Changing my ways

I've been thinking recently about how I've transitioned more into social media.

I graduated from MN State University, Mankato in May 2009 with my bachelors of science in Mass Communications with an emphasis in public relations and I was damned to land a job. I thought I kinda for the most part 'knew it all'. *chuckles to self*

Well, I landed a job with Life Time Fitness, Inc. as a Lifeguard in early July 2007.

Okay, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind.

No, I lied. This isn't what I had in mind at all when I graduated.

I remember sitting in on my bed, where I am now and where I tend to write my blogs, and I thought to myself, "I should get back into Aquatics. I loved it when I was in high school, I had fun and I should do that again."

So, I paid my dues and took the American Red Cross Lifeguarding Certification class in June 2009.

Fast forward eight months. :)

I went from a lifeguard to an aquatics supervisor to an acting department head (we had a few issues within the department) in five months. We now have a new department head and business is running smoothly. I'm still a supervisor and I've been teaching swim lessons for six months, yet it feels like I've been doing it for much longer and it is such a rewarding job on so many levels.

I wanted to bring public relations into the aquatics department so I contacted my General Manager, Terrell Battle via e-mail, explaining how I wanted to market the aquatics U-Swim School program as well as our Swim Team and Master Swim program. After jumping through a few loops, I was given the name Robert Stanke.

I couldn't help but chuckle. Yes, again. :)

I have been following Bob (as he prefers) on Twitter, since February 2009, just weeks after I joined Twitter. I must have found him through a #FollowFriday recommendation. I've been following his blog for sometime now and then I connected with him on Facebook just recently. I take his opinions and what he has to say seriously and read his blog daily, if I can. I just assume there's a new blog every time because he has ideas coming out faster than he can type, or so it seems. I'm so glad to be connected with him!

With public relations, I had this idea in my head to find out who the followers were for Life Time Fitness on Twitter and Bob, I believe, is the one who updates LTF's status on Twitter. I wanted to do some marketing on there for our program at the Lakeville site. My thought process runs deepers than this, but I won't bore you with details. Turns out, it wasn't needed at all, but I also never had the chance to complete my mission even after my discovery. It didn't matter. We currently have a waiting list of parents who want to put their kids in our program. Come March, we will have surpassed our revenue goals as we have six guards going through our U-Swim School training. Word of mouth is what has kept our program going strong since we changed Continuous U-Swim School in September.

I don't know what it is going to take or when it is going to happen, but I'm not seeing the green light quite yet in regards to me feeling completely comfortable within public relations, regardless of others opinions about my knowledge. However, I truly appreicate the comments. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself? We're all always learning because the second we understand techology is the second it seems to change on us (this is the only example I can think of off the top of my head); reformating, new layouts, new looks, better quality. It can be intimdating, yet encouraging.

I like to talk...quite a bit. But I try my best to remember that it's not about me; it's about everyone else around me. I listen closely, I execute after realizing the actions that need to take part in the project and even when I'm not sure what it is I'm doing, I keep moving forward. I have so much support from friends and family, I couldn't imagine where I'd be emotionally and mentally without the amazing people I have surrounded myself by.

What am I doing to change? At my internship with BRIO, I'm beginning to research more. I investigate. I read blogs. I click on tweeted links -on Twitter- that are of interest to me. I'm noticing many patterns in public relations; the same rules apply and there plenty of them; there are many "golden rules" to not "disobey."

I feel sometimes that because of my inefficiencies (as I have so much to learn about pr), there is a possibility that I will slow others productiveness down and irritate them. I don't want this.

I want to be taken seriously. I want to engage. So, I follow and I try to replicate others work, yet use my own creativity and wording. I love pr and I want to understand it and social media. I want to be a professional, yet still have fun. I can't always get what I want to say out; this is why I thoroughly enjoy engaging in deep conversations over a delicious meal and possibly a few drinks on the side. Although sometimes, it depends on my mood and who I'm with. :)