On Thursday, I received a comment from Bruce Ritchie, who reports for FloridaEnvironments.com. He wrote:

“I find it difficult to stop being a journalist to be an entrepreneur. Everyone can say it’s necessary, but a journalist isn’t trained to STOP reporting and writing.”

My response (more or less) was this: I hear ya, brother.

During my three years as editor of The Silver Spring Penguin, content always came before commerce. I was so focused on covering my beat and interacting with readers that I forgot to sell ads and devise other revenue sources.

Even worse, the responsibilities of being a one-person newsroom were imposing on other facets of my life. I actually stopped reading the news, perhaps as a way of divorcing my free time (what little there was) from my working hours. Physical activity was limited to mouse clicks, so my weight ballooned into the “How are you still alive?” range. I won’t even get into how work affected housekeeping and personal hygiene.

It’s difficult, maybe even impossible for one person to carry that much professional responsibility without something giving way. So if one is intent on running a solvent hyperlocal newsroom, the question becomes this: What are you willing to give up in order to earn an income?

Personally, I won’t sacrifice my editorial standards — that was The Penguin’s backbone, and it’ll be the backbone for any future project. However, I’d be willing to give up some of the reporting to trained freelancers, even if it means paying them before the publication makes its first dollar.

I’d also gladly give up some of the entrepreneurial duties: ad sales, networking events, stuff like that. I have neither the face, stomach nor personality for such work, and it would be a disservice to the publication to maintain professionalism in the newsroom but not on the sales floor. Unfortunately, how to pay that sales professional is still lost on me.

And for my dear friends and loved ones, I will no longer abdicate my responsibilities to shower, brush my teeth, do the dishes or treat the laundry. Please don’t toss me out of the house.

I’m convinced that there’s a happy medium between journalist and entrepreneur. It’s just a matter of creating it.

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