Here’s a confession: I don’t (and can’t) thank my mother enough. During her brief visit last weekend, she spoon fed my seven-month-old while I indulged in a carefree meal. She carried the kid and kept her entertained while I surfed the net. She lulled the baby to sleep so that I can watch the Mets lose yet another game to the Phillies.
My mom said she didn’t mind the work, that it was all part of spoiling the kid. Surely I didn’t mind having time to vegetate on the couch, even if I didn’t agree with some of my mother’s practices. (Anthony Bourdain as children’s television?) Still I appreciated the opportunity to come up for much needed air.
The mental respite from parenthood allowed me to reflect on the value of family, friends and other forms of support. Obviously, love and friendship go a long way to making life good, but they also pay off in a business sense. My mother’s willingness to take on some of the childcare liberated my mind (if only briefly) to consider the details of my next hyperlocal venture. Thank you, Mom!
Other hyperlocal publications are family affairs through and through, with spouses running the newsroom and kids scanning the police radio. My husband volunteered his photography and videography skills to my previous attempt at hyperlocal news. While he did this only occasionally, it was his way of participating in what became a very personal, time-consuming project for me. (Here’s another confession: I don’t [and can't] thank my husband enough.)
But working with relatives and close friends, or relying on them to manage personal matters, can be tricky. Expectations can be unrealistically high, and criticism can come across as harsh. My husband stewed every time I refused to publish raw video that he spent hours compressing and compiling on the computer. And I banged my head against the wall whenever he skipped details like names, locations and dates.
The only way a hyperlocalist can survive that is to accept a loved one’s help with all its perceived imperfections, knowing that it’s offered with best intentions for the business and the personal relationship. My husband wanted to help, so I let him. Instead of recording continuous footage of a news event, I asked him to film short snippets that were more suitable to my web publication. Also, I asked him to take stock photos of buildings and street scenes, which didn’t rely heavily on dateline details and could be used anytime.
Adjusting my expectations allowed me to delegate clearly defined responsibilities to my husband, without worrying about the impact his work would have on my publication’s brand. In the end, his contributions built a photo bank chock full o’ images worthy of republication (and a modest revenue stream). And his videos were a popular item on my site’s YouTube page.
If he volunteers to shoot photos for my future publication, I’d welcome him into the newsroom. And if my mom wants to fatten up my kid while watching the Travel Channel, that’s okay too.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Jon Haynes Photography. This post also appears on my personal blog Question the Wisdom.
