It's Logo Fever Time

It's February, or as I write this it's almost February. The new year for this Texas PR consultant is off to a good start. The holidays are finally behind us. It's too soon to know if there will be time for spring break, and too soon to plan summer vacation, so in American business it is now,excuse my French, "Balls to the walls time."

I love this time of year. Not just the business part and the being as busy as I want to be part. In Texas, the sun is shining and it isn't 110 outside. I can do 65 degrees with sun all winter long with no complaints. Good weather, good moods, good business.

This year I'm keeping my eye on a trend that feels good. It's the precursor for a leap in economic recovery at least for the marketing sector.

Budgets were obviously created last year, and not a lot has been spent YTD, but at OutreachPR we are starting to see new work in the form of rebranding requests and PR to support new brands and new product launches. A lot of this work starts with logo work and new design.

New logos lead to new marketing money hitting the economic scene. Logos are the first step in any branding or rebranding effort. New logos are a constant, as are new businesses. New businesses often fail, so logo work alone cannot signal good economic news, but it's almost always good for the marketing sector.

That's why I might be one of the few marketing consultants who cautions against massive rebranding, unless the business has really changed or the old brand is simply outdated. It's not that I don't like my partners in graphic design making a lot of money, new brands have to bring something else new too, or it's just window dressing that won't fool anyone or sustain the expense for long.

The "What's new about the business" part is what fuels public relations, and it's what keeps me getting up for work every day.

It's different though when large entities like sports franchises and universities start the rebranding process. I've been involved on an intimate level with a few major name changes or rebranding efforts in my time. They can be exciting or exasperating. It just depends on how much effort goes into it up front, during, and after.

For example, this weekend I received an email from the University of Colorado at Denver, where i got my master's degree in marketing. They wanted my opinion on the new mascot for the campus. Either I haven't been paying attention (very possible), or this had to be some sort of early stage marketing survey.

While the CU Denver campus is an urban campus right downtown, it is part of the University of Colorado system. I have a CU Buff Christmas ornament. I have a CU Buff penant in the garage. I may have graduated from the Graduate School of Business, and it was in Denver, not Boulder, but it was still CU. It's a top business school. It doesn't have a football team or even really need a mascot. Until this weekend, I never gave it a thought.

Apparently, that has changed. The survey I was asked to complete asked about several different "favorite new mascot" names. The options included, and I am NOT lying: Golden Elk, Stegasaurus, Minters, Fourteeners, Bandits, Snakes, Marmots, Harvester Ants (seriously, I am not lying), and so many others but not "Buffs." Excuse my alphabetical annunciation, but WTF? There was no option to pick "Buffs." While the alumni in me became a bit agitated, the marketing person in me went, "What are they thinking?"

Logo fever, or in this case "Mascot Mayhem" is the first sign that there's a lot of studying and research that is about to be done and a lot of marketing activity that is about to begin. I am hoping, against all hope, that in this particular case this survey was an attempt by the marketing team (or a group of marketing students, PLEASE) to find out how strongly alumni and students identify with the CU Buff. In my case, I don't care if you put a city scape behind him and make him a slick cousin of Chip's, but make it a Marmot, and as they say on reality TV, "I'm done."

My point: change can be good or not so good. Logo redesign can signal any number of things. If a sports franchise is not having a great season and merchandise is languishing, a new logo will spark interest in getting a new shirt, hat or jersey, and it might help ease the downturn for that particular budget line item.

Case in point: the Carolina Panthers. This new logo has created a need for new officially licensed merchandise, equipment, jerseys, advertising, marketing materials...it hasn't helped the football team win any more games, and more than a few fans are booing, but the new logo created work for lots of people and it will generate an economic boon, of sorts.

This is why I like focusing on the second part of a new logo. Leave the new logo to the board of directors and the focus group people and the graphic designers and the t-shirt folks. I want to leverage the attention the new logo might generate toward new things going on with the business: improvements, new divisions, technological innovations. That's where PR people have fun with logo design.

So here it is, February. It's Logo Fever time. From a "reality" standpoint, as I said up front, new logos cannot be used as an economic indicator extrapolated for the entire economy. Don't go buying stock today and say I told you to do it.

I do think that 2012 is going to be a good year for my graphic design partners. I only hope businesses put soome substance behind the new looks so that I have something to work with too.

P.S. CU Stegasaurases...are they nuts?

Public Relations in 2012

While it's a little early to document the trends for public relations or PR in 2012, there are a few things that seem to be happening here on the "front lines" of PR.

1. Budgets are back, and companies are willing to spend money and commit to the concept and value of PR for the purpose of supporting their marketing, brand development, and communications.

2. That said, clients are impatient. In this "get it NOW" world, clients want tangible results, and they want them fast. Today that seems to mean web traffic. While PR can drive web traffic and spike it, (and it does), that's not the complete measure of good PR. To keep clients happy while "buying the time" it takes to put enough information together and out there to get results will continue to be the biggest challenge that publicists will have in 2012.

3. Facts with sequins on them still works. PR has always been the sector of marketing that gathered, compiled, and stored facts and information and communicated it to key audiences,primarily media, sometimes with some glitz and glam, some video, speeches, media tours, media kits, etc. This "stuff" still works. Today media relations has changed, but not much. People are still people, and people are in charge of the digital media. So in addition to news releases and paid distribution services, companies are recognizing they still need to "press the flesh," develop relationships, and put the time into creating the media network that makes the rest of marketing so much easier. That takes a publicist and it takes time.

