I’m always honored to have an opportunity to spread the word about the level of experience, professionalism, and expertise available in the Solo PR Pro community. I truly believe 2012 is the year the majority of those who purchase and hire public relations services will recognize that we’re all strengthened by the availability of top notch talent on a contract basis. It’s my mission to have this as part of the legacy of this blog – you all deserve it!

Do you agree with my premise? Was there anything I missed? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

When I resigned from a PR agency to go into business for myself, the company tried to sweeten the deal to keep me on staff. I was offered a $20,000 raise (which was a lot of money in 1995) and a promotion to two positions above the one I held (which would have had me leapfrogging over my boss!). Now, what does that say to you? To me, it told me that I was, in fact, being underpaid and under-appreciated (my previous attempts to get a promotion and a raise were denied). Rather than be tempted by this offer, I was ticked – and more sure than ever that I was doing the right thing.

Many potential Solo PR Pros are in similar situations – building someone else’s business with their sweat. If this is you and you’re dissatisfied, get your house in order, and then take the leap!

You may have heard some of the myths and think, “but I’m not a high-flyer, I’m not a risk taker, I’m [insert self-doubting fear here].” Let’s take a look at a couple common misgivings:

“I’m not a high-flyer”
Here’s a secret: there are many, many companies and organizations – often those with the biggest names, and the largest bank accounts – looking for public relations and marketing communications with substance over style.

For many years (before starting this blog), I flew under the radar. I didn’t go to a million networking events, pressing the flesh and dropping names. I still don’t have a prestigious mailing address or even an extensive fancy wardrobe. What’s more, most of my friends in the business – six-figure earners themselves – operate in a similar fashion.

Of course, there’s a place for the networking-intensive PR folk, especially when helping get a startup off the ground.  The good news is, there’s enough work out there for everyone. You can succeed, regardless of your work style.

In my experience, the clients looking for substance over style are the bread and butter of the independent PR profession. Most clients do not care one iota whether you have a swanky office. All they care about is that they receive better service, at a better value, than they would get from a traditional PR agency.

“I’m not a risk taker”

You don’t have to be a risk taker. Yes, it’s an act of faith to go into business for yourself, but here’s the best part: the most frightening period is right before you take the leap. Once you’ve told your boss you’re going, the fear is lifted almost immediately, and the excitement of what you’re about to do kicks in.

You’ve no doubt heard it said that “a bad day fishing is better than a good day working.” I’ve found that a bad day as a Solo PR Pro still beats working for someone else any day of the week!

Are you in that in-between state of wanting independence, but hesitating to take the leap? What’s holding you back (anonymous comments are welcome below)? If you’re a practicing indie pro, what advice would you offer to those just about to make the jump?

1. Do you work from home, or an off-site office? Pros/cons? #solopr

2. Do you know how much you want to grow? How do you decide? #solopr

3. What’s the best way to find contact info for press that you haven’t work with before? #solopr

4. How do you handle when clients have other priorities, not paying attention to PR program. deadlines etc.? #solopr

Be sure to check out the transcript in PDF for the full discussion. Note that the transcript is in reverse chronological order.

If you weren’t able to join us this week, please let us know how you’d respond to the chat questions below!

The #solopr chat – held each Wednesday from 1-2 p.m. Eastern – is a weekly ritual for some of the most savvy Solo PR Pros on Twitter. Anyone with a Twitter account is welcome to participate – see Join Us for the #solopr Chat on Twitter to find out how!

Thanks to Jennifer Spivak for compiling this post.

1. We’re almost at 2011 half-way pt. How is everyone doing on their business goals? #solopr

2. Are you using a referral system or relying mostly on ad hoc efforts? #solopr

3. How do you refer to yourself: small biz owner, consultant, entrepreneur, other? #solopr

4. What are your “red flags” to walk away from a client or project? #solopr

Be sure to check out the transcript in PDF for the full discussion. Note that our previous transcript service is down, so this week’s transcript is in reverse chronological order. We’re working to find an easier to read format.

If you weren’t able to join us this week, please let us know how you’d respond to the chat questions below!

The #solopr chat – held each Wednesday from 1-2 p.m. Eastern – is a weekly ritual for some of the most savvy Solo PR Pros on Twitter. Anyone with a Twitter account is welcome to participate – see Join Us for the #solopr Chat on Twitter to find out how!

Thanks to Jennifer Spivak for compiling this post.

1. How is crowd sourcing going to hurt solo PR types? Are you threatened by the “do your own PR” mindset?

2. What do you do when you’ve made a down payment to a vendor, but become dissatisfied with their work?

3. If I’m considering going solo in a few years, what should I do now while I work at an agency to prepare?

4. Yesterday posted on the Solo PR blog about PR & mobile: http://ow.ly/3RKyj – have you tried any new tactics?

Be sure to check out the transcript in PDF for the full discussion. How would you answer these important questions?

The #solopr chat – held each Wednesday from 1-2 p.m. Eastern – is a weekly ritual for some of the most savvy Solo PR Pros on Twitter. Anyone with a Twitter account is welcome to participate – see Join Us for the #solopr Chat on Twitter to find out how!

Thanks to Jennifer Spivak for compiling this post.

In fact, there is no freedom without independence, and those of us who’ve chosen to ply our public relations trade independently know this well. Exempt from external control and empowered to manage our futures without restraint, Solo PR Pros know the true meaning of freedom in our own lives.

So, let’s take a moment to enjoy Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness on your own terms! If you aren’t independent yet, let this be an occasion where you develop a plan for your own declaration of independence.

Last year, I shared my favorite perks of freedom – what are yours?

Image credit: Techhie

For those of you who are active on Twitter, @PRCog needs no introduction. One of the few examples of social media anonymity done right, PR Cog expresses – with trademark humor – many of the frustrations that exist for a mid-level PR pro. These generalized beefs can be with both clients and upper management, and many of his tweets are now on behalf of other annoyed PR tweeters, submitted anonymously to him by Direct Message.

I was happy to electronically interview this popular Twitter character turned blogger, who shares his insights on both PR Cog’s Gear Grindings and PRBreakfastclub (where he serves as Editor and Publisher). But little did I know I was about to be given a worldwide exclusive to the Cog-related story of the year!  Read on…

1. Being a PR Cog sure sounds tough — how’d you come to such a fate?

Well, I became a Cog in a small professional services based shop about 5 years ago after leaving the professional services space.  I became @PRCog on a bad working day almost 18 months ago. I made the account, tweeted a bit, followed some journalists and pros (not in the Law & Order sense) and forgot about it.  I returned a few weeks later to discover I had been re-followed by more than I expected.  I fully expected backlash and have only been told by one person that they know of someone who doesn’t like what I’m doing.  The person who doesn’t like it has yet to grow the brass ones to tell me. More details can be found in Valerie Simon’s interview from a few months back.  But it’s been a very enlightening experience since I started.

2. What’s the most difficult thing about your current state of affairs?

Let’s come back to this one…

3. Do you ever long to escape the grind and become a Solo PR Pro?

Well, this is the first time I’m putting this out there publicly — I already have.  A few months back my old agency and I parted ways.  I wasn’t growing as a professional any longer and had filled all the possible positions / done all the tasks at that agency (we were VERY specialized).  It was all very amicable – I still try to refer them business and they send me work occasionally.

Since then, in addition to looking for new opportunities at an agency and in-house (because we all like the stability of a paycheck, and I’m the first to admit I’ve got plenty to learn – I know if I don’t pursue other opportunities simultaneously I’ll wonder what’s out there), I’ve setup my own shop and have been living the solo life (living room office, kids asking for juice during biz calls, etc. – the whole kit’n'kaboodle).  I’ve worked a few contracts/consultations and am continuing to seek out new business.

4. Is being an independent PR consultant the best way to find freedom? What’s a Cog like you dream of doing?

Unless you can find that perfect agency/company and love everyone you work with (i.e., if PRBC were to form their own agency – xo Cats & Kittens ), it would appear to be.  The experience has been very liberating.

During a recent potential client meeting, who in addition to my normal skillset I discovered was also looking for skills and experience outside my comfort zone, I was able to actually say, “Yes, we can do these things, realize though this part of it isn’t where my background is and it’ll be a learning experience for both of us.”  I disclaimed that if needed we could knock down the tab or I’d bring someone in short term to teach me a few things.  I’m happy to sell myself to the best of my abilities, not make promises I then expect my “staff” to fulfill.

Could it have cost me the contract? Maybe, but that’s better than having a dissatisfied client and not being true to what I can and can’t do. Particularly early on – some of the best clients at my former company came from satisfied client referrals – don’t want to start off on the wrong foot.

So, returning to question 2 — the biggest issue now is the social media side.  Inevitably the question comes up, “Do you have any social media experience?” It’s quite a dance trying to reference my blogging, PRBC activities, and Twitter use without specifically referencing PRCog. Returning back to a normal twitter account will be difficult given the number of people that have actually seen me IRL (most of whom I trust, but there’s too many to depend on it being kept a secret).  Thankfully, I’m having more conversations than snark, so even if I have to go there I can.  Potential clients have no interest in outing me.  Most of the current venom has been archival or ghost tweets (tweets sent on behalf of others [as therapy] that they can’t send because their bosses or clients are following them).

5. Any extra tidbits you can tell us about the man behind the mask?

Oh goodness.  Well, next big projects include an interesting PRBC project and for this summer — Masquertweet, of course .

I’m still the same snark filled, fun loving, optimistic (ok, that one’s only partially true) me.

Actually there are a few odd observations — One of the biggest things that surprises me is the number of people I’ve never tweeted with before whose first question in a dm is ‘What agency are you at?”  I don’t assume everyone in the PR world knows who I am (goodness, I would hope not), but if I was really going to randomly disclose that info wouldn’t I have it in my bio?  Or a real name? Or…something else indicating I want to tie my real self to this identity?  This may be an indication of one of the biggest SM/PR problems — not researching (or reading) before engaging.

