This morning I attended a small breakfast networking meeting hosted by a friend and client for 12 real estate and financing CEO’s. As always, I enjoy spending time with smart, successful people, and the most interesting quote I heard was from a hedge fund CEO who said “There’s no such thing as inventory or product.  Every single situation, vis a vis inventory and product, like never before, is an individual consumer.”  That’s a very scary statement for a marketer and means a lot more “hand-to-hand” combat when it comes time to market any product, whether property or loan.  It’s harder than ever when there’s no “box” in which to put the “buyer.”

Separately, in a late night religious course last nite, I learned that the average person’s brain has 60,000 thoughts every single day.  I found this fascinating and will continue to learn how to better process (and act upon) those thoughts.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Owning a PR firm, I am blessed with the opportunity to spend a lot of time with successful people. We get hired and paid primarily by CEO’s and CMO’s, which enables me to spend a lot of time learning from the folks we do business with.  Most folks we work with are very smart, but being smart isn’t the only (or even primary) professional attribute needed to be successful– It takes a lot more than brains alone…and many smart successful people I know have said “I can always hire a MBA.”

I hosted a presentation this morning at 5WPR and heard a great quote by Amir Korangy, CEO of The Real Deal, known by many as the “Bible of NYC Real Estate”: “An investor shouldn’t follow economists or he may end up at a college making 90K.”

And on that note, I will end this post with a great quote I received in my email box earlier today from Ralph Marston: “It’s amazing how much you can accomplish when your heart is in it. Drop the doubts, self-criticisms, and anxieties. Instead, think positive and put your heart into what you’re trying to accomplish. Taking effective, meaningful action will put you in a positive frame of mind and that will open the door to many great new opportunities. Choose your destiny and delight in the fulfilling effort that makes it happen. You can do it, and now is when. Go ahead and get it done. Don’t waste your effort worrying about what you have not done. Spend your time working on what you now can do.”

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

So, today I was quite pleased to learn that we were ranked as the 23rd largest PR firm in the U.S. in the just released 2009′ PRWeek Agency Rankings, a public relations industry magazine.  5WPR, for their 6th full year of operations ranked 23rd in the U.S., with $11,919,546 in revenues.

One of the 25 largest PR firms in the US, Inc. Magazine fastest growing companies, fastest growing PR firm in the US 3 years in a row – These are all accolades we have had in only our 1st 6 years of business.

Am very very proud we rank as one of the 25 largest PR agencies in the U.S.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Someone who worked for 5WPR for 4 years and left the agency to pursue another career sent me the following note today, which I very much appreciated and wanted to share:

Brain has been racing since 5am. Thinking about my time here and I want to let you know what has meant the most:

What I learned:

Working hard - set a pace and make people keep up with you not the other way around

Be responsive - answer emails quickly no matter how busy

Everything is a learning experience - good or bad decisions ideas etc, get *something* out of everything

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

In the last few weeks, I’ve noticed that entrepreneurs and small- to mid-sized businesses are making a lot fewer decisions by committee.  Wreckage from layoffs has pushed lean, mean, smart business people to stand up and take more responsibility for the activities in their companies (no government bailouts there).

Even amongst our clients with up to 100 employees, CEOs are much more involved in smaller issues and are making each and every decision.  These CEOs are taking on a greater share of responsibility, making direct, quick decisions that they would never have made a year ago.  Yes, companies are smaller, but they also realize that decision by committee is too cumbersome in these uncertain, fast-moving times. CEOs are leading, for better or for worse.

One of the people I respect most in the world said to me today that new horses will begin to emerge from the economic rubble – people ready to lead, because the old guard is tired and beat up from the last few months, which have been very tough on all of us.  The new horses will emerge and lead.  I think we are starting to see the inkling of those horses.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

This week, I had to make a long day trip for a client meeting.  I left my house at 6 AM and didn’t return until 11 PM.  Between long waits and just traveling, I had a chance to listen to some great music.  Music always puts me in a different zone and allows me to think.  It’s a temporary escape from delays, terrible flights and the like.  The right music can adjust one’s mindset and allow them to win, and adjust focus.

Traveling outside of NY for the day and getting a little distance from the craziness of everyday business allowed for reflection, which is always necessary as a business owner.  Removal from the immediacy of owning one of the 25 largest PR firms in the US provided me with a clearer head.

I also spent an hour yesterday with a very high-profile individual who spoke of the work he completed.  About criticism, he said “Be focused on what needs to be done.  Focus and don’t distract. Ignore critics, believe in yourself and g-d.”  This individual has accomplished a tremendous amount, and his sheer faith and belief in himself was inspiring. 