4. Trend: Outsourced Social Media. Companies will continue to use social media for a variety of things, but it will shift from a marketing driven "project" to a top down C-level project that will put it in into the PR mix. Companies are discovering that social media is on the front lines of customer service and PR. Businesses are beginning to recognize that they have put the youngest, least experienced employees (or even interns!) in charge of their social media program. This means they have the kids running loose with the microphone, effectively in charge of a global image. Trend for 2012: outsource social media content creation to professionals. Social media is an awesome tool for PR and customer service, and in 2012 more companies will figure out how to use it effectively. PR firms and copywriters will help. Marketing will manage the back end of the system and help with strategic direction, but professional copywriters will supply the content.

5. Content in bulk, but it has to be good. It's about quantity today, which is good news for all those out of work journalists who need something to do. Everyone wants and needs content to drive their SEO engine and give it what one of my clients calls "Google Juice." (See post WRITERS WANTED!)

Check back here in a year and we'll see if these trends hold true for 2012. In the meantime, have a wonderful New Year's Weekend as the start of what I hope will be a blessed new year for you.

Hockey is the Coolest Game Around

Sunday, Feb. 28, we watched the USA Hockey team take it to Canada -- all the way into overtime. Non-hockey fans don't realize what a big deal that was. USA Hockey fans only wish Sid the Kid had held out just a few more minutes. Had this been a tournament with different scoring systems, the US may have won that Gold Medal. In typical tournament play, a win gives you a point, a loss gets you nothing, but a win in overtime gets you two points and a loss in overtime gets you one. Given that math, the fact that we beat Canada once (they are still stinging from that) and then tied it to go into Overtime says to me it was really a draw. Way to go USA!

Of course, the reality is that all the players in the Olympic Gold Medal game were NHL players who spend most of their time here in the U.S. Sydney Crosby who scored the winning goal for Canada plays for Pittsburgh, Brendan Morrow plays here in Dallas, I could go on and on.

Hockey may be Canada's game, but for those of us who love it, we're sure glad it's big here in the U.S. too.

Sunday, just minutes -- literally -- after the US won the silver medal, my son and his team stepped onto the ice to go for their own win. It was Senior Recognition Night, so we parents got a minute in the spotlight too. This pic is our oldest son, Tanner with his proud parents. He's been playing hockey since he was old enough to pick up a stick -- banging real pucks against the baseboards in my kitchen, sliding around on his stocking feet on the hard wood floors, telling anyone who ventured in during his "games" to "get off the ice!"

We were on vacation in San Diego once and went to a minor league game. Sitting in the front row, we listened to a four year old Tanner bragging to another little boy that he had a rink in his house. That kitchen was his rink, and he was serious about it. We got him on the ice at the University rink near our home in Boulder when he was five, and we waited anxiously for the call from Boulder Valley Hockey to tell us they had a place available for him on a Squirt (or is it Pee Wee) league. In the meantime, while we waited, he played roller hockey and had a ball.

A lot of time has passed. Lots of roller, lots of ice. Flash forward 14 years, and he's still playing hockey as often as he can. He'll leave for college in the fall and play hockey there. The biggest difference: I won't get to watch every game. He's planning to go more than 1000 miles away to Colorado -- his home state. He's been wanting to get back there for years, and now he has his chance.

Standing on the ice the other night, it started to hit me. My days as a hockey mom, getting up at 3:30 a.m. to make sure I am showered and awake enough to drive him to practice, are about to end. I won't be spending 12-15 hours a week either in the car on the way to/from hockey or in the stands, bundled in a blanket, at a hockey game.

I'm going to miss hockey. I'm going to miss my fellow hockey moms and dads, some whom I've known for years. I'm going to miss the other kids. I'm even going to miss the alarm going off at 3:30 a.m. Most of all, I'm going to miss my son. A lot. It's really starting to hit me.

Maybe he really wants to go to community college and stay at home for a year...or two...when he gets home today, or on the way to hockey tonight, I think I'll ask him.

Most Snow in the History of Texas

Yes, this is a big deal. On Feb. 11 we woke up to a light dusting of snow at our house an hour south and east of Dallas, Texas. We were amazed. This rarely happens here. What fun! An hour later it started to snow. And it snowed for the better part of 20 hours. Some of it was rainy snow. Some of it was huge snowflakes. At times, it was truly snow SHOWERS. Needless to say, work and school were all cancelled around here. Dallas got more than a foot, we got far less, about four inches, I'd say. Most of the neighborhood kids have never seen snow like this in their lifetimes, and every one of them is outside, sledding, snowballing, making snowmen. It's quite a phenomenon.

My friend in Iowa says, "Big deal, we've had 50 inches this year." My relatives in DC are snowed in and have been for weeks. My friend's son is stranded in DC on his sixth grade field trip. We get this once every dozen years? It must be, because I've never seen snow like this here, and I've lived here for 10 years.

Now that I've seen it, photographed it (from my backyard, above), and seen my kids and everyone else's enjoy it, I'm ready for some sunshine. Tomorrow it will be in the 50s, let's hope by 60s by next week, then come the 70s and tennis weather, and then it will get hot. That's okay. I can deal with hot. I'm not so good with cold, and this snow, just seeing it from my office windows, makes me cold.

