It’s been quite the whirlwind these past few weeks as winter sports enter their section playoffs. I already have one eye on the spring sports season, as I’m preparing to send emails and put together a sports preview by myself for the first time. In the past, I gathered all the info, compiled it together, and sent it over and the pages were done by someone else. This time, I get to craft my own pages for the preview.
I’ll be honest. I feel like the honeymoon phase is over. After feeling such euphoria from the first two months of creating this new business and the support I’ve received, I’m starting to feel the stress. It’s nothing that any other business hasn’t dealt with starting out. It’s figuring out how to balance budgets, pay bills, keep the lights on, and give yourself some well-earned pay. However, I wasn’t ignorant in thinking I could get a nice paycheck in the beginning. It’s why I work a side job until I can get this business where it needs to be.
I remember starting a business with someone a few years ago. My personal feelings about the partnership aside, we had gotten to the point where our honeymoon phase was over. The bills were mounting, and my partner had decided we couldn’t pay ourselves. I was a bit frustrated, as I gave up working another job to help start this business, and I needed the money. I made it very clear when I agreed to start the business that I was not in a place of privilege where I couldn’t receive a paycheck. I had to give up my ownership to continue being paid.
I now understand where that business partner was in his thinking.
I’m learning more about the nuances of a newspaper. For those that don’t know, the newspaper – at least a traditional one – makes its money two ways: subscriptions and advertising. Although the subscriptions give the paper a reason to print (if there aren’t subscribers, there’s no one to print it to), the advertising is the real money-maker. Subscribers are the most important, but the ads keep the paper alive by bringing in the most money.
It’s an interesting time being a business owner. I quite frankly didn’t make the best financial decisions in the past, and some of those decisions involved my previous business venture I mentioned earlier. So, getting a loan is a difficult task. From discussions I’ve had with other small business owners, it seems like regulations and red tape make maintaining a business a challenge. You have all these resources to help businesses, and yet it seems like for every resource, there are two extra hurdles to jump through.
I’ve honestly thought about how I’d expand this business beyond the newspaper. I’ve thought about making more social media content. The content I do make already, specifically on Instagram and TikTok, has received plenty of views. I’ve thought about making more YouTube videos, too. Eventually, I’d like to find a way to monetize that. My problem is that I don’t have much time to dedicate to that. I’m working my side job to support myself and the business, and I don’t want to take any time away from that.
It’s weeks like these when it’s difficult to separate the news from the emotion. I had a really difficult time keeping my emotions in check when writing the story for the JWP girls basketball team’s loss in the section semifinals. You don’t win games by how much you deserve to; you have to earn them. But man, it’s hard to say they didn’t deserve a better ending. There’s this thing with sports (mainly hockey) called the “deserve to win-o-meter,” which measures how much a team deserves to win a game based on their effort. Part of me feels like that would have been in the 80-90 percent range. Then again, the way they played and the way the team talked would disagree in some ways.
I sometimes feel like the sports podcaster Steve Dangle. The Canadian, who formerly worked for SportsNet (Canada’s ESPN), has gained notoriety for his reactions to every Toronto Maple Leafs game through his YouTube series “Leafs Fan Reaction.” This man has done this for nearly two decades, which speaks volumes about his dedication. He calls himself a professional sports fan. I sometimes see a bit of myself in him.
There are days when I feel I attach my emotions to this job too much. But I think part of it is seeing the students grow into great, hard-working people. I’ve said many times that it’s an honor and a privilege to get to tell their stories. That’s what makes it more difficult seeing seasons end, especially when you know they had the potential to go on and earn titles. Anyway, I should get back to work.
