Considering my new career path and the many questions it throws up, especially among journalist/theatre friends, I thought it might be an idea to write a string of articles about PR – as people always seem to have questions! And yes, this is also a bit of shameless self-promotion… 😉
Continuing on from the last article – one of the things I want to be most as a PR is passionate and involved – as far away from inscrutable as I can be. But that’s not what most PRs do, and it’s mostly about perspective on work.
Most PR (and indeed, most freelancing work) is about getting as many clients as possible – the old adage is that you need to “expand or die”. Without having a constantly expanding client base, especially in an industry with as high a turnover rate as theatre, you’ll run out of work – at least, that’s the accepted way of doing things.
And that, in PR, means having no opinions – after all, you need to like everything so, whichever client approaches you, you can constantly expand by saying yes to everything. Which couldn’t be more antithetical to what I want to do – it’s the kind of work I’m leaving!
I have no idea if this is possible, but what I want is a small, stable base of clients whose work I like. And I actively don’t want to get too big – I’m not looking to hire people, run an office or take on more clients than I can handle personally. I know that a lot of people start with these best intentions, but I sincerely want to upkeep them.
And it might be as simple as being honest with myself – not being greedy, being unafraid to say no and remembering how awful it can be: to feel contemptuous of clients, stressed and overworked is not something I want to go back to!
Grubby Strugglers 