Meet Kevin Wilkerson

We recently connected with Kevin Wilkerson and have shared our conversation below.

Kevin , thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
My optimism comes from being able to look at things from a positive standpoint. My days are bright, not dark. My glass is half full, not half empty.

The origins of this, I am not positive. I have always been that way. For one thing, I have never been one to like negativity. I shut out negative people, who can be like an anchor dragging down everyone around them. If you don’t have a positive attitute, you have no chance to succeed at most projects. One of my biggest influences is a former boss at a PR agency, Laz Denes. Laz could find sunshine in a rainstorm, a bright light in a total solar eclipse. Once, when his young daughter at the time was screaming, he casually turned to her and said, “nothing could be that bad.” She immediately stopped crying.

Laz would quote lines from Jimmy Buffett songs in everyday conversations and that had a postive effect on me. So much so that I now do it, too. Lines like “living in the sunshine” and “If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane” help create optimism. I also live by quotes from successful football coaches; a favorite is, “it’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up” from Vince Lombardi.

The biggest factor of all, tho, comes from the fact that I enjoy life and when one is optimitic, it’s easier to achieve that objective.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
As I sit here, looking over the skyline of the Gaslamp Quarter through the sunshine of San Diego, I am multi-tasking, working both as a freelance writer and editor for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and as the PR Manager for San Diego-based Positraction, Inc. Additionally, I am posting stories to my lifestyle blog, PubClub.com. Later, I will be out expriencing San Diego’s social scene seeking more blog content.

This is a pretty typical day, except for when I am out giving tours to tourists, for I am also a tour guide for Another Side Tours, a job that I enjoy because I like being around people and showing them around town.

While all these jobs may seem completly different, they are actually all related because they have one thing in common: communications. Each requires good communication skills and that is something I have in abundance. I belive you need that no matter your occupation.

I am focused on being the best that I can be so that I create more value for myself and my clients. I have a gift for writing, which I realize not everyone has, and have been told by others that they can visualize what I write about in my stories. That’s a great compliment to me, tho I am very fortunate to have inherited a tad of talent in that area from my father. I find writing about people, places and events exciting, although pumping out a story on deadline is not something I particuarly enjoy as I know from my days as a newspaper reporter.

Part of commuications is having a good gift of gab, and I definitley have that going for me. It works well as a writer because as a journalist, I am naturally curious and like to ask people questions. It helps in PR because I can make a good pitch to media outlets. It is certainly a good attribute to have as a tour guide. And it helps with the blog because social media is a very important element to creating brand awareness and I’m pretty good on camera for TikTok and Instagram posts. It also comes in handy for the live video podcast that I co-created called PubClub LIVE! A goal is to turn the latter into a profitable enterprise by having travel destinations and events pay us to broadcast from their locations, as well as to attract advertisers.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Communications, writing and listening to others around me who turned out to be mentors are three qualities, skills, and areas of knowledge that have had the most impact on me.

It started with my father who, in his subtle but impactuful way, molded me into a being good writer. Early on, he showed me better words and phrases to use and provided some key tips, namely to write short sentences and short paragraphs (particularly useful for newpaper reporters) and his pet peeve, which I see violated way too often these days even by journalists, to never end a sentence with a preposition.

I would also like to thank my mother for helping to instill good values in me and teaching me to treat everybody as an individual.

My advice is to surround yourself with knowlegable – and positive – people. Observe them and take notes of how they handle situations. Be a sponge. And don’t ever be afraid to ask them questions.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?
In the past, I have collaborated with tourism boards and PR agencies in order to travel to and write about thier destinations for my blog. This all came to a sreeching halt during the pandemic and the resulting budget cuts have cut into those opportunites.

Apparently, I missed the heyday of travel journalism, when destations would send writers to exotic locations and pamper them for several days if not weeks, and when magazines would pay handsomely for the privledge. I had one former magazine editor tell me her publication would pay $2,000 for a story; today the rate is $50-100 for most publicatons and websites. That being said, I have had a few first-class trips to Switzerland as well as to some other great places. It is something I want to do more of in the future, so collaborating with those in the travel and hospitality industry is a definite desire for me going forward.

A priority, tho, is to collaborate with sponsors and advertisers for the blog and podcast, PubClub LIVE! I worked for several years with an international beer brand, covering events it sponsored and providing branded posts of people consuming its products. Beer, spirits, wines and associated brands are ideal sponsors for collaborations.

Of course, I am also available for freelance writing and PR opportunites, so that’s additional collaboration opportunities which I would welcome. I can be reached via my e-mail at: [email protected].

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Business suit photo: KC Witherspoon

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