I’m writing this post at the tail end of a very busy, but incredibly inspiring weekend for me, so I’ll make it pretty short and to the point. My thought for this week is: EXPLORE. Always. In PR and marketing—and particularly in a service industry—it is imperative that we constantly keep our minds engaged and exploring new ideas, opportunities and thoughts. Even the most simple of concepts that come to us at seemingly the most random time (“Hey, a weather-map like visual feature of what is hot and cold could be really cool for client XYZ!”) may not be something you implement today, but those little random ideas have a way of stewing together over time and becoming your next big idea.

I’m reminded of this as I have spent the last few weeks pretty much obsessed with all things small business and being an entrepreneur. As America and really, the entire world, continues to struggle to overcome the depths of the Great Recession, I find myself spending more and more time reading every bit of entrepreneur and small business publications and blogs as I can find. From the standards like Entrepreneur, Inc. and FAST COMPANY, to digital newcomers such as Bizmore.com and AOL Small Business, I am doing everything I can to try to fully understand the mindset of what the entrepreneurs and CEOs I work with on a daily basis are going through as they work tirelessly to build and enhance their businesses.

So, my thought for this week: Explore. And also: Find new ways to understand those you are serving. America is built on a small-business economy, and many of your clients will most likely be small businesses or regularly work with/serve small businesses, or in the case of a CEO, were entrepreneurs at one time themselves. Reading industry trades and big business publications is great, but to truly understand the man or woman behind the companies that you represent, seek out information and great insight that they are probably reading right now or still check out from time to time to find one or two great innovative nuggets of info from the little guys.

If anything, it will give you a great sense of the spirit and excitement that entrepreneurs must have to succeed, even in one of the toughest economies we will hopefully never see again. Have a great, inspiring week, folks.

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