If there\u2019s one thing that independent news publishers have in short supply, it\u2019s capacity. Running a news business is a tall order for anyone, but that order hits giraffe-ian proportions when you\u2019re running a lean organization where just a few people are doing work that would otherwise require many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s why we designed the 2022 GNI Startups Labs as a quick-hit way for leaders to build capacity in targeted areas. By focusing on Managing Risk & Money, Building & Managing a Team and Planning for Revenue Growth, our aim was for publishers to use training, coaching and funding to shore up areas that we know have an outsized impact on increasing sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can read all about the program in our 2022 GNI Startups Labs Report<\/a>, which includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n At LION, we\u2019re working to expand our support to even more of our 450 members. But we also understand that not everyone is able to participate in a program. So in the spirit of offering an abridged version of what participants learned, here are four high-level takeaways that every publisher can use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a perfect world, news leaders would have the time, resources and expertise to create a beautiful strategic plan that lays out the goals, strategies and tactics that will make them the most effective, efficient organizations they can be. But in the actual world, most independent news leaders struggle to prioritize that kind of big-picture thinking, however critical it may be. In fact, 69% of publishers we surveyed in our 2022 Sustainability Audits<\/a> say they don\u2019t have a 1-3 year plan, but 76% said developing a strategic vision for their organization is a very high priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good news, then, for the strategically-strapped: you can get closer to a plan simply by taking some thoughtful, intentional actions. Participants in the Labs found that digging deeply into one area of their business not only strengthened that area, it also unlocked insights and skills that enabled them to make broader strategic decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, publisher after publisher discovered that finally taking the time to properly manage their finances and forecast revenue led to breakthroughs in editorial decision-making (one leader found that the podcast juice may not be not worth the squeeze), hiring timelines (another realized it\u2019s possible to bring on a new person sooner rather than later) and organizational structure (yet another decided that applying for nonprofit status was the right move for them).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of it was about building confidence \u2014 after all, strategic planning can feel daunting, and seeing progress in one area can build momentum to tackle others. All surveyed participants reported increased confidence in the areas addressed by the three Labs, and also reported increased overall confidence in their organization\u2019s ability to reach sustainability. Gaining those initial insights was an important first step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[This] was just what our small online news organization needed to help us look farther than past our noses on a daily basis,\u201d said Deborah Brown, co-editor of The Swellesley Report<\/a>. \u201cThe mentorship we received about planning for the future, and protecting ourselves from potential negative outcomes was invaluable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to providing more strategy support through our Sustainability Audit, we plan to offer even more tactical resources by launching a marketplace<\/a> for vetted news business consultants, and focusing our coaching efforts even more on bridging the strategic and the tactical. We\u2019ll share more information about all this in the coming months!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve all experienced it: you don\u2019t open that email or check that account or ask that hard question because you\u2019re afraid you might not like what you find. But participants in the Labs found time and again that addressing their concerns head-on allowed them to accept the reality and adapt accordingly \u2014 even (and especially) when the news wasn\u2019t great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, one publisher had been agonizing over whether to transition from Substack, but a deep dive into the budget revealed that there wasn\u2019t enough money to build and maintain a new website. Even though they\u2019d been hoping for a different outcome, knowing that option was off the table quelled their anxiety and allowed them to focus on other things. Another leader realized that they needed to tighten their belt or risk financial instability, while still another gamed out an audience strategy that would have brought in more money, but they determined it wasn\u2019t a fit for their mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, it\u2019s about risk management, and you can\u2019t manage what you can\u2019t see. And sometimes, you might find that peeking between your fingers doesn\u2019t reveal something scary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI came into [this program] a mathphobe, accounting phobe, and wondering why I can’t just write, report and photograph,\u201d said Amy Peterson, founder of The E\u2019ville Good<\/a>. \u201cI learned that my newsletter has so much more revenue potential and the potential to reach and make an impact than I ever thought possible.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n We will continue to provide trainings and templates that help news leaders take a good look at their current situation as they seek to plan for the future. Members can check out our courses on Navigating Risk and Uncertainty as a News Leader<\/a>, Assessing Organizational Capacity<\/a> and How to Create a Revenue Growth Plan<\/a> as examples. In addition, we\u2019re launching a peer-led program this summer so publishers can help each other through the emotional side of decision-making. