Here’s how a business editor's ideal working day might start. It might give you some ideas for sharing your news.

This business editor’s ideal working day might begin something like this.

I would arrive at the office early. (Yes, my ideal day would still feature an office, I think.)

On the way, I would have heard the Today programme, especially the business news, and perhaps I would even have been up early enough to listen to Radio 5 Live’s Wake Up to Money. I'd have taken a quick look at some news websites too.

At the office, I'd check the PA wire. That’s the feed of stories written by the UK’s key national news agency, which we can pick up and adapt or localise. If there’s something that has a local implication, I'd get it onto the Echo websites quickly, then consider how I might develop it throughout the day.

I'd check the business sections of the BBC news and the broadsheet papers.

I'd look at my email inbox to see what should be high priority among the incoming news. 

I'd consult my calendar for today's events or interviews, then my list of stories I had on the front or back burner, and my “tickler file” of things I wanted to be reminded of. That would help alert me to key local businesses whose accounts or results were set to be published, or any updates due on administrations or liquidations.

I'd look at how current business stories were performing. Which ones were proving popular? How many people were reading the coverage and how long were they spending on the site?

And then, in the light of all these things, it would be time to reflect. To consider: If I were running a business now, what would be on my mind? What would be keeping me awake at night, in excitement or in trepidation? What would be annoying me, exciting me, troubling me? What are the issues facing retailers, exporters, factory workers, gig economy freelancers and anyone else who makes up our readership? Social media can provide some good insights there, although there's no substitute for having regular conversations with people in business.

Any of these might give me an idea of where I could best focus my time. But at any moment, the phone could ring and a valued contact could bring me some information that could change the agenda entirely.

How often do I have this ideal day? Practically never, of course, because real life rarely conforms to the ideal.

But the closer I get to the ideal start, and the more time I can find to think about what will be interesting and important to our readership, the more effectively I can do my job.

Here’s where you come in

I've said before that in a world where almost everyone is a publisher, everybody needs to think a bit like a journalist.

What are the stories developing nationally today on which you have an informed perspective? Do you have expertise or data that you could turn into a comment for a reporter (as well as into social media or blog content, guaranteeing it won't go to waste)?

What are people missing when they discuss those stories? Is there a new and valuable point of view you could add?

What’s bothering you in your industry? Is it red tape, costs, a big exogenous threat approaching? Or what’s the opportunity? The area that’s set to boom or the overlooked potential that you’ve spotted?

There are two key ways to inform and influence a topical discussion:

1.      Contribute information or insight on a subject that’s already on the agenda;

2.      Bring something to people’s attention that’s not being discussed but ought to be.

These things are worth sharing with a journalist.

Perhaps that journalist should be picking up on these issues already and considering who to contact. But they might appreciate hearing from a real expert like you – because today, as so often, they might not have had the perfect start to the day.