Marketing Strategy Blog - Page 55

In two days, I will be 42 years old. I write that with a huge smile on my face. I have in the past 12 months had the hardest 12 months of my life from an emotional perspective, but more recently, strangely, the best. As I get older, I keep learning so much about myself and others and I know how enriching that is. Getting older is exciting and allows me to grow in ways I never thought possible. 

When you are navigating life by yourself, it is hard to know whether you are doing the right or the wrong thing. The decisions you make in some way seem less important because all the mission critical one's were made earlier on, yet some are defined more by time. Finally I have hit that mid point in my life and it would be ignorant not to reflect and appreciate the good and learn from the bad. At least that's how I see it.

So many of my friends hit their 40's and have had mid life crisis; divorced or have done something crazy that I am sure one day they will regret. I was a little different. I went within myself and was probably a tad hard on myself and what I had achieved to date, and started this path which I have since gotten off, that was not going to make me happy long-term.

I won't deny that I am my own biggest critic, but mostly what I have learned is that I have grown in ways that make me extremely proud of the person I have become. Not the business woman that the world sees, or those so-called successes, but the person within. I am sure that sounds wrong when someone else reads this, but by saying it out loud, I am revealing who I am today.

Never give away everything, it's as simple as that.

Too many entrepreneurs get so desperate that they give away the kitchen sink when in fact all their prospect wanted to know was that they could do a good job.

As an entrepreneur, it's hard to start a business and to keep it going year-after-year profitability creating value and jobs. But many do so very successful, and yet those who fail seem to do so falling often on their own sword.

For the past 3 weeks I have been quite sick. It has been incredibly hard to be able to work at a pace that is acceptable in my business. Fortunately for me, the team has been running seamlessly and have continued to grow and prosper.

Due to our inherent need for a number of new positions to be filled due to our high growth company, we have to be very careful what clients we take on for now and the future.

I am not stupid. At least I don't think I am.

I try to listen to what others have to say and when someone gives me advice, I usually take it.

I have these two men in my life that are mentors. They are the two men throughout the world that I hold in the highest business esteem. Yes, the world. Not just Australia, but the world.

Their names are Jack Cowin and Peter Ivany. If you don't know who they are, Google them. It will be well worth your while. They are not your average 'smart cookies', they are briliant businessmen - beyond the brilliance of anyone else I have ever met (and I have met people worth hundreds of billions of dollars and spent quality time with them). I think these two guys are better. 

Over the years, there have been a few PR experts that have stood out; namely Shona Boyd. She is an industry veteran in Sydney and has had every big name client under the sun. She is more professional than the rest and without doubt is one of the few people in the industry that guarantee results. She has a no bullshit radar, and refuses to work with people who can't sit straight. I love her. She was one of the first real PR people that I have ever met.

Then there were others that came along, without qualifications but equally capable in getting column centremeters like Roxy Jacenko. They have built their businesses on largely fluffy PR but have done so with gust and have certainly gained my admiration.

I played the PR game earlier on. I realised that it was a quick way to make some serious money. I worked on the more serious part of the equation; public listings, technology PR, business PR and alike. It was fun. All it required was an ability to write a press release and build a relationship with a journalist. By knowing what the journalist was interested in, I was able to tell the client upfront whether or not they had a chance of getting published or not.

For that privilege, I wrote the press release in 20 minutes and charged $2,500 per piece. Easy money and paid the rent. Didn't get much better than that.

Gosh times have changed. Why did I ever stop doing this. Now, we charge a few hundred dollars for writing a press release and send it out to a database. Not the same results might I add, but it seems that that is what most people are doing and getting away with.

Good PR people have the following qualitites: