The following prompt from CFB/NHL reporter Stormy Normandt went viral in my industry:
Sports & media people - How much $$$ did you make your 1st job in the industry? Let's get some salary transparency going.
Since we’re honest here, I’ll posit that a lot of men were more inclined to respond because it’s an attractive blonde woman talking to you, with simulated eye contact, like you’re on a blind date. I’m not accusing my peers of being improper. I’m just saying there’s a potential Pavlovian element at play. Why yes ma’am, since you’re asking, I will tell you of my Horatio Alger rise from humble beginnings.
I’m not above telling such tales, but sometimes I just prefer to fast forward. The industry has been degrading since I entered it around 2008. It’s sad to consider how much better it was, back at the start of this journey. Rather than dwelling on how little I made at the beginning, I’d rather get into some theories about how one survives to the hopefully not so bitter end. I make a good living now in a largely impossible profession and have for about a decade. It’s plausible that I might have some useful advice for anyone crazy enough to attempt a similar path. Yes, I will charge for that advice below the paywall. That’s part of how this is all still feasible.