Thanks Mother Nature for the reminder of how beautiful the snow can be. Now let's get back to Texas weather. Tennis anyone?

The best photographer -- ever.

Yesterday I had occasion to stop by and see my favorite photographer, Jamye Perelli. She was in her studio editing, while her assistant tried to get her work done as a construction project (the installation of a huge light) went on overhead. It was very obvious that this lady is busy!

I stayed just a few moments. We discussed some writing I had done for her and some photography she will do for me. I left glad I'd stopped by. Some people just brighten your day and their creativity and passion fuels your own. That's the way I feel about Jamye, her husband Dino, and their entrepreneurial spirit and sense of fun.

Thanks for the inspiration, Jamye.

You can read about Jamye on her blog. Get there by checking this out...I don't know how I missed this, but I'm glad I found it now!
Tannerhttp://jamyeperelli.com/blog/tanners-senior-portraits/

You Can Change Behaviors with Fun

Where has this month gone?

If you're like me, it took you a while to get back in the swing after the holidays.

If you're like me, once you got in the swing, you started spinning,and it's been a whirlwind ever since.

The horrible earthquake damage in Haiti. I don't know about you, but I am paralyzed about what I can do to help. Do I have ten bucks added to my phone bill by texting a certain number? Do I give to the Red Cross? Do I adopt a baby or offer a family refuge in my home? For days I have been worried about what I should do.

Now somehow it's already Jan. 21. In Texas, it's 72 degrees outside and the sun is shining. It feels like winter is gone. Last night there was a tornado about 20 miles from my house. Tornados in January? That's just odd.

It's January 21. Pretty soon it will be spring break and graduation. Isn't my FAFSA paperwork due next week? Don't I have to do my taxes first? I've never done them before August, or at least April. Do I really have to do them now? Housing contracts from college will be here soon...is he sure that's where he wants to go?

Yes, in my world there is spinning and whirlwind activities, and time racing by and tornados just down the road. I'm thinking this is going to be one heck of a year. It surely has to be better than last year, right? If not, at least it's moving fast. So far, work is crazy, people are excited, and I'm having fun. So why don't I feel in control? I like my clients, they seem to like me, I've got more than ever, so it must be good, right?

But WHAT am I really doing every day?

Yep...I have to figure out what I can do about the situation in Haiti, or at least find out if the people who lost their homes a few miles down the road have some clothes to wear. But first I have to call that guy, and write that thing, and follow up on that other...I need to clear my desk of the lingering December work and get my invoices that aren't out, out! I owe this thing to that guy, and that thing to this guy...and new business is rolling in...

Yep, things are moving fast. This month has flown by. The holidays are definitely behind us.

Happy Holidays from American Airlines

Happy Holidays from American Airlines

Posted using ShareThis

Elf Wanted

I just glanced at my calendar to see we're just two and a half weeks away from Christmas. Based on the amount of preparation I have done up to now, I'd say Christmas is going to be very low key around here.

My dear husband got the Christmas spirit the day after Thanksgiving. Here it was in the 70s and a gorgeous day. Traditionally it is a great day to put up your lights. I was exhausted from a day of cooking and entertaining that had evolved into a night of entertaining, so I haphazardly participated, not quite ready for Christmas.

Mark got out the lights and proceeded to determine what worked and what didn't. We lost one of our two large evergreens out front this year, so we had a few extra lights from that tree, which I had enjoyed decorating with large balls and ornaments. (I sort of wonder if I killed it doing that. The balls were all made in China.)

Anyway, Mark took a strand of those big, old fashioned lights and strung them along the front of our porch. He did this while I was checking email or something, and when I came out, I wasn't thrilled. But, trying hard to have some Christmas spirit, I didn't say anything, then.
Instead, I suggested that we head to town to see if we could find a new "show piece" for our outdoor lighting display. I wanted a large "PEACE" sign, the words, not the symbol, that could present my goal for this holiday to the neighborhood. Mark reluctantly agreed, reminding me that it was Black Friday and WalMart would be a zoo. I convinced him that would be half the fun and off we went.

Either WalMart decided no one wanted holiday decorations this year or they were all sold out, because the shelves there were void of my giant "PEACE" sign and anything else that might have been considered as a "Show Piece." We bought some toilet paper and left.

We headed to Lowes to see what we could find there. They had all sorts of those big blow-up things, even a Santa golfer with a bunch of elves who spun around to swing at the ball. It was pretty cool, but just wasn't what I had in mind. There were no lighted Peace signs, and only a handful of other things that I felt might work as a "back-up" plan. None thrilled me. So we left Lowes empty handed and returned home.

So for the last week, as the weather has turned cold and the rain has come in buckets, our house has had just one sorry strand of lights (silly old fashioned lights) on it. I haven't even bothered to turn them on. A few neighbors have somehow managed to get their lights up, and some displays are very nice. But participation this year seems down. I hope it's due to the weather and not to the economy. I guess time will tell.

Inside, my house has fared a little better, but not much. Mark pulled down a dozen or so boxes marked "Christmas," and I have made a few feeble efforts to decorate, but I'm not thrilled with the results just yet, and the boxes I want seem to be missing.

We also had a sad mishap this weekend when I headed to the attic to find my missing boxes. I was looking for my ceramic lighted Christmas tree and all the pieces of my Nativity Set. The tree was a gift from Mark's mom when we first got married. We have had it more than 20 years. I love it. It stays on the entire holiday season and has beautiful lights. I've seen other ceramic trees like this at craft fairs and such, but ours has always been the prettiest to me.

