We’ve written previously about our business model for online publishing (http://chicagoartmap.com/transparency/?p=157). But as the months have passed, we’ve also taken the idea of the virtual workplace, skeleton crew and skeleton budget, and built an entire magazine network around it. We’ve created a new business environment with two main components: an enhanced virtual workplace, and a business optimized for freelancers.
Virtual Workplace Tools:
We’ve given up paper and we don’t pay rent. But one remote worker is a different ball game than 20 freelancers all working at home. Problems arise. So we innovate:
- A cheap microphone and free software is all you need to make an online instructional videos to teach someone how to work the software. Wish someone could just show you how to create a photo slideshow instead of directions? They’re quick to make and always available for a refresher. See an example here: http://vimeo.com/user1854735/videos
- Time-Shift Editorial Meetings – editorial meetings are recorded and made into downloadable podcasts.
- Skip the rent, but rent a conference room – they can sometimes be found on a cheap, hourly basis. We meet at this “co-workspace” http://www.ravenswoodcoworking.com/, so we’re not all gathered around a tiny kitchen table.
- Google Docs as 2-person bulletin boards – each staffer has an online document that serves as a communication sheet with their supervisor. Freelancers can log in, see what’s on the list, and get to work, regardless of who else is working.
Optimized for Freelancers:
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Slow payment (or non-payment) is a plague for freelancers. When writers and editors start, we do “PayPal-Per-Day”, which allows the starving writer to buy dinner at the end of the workday.
- “Find a real job while working for us“. We can’t offer benefits or a salaried position, but we can help you find an excuse to meet someone whose radar you want to be on.
- If you’re not going to get paid much for a piece, make it short. If it gets long, make it into two posts and get paid double.
- “Ask not what you can do for the magazine, ask what the magazine can do for you.” – with our pay, we’re not a final destination for our writers. The most critical question is to find out what the writer wants to do, and allow our freelance opportunity to help them be better positioned for their next step.