Photo by: Lumaxart, via Flickr

What works better for you, being self-employed, making your own hours, being your own boss, or being in an energized office where you can collaborate in a hands-on environment and work as a team?

I know some brilliant, knowledgeable communications pros that are freelancers. They love being self-employed, and they are great at what they do. However, it has become very clear to me, for a few reasons that freelancing is not for me.

I am currently looking for the right opportunity, and because I want the right opportunity and not just a job, I am doing freelance work now on a project basis and writing for Examiner.com.  Just like most of us, I too have to pay my mortgage every month and take care of my family, so something is needed for the meantime.

With this said, what brought me this clarity was working in the self-employed capacity for the last three years. Prior to this I had always been in in-house positions, and have always loved the hands-on environment. Things that bothered me and had me thinking maybe I was more suited for working independently was simply the politics of it all. The rumors, the back stabbing, and the blatant laziness and sub par effort that was just accepted.

I have learned that there are two core parts of my personality that make me not the best fit for freelancing.

- The fact that I am loyal to a fault
- That I thrive when working in a hands-on environment.

For the first two years that I was self-employed I worked technically as a freelancer but with only one company. Therefore, the loyalty aspect of my personality did not cause issues. I only had to be loyal to this one organization and thereby the clients of the organization that I worked with.

This position at the time worked out great for me, I had the opportunity to stay home with my son and watch him grow, an option I did not even know existed with my first two. I did not need nor really want a 40 hour week at that time.

However, when I did become ready for a full time schedule, I realized I would need to look for other freelance work. This would not work for my personality, I work for people not companies, and the people I work with is what motivates me to keep giving my best. I feel that when I spread myself too thin I am not able to give my best, and it just becomes work on a project to project basis, and not something I am really involved in or invested in.

The other reason is something I have been missing for a while, but it has become impossible to ignore over the last six months. This is the need to work with others, to wake up in the morning and be energized at what the new day holds for me, to be able to come home and spend quality time with my family, because I now have that work-life balance that was missing before.

I really feel lucky to have experienced both, being employed and being self-employed. Although there are things that bother me about both worlds, the experiences of both have brought me clarity. It has made me see, that the moments when I am at my best, when I am the happiest, are moments when I am part of a team, part of a bigger picture that I can touch and feel. I am so anxious for that moment, that moment when I am part of a team again.

Where do you prefer to be? Working for yourself or in-house at an organization?

“Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile.”
Gary Ryan Blair

I have always been told to start any type of cover letter or e-mail to a prospective employer by pointing out what I can offer their organization. I was told that I am asking for their consideration and I should always show them what I can offer them first, and then once I make it to the interview I can tell them what I want from a company.

Contrary to what has been ingrained me, my instinct has always been to start out by stating what I want in an organization and in a position, and then telling them what I can offer them. However, I have always felt they go hand-in-hand, when I tell a prospective employer what I am looking for, I am also telling them a bit about who I am, and what they can expect from me.

I am going to start with what I want and need from a company, because at the end of the day if it is not a good fit, then it does not matter what I can offer you.

In a PR firm, I want an agency that listens to their clients, but that realizes that they do not have to agree with everything they say to keep them on board. I want a PR firm that realizes that the success of their clients and their happiness go hand-in-hand. I want a firm that is forward thinking, that has open communication with their clients and that has an organizational process already in place. I want to work for a firm that goes beyond PR 101, and that challenges me daily.

In a Marketing Communications position with a company I want similar things, empowerment, leadership by management, team members that are motivated, an organization that rewards achievements but that gives me honest constructive criticism so I can continue to grow, an organization that controls rumors and realizes when a strategy or process is not working so they can make changes and continue to grow.

I would strongly prefer the non-profit sector or a position that allows me to give back, to make a difference and to have a positive impact on others.