Mark followed me up to the attic where I found a box that I peeked into that seemed to contain my Christmas pillows. It wasn't very heavy, and not very big. I certainly didn't think it contained our favorite ceramic tree when I handed it to Mark and said, "This is pillows, just toss it down." Mark tossed the box down the steps to a resulting smattering of broken ceramic and lights. He looked down the ladder, and sure enough, our ceramic tree had been tucked lovingly in between two Christmas pillows, and it now lay in a million pieces.

I took the blame, but Mark felt the guilt. I tried to be non-chalant, but he was less so. He went downstairs to clean up the mess while I kept looking for my Nativity scene and tried not to be bummed out about our favorite tree, although the incident definitely put a damper on my decorating plans and enthusiasm for the task. It took Mark totally out of the game, so I got bored quick too and quit.

So at this point, that's the status. The fireplace mantle has been cleared and our stockings are hung. A couple wreathes have been hung outside on either side of the front door and a few more are scattered around the porch. I poured through the women's mags over the weekend and got all sorts of ideas. But nothing is done. Not yet. My inspiration is here, but my action plan is not.

So I'm looking for an elf. I'm praying for an elf. I want someone to inspire me and get me going on the decorating part of Christmas. To me, it's the best part. I always love my home when it's decorated for Christmas inside and out. I love getting up in the morning and plugging in the tree so that our home is festive at breakfast and throughout the day. I love turning on the outdoor lights at dark. We just aren't there yet, and time is fleeting.

And don't even ask me about shopping. I haven't done a thing other than ask people "What do you want for Christmas" and get "I dunno" as the answer. It's all good though. The holidays are not about the material things but the celebration. But that doesn't change the fact that a Christmas elf who could light a fire under me this year would be a handy thing to have.

Dec. 1, Now What?

I flipped my calendar over today onto the last page of the year. I did it unceremoniously. I looked at the days and the picture of a serene, undeveloped beach at South Padre Island, Texas, and I tried to get sentimental. I looked at the month hanging there before me, and I tried to feel excitement or melancholy or satisfaction. All I could think was "I have to get a new calendar."

In previous years, early in the history of this blog, I wrote some sentimental stuff. We're coming up on the end of the year and the start of a new one, and I'm not sure exactly what I feel. There's a definite sense of calm, and I feel like that should alarm me. But it doesn't.

December is one of those months that, when done right, allows your personal life -- and if you're lucky your family life -- to overwhelm your work life. Sadly most people don't do it right. They try to maintain "balance" or fit the personal stuff into the cracks of a busy "end of year."

Don't get me wrong, December -- the whole holiday period -- is HUGELY busy for me work-wise. I have some retail clients and the biggest trade show in my business (one of the biggest trade shows in the world, in fact) happens early in the year every year, so we're knee deep in preparations. December is a time for proposals and new agreements and negotiations too. Clients want to get together and I need to send gifts, buy some new company mugs or something (help, Susan). Plus the family cards, which I think are so important, have to get done (the earlier the better and you get more back!) And let's not even get started on the whole shopping thing. This year I just think even talking about it is bad form.

When I started my business, and when my kids were small, I would tell people "I don't work much in August or December." I didn't because I couldn't. August was vacation and back to school time, and if I'd had a busy summer, which I usually did, by August I was guilt ridden with how many times I had plunked my kids in front of a movie or made them play "the quiet game" so I could work. I "took August off" for many years. It was a company rule, and a very good one. I had to give that up the last few years, but it was a good tradition while it lasted. I also used to not work much in December. Years ago I had fewer clients and they were corporate clients and they literally shut down new projects (it seemed) from Thanksgiving through the new year. That was fine with me. I had time for birthdays (there are two December birthdays in my family) and school parties and Christmas and didn't worry about work. I no longer get my December free.

My assistant was here yesterday and she's done with her shopping. I was impressed. I have done a little shopping -- early shopping -- incredibly frugal and downright embarassingly CHEAP shopping. I've spent the last few days searching for the things I KNOW I bought the last few months. (I'm a good hider, with some great hiding places.) I've started making lists of things I need to do. But I'm easing into it. I'm a giver, so I don't stress over holiday time. I savor.

So anyway, it's December already. Another year is about shot, and yet December itself is full of promise. This month gives us a chance to wrap up the year with a little extra effort. I am gung ho about business, buckling down for the next several years, which will involve putting my children through college. (That will sober you up if the rest of mid-life hasn't already.) But I am busy, every week brings new experiences (usually involving waiting up for teens and this mid-life emotion called "worry"), and I am loving the momentum. I believe good vibes attract good stuff. That isn't very prophetic, but dang it, it's early in the day.

So flip your calendar over -- I just flipped another one to reveal two beautiful quarter horses in a winter brown pasture covered with a dusting of frost. They don't look to be in a hurry. They're chillin'. That's a good message for this month. Slow, measured paces through the routine of life, and throw in a few celebrations and a lot of thoughtful giving, and that will be a nice wrap up to a very different year and a nice wind up for what I believe will be one of the most incredible years of our lives. 2010. I can feel it. It's looming like a big tidal wave. I'm seeing housing construction, restaurant construction, and lots of activity around our town, and Dallas never did seem to slow down...so enjoy December. Savor the serenity and the IDEAS of the holiday season. Get your decorations out and enjoy them. Stay the course.

