This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
All right, what's up, what's up? We have made it to Friday. They're in the side hustle school week, which means today is failure Friday. It's a collection of short stories about mistakes, missteps, disasters, all the things that go wrong. Everything that is not a huge success.
You know, we talk about successes many other days here, but failure Friday is a little bit more of a vulnerability side because not every idea works out. And I want you to know that it's okay for an idea to not work out and you're gonna be okay. Like you're still gonna work out, even if your idea doesn't work out. So often in these segments, we get to hear like, okay, what did the person learn? What are they gonna do next?
And even if they're not sure what they're gonna do next, you know, hopefully they're approaching this sharing process from a perspective of gratitude, from a perspective of like, hey, here's a mistake I made. Maybe this will be helpful for somebody else to hear about. It's not always a mistake to be clear. Sometimes it's something happens to them. You know, sometimes it's something external that's kind of imposed.
I think today is a little bit more of a mistake, but in any case, I appreciate the bravery of everybody who's been sharing stories. So just like our Throwback Thursday segment, you get to hear directly from a side hustler. They're gonna tell you that short story of something that goes very wrong. Today's features Madison. She is a communications graduate who planned to open a PR agency.
However, you know, not shocking based on the intro thus far. Her first attempt didn't work out as well as she'd hoped. Turns out running a PR agency is harder than it looks. Let's hear the story from her. I'll have a brief wrap up at the end.
[Music]
Hi, I'm Madison, picture this, me freshly graduated with a PR degree, striding confidently into the entrepreneurial world with the naive notion that running a PR agency would be a walk in the park. Was I in for a reality check? Spoiler alert, the whole venture fizzled out and I'm moving on to something new. But I'm happy to share the story in hopes that it saves someone else a few steps. Here's how it went down.
I found a co-working space that screamed modern professional. Spent hours choosing the perfect font for my logo and even more hours crafting pitch emails to prospective clients. I believed that if you build it, they will come. Forgetting that in PR, what you're really building is relationships. That's probably the most important lesson.
But first, here's more of the story. Within a few months, I did manage to get a few small clients. Mostly friends of friends who felt bad for me. I threw myself into the work, sending press releases into the journalistic abyss and refreshing my email with a feverish intensity, usually reserved for tracking down an ex on social media. Here's the thing, running a PR agency doesn't just require good communication skills.
It also requires business acumen, something they don't really teach you in PR 101. The clients trickled in, but crucially, they also trickled out, usually muttering something about not seeing enough ROI. I soon realized that while I was good at the PR side, I was essentially a one-woman circus, trying to be the ringmaster, the trapeze artist, and the ticket seller, all without a safety net. I had to accept that my PR agency was more of a PR flop. So I did what any mature adult would do.
I cried a little, binged watched a lot of reality TV, and then I sat down to think about what went wrong. The lesson learned? Specializing in PR didn't mean I was equipped to run a business in PR. I'd overlooked critical components like client retention, financial planning, and let's not forget, my own work-life balance, which we'll really have to save for another feature. So what would I do differently knowing what I know now?
First, I'd gained some experience, either by working in another PR agency or teaming up with someone with a business background. Second, I'd focus on building lasting client relationships, not just fast sales. And third, I'd never underestimate the power of a clear business plan. It's one thing to be the face of the operation, but it's another to be the brain and the backbone too. So as I look for my next adventure, I'm not seeing this as a failure, but as a paid course in the school of life.
And as I read about in Chris's new book, an asymmetrical risk in which the failure didn't cost very much. Next time I know that risk is going to pay off. [Music]
Madison, thank you so much for sharing this transparent story. I really appreciate it. I know our listeners do as well.
One of our listeners asked me recently how we get failure Friday stories or how we get all the stories. And I mentioned that sometimes this is a segment that's a little bit harder to recruit for because everybody wants to share their success story, but they're not always willing to share their mistake or their failure, which I understand, but therefore I all the more respect those who are willing to share something that doesn't go so well. So Madison, thank you so much. And my reminder to you and to all our listeners, never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. There you have it, right?
You get back up, you try something different, right? Don't just try the same thing 'cause that is insanity, but try something different. Listeners, if you have any feedback, questions, et cetera, sidehustleschool.com/questions. This has been episode 2,477. Excited to bring you some episodes over the weekend and on into next week and every day thereafter, at least I was gonna say till the end of time.
I don't know about that, but for now, we're gonna keep going 24/7/7 and counting. My name's Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
