Toward the end of last summer, one of my clients recommended me to a colleague of theirs, George Popescu of Lending-Times, the premier news source for the alternative lending industry. I don’t know what my client said to George, but it led to me writing a few articles for him.

It was, indeed, a few articles. George and I struck up an exchange where I’d write a couple of articles per month and he’d provide a sponsorship spot on his Meetup page. It worked out well for the both of us.

When my business picked up, I could no longer afford writing for free, so I shot a quick email to George saying I was going to have to bow out due to the increase in business volume. A month or so later, he asked if I’d be interested in editing the daily digest at Lending-Times.

The Editorial Past is Prelude

This harks back to a previous arrangement I had with a business partner a few years ago. In that scenario, I had been writing articles for a client for a month when he asked me if I’d be interested in managing the content flow for his content service business. I agreed. That partnership lasted for eight years before I went out on my own and kicked off Taylored Content. Prior to that, I had been a newspaper editor and National Guard officer.

I don’t know what it says about me that I start writing for my clients then they ask me to take over editorial and business management tasks. Yet, it has happened more than once.

So, George asked me if I’d edit the daily digest at Lending-Times as well as the semi-daily news digests at VisionAR. Since last August, that’s precisely what I’ve been doing. That and my regular business of providing content for my writing clients, which includes a real estate crowdfunding platform among others. At the beginning of this year, my stint as editor of Lending-Times and VisionAR led to my becoming assistant editor/curator for two news blogs in the automotive and auto marketing arena.

My Invitation to Cover #LendIt USA 2017

If things are going well, they sometimes have a way of getting better. And things have been going pretty well in my relationship with Lending-Times and VisionAR. Imagine my surprise when George asked me if I wanted to attend this year’s LendIt USA conference, the largest in the FinTech niche. Of course, I said “Yes.”

So George made the arrangements, and I’ll be headed up to New York this coming Sunday afternoon.

This will be the first press pass I’ve had since being a newspaper editor at the turn of the century. Already, my day for Monday is booked solid. I’ve had several requests for interviews from companies and their representatives to be featured in analysis stories we publish at Lending-Times. Those will keep me busy enough. Then there are the multiple keynotes and other events I’ll cover for the website.

I’m really looking forward to this conference and all the people I’ll meet. The only trepidation I have is the thought of driving in New York City. I’m getting there and parking.