I have five years of experience in the marketing and public relations industry. Through my hard work, determination, resourcefulness and insatiable appetite for success I have climbed the ladder at each organization I have worked for and have moved up through various positions. (See positions on my resume here)

Through what I have learned I can offer:

• Sound research and analytical skills. (Used to create in-detail local market fact sheets for a major wireless broadband provider along with researching all opportunities.)
• Understanding of Emerging Technologies (Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Ning, Wordpress, etc. Increased number of individuals in multiple communities for a beauty client by 80%)
• Trade Show support (e.g.; NECA, ISH, IEC, etc.)
• Competitive analysis
• Development of marketing materials: News Releases, Sell Sheets, Internal and External Newsletters, Media Kits, Banner ads, and other marketing material.
• Event planning for annual client and user events (Increased attendance by 20% for a software companies annual user conference.)
• Creation of successful strategies to build Community Engagement. (Strategy and execution of an ebook campaign for a B to C client and a written strategy for a 90 day health and wellness program.)
• High level of organizational skills, multi-tasking and keen attention to detail.
• Media outreach (secured placements in the Baltimore Sun, WBAL TV, H2o, and other online outlets and blogs)
• Proficient in the MS Office Suite.
• Proficient with the Adobe Suite
• Proficient with software tools used in the public relations industry (MymediaInfo, Cision, Vocus, Factiva, etc.)

I am anxious for the opportunity to speak and meet with an organization where the relationship is mutually beneficial, where we can help each other continue to grow.

You can see my full resume, writing samples, creative samples, and recommendations here.

Therese Pompa
410-870-0215
@tlockemy
http://www.linkedin.com/in/theresepompa

To find out more about HAPPO go here:  http://helpaprproout.com/

A survey conducted by New York-based GfK Roper Consulting Group found that 76% of small-business owners think that social networking sites are not helpful in generating business leads or in expanding their operations.

This exact thinking is just why they are not seeing results. They are still looking for something measurable, such as business leads and sales. Social media is not a direct mail campaign, you are not telemarketing and this is not intended to serve as a platform for a product push.

In my opinion, social media is a tool we can use to build relationships with people that we normally would have never met, for companies it is a chance to directly connect with their target audience, and to appreciate their customers. Companies pay tons of money to find out what consumers think and this is an opportunity to listen, to connect and to find out directly from your audience, from your customers.

It is all in the way you think: So when you sign up for these online networking sites, the first thing to do before creating a profile is to change the way you think. If you are thinking how these new tools are going to benefit you, your pocket and the company, then you are not going to succeed.

What you should be thinking about is how can I be useful to my audience, what are their needs, their problems. How can I show my customers that they are appreciated, that their feedback matters to our organization and to the decisions we make.

Although there are companies signing up for social networking sites, I have noticed two things missing:

• Humanizing the organization and the faces behind it.
• Efforts spent on new prospects vs. current customers.

Some recommendations on how to humanize your organization:

- On your social networking sites use a photo of the person tweeting vs. a logo, if you would rather use your logo or if there are multiple people tweeting, you can include pictures of the ones tweeting on the twitter background, or in a photos section of the tool you are using. Here are twitter profiles where I feel like the company is more personable:

• Kodak -http://twitter.com/kodakCB
• Ford – http://twitter.com/scottmonty
• Communispace – http://twitter.com/CommunispaceCEO

- Build genuine relationships with people in your network and connect with them. Give them valuable information; ask them questions on what they think of your products/service.

- Within reason show vulnerabilities, none of us are perfect.

- Show that you have a personality, what are you views on things that are happening in the industry or in matters that your network is talking about.

- Have a link to a picture account such as Flickr or a place on your website where company events and the people that make up the company are shown. People can relate to a culture they can see vs. an invisible person behind a logo.

- Invest in a cause, one that you are passionate about and one that stays true to what your company is about, the same passion, the same emotion that led to you building your company.

Focus on your customers:

I have also seen a lack of appreciation for current customers, with all of the promotions and rewards being targeted to new customers.

So many companies forget who is there every day buying their cup of coffee over the coffee shop down the road, who every month buys their skin care regiment when there is a less expensive systems right within reach.

I think that all companies should work on tracking their consumers, whether the product is bought online or in a store. Start a campaign that goes with the packaging that will bring your in-store customers online, make sure you know who your current customers are so you can show them that you appreciate them and learn from them.

Listen, and truly engage with your current customers and followers, I have always felt that your current customers and your employees are your best brand ambassador. When the whole crisis situation happened with Dominion’s, the first things I thought were, eww that is gross, what a pr disaster, and that they needed to go back to basics and figure out why their employees had not one ounce of loyalty to the company.

