Freelancers who work for free help fuel the success behind hyperlocal blogs Dallas South News, and, occasionally, Around Harlem.
Blog publishers April Davis and Shawn P. Williams pulled back the curtains on their businesses during the Blogging While Brown convention and presented a revealing look at the pros and cons of a volunteer workforce.
First things first, these bloggers are authentic in their visions to bring a voice to their community’s issues and current events; they’ve put skin in the game long before blogging became a favorite pastime for everyday people of color.
So now that Shawn and April’s blogs are successful, the demand for a steady stream of fresh content to keep their viewers coming back (and attract advertising dollars) require more than a passionate one-man-band. Running a successful hyperlocal blog requires an extra set of hands, at least one writer and/or photographer who is a reliable, dependable, trustworthy set of eyes and ears, that will capture the action and blog about it post-haste.
Or, you just need the right man with the smartphone, TMZ style, Williams quips: “If you have your phone, you have a video crew and a camera crew right there in your pocket.”
The voluntary worker bee can be a Godsend, and will provide just enough breathing room to get the business off the ground, as evidenced by Williams. “We use volunteer writers,” he explains. “They are passionate about the areas … and the subjects they write about. We have folks who cover arts and entertainment, religion, and politics. [We have] three videographers, and three photographers who cover the area. My mom is our admin person and makes our press releases into Tweets.”
Williams’ volunteer workforce is not a rag-tag fly-by-night group either, and he doesn’t treat them that way. He calls his workers ‘The Crew.’ “We meet as a group once a quarter to talk about ideas.”
In Harlem, April Davis’ Around Harlem blog also has its devotees, and she’s dabbled in the volunteer workforce model with mixed results.
“New York is the urban media capitol, so they’re [volunteer freelancers] are like, ‘I really want to work for Vibe, so let me do that story here, and send that clip to Vibe.’ So, it’s like they’ll half-heartedly do something in the beginning.”
Or, sometimes they won’t complete the assignment at all, Davis adds.
“I get invited to a lot of events, so I’ll send people out, and they’ll go and enjoy themselves, and I’m like, ‘where’s the article?’ and it will be some fluff. And I’m like, ‘no; did you even talk to the person? I don’t care about what you ate. Talk about the purpose for you being there.’ Over time, with every two or three interactions, they’re either going to stay committed to my vision or they’re going to fall back.”
Davis pays her contributors, and at a New York rate, no less. “The cost of living is different; you really have to look at it from [where you live], if you decide to pay writers,” Davis says. “Someone told me that they paid $20 to write an article, and I said ‘what?’ Nobody would leave their house in New York for $20. You really have to sit down and think about your town and try to make it beneficial for both people.”
Davis says that there are readers who send in quality content that she doesn’t request, because they share an interest in all things Harlem.
In Dallas, Williams enjoys a 100 percent retention rate with The Crew this year, and he knows why: “I think we’re better at figuring out who to bring in,” he states. “Also, I think we’ve done a better job at recognizing our volunteers who work for us, and showing them that we care also. That’s been a big part of retaining people, to show them that we care about them.”
In the big scheme of things, Shawn P. Williams and April Davis are providing a service to their underserved communities, and that in itself would attract passionate folks to help them in that regard.
Nevertheless, Williams doesn’t want the voluntary workforce to be permanent, he says. “I’m trying to grow this business, so I do freelance writing, articles for magazines and newspaper as well, and I do some copy work. The goal is to have this as a business that can pay me as an editor and bring in another staff member.”
Freelancers who work for free, much like any paid employee, can be a contribution to any business, the blog owners say, if the employee feels that his/her work is adding to the company’s mission and, in some way, is appreciated.
