Today we’d like to introduce you to Ruth Furman.

Hi Ruth, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?

I graduated college thinking I would be a journalist and editor for life, but fell into a corporate public relations role just before I moved to Las Vegas in 1999. Las Vegas is such an entrepreneurial city, and I caught that bug shortly after moving here to run PR campaigns for my employer. When the opportunity to go out on my own presented itself in 2001, I took it.

I grew up in Indiana and have always prided myself in having a relentless Midwestern work ethic. I’m not pushy, but I don’t go away very easily either. My relentlessness isn’t just about striving for business success; instead it’s more tied to establishing and cultivating relationships. I’m genuinely curious about other people’s lives, so I ask a lot of questions. People share their stories with me, and that’s how I’m able to find new clients. Over the years I discovered that my same curiosity about subjects and people I thought would drive me as a journalist definitely drives me as a public relations professional.

At the same time, I do still keep a journalist’s perspective. I respect my media relationships so much, and don’t want to waste a reporter’s time. I work very hard to match up my clients’ subject matter expertise to what is relevant and newsworthy right now. To me, It’s all about great content that is useful for audiences. Through the years, I have been able to create incredible stories for clients in retail, home improvement, real estate, construction, health care, fitness, entertainment, and more.

During the COVID lockdown, I added an SEO PR arm to my business. Through networking via Zoom, SEO and marketing pros started approaching me about using digital media assets to improve website SEO. I had never really thought about this connection prior to that, but it made a lot of sense. This shift has really shaped a lot of how I do business today. I never realized how much as PR professionals we sometimes silo ourselves from marketing teams when we really shouldn’t.

So, in a strange way, I’ve built a business around saying “hello” to people and asking them about their lives, and then making a conscious decision to work much closer with marketing and SEO teams than I had previously.

Sometimes, I catch myself thinking “my business can’t be more than 20 years old!” But it is, and I’m at a point where my media connections and client list continues to naturally evolve and grow. Clients feel a lot more like friends, and as I enter the later season of my career, I am trying to put more emphasis on work-life balance, too.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

For me, my greatest strength is also my weakness. My work ethic sometimes puts me into an “always on” mindset that is difficult to overcome. Until I can get results, I’m in no mood to rest, so I am prone to overworking and even overcommitting on the number of projects I take on at times.

I also used to take the natural flow of people needing PR services for a period of time, then not, too personally. Over the years, I’ve overcome that, as clients have come and gone and even come back again, depending on their needs and where they are with their business growth trajectory. But again, I think my biggest challenge has been overworking myself, so my focus in the past few years had been much more on balancing my personal and professional lives, and I’m fortunate to have a great stable of freelancers to step in and help when I need it.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

I am a full-service public relations and marketing agency with work spanning a wide range of industries. I leverage my media contacts, while also continuously expanding that media net, to get exposure for clients. I find placements for clients in local and national media outlets (website and print articles, TV, podcasts). These opportunities yield digital assets my clients then use to improve their SEO, amplify their brand and grow their business.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?

Luck has played a significant role in my personal and business success. Most people wouldn’t count their mother passing after a painful cancer battle as luck, but I do. I miss her everyday. She was one of my greatest heroes, a true empath that taught me how to love and appreciate the people I have in my life.

Assisting her in her final months of life was a time full of stress, emotional roller coasters, and of course, if you ever met Sally Hamburg, you would know that even with pain, there was always room for a laugh. I was fortunate to have a team of freelancers willing to step in for me so that I could continue to run my business while tending to this personal matter.

I also had another, more recent, personal event. My brother, Joel, who has Down syndrome, had a stroke while we were on a road trip together. Again, because of the structure of my business I was able to keep operations going while spending time with him. On our trip, something seemed odd about his behavior, and I followed my gut instinct to have him screened by medical professionals. It ended up saving his life. Today, he inspires me with his determination to overcome some of his new physical challenges, and I’m able to make decisions about his care and continue being a helpful big sister. Again, without my business structure, I would have missed out on so many important moments in life, memories that add tremendous value to my life that goes beyond business success. Again, I’m lucky to run a business that allows me to have these experiences and, even more, to naturally build so many friendships by getting to know people so well through the work itself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ruthfurman.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruthiefurman/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063776476228
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthfurman/
• Twitter: https://x.com/imagewords

Image Credits

Ruth Furman