Ask most passers-by in the street what they think Lanthanum, Promethium and Praseodymium are, and you will probably receive a quizzical look. Whether they know it or not, there is little chance of supply keeping up with demand in the coming five to 10 years…
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Today we got to chat with Ebyline Freelancer Andrew Rosenbaum about his writing process and how to seize on breaking investment opportunity news like these rare earth elements.
What road did you take to discover your niche?
I started out in technology when I got my first job in journalism as a stringer for a small newsletter in Brussels that covered developments at the European Commission — that was in 1983. I’d wound up living in Brussels more or less by chance, and the only opportunities for young beginners were working for very small newsletters that covered very technical aspects of European Union developments. My first one was about technical standards for electronics products — why some countries have plugs with three prongs and other ones have two, etc. Fascinating stuff, nein? But, in fact, a great lesson in journalism – how to make complex matters interesting to everyone. In fact, nothing is boring, if you’re a good writer. From there, I moved to Italy, and there worked for Communicationsweek. I broke a major international story there, and Businessweek picked me up. That gave me the transition into finance.
What advice would you give to business advisers who would like to start writing?
Don’t sell your business. Target the needs of the reader. See what consumers really need, and how they react to your offer. Think about how your offer fits into the lives of people before you write about it.
Do you have any rituals you need to go through before you start writing?
Just very good coffee. After nearly 20 years of work, I don’t have any problems getting started.
This is a unique topic, something that combines science and business, where did the idea for this article come from?
I’d been following rare earths for quite some time without writing anything, because of their immense technological importance. But the market for them had been so completely dominated by China that there was no investment angle. This changed when China changed some of its policies, and exploration made more rare earths available. I’d been watching for that change, and jumped in when it happened.
Just for fun: If a new rare earth metal had been discovered, and you could name it anything (except you can’t name it after yourself) what would it be called?
Pecunium -Latin for money.
Andrew Rosenbaum has been a financial journalist for 15 years. Based in Europe, he has worked for Euromoney, BusinessWeek, TIME magazine, and MSN Money, among other publications, as well as working as a corporate editor for KPMG.
