In service industries like PR (and law, accounting, etc.), we must always be cognizant of our time.  Time is our livelihood as there’s only so many hours in a day we can speak to clients, media, etc.  Why is it people who don’t work in the service industry never seem to understand this? Every minute for us during the work day is precious and has to be considered as such.  The old adage “Time is money” is very accurate for us, and this public relations agency realizes it and keeps it in mind constantly.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

My Sunday was spent preparing for the coming week which holds 7 face to face client meetings, 6 new business meetings, 3 interviews, 2 internal reviews and a host of other activities in addition to the usual emails and phone calls.

In the past 8 years, I have learned it is truly impossible to prepare for the unpredictability of the “entrepreneurial experience.” In addition to the regular tasks of a PR professional, I oversee financials, manage the psychology of staff and clients, ensure that operations are a go and a host of other matters which vary depending on the day and the hour.

Here are some other random musings:

I still wonder why so few other PR agency owners utilize blogging, twitter and Facebook. I’d venture to say less than 10% of the owners of the Top 100 PR agencies in the US use all three social media outlets (I SURE DO!). From a client perspective, it is a challenge to engage companies or individuals in social media because very few are actually willing to pay for it.

Not all business is good business…No details needed, but it always rings true.

“Look after clients as though they’re your mother, your father, your husband, your wife, your brother, your sister. If you treat them like family and you do great work, they’re going to come back.”

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

A great inspirational story from an inspiring author (and new friend), best selling NYT Author Laurence Haughton (His website is www.laurencehaughton.com – Go buy his books)…

It’s about strategy and the emphasis on elaborate planning:

Planning ten moves ahead isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in business, or in chess.

A New York City amateur challenged one of the most renowned chess masters to a match.  Amazingly, the amateur won.  The crowd couldn’t believe it.  “How could a master lose to such an inferior opponent?” they wondered.

“How far ahead can you plan your strategy?” someone asked the master.

“Ten moves,” he answered, impressing everyone.

“And how far do you plan ahead?” the local man was asked.  “Only one move,” he replied.

This was even more astonishing than the match results.  How could a player who only plans one move at a time defeat another who can strategize ten moves ahead?  The New York City amateur, sensing the question, explained, “I may only plan one move ahead – but it is always the best move.”

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I am still flying high from the news that 5WPR was named the 13th largest independent US PR agency for 2009 by ODwyers PR, a leading PR publication.  With over $11 million in revenue in its 7th year of operation, the agency continues to grow within the industry.

This honor ranks alongside 5W Public Relations being named to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in the US, and being named fastest growing PR firm in the US 3 years running. It’s an absolute highlight for our company – Numbers and  results count.

On a personal note, 13 has always been my lucky number. It served as my jersey number from my beginnings as a little league player throughout my high school (and ongoing recreational) basketball career.

As always its been a crazy week:

I gave a lecture last night at NYU to a group of graduate students

I hosted a charity fundraiser with a friend and client this morning in my office.

Tonight, I am attending a client event where we are expecting 40+ Reporters

Since we were just named one of the 15 largest PR firms in the US, I wanted to reassert that we will keep growing, and continually realize that this is just the beginning for our company. Credit is due to our hard working staff and our clients for believing in us and being great partners.

I wanted to end with a quick quote:

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” Henry Ford (1863-1947)

Bigger and better, onward and upward.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

This past week was a 7-day work week. Saturday night and all of Sunday, I was glued to my desk dealing with end of month activity reports, client crisis matters and general catching up. All of this hard work has me tired to the bone.

This weekend for some reason I was reminded of my days and years sweating away at a Bronx pizzeria, where I worked straight through from 1986 at the age of 12 making $2 an hour, until my post college rate of $6 an hour (although with tips often came out to more than $20 an hour). I worked a few months full-time to my mother’s chagrin as a college graduate delivering pizza.

When I reflect upon that experience, I realize the many life and business lessons I learned while working in this immigrant-owned, local Italian Bronx pizzeria, including:

• If you were on the schedule, you showed up to work no matter what because the team depended on you.
• I learned the value of hard work by sweating next to an oven for hours and hours – There was no task too big or small. If it needed to get done, I made sure to take care of it.
• During the Pre- Giuliani NYC Era, I always needed to be alert and move quickly amidst the hysteria of the Bronx.
• My boss taught me at a young age that the customer isn’t always right. He used to tell me “if they can’t pay, tell them to get out.”

I could go on about the many things I learned from the thousands of working hours I logged at a young age, but what it really boils down to is …there is nothing like hard work, and that translates to the success of our PR agency as well.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR