Gary Unger, an author and advertising consultant who has worked on campaigns for the NBA, General Motors and other major clients chose to feature me in his first post for a series on his blog called the “Being Yourself Series”. The series focuses on the failures or successes after reading a self-help book.
Read it here – Being yourself series: David Mullings listens to Guy Kawasaki
My story focuses on the before and after of reading Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start, one of the books I recommend to everyone I meet who asks for advice. I ended up getting the feature thanks to Help A Reporter Out (HARO), a free service that has been paying major dividends for us (We will be featured in two upcoming books).
Peter Skankman, the person who runs HARO, sent out his usual list on Monday morning and I saw one that said the following:
“I am looking for stories of your success or failure from self help
books. Such as if you read Guy Kawasaki’s book but your business
did not take off. Or you read Trumps books, but you’re not rich
like him now. Or you bought “the secret” but the “secret” eludes
you and you read “blink” but all you succeed at was bad decisions
made quickly. Or hey, if they actually did turn your life/business
around send that in too.
My blog and book are about you being you “be yourself and have fun
doing it” is the main teaching theme. I will feature one or two
stories a week for the next month. Send text in email, no
attachments. Provide any links. Make ’em fun or funny stories.”
Of course I submitted my story to the reporter and he replied that night wanting to use it as the first in the series.
We don’t have a PR firm to handle this for us but I have proven time and again that small startups and entrepreneurs willing to be aggressive can secure good press mentions if they have good stories and can effectively communicate them.
p.s. Guy Kawasaki personally sent me an autographed copy of his book after we connected on Facebook last July and I treasure it (just ask my wife). I will forever promote his book because of how it has influenced my approach to business and entrepreneurship.