I finally felt Punk Rock

As an avid fan of Theatre, but unfortunately not the most frequent visitor, this past Saturday I went to see AMERICAN IDIOT on Broadway. Not really knowing the album, but having a strong nostalgic memory of DOOKIE (Green Day’s 1st Big Hit Album), I figured I had a pretty decent grasp on what I was going to see. I was wrong.

American Idiot is a modern day Punk-Rock Opera; our generations TOMMY. The energy of the music is only surpassed by the cast, which, if harnessed, could possibly propel NYC’s green energy program (or lack there of?). The imagery and visual aspects of the production were amazing.

As amazing as it all was, at the time I wasn’t really sure how I felt about the production. I was having a sensory overload and just tried to take it all in with an open mind. A day later I was completely aware of what I had experienced. This kind of perception is needed on a daily basis. Too many times do I find myself assuming who and what I am seeing. Now in my current and complete world as a freelancer every connection I can make, without assumption, is key.

Partied with WUPA

Last night I had the great pleasure of going to my friend’s CD Release party at The Bitter End in the West Village. WUPA is their name and they absolutely killed it! This was the culmination of 6 years of work on this album. They are a cross between, Earth Wind and Fire, and CSN, with a high energy soul funk twist. Just buy the album and hear for yourself!

While I was listening I couldn’t help but have my mind wrapped around Marketing/ PR ideas for them. The idea that I could help them achieve more success while creating a good business opportunity for me just seemed like a win-win situation.

This brings me to my point. As I am going along this new PR journey I am starting to see where my strengths and weakness’ are. These are small windows so far, but exciting nonetheless. I want to work on projects that I am passionate about and that are my own personal projects. To take something from the ground level and bring it to new heights, while helping people who you truly care about would be amazing. Before this happens I think its important for me to work and be exposed to many different mediums of PR/ Marketing. From boutique to agency. From entertainment to product. From corporations to start-ups. With an open mind, positive thinking and strong work ethic I believe I will reach my goal.

Small strides are key to the bigger picture

Recently I received some training on how to draft a press release. Since I keep reading how the use of the Press Release is slowly dying because of the rise of Internet/ Social Media Communication, I was happy to be in the presence of a PR Vet.
Now, with the speed of the internet also comes the speed of peoples patience and A.D.D. syndrome. With this came my first and most important lesson. All the information you need to convey needs to be in the header and then revisited in the first paragraph with a little more detail. I guess some people are under the impression that people are prone to skim through press releases….hmmm.. Even if that’s a myth its still a good idea to get the info out fast.
It probably goes without saying, but in general, keeping your message positive and excited is key. Cuz, don’t you love it when someone says, “Oy! Taste this, It’ Nasty.”
There are many more specific guidelines and tips for writing press releases, but I am in no position to start a webinar series on the ABC’s pf press releases.
I know this is a basic concept, but humility is key to a new change.

Simple: Balance

Seesaw, originally uploaded by nzgabriel.

A good friend once told me there wasn’t enough time in a day to complain. Ever since then I’ve continually forgotten how to keep up that level of positivity. Especially here in NYC it’s so easy to walk on these busy streets and be completely in your head. Sounds kind of ironic when I read it back.
With my new job I am having a similar issue. With any new position it takes time to adapt and find your groove from your P.O.V. and the P.O.V. of your fellow co-workers. It’s a delicate balance of when to do and when to listen. As a new employee you want to exceed expectations, but sometimes the balance is off and a blunder occurs. Roll with the punches and make it to the next round.

I need to go on a Diet…a facebook diet

I’m sorry it’s true. I can list all the pro’s of being on facebook, including business advertising, keeping up with friends, looking at pictures for no reason, “liking” everything from Pork Rolls to Entourage, and staring into information superhighway space.

Yes, this is my issue and I can easily admit that…argh Do you ever just find yourself signing onto facebook twice as much, or even more, than any other website? Why? There is so many other things to do on the internet.

Maybe this is getting a little revealing. Eh, whatever…who’s even reading this?

So now I pledge, or at least promise, with my fingers crossed and one eye closed (what does that mean?), to go to a new blog, read The Onion or Huffington Post, or even write a blog post half of the time when I want to sign onto facebook.

Let the reformation begin bitches…I mean everyone.

(Singing) “There’s no business like…”…you know the rest.

As an actor I always believed I was doing above average work in the sense of business and networking. My philosophy that it’s called Show Business and not Show Hobby made me feel as if I was truly going about my career in a great and wise way. Now I’m not so sure.

I still believe there is a sense of business that has to be recognized with any money making scenario, but it must be balanced with an equal amount of passion. My time as an actor was stinted when my financial concerns out-weighed my artistic ones. I’m sure a lot of actors go through this.

What I realize now is that I convinced myself that money was the best way for me to network and learn (i.e. classes, seeing shows/ movies, etc.). There was a whole community that I was neglecting because of my concern over money.

Now the point of all this shiz:

You don’t need money to learn and network. Over the past 6 months I have been exposed to this unbelievable Social Media/ PR community. All for free! It’s also become even more apparent that to become truly successful you must embrace your community. Help them as you want them to help you. Become a trusted source and great gigs will follow. So now I am trying to embrace the Public Relations/ Social Media community and find my place and path for success.

A side order of Scrambled Brain

This is clearly an over-dramatization of this post, but it was a really funny pic so I put it in anyway.

When I started this PR adventure, I sought out as many learning/ work opportunities I could find. BAM!, I was working on 4 different projects including my own research, training, and networking efforts. IT WAS TOO MUCH…at least for me. I found myself stressing over passion projects. Even with focused time management I still did not feel I was giving any of the projects enough of my time. Plus I was cutting myself short of the learning experiences I was seeking…dude!

(cue Yanni @ the Acropolis) It’s an old lesson, but a good one. Give all your time and effort to 1-2 projects instead of spreading yourself thin with 3-4. It’s a different story if you have a team of 10 people helping you, but for young padawans like myself “less is more”.

Now that the expiration dates of some of these projects are almost here I am excited to put them aside and put my new-found knowledge and focus back on connecting with the online community and starting my new job…more details to come.

Here we go…

Welcome to the starting gates of career transition expedition. I’ve been meeting a lot of PR/ Social Media Pros who have been extremely gracious and generous with their knowledge. I thank you all…yes you too. They say one of the keys to becoming successful in this business is to share your knowledge as well as your craft. Since I am literally creating my craft, I believe my best source of knowledge will come from journey. In short, I am going to post my experiences in hope to gain some perspective on my progress and to show everyone what to do and definitely what not to do when you are changing careers.

I have no idea how this will all turn out. It might just end up becoming one big biatching session. Either which way I would like these posts to become a tool for me and not just posts meant to stroke my ego…or is it eggo.

So for a quickie post, today I found out I didn’t get an Internship position through a Linkedin company update. A tad bittersweet, but better to know and move on than mope in this nice rolling chair. Note to self: Come to an interview with all your guns loaded. Have a layout of your accomplishments and “you don’t have to say you don’t know this or that, but you can instead spin it, like pr folks do” (Thanks Michelle) With little to no experience you need to be honest about what you have done, but take that little piece of gold and expand it. ugh.