One of the joys of being a journalist is being able to reveal an angle that might not be readily apparent, or to help readers approach life in new ways. In pursuit of this goal, I have contributed to many different national publications. Sadly, the number of them is shrinking, and editors are so overworked that they may not even reply to a query unless it’s for a story they want to assign.

The good news is that writers are no longer dependent on editorial gatekeepers. Using an assortment of platforms, we can now self-publish our work in various forms, including podcasts, videos, blogs, apps and books. It’s called “entrepreneurial journalism.”

Long before the term “entrepreneurial journalism” entered common parlance, I was at the bleeding edge of this trend. I’ve spent most of my work life as an independent journalist, and have stayed resilient as the industry underwent dramatic contractions.

At first, being entrepreneurial was the most logical way for me to make a career change, from law to journalism, and overcome barriers that otherwise would have held me back. I parlayed my legal knowledge into assignments for publications like The New York Times, Newsday and the New York Daily News — places that required new hires to have daily newspaper experience.

My next mission was to create a weekly newspaper column, about workplace issues from the employee perspective. Chronicle Features licensed it for syndication, and dozens of newspapers subscribed. They included the New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun, Sacramento Bee, The Record and The San Diego Union Tribune. Suddenly nobody cared whether I had ever worked at a daily newspaper.

“You’re a quick study,” an editor said, recruiting me for a new challenge. He needed someone to write about estate planning, income tax and charitable giving for a startup Bloomberg publication. Back then, few of the necessary sources had heard of Michael Bloomberg, let alone the magazine. And I knew practically nothing about the beat.

By the time I had done 75 full-length articles for Bloomberg Wealth Manager, I was ready to write a book. Publishers predicted that it wouldn’t sell well. So I took a chance, formed my own company and self-published Estate Planning Smarts: A Practical, User-Friendly, Action-Oriented Guide. Favorably reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, it became an Amazon bestseller and is now in the fourth edition.

That book led to a full-time position as a senior editor at Forbes Media — my first staff job in 25 years, and my entrée to blogging. The company was making a transition from print to the digital age. Ahead of the curve, management was focused on metrics. By boosting Web traffic through social media and search engine optimization, I grew the readership for my blog to far exceed the goals they set.

Several years after leaving Forbes, I started another venture. By then I was spending at least three months a year overseas. And I self-published a second book: Four Seasons in a Day: Travel, Transitions and Letting Go of the Place We Call Home. I did much of the reporting for it while living for six weeks in Sare, a tiny village in southwest France, four miles from the Spanish border. The Wall Street Journal named Four Seasons in a Day one of “the best books of 2017 about healthy aging.” But it is as much a book about the Basque region, where I was based, as it is about the journey of getting older.

I’ve been back to the area seven times since then, blogging on this author’s website about Basque culture and cuisine. Embedded in a Spanish village along the craggy coast, I wrote “Pandemic Refuge in a Basque Fishing Village.” My post, “It’s Piquillo Pepper Season. So Don’t Mess with the Roaster in Tolosa” won a Society of American Travel Writers Foundation Lowell Thomas 2020 Travel Journalism award in the culinary-related travel category.

In Southeast Asia, where I’ve become a snowbird, I dig deeply to pursue stories that might not otherwise be told. Examples from my blog include “The Cabdrivers’ Guide to Singapore’s Best Hawker Food,” “Mastering the Art of Eating Hanoi Street Food” and “The Scarves That Tie Me to Places I’ve Been.”

Not surprisingly, I love writing about other people who’ve adapted to changing times. Take Cuong Pham, the founder of Red Boat Fish Sauce. As an avid cook who uses this ingredient, I was eager to write about Pham, who fled Vietnam as a refugee, settled in California and became an Apple engineer, and eventually returned to his native country to start a premium fish sauce company.

In anticipation of a 2020 trip to the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc, where the sauce is made, I wrote Pham (without an assignment in hand) to ask if I could interview him there. I never imagined, when he graciously obliged, that it would turn into an all-day event. Just as we were concluding our lengthy conversation, his cousins from France arrived, and it became apparent that I was expected to stay for lunch. Everyone around the table had a story about their escape from Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. You can read more about Cuong in my article for Next Avenue, “Lessons from a Fish Sauce Entrepreneur.”

Entrepreneurial journalism fosters creativity; promotes self-actualization; and encourages open-minded, independent thinking, including about other cultures. For other examples, including stories from faraway lands, check out the archive on this website, use the box below to subscribe to my blog or follow me on Facebook.