We’ve recently begun our search for a top-notch public relations firm to aid us in generating online, print, TV, etc. buzz about TalkShoe and its podcasting business, and new foree into social networking. (Lots more to come on this subject)

If you know of a good agency with both traditional and online PR experience, as well as experience working with hot tech startup companies, email me at markj@talkshoe.com. — Thanks.

This post relates to junior employees taking direction from senior employees. Back in the old-old days, work life was pretty straightforward in terms of decision making. Senior employees (managers) made decisions, and junior employees carried them out. This was a very efficient system, although junior employees didn’t always buy into decisions. If a junior employee didn’t listen, it was considered insubordination.

In the old days (my generation), senior employees weighted advice from both senior and junior employees. Senior employees ultimately made the decisions, and they were carried out by junior employees. But junior employees had the right to disagree, but in the end everyone still realized who was boss. If a junior employee didn’t obey the decision, it wasn’t considered insubordination, but it wasn’t a good thing over the long term.

Today, things have changed again. It seems that senior and junior employees negotiate equally and openly. Junior employees are generally not afraid to speak their mind. In particular, at TalkShoe, since we’re focusing on social networking, junior/younger employees still  have a say. Now we must reach consensus. If a junior employee doesn’t carry out the decisions made by the senior employee, it’s more the senior employee’s job to once again try and reach consensus. This can be very inefficient if decisions have to continually be revisited; however, ultimately it’s great when concensus is reached, and all employees feel ownership of the decision.

I had a very disturbing call with a representative from RacePoint public relations firm today. It seems that all they want to talk about is money — meaning how much I will pay them  — before they even told me what they could do for me. Here’s the email I sent them today.

I am extremely insulted by a recent call I got from one of your representatives. The only issue he wanted to discuss was money. I had sent a Request for Proposal (RFP) with our desired needs, and what came back to me was that it would cost $15K minimum. Not who would be on the account. Not questions about the RFP. Not what you could do for TalkShoe, but only money.

Frankly, I’d be happy to pay you $20,000/month+ if your firm can produce results. I just resent the very first call only being about money, and not about your capabilities.

The RFP I sent you was very broad, so that you could give me an overall sense of your capabilties. When I asked what could be taken out of the RFP to get the price more in the $10,000 range, the answer was sorry, there’s nothing we can do. That makes no sense. Clearly if you spend less hours (for example by eliminating PR with national press), it would cost less than going after national press, right?

I feel like I am being treated like an idiot. I know the PR process and have been a VP of Marketing for 15 years. I am also a professor at a major US university and in fact teach marketing, PR, advertising, etc. I know that retainer pricing is ultimately about price/hour, and PR firms estimate the approximate number of hours it would take to service a given customer. What ever happened to “earning the customer’s business”? Surely a better approach would have been to tell me all the great things you can do for TalkShoe and then talk price. Or asking me to clarify the RFP, or something.

Planning and executing trade shows are a pain in the butt. Lots of details, forms, etc. This week I’m in major trade show mode. I haven’t done a trade show by myself in years.

This brings up an interesting point. We entrepreneurs refer to this as “taking out the trash”. Startup employees, no matter what their title or level, have to do all kinds of menial tasks since there are no support staff. Here at TalkShoe, we have zero administrative personnel. What’s interesting is that one minute I’ll be planning the long term corporate strategy or talking about venture capitalists, and the next I’ll be faxing in a form listing the people who will staff our booth at the tradeshow, or listing some podcast on iTunes.

To be a successful entrepreneur, you’ve got to WANT and be able to do both big and small things. This is one of the reasons that people from large companies don’t always make good entrepreneurs. They’ve always had large support staffs, and can even feel some work is beneath them. Anyway, gotta go and fax in some more forms.

It turns out that someone has been recently using TalkShoe as a means to spread hate. The person has been joining live Talkcasts and making threats to people, and then finding information about hosts and contacting them directly. You’ve got to be kidding! I can’t give any of the real details because we’ve had to contact the police in California where this crazy guy lives — turns out the guy has some emotional problems, so there’s no need to worry. Now our CEO, Dave, has do deal with this stuff, instead of dealing with more important real business. You just don’t put this kind of think in your Palm Pilot day planner.