In the business world, you often hear people say, “It’s just business.”
In the world of journalism, the business of reporting and writing about business can mean big business. More specifically, those who can find a niche covering business topics can uncover a wealth of writing and career opportunities.
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That’s what four writers from across the country have done, utilizing their experience as reporters, writers and editors to move into careers covering the business of real estate, finance and sports for prominent local and national publications. While all four have vastly different backgrounds, they share a common bond: They believe that the same traits that make a reporter good are the same no matter what topic you are covering, and they all started out in another aspect of journalism or business, honing and developing their craft and abilities, before transferring over into the specific niche they have been able to turn into a rewarding career.
Seek out your specialty on the job
Mary Umberger is a Chicago-based freelance writer and real estate reporter who spent 30 years at the Chicago Tribune before taking a buyout last year. She still writes a weekly real estate column for the Tribune and also contributes to the Los Angeles Times, St. Petersburg Times and Inman.com, a real estate news Web site. She also does twice-weekly real estate news spots on WGN radio in Chicago.
She spent about two-thirds of her career at the Tribune as an editor before taking a real estate writing job there. “I thought the beat would be short-term and that I would move into general features writing,” says Umberger. “Turned out, I really liked covering real estate.”
Umberger is a self-described “house person” and says there are plenty of people like her out there who find the whole topic and all its permutations to be fascinating. But she still thinks her experience as an editor (she was a copy editor, ran a copy desk, worked as an assistant in some features sections and was editor in chief of two features sections at the Trib) served as the training grounds for her move to a business writing niche in real estate.
“As an editor, I re-wrote so much bad writing by other people that I developed a strong sense of what works and what doesn’t, about pacing and style.”
| “Make yourself able to converse confidently with the experts in the field when you interview them. They’ll remember that you knew something about their business, because a lot of reporters approach them cold.” |
Umberger says one can learn a lot about the business of real estate and what consumers experience by writing service-oriented how-to stories: how to apply for a mortgage, how to pick a neighborhood. But they get old quick, she says.
Parlay your existing skills to make the transition
“What turns it into an interesting beat is writing about the people,” says Umberger. “I never tried to be Mike Royko; I just wanted to write readable stories.”
That’s what Richard Koreto, a Tallman, New York-based freelance journalist, has done during his more than 20 years covering the financial industry. Koreto admits his entry into financial writing was almost an accident: He wanted to move into magazine work, and the job he got was at the Journal of Accountancy, a publication for CPAs. He started as a copy editor and eventually became a staff writer and editor. As Koreto progressed, he wasn’t shy about asking questions, and he started researching the technical details of the business to learn additional and more in-depth skills.
“It shows you can get into a new field with some work and luck,” says Koreto. “My background was not business-related at all. I was an English and Latin major and never even took a college-level business or economics course.”
Now his background includes stints as editor-in-chief of Wealth Manager, executive editor of Financial Planning, and senior editor of the Journal of Accountancy. Koreto’s work on Financial-Planning.com earned him a Gold Award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
Network and research to prove your chops
Umberger has long been associated with the National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE), and the networking opportunities and connections she has made through that industry has led to additional freelance opportunities and the chance to connect with speakers and other who have turned into terrific sources.
“If you don’t have the writing ability, you’ll blend into the wall in a very short period,” she says. “You’d get the real estate and business knowledge over time, but you have to be able to give it a little jazz to make the topic readable.”
Koreto agrees. “In these times, you have to show you have the knowledge,” he says. “I was fortunate in having a patient editor who let me get up to speed. At most publications, especially today, you’re expected to hit the ground running. No one wants to spend time explaining the difference between a “put” and a “call.” Fortunately, there are a lot of business and investing books out there. If you want to get into financial reporting and already have good experience as a journalist, get yourself up to speed before you start interviewing or pitching ideas.”
Maury Brown, president of Portland, Ore.-based Bizball LLC and founder and president of the Business of Sports Network, a series of expansive resources, dedicated to the business of sports, echoes Koreto’s sentiments.
Both passionate and knowledgeable about sports and the business of sports, Brown has combined the two into a professional writing, research and consulting career. Brown assisted the MLB To Portland effort, which included a group of Portland-based business leaders attempting to help the Montreal Expos relocate to Portland earlier this decade. He is also the former co-chair of SABR’s Business of Baseball committee, a contributor to Baseball Prospectus, was formerly on the staff of The Hardball Times, writes occasionally at Maury Brown’s Biz of Sports and has contributed to numerous sports-related books.
“In many ways, I’m a researcher, first and foremost, that happened to be an opinionated researcher,” says Brown. “I have always believed that sports outside the lines was as important as what was occurring on the field. The business side is becoming more and more of interest to the average fan. Hopefully, we’re making the content entertaining enough to bring in a broad audience.”
| “There are a lot of sports economists that know a heck of a lot more than I do, but when I read their work, it comes across as targeted to academics.” |
When not doing consulting work, Brown says he could write five to 10 articles per day. That honed his writing skills, and always produced the fresh content readers of his Web sites wanted. He gave them a reason to return.
