According to the 2008 PRSA Membership Value Perception and Satisfaction Study, 6 percent of PRSA’s members are “independent practitioners”. This month’s “Intro to” series features two such professionals who once worked in agency, corporate and association PR and have since joined the ranks of independents. Robert Udowitz, Principal at RFP Associates, LLC, spoke with Mike Greenberg of the New Professionals Section about life as an “indie”. Check back on Friday, February 25 for part two of the series with Susan Rink, Rink Strategic Communications, LLC.
Mike: What was your PR experience like before you decided to practice as an independent?
Robert: I am entering my seventh year as an independent. Immediately prior to going out on my own I was working at a trade association as its director of communications. Before that I had been in corporate communications and at a couple of PR agencies in Washington, DC, and New York City.
Mike: What do you offer clients that an agency doesn’t?
Robert: In most cases I offer my clients equal if not more experience through a more economical and efficient model. I’ve done crisis counseling, community relations work, media relations, analyst and investor relations, writing and event planning. I have even created an animated video—from concept, to writing the script and directing the shoot!
Mike: What is your work environment like?
Robert: My work environment is as professional as it was when I had an employer. With all the modern technology I use, the only disadvantage I have is the lack of an office tech support team at my beck and call.
Mike: What types of non-PR abilities and interests are needed in order to succeed as an independent practitioner?
Robert: You must possess some simple financial management and business skills. In particular, when you start out you need to determine how much to charge clients. Then you need to tabulate your monthly expenses so you know how much money has to come in to afford your lifestyle. From there it’s critical that you devote time each month toward bookkeeping and billing your clients. Your business skills are critical to building a client base, marketing yourself, and maintaining a steady income.
Mike: What are the greatest challenges an independent faces?
Robert: The work will always find you, but there’s never enough time to market yourself for those times when you need more work. As long as you stay networked and are always talking to your colleagues and meeting new people, you will find work the moment you have the time to take on something new.
Mike: What has surprised you the most about being an “indie”?
Robert: How capable I was. In the confines of office work there isn’t much time to create opportunities that go outside of your assignments. And, sometimes you observe that the decisions that are being made aren’t as productive as they should be. As an indie, you have an ability to accomplish more and there’s a degree of pride when you are able to look back and see all that you have done.
Mike: What advice would you give a new professional who wants to work as an independent?
Robert: You have to have experience, and preferably a diverse amount of experience. The more you’ve exposed yourself to professionally before you go out on your own, the more of an asset you’ll be for your clients.
Robert Udowitz, Principal, RFP Associates, LLC
Over the course of his 25-year career, Udowitz has worked at public relations/public affairs offices, corporations, and trade associations. He recently began RFP Associates, LLC (www.rfpassociates.net), a PR agency search firm specializing in the request for proposal process for companies seeking a public relations agency. Prior to creating RFP Associates, he operated RUdowitz Consulting, a PR/PA consultancy based in Washington, DC, where his clients centered in the financial industry but included commercial real estate companies, trade associations, a magazine publisher, and government contractors.
Udowitz has been a member of the Board of the Public Relations Society of America’s National Capital Chapter for the past four years and on the Board of the Independent Public Relations Alliance for more than five.