Special Edition: Matador Network

Matador Network

Some exciting news hit the travel community last week. Matador Network announced the launch of BETA magazine with two rock solid articles from the Double D’s – David Miller on 8 Reasons Matador is Launching a Print Mag, and David Page on The Future of Freelance Journalism, Part 2B: Print is Dead. Long Live Print!

Weeks earlier, Matador had received a silver Lowell Thomas Award for best online journalism site, and had just previewed Breaking Free – a TV concept that “explores the lives of real-life Americans who have dared to live their dreams.”

With MatadorU growing stronger and its alumni landing gigs left and right, this grassroots network that just 3-4 years ago was a budding online community has grown exponentially in such an impressive time frame.

Why?

As senior editor David Miller always says, “come correct.” In every sense of the word. Come as you are, come transparently, come with what you know, posers remain unwelcome. Or at least, posers will be disrobed and the true person beneath welcomed with open arms.

You are enough. Your own voice (developed in your own style, and not mimicking others) is enough (though it needs to be arranged in a coherent way so we follow). Your experiences are pure quality no matter their scale. And this trait, I believe, is what keeps Matador running on constant stoke.

I’ve always used the surfing analogy. I can barely tread water, talk less of heaving myself onto a slick, waxed board, and riding some waves. Quite a larger number of folks within the Matador community are surfers, snowboarders, and mountain climbers. Even if I could desk-research a surfing piece, I would never do it. Mostly out of genuine respect. The core team is as wide and diverse as they come, spanning various beliefs and backgrounds, and our base respect for each other transcends all we do.

Once you’ve assembled a group of people who aren’t afraid to be themselves and share their own voices, you begin operating on the strengths of people who aren’t worried about how they look, sound on paper, or measure their talents against others, but who are worried about how they can give 100% of themselves and their natural talents where they are welcomed without bias.

So…

This naturally breeds collective proactivity where everyone is free to create without boundaries that limits each one’s talents. The problem with constantly believing one’s own press means people tend to sit back, are prone to bitching, and often wonder why things don’t always come their way if they are so “popular”.

It’s dead simple. Once you’ve realized and start to follow your own path, things will start happening. Sucking up superficial praise without continually improving one’s self and constantly looking at others’ own paths almost always leads nowhere.

Congrats Matador and in the words of founder Ross Borden, “onwards and upwards.”