A Customers First trends report notes that “Market research has proven that loyal customers or repeat customers represent 80% of your business.” So why in the world do companies only focus on new customers and leave their loyal fans behind. We all know that happy customers talk, that is why word of mouth is so powerful, and companies drop the ball on this time and time again.

Per btobonline.com only 15.5% of b-to-b marketers are counting customer retention as a top goal, this is a big mistake.

Take some of your current marketing dollars and invest them into a customer only campaign, hire your fans as brand ambassadors, gather their insight to make your next product or offerings even better, it will pay back dividends.

If you want to be a PR rock star I recommend reading all the great information I learned at this past PRville conference and also make sure you are at PRville 2010 next year

I was super nervous to go to this conference, between this being my first 3 day PR conference and between my plane ride to Jacksonville being my first flight, well needless to say I had to mentally prepare myself for this trip way in advance.  I can say that although I still have a reason to fear being thousands of feet in the air, I should have had no fears about going to this awesome event, everyone was great and I got to learn and absorb all the great information.

The event was so well put together thanks to Anne Duboius (@adubois08) and Bonnie Upright (@bonnieupright ).  I had a great time and learned so much, which I am now going to take the time to pass forward, to give back as Mike Cherenson said in his Thursday night speech.  So first I am going to put the top 10 tweets of the event, these are just some tweets that stood out to me, you can see all of the great tweets to get a peak into Prville using the #Prville Hashtag on twitter. Then I will do a small recap of each session I attended

I got to the Omni Hotel at about 2:00 PM on Thursday, and although I did have a small issue with the shuttle reservation I made, they promptly fixed the issues and not only was the Omni Hotel beautiful, their customer service was outstanding.  Just 3 things they did that stood out – My shoes where kind of thrown by the bed when I left on Friday morning and when I came back they were all neatly lined underneath the desk, I also came back to some makeup wipes in the bathroom, now that might of been because my makeup ended up on their towels, but I really tried to not get much on there.  Then right before I left they did something else that made them stand out.  My feet were killing me, I forgot my shoes, but I still wanted to walk the Riverwalk, so I attempted it in my sandals, yeah, not the best idea.  So I called down to the front desk to get help with my luggage, but was running late since this great woman, Diane I met at Prville was giving me a ride to the airport therefore leaving me 5 minutes to make it downstairs, so the lady at the front desk called me back to tell me the bell boy could not make it up in 5 minutes, so I told her I walk.  She said nope, don’t do that I will personally come up myself, within 2 minutes max she was there, that is stand out customer service, I will make a point to look for a the Omni Hotel wherever I go. Oh, and no – I did not get anything free or discounted for writing this review, I just thoroughly enjoyed the stay there, and you should try their sliders, so yummy!

So as soon as I registered, I get this awesome Goody Bag with a shot glass, compact mirror, note pads a disc that had all of sessions, speaker’’s bios, etc on it and much more.  PRville went Green this year, I loved it, because all those papers I would have lost by now, I still have the disc which includes some of the ppt’s that were used.

Then on Thursday night I got to head over to the Jacksonville Stadium which was very cool, we got to see their workout room, their locker room, we stood out on the field.  I did feel like I was betraying the Ravens a little bit, but I still had a good time.  Here is a photo that was taken from Ljohnson9’s photo stream on Flickr, I am hoping she does not mind, but the ones I took on my phone pail in comparison.

Some highlights from Michale’s (@mcherenson)

• Authenticity is more important now than it has ever been.
• He talked about an ad that was placed in the 1900’s for a PR firm and how on the ad it did not even have the last name, he spoke to how PR has evolved.
• Study that said that PR is more recession resistant than ever before.
• We enter PRSA to learn and grown, but we must go forward and serve, we must give back, we must plant a tree for the next PR generation.

Then on Friday morning I started the morning with a yummy breakfast that everyone at Prville could enjoy and got ready for the opening sessions “Managing the Media when there is no place to hide” In this session the Hudson Miracle was talked about, yeah, did I mention I just got on a plane the day before, seriously thought about taking a train home Listening to a survivor of the Hudson Plane Crash was a neat experience, it truly was a miracle.  Panel Speakers were Don Jones, Laura Brown, and Peter Knudson.

