ARTICULATED

One of the great benefits of running a business from home is the setup’s shovel-friendliness. My office is situated in such a way that from my desk, I peer directly out a glass door onto the sidewalk in front of my house. From this vantage point, I can monitor the condition of walkways as it snows, which it does fairly often. As I see snow collect, I can leap into action.

Not everyone might see this as a benefit. Some might find that the threat of spending the day faced with accumulating snow that is your responsibility to clear to be reason enough to put on stuffy clothes and drive somewhere to public relations and communications for The Man.  Of course, I say it’s a glorious reason to stay put.

In the morning after a snow, I am out the door by 5:15 AM. I have my front sidewalk, and both my next-door neighbors’, cleared well before 6 … with neat lines and perfect right angles, of course. Sometimes I use a broom as well to tidy up the shoveled surfaces.  On days when it keeps snowing, I do this 3-4 times. Sometimes more. That’s way more fun than waiting until it stops snowing then shoveling all at once.

Public relations people of the world, I’d like to make a counterpoint. I’d like to defy the advice we’ve all received from so many reporters and very sage fellow PR practitioners. If you must, go ahead and pitch that story.

We’ve all been in the situation. The client or the head of marketing or the CEO is absolutely certain that Metropolis Daily would write about so-and-so if only we would ask them to. Mr. CEO says, “You need to send them a press release. You need to get Jane Reporter to write about us. What we’re doing here is different and interesting.”

You smile and nod politely, imagining drying paint. You respectfully note that the story idea lacks a timely peg. You advise Mr. CEO that neither Jane Reporter nor Metropolis Daily has ever written such a piece. You suggest that Metropolis Daily might find what we’re doing less interesting than we do.

You explain that if we did X or Y or Z, that might be news, and thus might get us a story. You even volunteer to help.   But you advise him that we’re headed down a dead-end road.

In response, Mr. CEO says, “If I want s%*t from you, I’ll squeeze your head.  Now go do it.”

You imagine the reporter’s condescension, and you grimace. You’re certain that if she doesn’t already think you’re stupid, she will now. You wonder how much money Mr. CEO makes. But you swallow your pride, call that reporter, and pitch the story like you mean it … because you really have no choice.

Lots of industry commentators would call you a bad PR person for it. But are you? After all, the opinion of the person signing your check matters far more than the opinion of some journalist who will probably be rude to you whether your story idea is newsworthy or not. I’m all about integrity in PR. But sometimes you just have to do what The Man or The Woman asks, and you don’t owe anyone an apology for it.

It’s a question that’s been posed to me a couple of times recently. I’ve pondered it, for a moment, for the first time in the four years of Kinkennon Communications.

Is there a job out there that is so compelling that I might forego the flexibility and freedom of my #soloPR life? Set aside my diverse and great client portfolio? Turn my back on the moneymaking upside limited only by how hard I’m willing to work? Forfeit my singular accountability for my own success or failure?

Am I willing to leave my dog and wonderful home behind every day and go to an ambivalent boss and fluorescent office space?

The applicable cliché is “never say never.”  It’s possible some role out there might check such an interesting matrix of boxes that it could capture my eye like a shiny new toy. Maybe it would offer uniquely fascinating content. Maybe it would deliver some cache that might otherwise be out of reach.

But the fact is, for four years I’ve been increasingly happy with Kinkennon Communications and all that it does for my career and life. To put it mildly, that’s never happened before. I simply never see greener grass elsewhere, so I hardly even cast a glance.

What about you other #soloPR folks? Would you take that job?