The Big Mistake Public Relations Newbies Make That Puts Future Solo Success in Danger

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The Big Mistake Public Relations Newbies Make That Puts Future Solo Success in Danger

Whether you aspire to be a sought-after public relations consultant, communications lead at a brand, managing director of a PR firm, or a communications professor at a university — enduring (and crushing) the “newbie” phase in your PR journey is a tedious, but mandatory rite of passage if you want to excel and have a long, prosperous career.

Slogging through this stuff makes for eye-crossing days, keyboarding cramps, and sleeping like a mummy at night. It’s an exhausting existence but in the end, it really is its own reward. It’s the key to unlocking your PR Glow Up.

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How Disobeying My PR Agency Bosses Landed Me a National News Story

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How Disobeying My PR Agency Bosses Landed Me a National News Story

I took a massive gamble that could have backfired spectacularly but thankfully, it didn’t. Instead of getting me fired, breaking the rules yielded funky dividends for me in the form of a national print story placement and subsequent boost in my “personal stock” at my job (all within just a few months of my arrival).

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Is the APR Designation a Benchmark or a Trophy?

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Is the APR Designation a Benchmark or a Trophy?

I've been asked more than a few times over the years whether I’m an APR or plan to be, and whether I think it's worth the effort. I'm not and at this time I don't plan to pursue it, but any discussion of the APR requires that you deal with some contextual issues first.

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Four Ways to Stay Motivated When You're in a PR Career Slump

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Four Ways to Stay Motivated When You're in a PR Career Slump

No matter how grounded you are, and no matter how fervently you believe that there is enough PR work out there for everybody, it’s difficult to keep your head up when your friends' careers seem to be accelerating faster than yours - especially if they too are solo PR pros, and if you work in the same city.

We all know that envy is not healthy, but it happens — even to the most emotionally evolved of us. So what do you do? How do you pull yourself out of the funk and stay motivated?

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You’re here! Welcome.

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You’re here! Welcome.

Welcome to The PR Glow Up! I have been mulling over the launch of this blog for what feels like a lifetime – reviewing years of “notes to self,” reflecting on lessons shared by my mentors and, most importantly, identifying the skills, capabilities and habits that I believe can fuel a great career in public relations.

It would be easy enough to let it all marinate forever – after all, learning is a lifelong pursuit – but there’s never going to be a definitive list of dos and don’ts. However, as I tell clients all the time, at a certain point you just have to declare “pencils down.” This thing isn’t going to write itself, is it?

Wait, though. What’s a glow up?

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