GarthBox

At every PR event, seminar, breakfast I go to, I inevitably hear complaints about the C-suite of the business not caring about measuring qualitative variables. Some clients still don’t believe in PR. Some clients don’t care about impact or target – all they care about is sales. The list of trials and tribulations (complaints) goes on.

These attitudes by a business’s decision-makers don’t bother me, or, more importantly, their attitudes toward my profession doesn’t make me dislike my profession.

Here’s the truth: Those in the PR industry will always be ahead of those in the C-suite, of those in the R&D department, of those private investors to a business when it comes to our industry.

As soon as the entire business gets on board with what we’ve been telling them for the last five years, we’ll have discovered something else, we’ll want to test something else, we’ll have shifted our beliefs to something better and the cycle restarts.

We can complain…or we can keep pushing marketing until are worth is obvious. This isn’t to say informing and inspiring businesses to support PR and social media will ever get easier. I’ve already made it plain that it won’t. It will, however, make it more rewarding.

If you’re being put off by clients’ and businesses’ slow move to embrace PR and social media, the marketing industry may not be for you.

When you can wake up each day and know you’ll be dancing up a hill (sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s nowhere near easy) and you’re fine with that, then you’ve found your industry.

 

Stay Positive & You’re Called A Professional For A Reason – You’re Supposed To Know More

Photo credit

It takes vigor to get up each day and bring ideas to the edge.

Time and time again there will be those who play devil’s advocate, who give you a reason to quit, and, sometimes life throws such a curveball at you that no one would think any less of you if you put down your weapons.

In those moments where you decide to give up or overcome, you either win or lose.

What’s unique is that either way, it’s impermanent.

A few years ago I wrote about being one bite away from being on track with your diet plan. You don’t fail the entire plan when you deviate from it because you’re only one right bite away from being back on track. Your failure is impermanent.

Success, determination and resilience is impermanent too.

I fancy momentum, but there’s no hill in life that some rocks or people won’t find themselves running up to stop what’s rolling down. Success isn’t sustainable in all areas at all times.

Whichever end of the spectrum you find yourself waking up on today, know that it’s not permanent – it may just change how you tackle the day from here.

This impermanence is a gift if you’ll accept it as one.

 

Stay Positive & Humble & Hustle

Photo credit

It’s a CEO fact that when you provide regular feedback to staff, it becomes the norm and the staff stops taking it personally.

A similar reaction (or lack of reaction) happens when you put yourself on a limb, when you get rejected, turned down, told no.

The more often it happens, the less it impacts you.

The added benefit is you’re also succeeding, told yes, and approved more often too.

The more momentum you build toward putting yourself out there, the more wins you have and the less the losses hurt.

 

Stay Positive & Keep Chugging Along

Photo credit

The hard part isn’t coming up with great ideas that no one has thought of before. The hard part is executing them once you’ve thought about them.

For some, the hard part is even executing on small, not-that-remarkable, old ideas.

They all need your support, not your criticism.

 

Stay Positive & A Pat On The Back Can Go A Long Way

Photo credit

If you asked me to explain what a confirmation bias is, here’s the example I would share.

A realtor is showing you the house, asks what you like, what you don’t like, and says there’s never been a better time to buy a home.

She’s not lying.

For her, there really has never been a better time for someone to buy a home…from her.

Consider the stress, pressure and insecurity she would have to deal with if she worked as a realtor during the worst time to buy a home. Not glamorous, and certainly not reassuring.

Better that she confirm she made the right career choice by reminding herself there’s never been a better time for her to work as a realtor.

But for you. The homebuyer, now may not be the best time ever to buy a home.

When it comes to sellers and buyers, the seller is there to analyze from the buyer’s perspective whether it is or if there will be a better time to buy a home. It’s the same for marketers, artists, friends, bosses and so on.

When you hear “there’s never been a better time,” think wisely whether they are referring to themselves or to you.

There’s a difference between someone who is looking out for you and who is looking out for themselves.

Better to figure out which it is up front.

 

Stay Positive & There’s Never Been A Better Time To Stop And Think (They’ll wait. Trust me.)

Photo credit

You can spend time on the prep. Researching. Getting your ducks in line. Learning the best way of creating what it is you want to share with the world. It doesn’t need to be big either. When I worked in painting I would spend a lot of time prepping the walls before paint touched them. I cared about getting it right.

Then it comes to the actual thing. The seasonal dish, the painted walls, the newest piece of tech has to be just right. It has to work. Meet expectations. Tell a strong story.

But there’s a very important space after you’ve prepped and created: delivery.

There’s a reason waiters place your plate of food in front of you from your right side and not your left. They could catapult the dish to you, but that’s not quite right either.

There’s a reason the paint on the ceiling is on in long strokes and in a certain direction (it has to do with how natural light enters the room). It could be painted with a brush in every different direction, but it wouldn’t be right.

To get it right, we have to focus on spec, on the end product, and always remember to put energy into how you deliver. It’s the triforce of excellence.

 

Stay Positive & Check, Check, Check To Get It Right

Photo credit