You’ve heard the old adage, “It’s not personal, it’s business.”  In fact, there have been many times throughout my career when something has happened to me (maybe a decision didn’t go my way, or an outcome happened I didn’t like), and I’ve tried to remind myself, “It’s not personal, it’s business.”

And yet, every time I try to tell myself that little philosophy to make myself feel better, I realize nothing could be further from the truth.  When it’s business, it IS personal, whether we like it or not.

I’m fortunate enough to spend my working hours with the great team that is Full Circle PR.  I mean, let’s face it: you spend more hours with your co-workers (typically) than you do your own family and friends – so you hope you’re blessed with a positive and productive group to be around.

And because you spend so much time with your team, they become your family.  You learn about the crazy things their dogs do (ahem, Jake, this one’s for you), how they spend their weekends, where they go on vacations.  And just like any modern family (my new fave show on TV, BTW), you may not always agree on things, but you always love each other.

To me, my business is personal. Every decision Kim and I make, from a new business decision to who we hire, is personal, and we take it very seriously. We’re building the best PR firm in the business, and it’s because we’re strategic about everything we do.  And no one can tell me that because it’s business, it’s not personal — it is to me.

Have you ever tried to make yourself feel better in a business situation by telling yourself it’s not personal?  Did it work? Or when did “being personal” work in your favor in a business setting?  Let’s hear it.

I had the privilege of going to Social Media Club Greenville’s February meeting on Monday morning. Yes, I braved the frigid weather and 50 minute drive from Clemson to Greenville to attend – and it was totally worth it.

The presenters all provided insight into social media platforms like Meetup, TubeMogul and Flickr and creating iPhone applications.

All great information, but that’s not to say most of it didn’t fly over my head.

Truth is, I’ve been trying to pinpoint where I want to stand in the world of social media. Because when you say something on Twitter, post an image on Flickr or put a video on YouTube, you’re saying something to the world. It’s intimidating to think about about how many eyes see your message. You don’t want to say anything stupid.

That’s where Kim Madden, the last presenter at the meeting, helped me out. Like me, she doesn’t have a monumental presence in the online world, although it seems like so many others do. And that’s okay. You have to think about what you want to say to the world, even though sometimes you don’t want to say anything. Share a story of success – or better yet- of failure. You don’t have to have 100,000 followers on Twitter, you just have to be relevant to the audience who’s listening.

I might not taken away tools from the meeting that are going to shoot Full Circle PR or its clients into the stars, but I was reminded of a universally important concept – relevance. And that’s an idea I’d like to share with the world.

Upon completing my first month as account coordinator, I have realized that college taught me most of the things I needed to know in order to fulfill this position, but left me with plenty of room to learn.

In my PR classes, I learned about writing in journalistic style, the fundamentals of news releases, building a media list and pitching to editors. Having a job is similar to being back in school because there’s always assignments that need to be done now, and projects that need to be worked on progressively or addressed later in the future.

While my time in school did a great job preparing me for employment, it seems that college served more as a trade school than as a well-rounded learning experience. There’s no way college to teach you everything you need to know for the real world, and there are more than a few lessons that my job has taught me …

To start, I’ve learned in the past four weeks that even though you put in the time and effort, it doesn’t mean that you’ll see the results you desired – or any results at all for that matter. For example, you can spend an hour crafting a fabulous product pitch to a magazine editor and never hear a reply. Sure, the effort wasn’t made completely in vain but being ignored is certainly disappointing.

And unlike school, the things you do at work are not for your own benefit. A true killer of the procrastination bug is the knowledge that your coworkers and your company are depending on your work. Everything you do at work is for the good of the business, and not so much for personal gain.

In school, there’s always to push to join organizations related to your field of study plus other extracurricular activities. When Kim and I spoke to Clemson University’s chapter of PRSSA, I remembered how much I gained from being a part of the organization when I was a member. Like school, work life is much more enriched when you become involved in professional organizations and volunteer activities.

It’s only been a month, so I can only imagine all of the other things I will learn during my time here.