Some Key Highlights:

• You do not want to say different things about the same accident, that could get you in trouble.  Via Laura Brown, Federal Aviation Administrator. (Try to speak in simple facts until you know what the full story is.)
• They thought the plane crashed, they did not know it was a forced landing in the Hudson.
• NTSA’s Peter Knudson first heard about the crash from Lisa Stark on ABC News. (My thoughts are that this is why every company should have twitter and a blog , to have a quick way to update consumers, clients, the general public on what is going on.)
• Someone else was twittering under the NTSA’s name, it was accurate but still not okay, they are looking into getting a legit twitter account.
• How do you control the crisis? You cannot control it, you can only respond.

AND my favorite quote from the session

Then I chose the workshop: “The camera is rolling, 20 skills to develop your teleconferencing/media skills.” by Steve Clements. I did pick up some from this, but I was hoping it would go over tips for giving clients presentations, and it was more so focused on speaking in front of the camera in all of its fashions. What I loved was that I got a takeaway from this session, I wish I got this for all sessions. Some great tips, and afterwards I realized I can put these tips to use in vlogging.

• Avoid staring at the camera the whole time, blink, look natural.
• Pretend the camera is a friend, this will make you a more natural speaker.
• If you use notes, print them in large font.
• Maintain and animated and pleasant facial expression, don’t let your face ‘go dead’

After this workshop we had a awesome lunch while we listened to Peter Shankman (@skydiver)  talk about social media

• The problem is, is that no one really knows what social media is?  Social Media is nothing but the ability to screw up to a much larger audience in a much shorter amount of time.
• Can’t make anything go viral, what you can do, is make something good, if you make it good, it will go viral.
• Ones that are the most creative win.
• Social Media is nothing more than trust, chance that someone will see it and pass it on to their friends.
• If you blog for your client, then be transparent about it.
• Reporters get 5000 e-mails a day so you better be brief and relevant, you have 2.7 seconds to make an impression.
• We talk to less than 3% of our network contacts so that means we are missing opportunities to connect with 97% of our network.
• You lost control of the conversation years ago, the best you can do now is to get involved in the conversation.
• If you have someone that is reluctant to embrace social media, run their contact by other social media mediums such as Facebook, show them how much of their network is already embracing social media.

Then I went to “PR and Passion Rule the Gator Nation” ran by: Joe Hice

• Have the same passion for your work that you want your customers to have for your product.
• People you develop that passion with will support you through the good and bad.
• Create an Emotional memory.
• Pepper everything you do with creativity, differentiate yourself or DIE.
• You cannot sell a product like everyone else, then your competition grows exponentionally.
• 100 million readers a week for Google & Yahoo vs. 7.4 million a week for ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox.

And my favorite workshop of the entire event was: “Strategic Corporate Communications and Execution”, this is my favorite because this is an area I need help with, I have lots of thoughts and ideas, and I can execute them, I just have a hard time with organizing them into a strategic plan that others can look at and see exactly what I am trying to convey.  This is why I love David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing and PR, it is so well written, and in a very organized manor. If you do not have his book I recommend getting it, it is a small and very worthwhile investment of $15.72

My takeaways from Sharon Wamble – King on Strategic Communications

• You have to drive value, not just make plans.
• When sitting down with your clients, ask questions so you two are learning together, don’t act like you know everything.
• Need to think about the sound strategy so you get results and not outcomes.
• Strategic thinking, that is just the thoughts, strategic planning comes afterwards with the organization of your thoughts.  If I have to execute on this, what are the levers I have to push?
• Have a business process that aligns, connects, and engages stakeholders to the business.
• Tools should be the last thing you talk about.

Then we were all Guitar Haro Rockstarts on Friday Night!

Then Saturday morning I sat in a very informative session on APR accreditation and taking your exam, which I am now looking into becoming a PRSA member, checked out my local chapter today, then I am going to start the process towards taking the APR exam.

Our last session was by Dayna Steele on ‘Finding Your Inner Rockstar”

• Got to let people know what it is that you need
• You have to say Thank You
• Give back to your community, show appreciation.

Overall this was a great conference with great people and I plan on seeing everyone again in 2010.