How Newmark J-School Helped Me Grow My Small Project
A few years ago, I came up with the idea of creating a platform that features entrepreneurial women in different fields. The goal was to present careers of accomplished role models and emerging leaders from all over the world to inspire our readers to follow their bold career-related plans.
I am Polish and based in Warsaw, but my goal was to reach readers in different countries and communities. I wanted it to be in English. After all, I graduated from a US institution, and I had many international friends. I wanted us to join forces and build a global inspirational platform focused on women’s accomplishments.
So in March 2018, a few people from Warsaw, the US, and Armenia started W Insight — a hub for insightful stories of various women sharing their career-focused advice.
I love interviewing people, and I think it’s a perfect way for leaders to share their stories in their own words. That’s why the primary format on W Insight is an interview.
We have so far talked with a football referee in Poland, an engineer who designed inexpensive portable toilets to be installed in developing countries, and one of the wealthiest women in South Africa. And also — have you seen the recent talk with the Gossip Girl’s Zuzanna Szadkowski? Or this honest conversation with a Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok?
We chatted with people in fashion, tech, sports, and finance. We interviewed folks from startups, corporations, and those without full-time jobs. The common element of all of these stories — is career-focused insights available for everyone. Sounds great, right? I’m so proud of how much we have accomplished. But as a creative and writer, I’ve been struggling with one thing: making the project sustainable.
A New Opportunity
So when I learned about the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program hosted by the Newmark J-School, I thought — that would be amazing! Of course, as a business journalist, I realized I already knew some of the concepts related to the entrepreneurship path, such as Business Model Canvas, major membership models, analytics tools, etc.
Still, I thought — now I would have all the necessary ideas and tools presented in a structured way. And I would have all the study materials available in one place. I also knew that I would be surrounded by creators motivated to make their entrepreneurial media projects work. I would also get practical support from the experts and have a chance to discuss my project with a mentor. And also — how many times do we know we should do or change something, but we don’t know how to go about it. Or we simply don’t do it, waiting for the perfect moment (procrastinating, I mean).
The key to success is not just to know something but also to implement it.
And that’s precisely why I applied for the program and I’m so grateful I was part of the Fall 2021 cohort. I knew I needed to do more, and thanks to the program, I did.
The most important challenge has been reaching enough people to monetize the project. I thought I was destined to lose with almost a zero marketing budget (W Insight has been a side project so far). Luckily, thanks to the program and my mentor, I realized it’s not true. At least not entirely.
Even though resources such as money would help, there is still so much I can do on my own. And one of these things is — you will not believe it — to post more. My focus was to publish a long-form interview with a role model every month or so. And although I am proud of the quality we deliver, I think it’s challenging to build an audience by posting on the website so rarely.
My mentor encouraged me to do several things:
- Post shorter articles in between the major interviews (such as summaries, graphic & art pieces, notes)
- Create a newsletter that would work as a funnel for W Insight
- Focus on strengthening a personal brand on social media
- Interact with the audience and encourage them to influence our work on W Insight — for instance — by inviting them to nominate a role model to be presented on W Insight
I am proud to say we took all of the steps and our stats improved significantly.
2021 was the best year yet for W Insight regarding the number of unique visitors. And it’s just a start.
My most important goal related to the EJCP program was to start monetizing W Insight. And I’m proud to say that we just launched a “pay what you want” functionality that enables our readers to support the platform — just the way they want!
You can now pay what you want, if you want, and help us continue the mission of W Insight — to share knowledge, passion and ideas. And I’m proud to say all of these developments happened thanks to the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at CUNY. I am grateful for the opportunity, and I would like to encourage all of you who would like to grow your niche project — try #EJCP, it’s so worth it.