It shows someone like me, who always dreamed of making the Inc. 500 list, which we did, to push for the Forbes 400 list, a life-long dream. Focus and desire go a very long way.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Times such as these are no time for ego.  This is something every small business owner and every employee must realize.  It’s a time for everyone to pitch in, and “play hurt.”  Get the job done.  Work extra hard and get it done.

Work hard and then work harder.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Before I get lost in the battles of the week, I want to take the time to share a few weekend joys that really resonated for me…

With the first hints of spring arriving in NYC, I allowed myself to take some time to clear my head.  As I’ve said before, a good run (and lots of sweat) is always a physical and mental release.  (Vigorous exercise is necessary in any economy to help maintain balance.)  After, I spent hours in Barnes & Noble reading book after book after book to gain perspective and do some mental calisthenics.  Really relaxing and invigorating.

I was also able to spend some time this weekend praying and learning.  One story I heard from my Rabbi had a great impact on me:

“When people are born, they are their purest as babies and purity is, of course, good and they should try and revert back to pure basic behavior as often as possible.  Babies cry about 300 times a day and man laughs only about 15 times a day (in good and normal times, and less in times like these).  If people can laugh a lot more, everything in their lives will be better – business, financial, personal.  Everything.”

Optimism breeds success. 

And lastly, I read a very interesting story in the New York Times about one of NYC’s most successful real estate brokers.  The closing quote held special implications for me, as she said about her work, “It’s challenging; it’s interesting. It’s just not as fun.”

Ronn Torossian
5WPR

As a follow-up to my previous post, there are and have always been quotes hanging all over my office at my PR agency. I wanted to post some of these — I use them for inspiration!

The Chabad Rabbi of blessed memory in difficult times would continuously quote this saying: “Tracht Gut Vet Zayn Gut: Think positive and it will be positive!”

Jay-Z : “I refuse to lose.”

Roger Ailes  (Fox News): “If you run into people who are negative and always telling you that the cat got run over, and you couldn’t get the car started, and you’ve got a cold, the suits are idiots, and life isn’t fair, you know, you need to get away from those people because they will suck you under and hold you down and drown you.”

Phil Knight:  “Just Do It.’ This has become a legendary mantra of self-sufficiency, rugged individualism, and fearlessness. If you look deeply enough you can see that there is much more to the statement than meets the eye. Often in life we just have to face our fears and do it (whatever “it” is) anyway. Phil Knight had fears just as most people do when it comes to starting something new, but Phil Knight did it anyway.” 

Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”  The power of positive thinking.
 
Ronn Torossian
5WPR

We are in the midst of a new economy that is still being defined.  A new economy where years of wealth have been lost, where a debate on Fox News I saw this weekend asked if all banks should be government operated, and where bailouts are the most popular form of financing.

I had breakfast yesterday at The Loews Regency, one of my favorite NYC breakfast locations and a 5W client.  An older couple there, playing with their grandkids, told me that in 28 years of owning their own business, they had never before had layoffs.  But now, they’ve already had two rounds, and they’re worried about whether or not their business will survive.  In the gym that afternoon, an entrepreneur who rented a new, 6,000-square-foot office six months ago told me he’s closing his company and giving his landlord back his keys.  Scary times.

5WPR’s answer?  We are looking at many new hires and ways in which we can invest in our clients’ businesses and our business.  We’re looking at items (and people) that don’t require ramp up time.  We’re demanding more from employees.  We’re delivering more to clients.  We’re conserving cash, but investing in the future as we believe we will be one of the few PR agencies to emerge from this recession stronger than we went into it.

We also continue to look at PR firms, or one- or two-person PR consultant operations, that may want to stop running their own business and be absorbed by a larger agency.  We have had many discussions, made some offers and will emerge stronger.  Are you a small PR agency with a client base?  Let’s chat. Email me directly at ronn@5wpr.com

It’s a new economy, and the rules have changed.  As an employee, look around and realize what needs to be done today.  As an entrepreneur, it’s war.  And I only continue to learn what this new economy means: the unemployed financial executive who just accepted a 200k job, even though he previously earned in excess of 700k, or my countless friends in real estate who aren’t doing even 10 percent of the deals they used to do.

It’s a new economy, and the rules have changed.  Without knowing when it will change back, everyone needs to adapt to the new rules and change accordingly.  I continue to be focused on continuing to grow and hopefully change the PR industry.  The line from The Notorious B.I.G. movie (which I saw this weekend) epitomizes it: “You can’t change the world until you change yourself”.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR