Read today that Joe the Plumber had hired a public relations agency to assist him in getting a record deal? Anyone out there join me in wondering how his 15 seconds of fame translates to people wanting to buy records?

Separately, there’s no doubt the economy is very tough, and while President Bush, both of the Presidential candidates and the brightest financial minds in the world are focused on trying to solve the world’s financial crisis, I believe entrepreneurs and small business owners shouldn’t get sidetracked by that. 

What I have promised to myself, and my employees is: I will work harder than ever before and be more focused to client needs than ever before.  The pledge I believe business owners can make is to simply be hurt a little less than their competitors. 

It’s refusing to lose.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

These past few weeks have been tremendously busy. Case in point: I ate my breakfast at 5:30 p.m. twice in the last week. These are trying times as an entrepreneur, and they require more focus than ever before. Demands on one’s time and on every penny a PR firm charges a client for results require Public Relations professionals to be even more attentive than usual.

As a business owner, I’ve learned — and now understand more than ever before — how easy it is to criticize. (As my closest friend constantly says, “The boss is always an asshole.”) The longer I am in business, the more apparent that is.  I have always been a person who believes one’s energy and aura influences them, which is why a few fellow under-40 entrepreneurs and I have been rotating offices for dinner once a week (Monday night till after midnight) to review business planning, concepts, ideas, and of course, due to this environment, problems. Sharing with people who understand management as entrepreneurs as well as those who strive for more and refuse to lose are people I need to be surrounded by. Business 101 tells us to always surround yourself with people whom you enjoy and respect.

Separately, as a PR professional, I’ve seen the media so consumed by the economy and the election that it has forced all PR professionals to — at the very least — do their best to adapt their pitches to an environment that has little space for anything other than the most pressing news. There are many new angles to consider and focus on, and as the media landscape continues to rapidly change, the challenge as a PR agency is to stay ahead of the curve.

Last, as my assistant noted earlier today, my blog would be so much more fun if I wrote down more details regarding my day, but secrets can’t be told. That said, here are a few highlights of a whirlwind day:

-Started the day by dining at a NYC power breakfast location with someone who is sure to be a major behind-the-scenes power player if a certain someone is elected president. (He required a face-to-face discussion rather than a conversation on the phone.)

-Rushed to a meeting on the Upper East Side with a client to discuss a revolutionary product he created.

-Met with one of the richest people in the world. (This was my second meeting in 10 days with a person on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.)

-Was called to my rabbi’s office for a meeting with a business contact he promised to introduce me to.

-Finally reached the office at 2:30 p.m. or so and dealt with many different issues.

But, to write more specifics than this is the difference between a philosopher and someone who owns a business. Or perhaps it’s the difference between the bush leagues and the big leagues: That distinction is apparent when working extra hours during times such as these.  It’s always fun…but it’s tiring and challenging.

PR is a great business.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I had a great discussion with a client (Sakiya Sandifer) today regarding the challenges of being an entrepreneur.  He described entrepreneurs as being much like ducks.  Ducks appear to be floating smoothly and easily across the water at all times, when in reality, underneath the water their legs are constantly kicking, flapping and fighting to keep moving.

As an entrepreneur, one must always appear to be gliding along.  But often, entrepreneurs are pushed and pulled in many different directions.  Being an entrepreneur is very very difficult work, all the time, no matter the perception.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I have recently been reading The Week, a publication put out by Felix Dennis of Dennis Publishing (who also publishes Maxim).  The magazine’s simple motto is: “All you need to know about everything that matters.”

The weekly mag provides a review/roundup of the top stories from magazines and newspapers all over the world. That’s a great summary of the news and helps one to better understand how the media is covering stories, which allows PR firm folks like me to come up with better pitches – I came up with a bunch while reading it.

You can’t read enough if you work in public relations, or are an entrepreneur. 

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

They used to construct the buildings that housed banks as if they were impenetrable stone fortresses.  The symbolism was obvious: your money is safe with us.  From kids with jars of pennies to young families and businesses of every shape and size, everyone put their hard-earned greenbacks into the hands of the banker, a person above reproach – someone you could trust to protect your money.  Today, that trust is at question.

Once-heralded banks are now seen as symbols of greed and deceit, and politics is equated to corruption.  It’s safe to say that the state of trust in 2008 is but a shadow of its former counterpart.

Who could have ever imagined that in the early stages of the 21st century the idea of a mattress being a safe place for money would be discussed, let alone acted on? So, who do you trust?  What factors foster trust?  And is the trust issue limited to the financial sector?  I think not.  Eaten any tomatoes with salmonella or E-coli in the last six months?

As a marketer of products, I think that today marketers must “over” prove their trustworthiness, because consumers today are “resistant to being sold to.”  This is true across the country, unbounded by belief or status: blue state, red state, urban, suburban and rural. Welcome to the age of retrusting.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR