Three Lies I Told Myself During My First Two Years in Business

My brain likes to tell me lies, whether it’s perfectionistic with a self-deprecating attitude or positive with a side of nostalgia that never even existed.

And guys, I was 26. My brain was on the home stretch of growth. I didn’t have clarity and thought I had the direction I needed to head a small company. I had no clue what I was doing! I knew my industry very well, but I didn’t have clear goals and objectives -- although I made sure to have those for my clients.

Here are three outright lies I told myself during my company’s infancy. My hope is that they help you as you get comfortable in your own professional skin and wade through the clutter to live your best life:

My Favorite Hacks as A Small Business Owner

As a small business owner, I am constantly looking for ways to save time and money. So, bring on the freebies and insider tips of the communications business trade! So, here are five small business hacks that I use on a regular basis.

Why I Wanted To Start My Own Small Company

As many people know, I started my small business, Hourglass Media, in March 2015. At its inception, it existed only on my MacBook Pro, Nikon D5000, iPhone and a few odds and ends of backed-up files. I started this company while sitting on the floor of my childhood bedroom, with my cat, Oreo (my guardian angel cat now) stepping all over my newly established business license and IRS form printouts. I knew I had a company within me, so I started. Let me take you on a journey into my personal headspace and give you my reasons why I wanted to start my own company.

Why Stories Are Important To Your PR Efforts

No matter who you are, storytelling will help you achieve your goals and objectives through Research, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation. As public relations professionals, we use RPIE religiously. It’s paramount to communication and how you tell your story. Nearly 70 percent of our daily conversations consist of personal stories (source: Jeremy Hsu). Why are stories important to your bottom line?

Signature Course: Telling Stories Through A Holistic Public Relations Approach AVAILABLE NOW!

Unveiling the heart of stories is our way of life at Hourglass Media. It’s more than just a mission statement and a statement of being. We live and breathe stories, whether it’s reading the latest strategies in an industry publication or sitting with a client and brainstorming new messaging. That is what led me to craft my first signature course, “Telling Stories Through A Holistic Public Relations Approach.” In this course, students will learn how to confidently create, plan, execute and evaluate their stories through tried-and-true public relations practices.

What You Need For Your Customer Avatar

Why do customer avatars help us in public relations? We use them to carefully construct who we want to outreach to, or our publics. A public is a group of people who are tied together by some commonality. Our publics are a primary focus of PR efforts. Without them, we wouldn’t have the knowledge and results to back up PR and business-related goals and objectives. As communicators, we use insights behind the scenes to cultivate our PR messages and undergo the RPIE (Research, Planning, Implementation, Evaluation) process.

Tips To Implement on Business Trips

Over the course of my decade-long career, I’ve found myself in different cities for one common goal: to learn something new to bring back to my daily PR toolkit. I’ve traveled from St. Louis to Atlanta and Orange County, California, to New York City. I’m not going to lie: I love business trips. Business trips combine my loves of working and travel. So, it’s a match made in heaven. As a lifelong learner with a penchant for experiencing new environments, it’s a match made in heaven. Here are five things I’ve learned to implement on business trips.

10 Life Lessons I Learned From Yoda

As a kid, I would fast forward the Yoda scenes in “The Empire Strikes Back” (my personal everlasting favorite) on my VCR to get to the Han and Leia scenes. My closet-romantic self at 9 years old wanted the handsome man and the illustrious career, after all. Looking back, I missed out on the beautifully discombobulated wisdom from Master Yoda. It wasn’t until my 20s that I began to fully appreciate the knowledge bestowed by our favorite little green friend. To celebrate the international holiday that is May the Fourth, here are 10 life lessons I learned from Yoda.

Takeaways From My Silver Anvil Awards Judging Experience

I had the distinct honor and privilege to judge international companies’ Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil Awards entries in New York City. I was one of 144 judges who traveled from all over the nation to judge the 626 entries. (I did not have to judge that many!) I assessed the Research, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation (RPIE) elements for each. Without compromising any detail of any entry, here are trends I saw in the entries I judged.

Maintaining Healthy and Productive Work Habits -- Even When You Don’t Have The Energy

Here at Hourglass Media, we love feeling productive. We’re at our best when we’re juggling many projects on limited stress and an ultimate caffeine-filled beverage. What happens on those days when we just don’t have it, though? How can you establish healthy and productive work habits on a consistent basis -- no matter your mood? Here are five ways we use #behindthehourglass.