Then toward the end of the month, hang up a new calendar, strap in and hold on, because this rebound is going to be a wild, wild ride, and it's definitely headed straight for us. I can feel it. But for now, let's just enjoy December. It really is the best month of the year.

Idea of the day

If you've read my blog any time over the last year, you have been privy to a random list of things that go on in my head. Blog posts usually arise out of me needing a warm up for the day. You have seen singers warm up with scales. For a writer, at least for me, blog posts are a tool, one of many, that I can use. It's much more stream of consciousness than anything else I do, and I break a lot more grammar rules than any client work I do, but I also know I don't have a million readers I'm offending, so I think it's really okay.

So I was thinking about, this is sort of weird, thinking. My job involves a lot of thinking. I like that part. It's something I get paid for, because thinking leads to ideas. My clients want ideas. Actually, they have ideas. They want good ideas, and great ideas if they are good at their jobs, and my clients are. So let's just say they all want great ideas, and they want me to help them do them. Since my job is to DO these ideas, it's important to me that the ideas are not only good, but they're doable, and have a good probability of success. I also like it when they can be fun to do, or when it allows me project budgets that I can get creative with, but a good idea is a good idea, and coming up with them is not always easy.

Just having a good idea is the first level, but that's no guarantee that it's going to work. Since clients want results, not flashy executions that cost a lot of money and that might be fun to do: they want real results, so you have to think things through. It can't always be rushed. Sure, you can be on a call or in a meeting and get a good idea. That does happen all the time, but a lot of times those good ideas end up not being that good of an idea. It's certainly something else to think about.

So, if you're still with me, cool. There is a point to this post. The cool thing about having "think time" is it's what makes the difference between a successful marketing or communication program or an okay one. I am fortunate to have great clients that value the strategy part of business. That's the fun part. When you are being strategic, it's not a chase, it's an avid and deliberate pursuit. That's fun. It gives you something to measure too. I have great clients who think in goals and objectives and strategies and tactics. That's how I think too, so it works out. I like that I do get paid to think, not on an hourly basis, per say, but more the value side of the equation. It's why lawyers can charge $300 an hour or why photographers charge $2000 a day to take pictures. It's the value thing. Mine's idea-related value.

I like that there's no hard labor involved in thinking, which is not to be confused with thinking hard. There is such a thing as thinking hard, or having it BE hard to think of something good. But there are ways to get around that, and professional thinkers know them. I have my own. Everyone does. The best part about thinking (and the thing I think most people forget), is you can think all the time. One might say you really should. Not about work, so much, but just about whatever. It's important to be present in the moment, but there's also a lot of your brain that can be thinking without you really being tuned into it. Even in yoru sleep. I think I learned to play bridge in my sleep last night. I had read about it in depth last week, and last night I think I dreamed I played. Now I know how to play. That's what's cool. The brain is really amazing.

I hope it's not just me,but when you are thinking, it's important to write things down. Otherewise, again I hope this isn't just me, you will forget your ideas. That's because when you learn to think, you come up with all sorts of stuff. Weird, random stuff sometimes. It might be valuable, it might not. It's best to just write things down. I get ideas every day that I do write down. Most are for clients. Some are not. In fact, a lot are probably just random ideas that I write down out of habit. I find scribblings all the time on bank slips or other pieces of paper out of my car, and in my phone, random stuff: scenes for screenplays labeled only, "tuna sandwich and bad Spanish scene." I have no idea what that really means. I know what it's for, but I have no idea what the scene is about, although at one point I apparently thought of something I thought was a good enough to write down. I need to write more detail with some ideas, because even the good ones can be fleeting. Memory is a funny thing.

I thought of an awesome idea for a screenplay about a young bridge player. It's hilarious. I have the casting figured out and everything. Of course someone needs to write it, and it's in my head, so that would seem to need to be me, but I don't have a lot of time or any one willing to pay my mortgage for me while I write the screenplay. That's an example of a great idea that will hang around a while. I may try to do it, or find someone to help me do it, but that's a side issue...

Today my great idea was to start a business to provide college search services, and even expanded beyond that, to include scholarship identification and applications. I'd like to own that business, but maybe not work at it. I searched the term, and people are doing it. I think it's really interesting. I'm doing it pro bono, and there's nothing horrible about the process. It would be harder to do for someone else, but not impossible. I really have let my son lead the process, so that would be the same with just about any client. I have to think about it a little more. I like the idea. After all, I've learned how to do this, mostly because I had time to think about how to do it. I also had an assistant who really has been helpful in organizing all the hundreds of pieces of information related to everything from testing to transcripts to scholarship deadlines and individual college brochures and applications. I have my son driving the process and saying, "Yes, No, Hey Mom Look at THIS." We've done a lot. Probably more than most. I see it as another way to make money, because money you don't spend is money you make. I have justified spending time on this because that is how I THINK about it. What "normal" parent has time to do this? I hope all, but I know not many. If you're about to fork over $100-$150,000 of your money over the next four years on college (or go into debt or whatever) why not pay someone SOMETHING to help you and make sure you are getting everything you need to get and are doing everything you should do? It's a good idea. Maybe even a great one. Perhaps even viable. We'll see. If you want to work in that business, call me.

