Explaining the challenges facing local businesses has never been more urgent, as entrepreneurs attempt to navigate costly tariffs, labor crises linked to immigration enforcement and breaks in the global supply chain, reports Kevin Johnson of the National Press Foundation.
Johnson reports, “‘The best strategy is to plan your career for the long term, build relationships with people who can be sources now, but more importantly, sources later,’ Mullins said. ‘And the really basic practical way of doing that for me was what I try to do is each week meet one new person for breakfast, for lunch, for coffee, for dinner.
“‘It doesn’t need to take much time, but if you meet just one person on or around your beat a week, that’s 50 people a year, a hundred people after two years, and it just keeps adding up. And when you meet these people, it’s often best if it’s not for a story, it’s just meeting someone. We’re all journalists, so hopefully that means we’re social people and we’re curious; otherwise, we’re in the wrong profession.’
“‘If you listen to NPR, we’re very much character-driven,’ Nam said. ‘We’re always looking at, say, a tariff story. How do we illustrate tariffs in a way that’s human? We always say, go look for that one person, that small businessman or a small businesswoman that’s struggling because of the high aluminum cost, or go talk to even a consumer.’
“‘So, we always kind of look for the human side. And I love talking to reporters and kind of being able to just talk it out and talk about what would make our story unique. And traditionally, I rarely say no to things… I’m always very encouraging for people to just pursue things, to chase it and we continue to talk it out. Sometimes we both realize it comes to a dead end and it’s just not going to work. And that happens to everybody, right? That happens to all reporters.'”
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