What You Need For Your Personal Website

As an early adopter of the Internet wave of the 1990s, I never imagined I would someday have my own website. I’m a child of the ‘90s, fully embracing midi .wav files, .gifs, AOL Instant Messenger and bad font choices (Papyrus and Comic Sans, anyone?). Now, we’re almost entering a new decade (*gasp*), and I couldn’t have envisioned the world we now live in: augmented reality, chatbots, foldable touchscreen phones and new advances every day. You may be interested in creating your own website for the first time or are undergoing a personal rebranding. Here are 10 fundamental components to consider for your personal website.

10 Components to Build Personal Brand

If you want to sell a product or service, advocate for a cause or become an influencer (and monetize on your efforts), honing in on your personal brand will be beneficial by leaps and bounds. Here are 10 essential components to consider when developing your brand or undergoing the rebranding process.

Elements of A Legacy Brand’s Success

Brands are constantly aspiring for growth, whether it’s sales, consumer outreach, click-through rates or all of the above and more. When legacy brands soak up success, it’s because they know their brand inside and out, and they know what their customers desire and need. They exhibit consistency, niche targeting, clear Calls to Action (CTA) and value-based storytelling. Legacy brands can stay ahead of the curve in the following three ways.

Five Influential Brands That Have Inspired Hourglass Media

I have been brand-obsessive since I was a child. I donned Disney Princess attire and had to have the latest toys each time a new movie hit theaters. These were the days of “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and “The Lion King” -- an entire treasure trove of amazing Disney movies that I still love to this day. Long before I ever saw “Mad Men” and fell into the rabbit hole of a communications career, these campaigns launched my love of branding. Here are five of my favorite brands with a splash of nostalgia.

Five Behind-The-Scenes Items You Need For Your Company's Brand

A brand is the DNA of your personal image or company. Most of us have a “brand,” so to speak, but it involves more than just an Instagram grid, carefully crafted logo or one highly recognizable campaign. It’s your company’s public identity, but it’s also what happens behind the scenes -- all of those things no one except employees and other internal stakeholders have their hands on and see on a daily basis. While the below is not a comprehensive list, these five elements will help you live your brand every day and structure your goals and objectives accordingly. Here are five key branding elements we use here at Hourglass Media.

Creating An Inspiration Board to Remember Who You Are

For the past two years, I have created my own inspiration/vision board. In the past, I would put all of the magazine clippings, brand tags, photographs, master list of goals and all other keepsakes in a folder or spread throughout my office. Last year, I craved clarity, so I placed my goals in categories and used items to create flaps that would reveal my set of goals per category. I know, I know. How perfectionistic of me. If you’re interested in creating your own inspiration board, here are some tips to help you get started.

Maintaining Productivity When You Work From Home

A growing number of Americans work from home. GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com estimates that more than 3 percent of workers in the United States opt for at-home positions and self-employment, with that number only to increase within the next decade. The allure of flexible part-time, full-time and freelance work is all the rage, but what is it really like to work from home? Here are six ways to ensure that you maintain your highest levels of productivity while working from home.

Establishing Hygge Atmospheres At Home and Work

Everyone wants to find the Holy Grail of Happiness. It comes in the form of hygge, pronounced (hoo-ga), a Danish custom of relaxation. It focuses on sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. You want to focus on experiences at the present moment, rather than fixate on things in the past and future (unless you’re drumming up some nostalgia, which is incredibly hygge-like).

SMART Objective Setting in the New Year

It’s the start of a New Year, and you’re probably hyper-focused on your goals and objectives for 2019. In today’s world, Return on Investment (ROI) and Return on Expectations (ROE) drive PR professionals and the C-Suite to want to learn more in the Evaluation phase. That’s where SMART objectives come in.In the world of public relations and other industries goals are comprised of SMART objectives, which include: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound.

#behindthehourglass Highlights from 2018

In many ways, 2018 was the Year of Realizations #behindthehourglass. As our company continues to grow, we learn just as much from missteps as we do from successes. 2018 brought new partnerships and opportunities, as well as learning experiences to continue to build our company. I’m naturally reflective in December and January, so I’ve outlined five Hourglass Media highlights from 2018. There are so many to choose from, but as the sentimental CEO, I narrowed it down to five takeaways to bring into the New Year and beyond.