New Year, New Lessons ... Putting an End to my Beginning

Happy New Year Everyone!!

BiTC celebrated its FIFTH YEAR ANNIVERSARY yesterday ... and I never really cause a big fuss over it...I love my blog, but I don't really celebrate it like I should.  Instead I like to think back on my posts and think how they can be better, a skill I learned at the end of every school year during finals...

I have been a freelance publicist for almost 2 years now.  I've worked on campaigns in Detroit, San Antonio, Austin, Chicago and the DMV as well as completed tons of online campaigns.  It's been a weird year.

When I last talked about my employment situation I had just been fired from Nordstroms for reasons unknown, other than being a cool headed black girl. .. I took my new-found forced independence in stride, vowing never to go back on the clock again.  I created proposals for new events and drafted contracts with new clients. I hit the keyboard at 6am most mornings finding contacts in the media and focusing on gaining ground in the realm of B2B relations.

BiTC talked a lot of mess in 2012...

 Part of being freelance is creating my own schedule as well as managing my own customer service methods.  Which is often the hardest thing for new entrepreneurs.  Of course every one imagines being able to roll out of bed whenever you want, billing large clients for exuberant amounts of "consulting" hours, networking and laughing it up with other entrepreneurs over a glass of red wine and a t-bone steak....but managing a service-centered small business is getting more and more complicated.  Having 5 years of fresh corporate experience did not well enough prepare me for 2011, and neither did the 5 years I spent at Michigan (yup, I'm admitting to the 5th year victory lap...atleast I finished)

A quick move to San Antonio, TX put BiTC in a good place to grow

Real world experience taught me where to start learning when it came to building my small business.  

Whereas I have just gotten over the fear of "what if I can't pay my [insert life altering expense here]?" phase of being an entrepreneur...the phase where I find myself applying for a few open positions every now and then... to the "now, I demand a deposit before any services are begun." mindset of entrepreneurship.  

@darealChrisReed, circa '09
Woodward bus stop, downtown Detroit

In 2011 I focused a lot on finding the lessons I need to learn from ... or in my aunts' words, I got into a ton of trouble.  I took chances, and explored how to talk to people, what to say, when to ask for what you want and to walk away when people tell you NO...because I am obviously talking to the wrong person.

@BethanyEastPR, 2012 ... San Antonio, TX ..
still wide-eyed, not so much bushy-tailed

Now, it's 2012 and BethanyEast PR and Mgmt. Consulting has a ton of new projects, ideas and opportunities for clients and affiliates.  This year we will be creating marketing gold on an international scale. 

We've claimed the San Antonio/Houston and Austin circuit as our new home and are ready to make waves in the media, among diverse audience.  

The #BlackInTheCity blog will also be changing to include a well rounded approach to what it means to be Black in the City, in the Suburbs, in America (thanks Soledad) and in your own right ... this year I stand to prove that blackness may be universal, but it most definitely is not what it use to be.

I am putting an end to my beginning entrepreneurial lifestyle, this year marks the overhaul.  Stay blessed, learn often and ...

ttyl