Brown has never covered “just” sports or “just” business — his career has always tied the two together. But his knowledge of sports and interest in the business side of things has been the key to his success.
“There are a lot of sports economists that know a heck of a lot more than I do, but when I read their work, it comes across as targeted to academics,” says Brown. “There is certainly a much needed place for that, but the ability to express yourself at the fan level is very valuable. As far as sports and business as separate, they seemed fused together — joined at the hip. I would say that knowing sports business is critical while having a broad understanding of business and sports separate, as well.”
Bill King, a senior writer for special projects for the Sports Business Journal (SBJ) in Charlotte, North Carolina, took the traditional path to a career in sports journalism. He attended the University of Florida and earned a journalism degree. Upon graduation in the mid 1980’s, he took a job at the Tampa Tribune and covered among other things, Florida Gators sports, the Florida Marlins and the Orlando Magic. He also wrote feature stories and columns. As he put it, it was everything he wanted to do since he was 10 years old.
But in 1998, he gave up the life of a sports writer to move into a career covering the business of sports for the Sports Business Journal. He gave up working nights and weekends covering the biggest sporting events, to working daytime hours covering the business side of the world of sports. He came to the SBJ as the only sports writer who didn’t have a business writing background. The rest of the staff were business writers hired to cover the business of sports.
| “In a game, there is a score. Well, a company’s quarterly financial reports have a score — it’s up by this much revenue, or down this much revenue. It’s reporting, just with different subject matter in different ways.” |
But that didn’t hinder King and his quest to succeed in this profession. “The biggest thing is that it’s all storytelling,” says King. “Those are two tools and skills anyone needs to succeed regardless of what you are covering or writing about. In my opinion, a good journalist should be able to cover a court case, a commission meeting, or a fire for that matter, just as well as they can a sporting event or business issue. In this case, sports and business is just the topic; you apply the same skills, just in a different way.”
To help learn his craft, King read The Wall Street Journal — something he still does every day. He read what other business journalists were writing and reporting about and noted what was good, what stood out, and what he needed to improve on.
“In a game, there is a score,” says King. “Well, a company’s quarterly financial reports have a score — it’s up by this much revenue, or down this much revenue. It’s reporting, just with different subject matter in different ways.”
Understanding sports and business can lead to a career in sports business reporting, but when it all comes down to it, understanding basic reporting and writing skills is what will get one started in this career, whether it be sports, finance or real estate, says King.
“Do your research, check your facts, be accurate [and] fair, and tell the story. That’s all it is.”
Five tips on how to succeed as a niche business reporter:
1. Pick a beat — and learn all you can about it. “Pick a beat — it doesn’t have to be housing — and drill down, read everything you can that’s in an industry’s trade journals,” says Umberger. “Make yourself able to converse confidently with the experts in the field when you interview them. They’ll remember that you knew something about their business, because a lot of reporters approach them cold. They’ll return your calls and let you in on their news first.”
2. Network, network, network. “Yes, you have to be good at your job, but with so many layoffs and cutbacks, it’s become mostly about personal contacts,” says Koreto, who pays $50 per year to belong to the New York Financial Writers’ Association. “Nervous editors only work with those they know, or who are recommended by people they know. I pitched one publication (not a large or prestigious one) on topics I had a lot of experience in. They told me they wouldn’t even talk to me about writing unless I took a long and elaborate test that essentially meant I wrote them a free article. It’s heavily about networking and personal connection today.”
3. Learn how to write quickly — and for the Web. “Everything is moving online,” says Koreto. “People want their business and financial information right away. If you can show you have Web writing skills, you will be ahead of others, even if your experience is in another subject.”
4. Learn the trade first, and worry about money second. Brown says don’t get into sports business for money — there is not a pot of gold at the end of it, so do it because you enjoy it. In time, the money will come. “I love the color of it — the ever-changing hue of sports,” he says. “The intense drama that sports has, and how it is a thread that has flowed through generations that gets passed down. When tying it to business, you get larger-than-life characters running franchises, and players making millions of dollars. It’s an intoxicating elixir for me. If you are patient, driven, and knowledgeable, a paycheck will follow.”
5. Be prepared for a transition period. In King’s opinion, the transition to a sports business reporter is easier for the sports writer than it is for the business writer who needs to learn the sports aspect of things. “I always felt it was a benefit to know the history of the sports and be up to date on who the big names, players and successes were,” he said. “When talking to executives in the sport, it always gives me something to talk about, something to bridge any gaps in the discussions. If you don’t know your sports or aren’t up to date on what’s happening, you might sound like you don’t know what you are talking about even if you know the business side. That might change the way they perceive you.”
Matt Krumrie is a freelance writer and communications professional.
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