A final thought about thinking: the best thing about thinking is it can be done while you do other things, and it doesn't have to be done "at work." You can think while you drive, while you listen to music, while you walk a dog or do laundry. It can be done while you're cooking, but I don't recommend it. I've tried it. I avoid thinking about anything other than cooking when I'm cooking. There are just too many dangers: measurements, knives, hot burners. Cooking takes concentration, and for me it's fun in itself, so if I'm going to cook I'm going to enjoy that and not waste that time thinking. The reality, however, is that I don't get to cook very often. I'm usually writing away or thinking about something totally unrelated to cooking and someone in my house begins whining about STARVING. So then there's no time for a trip to the store for the fresh ingredients that Rachael Ray or Southern Living recommends, we can't have a child DYING on the floor from starvation, so we throw some burgers on the grill or (I have teenage boys) steaks under the broiler, and we go for easy to bake or microwave stuff that comes straight out of the freezer. I hate thinking about that. At least we recycle. We go through a lot of cardboard. I don't like thinking about that either, but I do. A lot. Again, I'm sure, more than most.

Last year I was thinking a lot about product packaging. I even wrote a post about it. Some companies are doing things differently now, probably driven more by cost than waste. Oreo, for example, took my advice (I have to think) and changed their packaging. There is far less waste now.

Okay, enough of this thinking about thinking, especially since it's lunch time and now Im thinking about food. It's funny how the mind works. It's amazing and definitely something to think about.

Now get back to work!

Some things are just for me.

I don't have a lot of free time, but the free time I do have usually hits around 10 p.m. By that time my husband has been in bed asleep for an hour "watching the game" and my teenage sons are behind closed doors on the internet, studying, I'm sure. It's the perfect time for an exhausted mom to kick back on the couch, in the dark, and turn on the big screen to watch whatever is on BRAVO TV.

BRAVO, for those of you who are wasting your time over on Fox or some other Spews Channel, is where it's at. It is the perfect mindless, ridiculous, almost "oh my goodness I can't believe they do this with cameras watching, what are their friends, opponents going to think when they see THIS season train wreck?" of a line-up that TV has ever had. I L O V E it.

Rachel Zoe, Josh and Madison and Chad, the housewives, Patti at the Millionaire Matchmaker. I love it. Plus Top Chef,whatever is on BRAVO, I'll watch it. Late at night.

Truthfully the main reason I got hooked on BRAVO is I don't really know how to work a remote that well. So if I'm lucky enough to find a channel with something I want to watch, I just have to leave it there, through the commercials and all. My remote problems have to do with a combination of fading eyesight (the buttons are so small), complicated systems, the fact I like to watch TV in the dark late at night (see above), but mostly because at that time of evening there are no men in the room. The men in my house have controlled the remotes for 25 years. I've never had a chance to learn how to use one. So BRAVO is where it's at for me. It's my one guilty TV pleasure, and it's the only thing I watch.

But the point of my post...personal assistants. On all these BRAVO shows everyone has a personal assistant. As a publicist I have worked with people who have personal assistants. I wrote letters to the editor for a genius of a man who basically invented computers and at one point was acting much like a personal assistant for he and his wife as they worked toward building an Eco-Village in the hills west of Boulder. I've wanted a personal assistant -- the right personal assistant -- for a long time.

I've probably written about my experience hiring people before. If not, I know I should, because I have some funny stories. People you hire always come with a cast of characters -- their family members, friends, parole officers.

I hired an assistant once who was great. For a week. Then all her "characters" started showing up. I had an office suite at the time, and she brought her 90 year old mom to work, put her in the corner, then proceeded to spend a few hours hooking up a TV for her mom to watch. There is much more, but she lasted a couple months. Maybe five weeks.

The next one was great and could do anything PLUS had great ideas. But she wasn't available during the day. I felt guilty because she had to spend all sorts of money to upgrade her computer just to get EMAIL, and she was not nearly as computer literate as I would have liked. She also could only work for me at night or on weekends, and if there's any time I hate to work it's at night and on the weekends. She always wanted to come on Saturdays. By Saturday afternoon I've been to a 5 a.m. hockey practice, maybe a game, played tennis, and I'm ready for a nap, not work. Anyway, that didn't work.

Then there was the friend who closed his business and then told me he was going to work with me and create a position for himself. I said, Great, bring it on, but after one day in my office I think he realized it wasn't for him. Anyway, that didn't work.

Then there's Jess. I've known her for a while because she worked where I get my mail. She had taken a couple other part time assistant things around the lake, and it was working for her. She had time for a few hours a week for me, so I grabbed her. She's working out great. She's coming today. When she is here, things get done. Important things. She gets the job sheets filled out or (as in today) off the floor and organized and filed and prioritized by deadline. She gets all my work up on the white board. She will go through all the college materials and get deadlines together for my son's college apps. She will order me football tickets if I want her to.

Since I'm a writer, I can't write when someone else is in my office. Or I prefer not to, so Jess comes on the days when I'm calling clients and doing research or interviews or pitching. When I'm on the phone, she's master of my domain and gets things organized, filed and put away. She only stays a few hours, and when she's gone, I get back to writing.

The more she's around the more I realize how much I can get done with help. ORGANIZATIONAL help. I have design help and business partners and lots of people I share work with who HELP me. But they are doing work for my clients. The personal assistant seems the most valuable to ME though. At the risk of sounding selfish. She's MINE. I don't want her working for my clients. She works for me. My work involves a business and a family and how the two co-exist. If she was available more, I'd have her handling my son's party tomorrow too. Those things are part of MY job. A personal assistant CAN help with that stuff. There's lots to be done. Take this party...

