My three teenage kids tell me that only 6.7% of what I say has any value. Thus, I am introducing a new, occasional feature: Blogenberg Bits:

Blogenberg Bit 1: Starburst, Please Stop Selling Candy by Sounding Severely Disabled – In one radio ad, a character complains that he never learned his colors. What do you mean? the other character asks, showing a yellow Starburst. The color challenged one responds by making a noise that sounds like somebody who can’t speak, painfully trying to say the word “yellow.� Here’s a hint for the Starburst ad agency: with a bit of creativity, you could have done the same concept without being offensive. Creativity – try it, you might like it.

Blogenberg Bit 2: Spotting a Man in 13-year-old – All three of my kids give me lots to brag about (I love to brag but don’t because it’s boring, even boorish – except to my staff because I pay them and they have to listen [it’s in their contracts].) I took my 13-year-old son to visit my dad in the hospital – he had unexpected surgery, but results were perfect. (more…)

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) has an independent business-owner group or community or whatever they call it. I must have signed on to it because I get the e-mail discussion thread in my in-box. A recent online conversation, prompted by somebody considering starting their own PR shop, explored the benefits of running your own firm. Numerous “old hands� raved about controlling your own schedule, about being able to balance work and family, work and recreation, work and whatever.

Call me Mr. Reality Check. Yep, I do achieve a fantastic balance between work and family. But I’ve had to do two things. One, I’m willing to work myself to exhaustion and two, not give a damn if clients give a damn when they reach me and I’m at a kid’s lacrosse or soccer practice, a hockey or basketball tournament. (more…)

The hardest thing about running a PR shop may be building a PR shop. It’s one thing to get going and bring in enough business to keep afloat and take care of your family. I did that reasonably well for more than 10 years. But about three years ago I decided I wanted to build my small consultancy into an honest-to-goodness PR firm. Not an easy task, especially in Washington, DC, a city with more PR shops than McDonald’s.

Other than one five-day trip to London with my wife last spring, I’ve not rested since. (Indeed, ended up sick while working last week, which is why there was no Blogenberg last Tuesday.)

I’ve hired extremely talented staff – and won’t hire any other kind. I’ve got great consulting on federal contracting and accounting from Aronson & Company. We won some major federal contracts. (I’m always amazed, as happened just last week, by people who assert [with real nastiness, mind you] that I must be rolling in cash because we have some large contracts and we’re a small shop – ever hear of partners and subcontractors, folks?)

But now my job is and has been building on the success we’ve had, of continually marketing and bringing in additional business because I always assume that, at any moment, large contracts can become gone contracts. (more…)