We were lucky to catch up with Chad Shearer recently and have shared our conversation below.
Chad, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
Any small business owner worth their salt is going to immediately tap their mistakes- and the ability to learn from them as the main cultivator of resilience. Being a small business owner is not an easy path. It takes patience, a sunny disposition, and a thick skin, BUT it can be incredibly rewarding. You are building and setting your own plot in life, which means you reap all the successes and learn from the mistakes.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I focus mostly on business development for Caren West PR and our music and events verticals. We manage the PR and media operations on about 15-20 music festival properties across the country, which finds me rubbing elbows with some very interesting and creative characters. The festival business is hyper-competitive, so you always have to try to reinvent the experience and how to spread the word about each event. And unless you are one of the mainstay festivals (who have to compete in their own right), there is always someone out there looking to do it better and come original. One of our newer projects, Highball, was recently acknowledged as one of the best new festivals in the country by USAToday- which was a huge win for us. It keeps things interesting, and I like it.
On the business development side, I am constantly in search of a new project to keep our team engaged and on its toes. I will never dismiss an opportunity without taking a good look at it and speaking with the potential client partner about their goals, but if we are not passionate about it and feel that we can hit a home run, we will not take it.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Confidence, Open-Mindedness, and Efficiency.
The biggest piece of advice that I could pass along is to be passionate about what you are doing, and the rest will fall into place. Passion will help bolster your confidence and push you to take chances and make the leap, and with that confidence will come the desire to take new avenues that require learning from someone who has been there. There is nothing wrong with stopping to listen and learn and understand that you may not always know what’s best. Our company is 18 and I am still trying to learn new things- and knowledge doesn’t always come from those more experienced- sometimes it makes sense to listen to those coming up.
And as for efficiency, don’t rush through it and make mistakes but be responsive.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
The number one obstacle I am facing now is how to evolve both professionally and personally. I love what I do, but I do not always want to do the same thing…or at least be working at the pace I am currently maintaining. After 18 years of having 50% of the say about how things are run at CWPR, I needed to get out of my own way and let others take the reigns. Ultimately it will help the company grow, and I will grow personally.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.carenwestpr.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chadavid/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carenwestpr
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadavid/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/chadavid
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/chadavid
Image Credits
Caren West PR
