One of Those Moments

In May 2009, I wrote a blog post entitled The People and The Moments:

“We all have them. Those moments when time slows just enough for us to recognize there is something incredible and unique about the experience.

“It may be the place, the people, the circumstances or the significance, but there is something uncommon that leaves an indelible mark on our memories.”

Last night, the Innovation in Business conference was one of those moments for me. Joined by our amazing team (pictured below), as well as Terri Grimm and Gary Christy of Westfield Insurance (two of our most loyal clients and friends), I was honored with a Rising Star award by Smart Business.

From Left to Right: Laurel Miltner, Keith Moehring, Tracy DiMarino, Paul Roetzer, Dia Dalsky, Christy Barksdale, Christina Capadona-Schmitz, Natalie Farinacci

Capturing it in Words

When I sat down yesterday to compose a few thoughts for the acceptance speech, it was the first time I really started to appreciate the significance of the moment. Not so much for me, but for everyone involved with our agency.

For nearly five years we have worked tirelessly to build an agency with an uncompromising vision for change, and a commitment to disruptive innovation.

Since our model is so different from traditional PR agencies, there was no blueprint from which to work. We constructed a business plan, created a scalable infrastructure, built partnerships with like-minded organizations such as HubSpot and New Media Campaigns, surrounded ourselves with clients who value us and our services, and constantly challenged the accepted norms within our industry.

But more than anything, we assembled a remarkable group of talented and amazingly driven professionals. There is so much more we plan to achieve, individually and as an agency, but for one moment, last night, we stopped to recognize how far we’ve come, and look beyond to an incredibly bright future ahead.

“They believed in me, and we believed in each other. We have a culture that refuses to accept traditional wisdom and conventional solutions. We challenge each other every day to improve. It's not easy, but things worth achieving never are.

“So this award is a testament to them, and to what a great team can accomplish together.” — Paul Roetzer, Innovation in Business acceptance speech, Sept. 16, 2010

Paul Roetzer is founder and president of PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. He can be found on Twitter @PaulRoetzer.

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