.
3. Write more hard news stories.
I don’t do a ton of work on our newsletters (that is more the realm of Kyle/Colleen/Elise), but I do write the occasional article for them. While I’m happy with everything I wrote for them in 2012, I did have a handful of chances this year to break some more “aggressive” news stories that I ended up backing off of for a number of reasons. By “aggressive” I mean articles that would have essentially been investigative reporting, say about something like “Company X rumored to have embezzled Y dollars from employees in massive tax evasion scheme.” Now obviously that’s a hypothetical example and in reality I didn’t sit on any stories that were quite that big, but I did let a few decently big leads on stories go that I wish I hadn’t. For 2013, I want to be able to say that I pursued all the meaningful “hard” story leads that were offered to me, whether they amount to anything or not.
4. Reach out to readers/the industry more, just to chat
I read something about a reporter I like a while back that explained how, every month or two, she would email old story sources to check in, say hi, and see if there was anything they wanted to talk about. By doing this she ended up with a ton of leads and even landed a career-making story. It’s such a simple, brilliant idea, I’m actually embarrassed to admit it’s something I never considered doing before. So, to any of beloved and too-kind interview sources that may be reading this, get ready to get even MORE emails and phone calls from me! Wooooooo! Also, if anyone reading has something they think the rest of the industry should know about, send me an email at mailto:[email protected] and let’s talk!
5. Compile a Top Distributors list I’m actually happy with.
I’ve handled PM’s top distributor list for the last four years, and I’ve yet to get it quite perfect. I’ve gotten it close a couple times, but even still there is always some company’s information I miss or a CEO who I can’t line up for an interview in time that ends up making the piece less than I want it to be. It’s an exceptionally popular piece, one of the most-read on our site, so I’d really like to make 2013 the year I make it absolutely perfect.
That’s it guys! Thanks for reading, and see you all next week!
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MONDAY MIKE FACT: Went to North Bowl for the second time over the weekend. It’s this little hipster-dipster bowling alley in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philly. Beautifully decorated, clean and has the most amazing vegetarian buffalo wings I’ve ever had. Plus, it’s got super-cheap beer and plays great, upbeat indie music throughout the night! If all this sounds like something you’d maybe be into, you should definitely check it out next time you’re in the area.
