How did you get started as a Wild Women Entrepreneur? Labels: wild we member of the month
Public relations executive Joan Stewart of Publicity Hound has been selected as June's Wild Women Entrepreneur of the Month. Here she shares some of her insights.
I left my job in the newspaper industry after 22 years, tired of the cynicism in newsrooms, the sliding circulation, and the long hours. I interviewed for PR jobs that would have made me sick to my stomach had I gotten them. So I did the most logical thing and created my own job.
Joan, what are the differences between men and women in business?
Women cry on each other's shoulders. Sit with a woman entrepreneur at lunch and you might hear what a lousy month she's had. That would never happen with a man.
Women aren't afraid to ask for help. In fact, they thrive on it and many of them are like sponges, soaking up everything they can. About 75 percent of my customers are women.
Men can see the big picture. They think grand thoughts. Women often think too small and see limitations where none exist.
What are 3 of the biggest lessons you've learned along the way?
Treat customers the way you'd like to be treated. Customer service everywhere is so lousy today that if you answer your own phone, apologize when you're wrong and make them feel special, people appreciate that, and they love doing business with you. I send a hand-written thank you note in every product package that leaves my office. It takes about 30 seconds to write each one. Those little notes foster more goodwill than anything else I do and are part of my branding.
On the page at my website that discusses my mentor program, I used a quote from Mark Twain: "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great."
If your gut tells you it's the wrong decision, it's the wrong decision.
How do you juggle your personal life with your busy work schedule?
I seldom do. I work late many nights. But I try to get out of the office by 4:30, walk the dog daily, Jazzercise 3-5 times a week and spend time with my spectacular other. But I'm sometimes back in the office at 9 and working until 11 or 12.
Who have been your mentors along the way?
Cheryl Muskus, founder of Women Business Owners Network in Milwaukee. During my newspaper days, Dud Thomas, a drill sergeant of a publisher who gave me an engraved plaque that hangs in my office today: "A certain amount of fleas is good for a dog." In other words, if the newspaper had a good month, "What are you doing for me tomorrow?" Today, Tom Antion, an Internet marketer who has taught me most of what I know about how to sell on the Internet. He founded the Internet Association of Information Marketers with Gayle Carson.
How did you fall into your niche?
I love to write and I love current events. I remember reading the bylines on the front page of the Cleveland Press when I was 8 or 9 and dreaming that one day I'd work there.
If you could offer these Wild Women Entrepreneurs a piece of sound advice, what would it be?
When it stops being fun, that might be a sign it's time to stop doing it. 
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