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Everything I Know About Business I Learned From My Dad

This blog post originally appeared on Doobiz.com

How many times has every woman entrepreneur heard the statement, “Wow, you’re so lucky to be your own boss!” or “How did you know you wanted to start your own company?”

All kidding aside, every woman business owner – in fact every entrepreneur – knows at least one thing for sure: It’s not as glamorous a job as it seems. And yet you would be hard pressed to find any hardcore entrepreneur who would have it any other way.

Is it easy? No. Is it worth it? In almost every way, absolutely and definitely yes. Prior to launching my own business – truly my own business, without a co-founder to handle the operational realm – I had definite opinions about what I’d do if the choice were ever mine alone to move forward. More respect for clients. More transparency in operations. More family-friendly policies, respect for team members and participants, and more respect for the innovation and the sheer joy of a job well done.

When the necessity – yes, the opportunity but also the necessity – came for me to entirely run my own company I faced the prospect with a combination of excitement and fear. Will I have enough cash flow? Can I balance the best use of my own contributions and time? Anyone who joins with me is casting a vote that affects their own family’s future. Am I really up to that task, or is there too great a risk that I could be letting them down?

Said and done, it’s not an easy job description when ultimately the buck for every decision and outcome stops with you. Taxes are high, and getting higher. Health insurance benefits are a nightmare for everyone. Government legislation, even when well intended, seems to invariably leave small businesses holding the bag.

Yet there are people and programs available to help. Technology makes it easy to re-think everything you needed full time employees to run. Outsourcing is a great model that makes many core services less expensive than ever before. As business owners we have access to mentors and resources and to each other in a way that makes tremendous talent available to all of us. Some of the greatest things I’ll ever know about business comes from our PR agency’s clients who are running fast growing and successful companies, at times (particularly in the current economy) in spite of unimaginable odds. We can learn and I can learn from the wisdom and experience they have.

More than once I’ve noted with a bit of humor that in starting my own business, I made none of the mistakes of my predecessor. Every mistake I’ve made has been entirely my own. It’s getting up, living, learning and progressing that makes much of the process of owning a small business entirely worthwhile.

And yes, the greatest principles of all – integrity, hard work, responsibility, behaving generously and genuinely to others – are still the ones that I learned from watching my greatest mentor of all – the company owner that I continue to know as my dad.

My Advice to PR Students

I recently had the opportunity to return to my alma mater, Utah Valley University, to talk to students about my first year out of college in the real world.

During my four years at UVU I made a lot of close friends that I would do anything for and made memories to last a lifetime. It was fun to see familiar faces and meet new people that have the tools necessary to succeed in whatever career path they choose.

The theme of the night seemed to be, “What can I do now as a student to get a job offer and be prepared to join the work force?”

After reflecting on this discussion and my own experience, let me summarize what helped me in my career path, both before and after graduation.

1. “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” Many PR people will tell you that the grades you get in school don’t ever matter. I’m here to tell you that’s absolutely false. You mostly likely won’t ever be asked in an interview what your GPA was, but your grades are a reflection of how hard you try.

Working hard in school will open up extra opportunities for you to go to conferences and on sponsored trips. Your professors will be some of your greatest allies after graduation. I still communicate with former professors to help clients fill job positions and internships. The more you show you care, the more they will care about you.

2. Do anything and everything you can. The more involved you become, the more friends and natural contacts you will make, and the larger your arsenal will be when you want to be set up with that next sweet gig.

I don’t remember everything I learned in classes or conferences, but I will never forget the people who were involved in those experiences.

3. Don’t just find any internship; find one in the field you want to work in. One of the coolest things about PR is that you can do it in just about any sphere you are interested in. Because it is so vastly applicable, you should decide what field you want to work in and try an internship in that area.

Be picky about it. Find specific places you’d like to work. There are very few companies that will say no if you walk up to them and say, “Hi, my name is Ryan. I’m a senior in college and I am willing to work for free.”

4. Don’t waste too much time filling out applications. All of the job interviews that I had after college came as a result of people referring me to potential employers. I filled out countless applications and didn’t hear a word back from any of those companies.

Your time will be much better spent talking with people you know about PR opportunities. Even people that don’t work in PR will know of job openings. Don’t be ashamed to tell people that you are looking for work.

