Today marks our official rebranding as Crenshaw Communications, and we couldn’t be prouder or more energized. Though we’ve all been working together at Stanton Crenshaw, our old firm, for many years, it’s exhilarating to launch a new brand and website.
I’ve had my own PR business, in a partnership, for over a dozen years, so little of this is new. But being a sole owner changes the entrepreneurial experience. Make no mistake….I think PR is fundamentally a collaborative discipline, and having colleagues and partners to share in the creative process, as well as the risk, is a tremendous positive. But, one advantage to sole ownership among colleagues is a more singular and actionable vision for the business. We’re free to focus where we’re strong, to add resources as needed, and to shape our firm according to client needs, which have in many cases changed dramatically as the economy has changed. Finally, there’s the ability to move quickly when there’s only one, um, decider.
When I was struggling in an agony of indecision over whether to forsake my senior position at a global mega-agency and take the entrepreneurial plunge the first time around, in 1996, someone close to me said, “Don’t obsess over making the perfect decision; there are pros and cons to everything. Just make the best decision you can and do everything in your power to make it come out right.”
Good advice then. Good advice now.