Tomorrow is Halloween and my 14 year old son guilted me into letting him have some friends over because "there isn't anything for kids like us to do but get in trouble." So he's having some teens over "NOT for a Halloween party," but just for a party party.

Parties throw the household into a tizz and are somewhat outside the domain of a personal assistant. For this, I really need a housekeeper. Like Zoila: Jeff's housekeeper on Flipping Out. Love that show. Yes. I need a Zoila. She could clean the crust out of my son's bathroom sink and clean my house so it sparkles. She could go to the market and buy the stuff for the frito pie for the party, and make sure there's enough soda and candy and all that Halloween not Halloween stuff.

Yep. That would be nice. But for now I'll live vicariously through the people on BRAVO TV. I'll cherish the few hours I have with my own personal assistant. And if I'm really, REALLY lucky, my new assistant will teach me how to use the remote.

Please Give Generously to the American Cancer Society

My sister-in-law Nancy Shaw, shown here with my two sons and her husband Jim, recently lost her 4-year battle with brain cancer. Cancer takes far too many far too young. I encourage everyone to give generously to the American Cancer Society so that wonderful, loving people like Nancy can live long, healthy lives.

In Memory of Nancy Kay Holubar Shaw, May 1, 1954 - October 17, 2009

Children of the Corn?

I grew up in Iowa and even worked for Pioneer Seed Corn in the corn fields during the summers between my college years, but I have never seen corn like this. This photo was taken in Culver, Indiana on my uncle's farm. This field had the most amazingly TALL corn! I had to have my photo taken next to the field. If you are from the midwest, you understand how amazing this is. Keep in mind that I'm 5'9" tall, so this is VERY tall corn! I've never seen anything so healthy and green, although everything that we had out of the gardens in Indiana was also amazing -- tomatos, peppers. Living in Texas, I miss sights like this. There's not much that grows down here, and cotton just doesn't look this impressive. My aunt was telling me about a book she was reading about how corn really controls the world. With corn this tall, I can see how it could!

Put Yourself First First (sic)

With September 1 being my personal New Year's Day, and a nice relaxing long weekend behind us, I'm planning to put into play a new focus and renewed energy today.

I've decided that my role is to make other people feel better, and to help other people succeed.
Through this, my personal success is achieved, and definitely multiplied.

However, the only way I can help other people is if I have my own act together. (Therein lies the dilemma on many a day.)

But today I'm going to do whatever I can to be a success at helping others. To do that requires a good cup of coffee (or two or three), a bit of exercise, some meditation, some prayer, some order (which involves a little cleaning), and some bill paying. (Designers and printers and magazines need to be paid!) After that I can focus on the other things that help my clients succeed: writing, media relations, research, radio shows, web sites, trade show ideas...
-----
I love this time of year. The long hot summer is about over, and people are doing what they can to jump start new ideas and new initiatives. The economy is sputtering along, but people are starting to realize they have to do things differently than before, and I'm fortunate that for me that means the chance to do a lot of new work.

Life can be very good. You just have to be happy with what you encounter every day and enjoy it to its fullest. Quit wishing you were doing something else. You're not. Just do what you're doing the best you can.

That's what I'm trying to do.

Life Happens

In the last 90 days, within my family, there has been a wedding, a divorce, a death, and a birth. We are also praying for a family member with advanced cancer, helping a family member who broke her ankle, and comforting a teenager whose first love broke it off two weeks into school. There's definitely a lot going on.

The range of emotions required to deal with my life at this stage of the game is intense. I'm lucky, I guess, because it's not my first time dealing with the realities and imperfections of life. I've been wearing the big girl pants for quite a while now. It's almost sad, because at this point in my life, nothing really rattles me. It's almost as if I've been through most of it anyway, so bring it on. I'm not afraid.

One thing I've also learned through all of the last few weeks is that you never ever ever know what someone on the other end of the phone or email line is dealing with. They too may be dealing with family issues, illness, or the death of a parent or a marriage. We tend to think that it's all about us. Someone doesn't return our call, and we think, "What did I do to her?" Someone doesn't return an email and we think, "They don't want to deal with me."

The truth, I believe, is that everyone is involved in complex situations all the time. You never know what people are dealing with. None of my clients probably realize that I'm crippled on a particular day with pain or heartache. I don't tell them. I figure it's really not anything they'd care to know or that impacts what I do for them. If it does, I'll let them know.

So on the flip side, now when I deal with people I am going to do my best to just assume that their lives are in tatters and that the one interaction that day that makes them happy or helps them laugh just might be me.

That's my goal. And for those of you who read this and feel like you can make me smile, bring it on. We can all use a little uplifting, not just now and then, but every single day of our lives.

Business is Booming (well, almost)

Every once in a while I get in the mood to remind my clients that I'm still around. In my business, that's actually a pretty good thing to do. Agencies come and go. Consultants (like me) get tired of the cash flow ebbs and tides and decide they'd rather have a job. I'm a little different, I suppose. I haven't had a "real job" in more than a dozen years. I've been through up cycles and down cycles in the economy, as well as the dog days of summer when you can't get anyone on the phone, but nothing in my self employed life has been as bad as the things I experienced in the corporate world.



