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?

Goal setting: founding and following my PR path

Looking back on four years of college, I now understand the power of setting goals. Yes, goal setting is empowering. When I was young, I kept things pretty simple in the goal-setting category. After being accepted to the University Honors program at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, I immediately set my sights up graduating with a GPA of 3.5 or above. This number is the cutoff criteria for graduation from the program, so it seemed like a great baseline.

I wrote this goal down and began my mission. Each and every academic step I took and decision I made reflected this goal. Some classes I knew my highest potential was a B, others I knew I was slacking if I didn’t get an A; but each end-of-semester grade report exposed my measuring stick and told me how I was doing.

My next big goal became clearer as I progressed on the path of becoming a young PR professional and demanded more out of myself. After being cemented at three different PR internships, I set my sights on the best. My goal was to land a PR internship at a world-leading, prestigious and global public relations agency. Heck, look back at one of my first posts at on the PR path.

Landing an internship at Burson-Marsteller, a top ten PR agency worldwide, was my ultimate goal. I got to the final stages of the long interview process in 2009, only to be rejected due budget shortfalls. I could have pouted or been mad, but I used the rejection as a motivator to continue working toward my goal.

Landing an internship with Burson became my mission, my goal and my passion. I set up Google alerts to follow the company every day, and constantly brainstormed ideas for how my application might stand out from the 800 other young PR professionals who applied.

A year later in 2010, I applied and was accepted into the program. I start June 7 in Chicago’s public affairs practice. What an amazing feeling to follow a goal, dedicate yourself to making it happen and realizing that goal. Fulfilling goals is a feeling unlike any other and just when you think a goal might be out of your reach, it may just be closer than ever. Set goals, work hard and never doubt your determination. By the way, I did graduate with above a 3.5 GPA, checking off another goal on my professional pursuits.

What goal-setting success stories have you had on your path to becoming a young PR professional? Please share!

PR+SM Summit - Tactics for finding a job through social media

Today I'm spending a chilly Wisconsin day at Marquette University at the PR+SM Summit put on by Comet Branding and Marquette University. I'm attempting to post multiple times throughout the day to give people a quick run down of presentations I find interesting.

Jeff Carrigan from Big Shoes Network presented, "Gettting a job: social media know-how is good, but mom's advice is even better," here's a run down of that presentation:

According to Carrigan, jobs postings are up about 50 percent compared to the same time period last year and the hottest jobs are entry- to mid-level positions in digital, interactive marketing and social media.

How to go about searching?

• Eight places to search for jobs online: specific company Web sites, Universities, recruiters, industry resources (Ad Age magazine, PR week, etc.), job boards, profesional organizations (PRSA), social networking sites and staffing firms.

Carrigan dabbled into four of these categories, giving specific tips in each:

1. Agencies/Corporate (specific companies): make a list of 50-100 companies you are interested in, visit their site once per week and monitor their job postings on a regular basis. Most job posting are exposed interanlly first and might only be posted externally for a short time. The quicker you get on it, the better chance you have of getting an interview
2. Job Boards: There are three types of boards. [1] National (monster.com, hotjobs.com); [2] Local or regional (milwaukeejobs.com, chicagojobs.com); [3] Niche (bigshoesnetwork.com, creativehotlist.com). Monitor these sites on a weekly basis and apply for job postings within 5-7 business days for best results.
3. Social Networking: Facebook is a great place to gather intelligence about companies for job searching and learn about company culture. Navigate the group directory on LinkedIn.com and engage with members of niche groups related to the field you're interested in. Meetup.com also offers opportunities to network and find people who may be useful connections for you.
4. Twitter: This could go in social networking but there's more here so it's in a seperate category. There are four types of accounts on Twitter you should be aware of: [1] Corporate HR; [2] Executive Recruiters; [3] Companies; [4] Job Feeds. Here are a few good handles to follow:

• @aconnjob @jtrantowski ,@AtrceIQ, @judiwunderlich, @cooljobsAtLC, @FullHouseLive, @GetPubRelatJobs, @PRSAJobCenter, @TMJ_Chi_Adv, @TwitJobSearch (investigate on your own to find out who/what these accounts are about)

Main takeaways

• Social media in job searching should be used to elevate your visibility
• Social media is a way to demonstrate your expertise
• Use social media to build and cultivate your network

Stay tuned for more posts today!

Welcome fellow #happo participants!

Thanks for finding your way to my blog. This space is meant to provide useful tips and insight for asipiring public relations professionals. Browse around, read a few posts and let me know what you think.

Why should you hire me? Follow #22reasons2hire on twitter to see the 22 reasons why you should hire me.

If you are sick of my tweets (there will be 24 total!), check out my Web site and portfolio at shanearman.weebly.com. I would also love to hear from you, so feel free to call me at (262) 510-6047 or e-mail me at armans84@uwosh.edu.

Thanks for looking, comments are always appreciated!

Shane