The lack of identity seems to put a number of people at ease online – I’ve had numerous people tell me things in confidence I wouldn’t tell others that I do know IRL.  Perhaps there’s a belief (which is true) that I have no incentive to ruin anyone (at least anyone that hasn’t given me reason to), and the credibility of an anonymous person is in question so the risk is minimal.  Maybe others are just more trusting than I am (a definite possibility).

—

So, there’s the bombshell. I had intended to interview a Cog on how he longed to break free – only to find out he already had! Fellow PR pros, do you agree that becoming an independent consultant is the best way to escape life-long Cog status? What advice would you offer to our newly-solo PRCog?

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1) Do you take credit cards or some sort of online payment vehicle?

2) Have you ever relocated your biz to another city/state? How did that work? Did you keep clients?

3) How do you justify retainers over $2k/mo, and/or how do you explain your hourly rate?

4) What are some of your biggest “lessons learned” (the hard way, or otherwise)?

One of my favorite quotes came from Kristie Aylett, aka @krisTK:

Lesson learned: more clients and more money do not equal more happiness or career satisfaction.

Be sure to check out the transcript in PDF for more insights on these important issues.

What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned as an independent PR pro? Let us know in the comments!

The #solopr chat – held each Wednesday from 1-2 p.m. Eastern – is a weekly ritual for some of the most savvy Solo PR Pros on Twitter. Anyone with a Twitter account is welcome to participate – see Join Us for the #solopr Chat on Twitter to find out how!

This is a guest post from Heather Whaling of Geben Communication.

I fired a client last week. If this is some sort of “rite of passage” that every SoloPR person experiences at some point in her career, I guess I’m officially a member of the club.

While I’m a new SoloPR person — on my own since December –  I have eight-plus years of agency experience. In all that time, I’ve never had a relationship go this bad, this fast. It was quite a learning experience for me.

Without rehashing all the ugly details, this client didn’t follow through on some things on his end, which put me in a very compromising situation with a highly influential reporter/blogger and a number of other people. At the same time, he told me he wasn’t going to be able to pay me for work already performed. When I told him that I couldn’t continue working for him on this or any other project until took care of the issues with the blogger and while these bills were outstanding, he sent me nasty emails — totally out of line and untrue.

How would you have responded? Even though the concept of firing a client may sound a little crazy, I don’t want to align myself with people like that. To me, it’s not worth it. I think WHO you work with speaks volumes. Sarah Evans once wrote that business owners need to trust their gut when deciding if a partnership or client is the right fit. I couldn’t agree more.

In fact, this was one of the most valuable lessons I learned at my last job, director of PR for Costa DeVault. Linda Costa founded her company nearly 25 years ago, and today it’s one of the top PR/marketing firms in Florida. She’s an incredibly savvy businesswoman. Working for Linda for four years taught me a lot about running a business, not the least of which is the importance of treating people the right way. Linda wouldn’t stand for clients who didn’t treat her employees with the respect they deserve. Nor would Linda do business with every potential client that came calling. Now, as a business owner myself, I can subscribe to that same approach.

This whole experience has made me realize a number of things, but most importantly, that one of the benefits of owning my own company is the ability to pick and choose the clients I work with.

As SoloPR people, we don’t have to put up with clients who are disrespectful or falling short on their end of the bargain. Being solo gives us the flexibility to work with people, causes and clients that we truly believe in. It’s easily one of the best things about working for myself. While this week has been challenging, it’s also been an excellent learning experience about the types of clients I want to align myself with.

I’d love to your perspective: How do you handle clients and prospects that don’t align with your personal approach to business?

Heather Whaling is an award-winning, seasoned communicator, fusing strategic thinking, strong writing skills and creativity to deliver public relations, social media and marketing results. She launched Geben Communication to work more closely with nonprofit organizations and small businesses. Additionally, Heather co-moderates #pr20chat, a weekly exploration of social media’s influence on public relations. Connect with her on her blog, Twitter or via email at heather [at] gebencommunication.com.

Unfortunately, due to some technical difficulties, we don’t have a full transcript of the entire session in one place. What the Hashtag has the second half of the chat available (also here in PDF), and for historical purposes I’ve attempted to cobble together the first half using screen captures from Twitter Search (available for download in PDF). I suppose this is a good reminder to all of us not to take the  transcripts for granted – join us live if you can. Anyone with a Twitter account is welcome to join us each Wednesday from 1-2 p.m. Eastern!

A special thanks to this week’s top contributors:

• @mdbarber
• @krisTK
• @PRProSanDiego
• @ShaneKinkennon
• @VirtueIMC
• @BettyEllis
• @LScribner
• @csojda
• @RobinMarie

What do you think about this week’s topics? Let us know in the comments.