Most people say they want the "security" of a corporate job. They want a paycheck every two weeks. I'd like that too, but I don't buy the security bit. I spent 12 years in corporate America, and I didn't see a whole lot of security going on. Sure, it was nice to get a steady paycheck and an annual bonus just for showing up. But I knew people that made a game out of seeing how long they could go without actually doing any work. Sometimes it could be months, if not years! Then there were the people who worked really hard, but they made someone higher up nervous or said the wrong thing at the holiday party and got sacked. Corporate just never made that much sense to me.



So because I don't ever want to have to go get another "real job," every few months I feel the need to send something out to my growing list of satisifed clients. Contrary to popular belief, a client is not just the person you're working with today. Clients are the people you worked with last month, last year, even last decade. If you treat them right, there's always a chance they'll come back. In my experience, they usually do.



In my line of work, you have to do things in advance of when you need it. If you want to be in a magazine in December, you better contact them in June. If you are expecting business to pick up in January, you need to increase production in October. The same goes for when business slows down, which it usually does just briefly for me around this time of year.



The good news is this is a great time of year to be a little slow. It's Texas and it's hot as Hades outside. I don't want to be pulling on panty hose and driving to the city. I want to come to work in my shorts and flip flops and maybe take off at 3 and lay by the pool. I want to play tennis in the morning while it's cool, or stay up late and watch a movie with my kids. Summer is a great time.



But summer ends and everyone has to get back to work. This year, we're waiting for the long summer called RECESSION to end and for everyone to get back to work. I've managed to stay busy during this time, and my clients -- knock wood -- are doing well. Perhaps it's because they didn't cut back on their marketing or PR and instead took advantage of having more space available in the papers for their news or fewer ads in the magazines which helped them stand out. Thats a good thing.



As summer winds down, I'm ready to jump back in with both feet. I'm hoping the dozens of clients I've had the privilege of working with through the years feel the same way. I think we're in for some real growth ahead. I know my business is preparing for it. I'm staffing up, cleaning up, and getting ready for 2010. Okay, it's still four and a half months away, but if you don't plan ahead, you won't be ready. Get ready. Business is about to boom for all of us. I can feel it!

It's hard to believe it's almost hockey season again. Probably because hockey never stops at my house. We're in the middle of summer league -- 4 on 4, no checking, no icing, no offsides, no clock stops...it's an interesting chance for the kids to play the game a little differently and maybe learn some new skills. I've enjoyed watching this version of hockey. Since my son's a big kid, taking the "check" out of the game is challenging for him. It's been fun to watch.

But "real" hockey season kicks off in earnest later this month. Fees must be paid, those early morning practices begin, and in my son's case, he enters his senior year and his last year of high school hockey. As for me, I'm going to use this inspiration to try to get a little new business. This ad may begin running in Ice Times this month (on a space available basis). I proofread the columns each month pro bono, and this week the publisher offered me an ad. (The HP logo indicates to other hockey parents that I'm a hockey parent. It's the magazine's way of taking care of its own.)

I'll report here if this leads to new business. The rinks themselves could sure use the help!

You know your Mom has made it when...

I have to laugh at my mother. Over the last ten years as she's settled into her retirement at Cedar Creek Lake she's become very involved in several clubs and organizations. She has a club for every day of the week. Literary Club, Garden Club, Civic League, Women's Club, Years Ahead Club, Friends of the Library, United Methodist Women, Joker groups...it's hard for me to keep track, but there's always a luncheon or meeting or event somewhere.

Influenced in part (I'd like to think) by the fact that I moved to the lake ten years ago and Mom had better access to what I do and how I do it, she gravitated into a PR role with many of these organizations. I used to help her with some articles, press releases and flyers, and I know I gave her the addresses and taught her how to attach photos and press releases to emails for our two weekly newspapers. She's a fast learner (National Honor Society in High School, graduated from college with honors too), and once I showed her how to do something on the computer or with her camera, she was off.

My mom's busy career as a club member and officer is inspiring. She does a lot of good for the community and gets to go out to lunch a lot. She's made great friends, and she's created herself a very nice life. I don't get the local papers, but Mom does, and her picture is always in them. I used to buy a newspaper when she told me she was in it. But they really started to pile up. It's a little ridiculous, and I'm not organized enough for scrap booking.

But today sort of topped it. This morning among my emails was one from Mom. It was one of her usual "FYI I'm headed to ..." We like to know when she's out of town, and she's even started calling me to tell me when she's driving up to Dallas. She's a young 70 and can take care of herself, but it's good to know when she's going some place. This morning she reported she was heading on an overnight trip to a casino in Louisiana. The funny thing was, it was addressed to my brother, my sister, myself, and -- I'm not kidding -- the local newspaper.

I don't know if that was a mistake (I hope so) or if this means this trip will make it into the paper. I don't know if she really thinks the paper cares? Nonetheless, my mom's promotional efforts have moved to a new level. I guess she's finally made it.

Next thing you know I'm going to have to follow her on Twitter. What a way to start the week. Enjoy!

The Guys from Extreme How-To Love Aurora Deck Lights

OutreachPR client Aurora Deck Lighting makes some great outdoor lighting products. In this video, the editor of Extreme How-To Magazine shows how to install some low voltage deck lights on an existing deck. This video is an excellent example of how magazines are reaching out to their readers with multi-media, linked to websites, and blogs.