Over the years I have (among other things):

• had my writing featured online and in print, including a national parenting magazine
• produced an award winning promotional commercial
• ghostwritten for internationally recognized marketers and copywriters
• helped clients get coverage on radio, in newspapers, on television and into national magazines
• helped increased client sales through radio, print and online strategies
• have been a guest on several prominent podcasts
• had my name mentioned in Chatelaine magazine (November 2009)
• been part of an award winning Trade Show team (May 2009)

I recently shared a portion of my journey towards what I am today, the eclectic mix of writer, marketer & publicist, on a coaching podcast. I think I was invited because I’ve always been one to go with the flow, and not being able to pursue one thing always opened the doors to something else.

Today that something else is helping small businesses achieve success through strategic marketing. It has taken years of research and experience to get here…this is just part of the story.

For most purposes, the journey began 11 years ago (there is a slight blip in the story that takes us back 19 years as far as my career plans after high school, but we’ll get to that later!)

I had been working in retail prior to the birth of my oldest son. I had been fully intending to go back before he was born. I loved my job and being on the front lines of providing top-notch quality service was exhilarating and rewarding. But after my son arrived, I simply couldn’t face going back and leaving him to daycare.

So I decided to become his daycare and spent the next five months (the remainder of my EI time) going through the process to become a registered dayhome provider. That was my first home based business.

Over the next two years, I received many accolades from the parents I serviced for my professional approach and loving manner.

I also began to explore other opportunities. I tried direct sales briefly, but found that path to be not quite my cup of tea. It was around that time that I started to dabble in freelance writing, though the bug didn’t really bite until a couple of years later when our family ended up on a small Northern Reserve with very little for me to do, other than look after my own boys and write.

I wasn’t a freelancer for long when I began to want more. I started a site and newsletter for childcare providers. It wasn’t successful by today’s standards, it only ever grew to around 600 subscribers and only broke even in in terms of revenue, but I was proud of it.

By the time the newsletter was in full swing, we’d moved again and I began to realize that freelance writing was an endless exercise in patience. Seeing as how I have no patience, it was not a good fit and I made a transition into writing directly for business.

A few brochures and website pages later, I added writing press releases to my repertoire. By this time I was also ghostwriting, doing product descriptions for catalog sites and editing white papers. I continued with this through two more moves.

Then one day as we were driving into town for groceries, I heard an ad on the radio. They were looking for a certain type of person, and it sounded just like me. I wasn’t looking for a job, but after much discussion we decided I should go for it.

It was a childhood dream to work in radio. I had even gone to broadcasting school after high school, thinking that would be the path to getting on the airwaves. Of course, the job I took was about selling air, rather than being on it – but it was the perfect fit for that time of my life.  Being on the front lines and helping small businesses with their radio marketing was almost fulfilling.

But again I wanted more.

The fact is that while radio is a great medium, especially for small businesses with a local clientele, there were so many strategies that were being missed by sticking with selling just one marketing medium. And while the station had some impressive internet marketing tools, there was little being done to develop those tools or promote them.

Eventually aggravation built, until the desire to be my own boss again and dig deeper into small business marketing strategies brought me back home again.

I officially launched PK Marketing Solutions in June of 2008 and I’m back in the mad mix of writing, marketing and publicity…enriched now by nearly two years learning how radio really works from the inside out, and experiencing the influences of other traditional media.

In the summer of 2009, I developed and managed my first community campaign. And that success propelled me forward into developing the Community Connected Commerce Marketing System.

I’m here to provide a more encompassing approach to marketing to better meet the needs of small business, especially on gaining local exposure.

It took me a while, but I’ve finally figured out where I belong and the only more I look for now is more profits for my clients.