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bear<\/em> with us through this tortured analogy (and, ahem, pun). If decision-making took the place of porridge in The Three Little Bears story, you\u2019d have three kinds. The kind of hasty, desperation-based decision-making that anyone writing on deadline is familiar with too often results in actions that produce short-term benefits \u2014 if they produce any benefits at all. The timeline between insight and action is just too short. Then there\u2019s the kind of decision-making born of anxiety and overthinking, where planning-to-plan takes up all the time and acting on the plan may never happen at all. That timeline is just too long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there\u2019s the approach that is just right. This, as Lab participants found, happens when you\u2019ve taken the time to examine the facts, think through the possibilities and arrive at a clear next step. And then you take it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Participants who were ready to thoroughly tackle an issue and immediately implement their learnings saw high levels of impact and progress. That showed up for the publisher who created robust employee documentation right before making a new hire, for the leader who created a beautiful budget they then presented with success at their annual board meeting, and the founder who built out their fundraising strategy just in time to launch their first Newsmatch campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While we always advocate for planning ahead (and offer a number of templates<\/a> to help you do so), it turns out there\u2019s a sweet spot between ready, set and go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy coach helped me move from big ideas to significant action in the areas of strategizing, budgeting, revenue planning, recruiting, and hiring,\u201d said Annelise Pierce, founder, editor and community reporter at Shasta Scout<\/a>. \u201cAfter completing the [program], I feel much more prepared, equipped and confident to lead my news organization forward in the years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n LION is making several changes to incorporate this learning, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You both love and hate to hear it: it all comes down to the money \u2014 whether you have it, whether you don\u2019t, how to get more and where to spend it. Though just one of our programs focused explicitly on managing money, participants in every program found that they couldn\u2019t move forward in any area until they had a firm grasp on their financial picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working on a budget \u2014 even for more developed organizations \u2014 served as a wake-up call for news entrepreneurs. Participants found that they were operating at a loss, or paying for too many subscriptions, or heading to a potential deficit during the program. This knowledge enabled them to make strategic decisions about where to cut expenses, where to focus their revenue efforts and how much they needed to bring in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sound financial management and understanding, no surprise, leads to more informed decision-making. But here\u2019s the thing: those decisions had the biggest impact when they led back to revenue generation. There was the news leader who realized they had the budget to make a new hire, but also that that hire needed to be on the revenue generation side. Another founder\u2019s updated pricing strategy led to setting more ambitious (but still realistic) revenue goals than they otherwise might have. And yet another took the time to deeply scope what it would take to launch a new product, how much revenue it was likely to bring in and how much they needed to raise to hire a product manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI learned how to think about approaching new revenue streams,\u201d said Kara Meyberg Guzman, founder of Santa Cruz Local<\/a>. \u201cI learned how to size the opportunity, reduce risk and form a strategic budget. I’m a much savvier CEO than I was six months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We plan to incorporate an element of financial planning and opportunity sizing more deeply into our programs. In addition, we\u2019ll create more resources like our LION Financial Planning Workbook<\/a>, which not only provides an easy template for financial planning, it also walks leaders through how to use it, step-by-step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want to participate in a LION program? We\u2019ll be announcing our 2023 offerings in the coming months. Sign up for our newsletter<\/a> to get the scoop and learn about how to become a member<\/a> if you\u2019re not already.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By taking small-but-strategic steps, Lab participants moved the needle toward sustainability<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":672,"featured_media":217298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,146],"tags":[139,832,132,110,133,831],"coauthors":[215],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/volodymyr-hryshchenko-L0oJ4Dlfyuo-unsplash-scaled.jpg",2560,1173,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/volodymyr-hryshchenko-L0oJ4Dlfyuo-unsplash-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/volodymyr-hryshchenko-L0oJ4Dlfyuo-unsplash-300x137.jpg",300,137,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/volodymyr-hryshchenko-L0oJ4Dlfyuo-unsplash-768x352.jpg",768,352,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/volodymyr-hryshchenko-L0oJ4Dlfyuo-unsplash-1024x469.jpg",1024,469,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/volodymyr-hryshchenko-L0oJ4Dlfyuo-unsplash-1536x704.jpg",1536,704,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/volodymyr-hryshchenko-L0oJ4Dlfyuo-unsplash-2048x938.jpg",2048,938,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable":" By taking small-but-strategic steps, Lab participants moved the needle toward sustainability<\/p>\n","category_list":"News<\/a>, Programs and Events<\/a>","author_info":{"name":"Lisa Heyamoto","url":"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/author\/lheyamoto\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","yoast_head":"\n\n
Digging deeply into a tactical area leads to strategic breakthroughs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How we\u2019re incorporating this into our programming<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Bad news is better than no news <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How we\u2019re incorporating this into our programming<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Create the right amount of daylight between insight and action<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How we\u2019re incorporating this into our programming<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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All roads lead to \u2014 and from \u2014 the bottom line<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How we\u2019re incorporating this into our programming<\/h4>\n\n\n\n