I’m sure you will receive plenty of advice on how to get a job from other people while you are in school. The two cents they give you will be incredibly valuable if you put it into practice. No single thing will get you a job, but the culmination of all of your efforts will open up opportunities that you didn’t even think were available.

After graduation I had no idea that I would end up at Snapp Conner PR, but it was these four pieces of advice that were most influential in helping me to land in a job and environment that I enjoy.

My Name's Not Steve!

My five and three-year-old daughters are hooked on the Barbie movie A Fairytale Princess. I haven’t seen the movie start to finish, but I’ve seen enough to know that I don’t want to see it start to finish.

One part of the movie I thought was funny/interesting was when one of the characters keeps calling Ken by the wrong name. Every time she refers to him it’s a different name, some of which are not even close to his real name. Ken is clearly annoyed and is constantly correcting the lady but even at the end of the movie she still can’t get his name right.

The reason I find this interesting and even a bit funny is that it hits close to home. In business I know and have seen several people who cannot get people’s names, the business name or product names correct.

I’ve got a difficult last name and have grown up having to correct people, spell my last name and tell people how to pronounce it. I’m used to it and expect it, but I also expect that once I’ve told somebody how to say it that they’ll get it right moving forward.

In a business setting I think there is a certain amount of professionalism to getting a persons name, business name or product name right. A mispronunciation the first time is acceptable, but an ongoing inability to get the name right is unacceptable, especially when you’ve been told the proper pronunciation. It shows a lack of interest, focus and general disregard for the person and, in my opinion, raises questions about their ability to produce the results desired if they can’t even get something as simple as my name, my business name or my product name right.

As a PR person, I talk to a lot of people about our clients. I refer to the company, the product or service as well as individuals within the company such as the CEO, COO, CFO and other executives. I’m usually the media’s first introduction to our clients and their first impression of our clients. The media demands accuracy, often asking people to spell their names and company names to make sure they are accurate.

I’ve seen PR people Tweet and add Facebook updates about clients that include inaccurate spellings of names. This, in my mind, is unacceptable and should never happen. In one instance, a colleague referred to the CEO of a client and spelled his name wrong in a document. The CEO caught the misspelling and politely pointed it out. My colleague came back to him in our next meeting with the revised version of the document but still had not corrected the spelling of the CEO’s name. This time, the CEO was not polite as he told my colleague that his name was STILL misspelled.

In anther instance, a neighbor kept calling me Steve. My name is not Steve. The first time he called me Steve I laughed and explained that my name is not Steve. It happened again and again I pointed out that my name is NOT Steve. The third time he called me Steve I responded by calling him Walter. He looked at me like he couldn’t believe I didn’t know his name. He was quick to point out that his name wasn’t Walter. I was quick to point out to him for the third time that my name isn’t Steve. After that he finally started calling me by my given name, Richard, I mean Jeremy.

It really shouldn’t be that hard. It requires paying attention to detail and focusing on what people are saying and telling you. An inability to get names right makes you look bad and can cost you respect and business.

Embracing Opposition

I remember somebody telling me "when two people are of the identical opinion, one person is redundant." It got me thinking of the value of differing opinions. There is huge value in a company having diverse perspectives with their people, just like a basketball or football team has diverse skillets for different positions.

Whenever I come in contact with someone who sees things differently, here are a few things to keep in mind, to make the most of the opportunity:

• Don't pre-judge- This can be difficult, especially since you may have already made your mind up about something. Instead, just step back, and act as if you're starting with a clean slate

• Ask why- Find out why the person believes what they believe. Try to dig a bit deeper, to see if there is a common ground wherein you get a better understanding of why they believe what they believe

• "Solamente diferente"- When I spent time in South America, there was a certain amount of culture shock. They did things differently, ate differently, and spoke differently. My mantra became "solamente different" (only different), meaning that it wasn't right or wrong, good or bad, it was just different. When we stop labeling things, we learn to appreciate them.

• Just listen- don't try to convince them of your way of thinking. Have them try to convince you to their way of thinking. It will either strengthen your own belief, or help you realize if your belief no longer suits you.

Encountering opportunities to learn, grow, and expand your awareness of things many times comes from those who see things differently. Learn to embrace these opportunities. Who knows, you may even end up with a friend, just because you listened!