2 observations from walking around my neighborhood today:

- Was very impressed with the brand experience at the Samsung store in Columbus Circle.  A large retail space, really dedicated to the brand experience of Samsung.  Comfortable couches throughout the store – 1 area had folks watching the NBA playoffs, another had a James Bond movie showing, and yet another section of the store had teenage kids playing video games.  Stores pay huge rent, it’s a warm welcoming environment and I am sure results in increased brand affinity for Samsung (as well as I am sure ultimately increased sales).  It’s smart and I never understand why more brands don’t do simple things which allow customers to spend more time in their stores (particularly pre-qualified high rent districts where I’d imagine the consumer demographic is high end and precisely the consumer brands are seeking to influence).

- Then spent 3+ hours doing one of my favorite leisure activities – Just hours in the bookstore.  Scanned dozens of magazines which I don’t read on a regular basis (from obscure watch magazines to niche technology trades – Literally dozens of magazines… Clearly a must for any Public Relations pro… read read and read more.).  Then scanned about 5 different business motivation books… and gleaned a ton of knowledge and enjoyment.  Favorite quote of the day from a networking book: “The next year’s business success is about the people you will meet and the books you will read.” As I have said before, I have never met a good PR person who doesn’t absolutely love reading.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Be ready when opportunity comes…Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet: Roy D. Chapin Jr.

Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it: Lou Holtz

Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal: Vince Lombardi

Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them: Samuel Smiles

Don’t go through life, grow through life: Eric Butterworth

Ronn Torossian

5WPR 

 

Saturday night, while dining with a former client, a future client and a few friends, I met an acquaintance who owns a similar-sized business in the marketing space. We spoke about the challenges of handling 90+ employees and a few hundred clients. His casual remark stuck in my mind: “In the service industry, with a business this size, you can’t have a personal life. It’s just impossible.”

He said this on a Saturday night at 10 p.m. or so, when I was dining at Philippe, a client’s restaurant, with a former client and a future client by my side.

There are many things which affect the “entrepreneur” lifestyle, and certainly there are many changes that people need to consider before going off on their own.

I have never once regretted being an entrepreneur. It’s the greatest thing in the world. Although, I will say I have never understood the concept of a “lifestyle entrepreneur.” It is harder than anything I have ever done – all encompassing, all the time. But yes, there are many rewards…

Personal boundaries all change. There’s very little separation between work and personal life. My simple solution for this is to genuinely enjoy the people I spend time with professionally as much as possible.

As a young entrepreneur, I always strive for self improvement in all aspects of life, personally and professionally. I am blessed in my business to be surrounded by some brilliant clients from whom I can continually learn.

A senior employee asked me on Saturday afternoon (when we had lunch for an hour to review financials, staffing and the like) why I spend so much time with a certain low paying client. I responded, “His management style is so very different from mine, yet he’s so successful; while I completely disagree with many of his decisions, I like listening to and learning from clients.”

It’s true… but I also genuinely like him, so I try to spend time with him and learn whatever I can from him.

On Sunday afternoon I was in Brooklyn with a client, dining with our children. And there again I thought, from the gym to the dinner table to nightlife to vacations, in the personal service industry, as an entrepreneur, personal boundaries must change.

Ronn Torossian

5W PR

Forwarded from a friend… and a great inspiration with which to start the week… There are those who do it, and those who watch it done…

Responsibility is not a burden. It is the key that enables you to exercise control over your own destiny. Only by taking responsibility are you able to move life in the direction of your own dreams and visions. Responsibility fully engages the best of who you are.

Responsibility can be difficult, time-consuming, unfair, inconvenient and uncomfortable. Yet it also brings you to a level of empowerment that cannot be reached in any other way. At the heart of true achievement is responsibility.

No matter what has happened, or who is to blame, or how it all came to be, choose to take full responsibility for your life. For that is the first step in making it great.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR