A young PR pros' aspirations for entreprenuership

Is it just me or do other young PR professionals want to start their own business? It’s exciting to look ahead and hope that some day I’ll have the knowledge, resources and support to do so.

A long-term goal of mine is to open up my own boutique PR agency or consulting firm and I constantly think about how or if this could happen. I feel like I would at least need to get a master’s degree in business or mass communication, possibly both. And have some rock-star partners (especially a stellar accountant).

One of the things I worry about is building a client base. Getting and retaining clients seems like one of the most challenging aspects of beginning a business although I’m sure there are tons of other things to worry about. Here are a list of online sources I found that might spark the interest of you future entrepreneurs.

• 10 Incredibly Awesome Documents to Help You Start a Company by: Jason Nazar, co-founder and CEO of docstoc.com
• Starting or Escaping Your Own PR Business by: Ron Culp, partner and managing director of Ketchum, global PR firm
• PR Secrets for Startups by: Brian Solis, principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning new media marketing and branding agency

What are your thoughts?
Current entrepreneurs: what was the hardest thing about starting your business? What do you wish you would have know before you started? What advice would you offer young PR professionals with aspirations of starting their own business?
 
Rising PR stars: what is your dream startup business?

Exciting way to highlight your talent

Sorry about the long hiatus of posting, I got caught up in the end of summer/beginning of school whirlwind and left this blog empty for a while. My goal for this blog during my senior year at UW Oshkosh is to keep you updated on everything I do related to public relations.

I will try to offer short, but very useful tidbits of information to help you separate yourself from other PR students. I will detail every step along the way of my job search, student involvement, my current internship, etc.

Professional advice:

At the end of the summer I agreed to help with social media for a real PR plan for Weidert Group (a full-service marketing agency in Appleton, WI). After chatting with the PR manager (Thanks Abby Gutowski!) from Weidert at a meeting, she suggested www.weebly.com, a FREE Web site creator that works well to showcase your talent, portfolio, résumé, etc.

I would also highly recommend this site to create an online presence for yourself. The interface is very user friendly with drag and drop customizable features (no html programming needed). So, if you are looking for a way to impress employers and organize your accomplishments, weebly is an excellent and FREE way to do so.

For an example, feel free to check out my weebly site (still a work in progress!) and e-mail me at armans84@uwosh.edu with any questions OR suggestions you have. Thanks for reading.