Unconventional Career Ideaš” Start a Modern Newspaper
And give yourself an $800,000 raise, LOL
I have a theory, friends: offline is the new online. š±
Everyone loves the idea of a simpler lifeāand current trends prove it.
First, thereās the Cottagecore craze.
People are ditching the city hustle for the pastoral dream. Think cozy cottages š”, homegrown veggies š„, baking bread from scratch š„, and flower crowns. š· Itās all about living that slow, dreamy, rustic life. (Minus snakes showing up in your bathroom sink! How am I even coherent right now?!) ANYYYYWAYYYYY, speaking of rural dreams: you know which stateās the top state for incoming residents right now? OKLAHOMA. And letās not forget about the plethora of countries who are offering people hard, cold cash if they want to move to a rural area. (Japan, for example, is offering $7,600 per child for families moving out of greater Tokyo to counter urban overcrowding.)You know what else is trending? Analog everything.
Film cameras are cool again, mechanical watches are in-demand, fountain pens are making writing sexy again, shows like Strangers Things give us major 80s nostalgia, paper planners and notebooks are HUGE, and vinyl records are outselling CDs for the first time in decades. (Iām so on board with this.)āDumb phonesā that do literally nothing are all the rage.
Theyāre basic. You canāt browse. No apps. All you can do is call, text, and take pics. DOESNāT THAT SOUND LIKE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR? My point exactly. (Vice rates the best dumb phones for 2024 here.)Smart typewriters, which let you type like youāre typing on an old-fashioned typewriter, but save your work to the cloud, are deeeefinitely trending.
My favorite one is this super freakinā cute lemon-yellow Free Write. š š āØļø Obsessed! But also, The Traveler version is so cool, tooāfor obvious āGotta go to Scotland on a whimā reasons. (Seriously, I think I need to get that lemon one, gahhhhhhhhhh.)Vintage AF aesthetics.
Weāre seeing retro fashion throwbacks (think bell bottoms, neon colors, oversized blazers, high socks, high-waisted jeans), old-fashioned board games, original consoles like Sega and Gameboy, vintage bikes, and retro appliances (like Smeg).Anything hand-crafted = š„.
Think woodworking, knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, macramĆ©, resin art, calligraphy, hand-letteringāalllllllllll things done with the hands. A few years back, I started knitting these big, chunky wool blankets for the express purpose of giving myself something to do offline. (We Are Knitters is AMAZING. I order from them all the time. Then, while walking through Madrid one day, I came upon an actual We Are Knitters store and almost fainted. But, to my point, even their official company mission is āto help create and support a āknitting renaissance.ā YES TO THAT WORD. This is what Iām talking about.)Gardening is also, like, cool????
Itās that whole reconnecting with nature thing. And, companies worldwide are making it chic again. Lettuce Grow (co-founded by Zooey Deschanel!) sells ADORABLE hydroponic farm stands that make it easy to grow fresh produce at home. Modern Sprout sells smart, stylish, supppper cute grow systems like this insane wallmounted planter that looks like a picture frame. (If only my mom could have afforded one of those back when I was growing upāI wish I could buy it for her now as a gift.) Back to the Roots is all about reconnecting with nature through urban gardening kits. The Sill is a gorgeous website where you can order designer houseplants. (I sent one to my literary agent last year and she loved it!)Slow, experiential travel is in, vacations are out.
You know, where you get to actually experience unique, meaningful activities that let you connect to a place authentically, rather than just getting drunk on $20 margaritas with loutish Americans at SeƱor Frogs? 𤢠This study showed that 93-96% of Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X respondents were down to slow travel, with 85% of Boomers also showing interestā. Italy, by the way, is the #1 spot in the world for slow travel. (No surprise there, have you ever eaten CHEESE?) And this, right here, is where it really lands for me: average āvacation-eyā activities, like staying by the pool, shopping, and nightlife were the least popular incentives to travel. (Thank fucking god.)
Yup, offline is cool for the first time since online became a thing.
Online is exhausting.
Right now, people want to wrap themselves in a warm, cozy blanket of nostalgia, yearning for a time when things felt a bit simpler and more authentic and grounded.
And THAT is why I have a mega hypothesis that old-school newspapersābelieve it or not!āare going to make a come backābig time.
But, not the old, stodgy newspapers of the past.
The modern newspaper is Instagram meets newslettersā¦in print.
Itās fun and lightweight. Itās artsy and stylish. Thereās funky typography. Bright colors. Cool photographs. And the voice-driven, opinion-riddled content of a blogger, not a journalist. (Because blogging is coming back tooāyouāve heard, right? š¤©)
I predict this is going to make a comeback because of the way āofflineā is massively trending upwardāit only stands that we would want to do more reading offline, too.
While books are the obvious offline choice, a fun and lightweight ālifestyle paperā is actually more in line with todayās diminishing attention spans.
Books take days to read.
Papers take moments.
So, I started thinking about how this would work as a modern-day business model.
And, of course, you know who I found WHO IS ALREADY DOING SOMETHING SIMILAR?!
The Happy News, by Emily Coxhead. š š š š š š š š š š
How amazing is she?! Itās precisely what I was picturing. According to the website, The Happy News has 20,000 subscribers in 33 different countries.
The newspaper comes out once per quarter.
A subscription costs ~$10 USD every quarter.
Thatās $40/year per subscriberā¦ā¦.and 20,000 subscribersā¦ā¦which is $800,000 USD / year in revenue.
IāD SAY NEWSPAPERS ARE PRETTY COOL.
(P.S. This was based on the cost of shipping worldwide.)
So, you can have a million-dollar business printing your own adorable newspaperāand guess what?
People are going to love reading it offline.
While Emilyās is a global pub, I actually think it would be neat to begin with a local publication if you were just starting. Why???
Itās easier to get traction when youāre local
Marketing is so much easier (thanks, word of mouth)
You can make a name for yourself in your community (which could be a great springboard to other opportunities)
You can create something youāre proud of
You can make a local impact
And you can choose a topic that is personally fulfillingāand, isnāt that the point of creative work?
You might not have 20,000 people in your town or county or place or prison, but your publishing cadence could also be monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly. That means that even if you only had 5,000 subscribers, if they were paying $10/month (instead of $10/quarter), thatās $120/year/subscriber.
$120/year/subscriber x 5,000 subscribers = $600,000 annual revenue.
Ugh, can you stand the juiciness?! MATH.
You can get paid to do what you loveāsometimes itās just a matter of getting out there and making an ass out of yourself first. šŖ
Curious about this career? Want to go down the rabbit hole? Want to daydream about how youād get started, how much it would cost, and how it would all work? Or, do you do something similar (newsletters, publishing, books), and just want some fresh ideas?
Iāve written up an advanced-level Cool Creative Career Plan just for you. šØ ā¬ļø
Cool Creative Career Plans are available exclusively to paid subscribers of The Middle Finger Project for those seeking fresh ideas and inspiration! š„³
Highly, highly recommend if youāre feeling burned out and looking for some exciting new options.