We recently connected with Bruce Wawrzyniak and have shared our conversation below.

Bruce, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I was in a job where we needed a national anthem singer for an upcoming event. One Sunday before walking out of church I went up to one of the singers, told her I really admired her voice, and offered to help if she did any performing outside of church. Although she said that she did sing at fairs and festivals, right away she quickly told me that her father handled things for her, but thanks anyway.
In my business today I use what I call a four Ps approach — patient, polite, professional, but persistent. I left off the latter at the time, because I didn’t want to badger her, but I did go back another time or two with my offer. When her father — who was a realtor, not someone with a background like mine (entirely in public relations) — got wind of this, including the fact that I wasn’t asking to be paid, he told her to take me up on the offer to help.
We started working together and I was getting results. Soon the light bulb went on in my head that this could be a business for me, and I created my PR agency, Now Hear This.
The cool part was that I’d been able to get my feet wet and beta test some ideas, which set me up nicely for the first client I took on, who I ended up working for and with for years and years, having all kinds of success, including getting her booked to perform at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay on the Las Vegas strip, among other highlights!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My professional career went from ten years working (in PR) for a National Hockey League team to three years as VP/Public Relations at the League office for North America’s premier pro indoor lacrosse league (the NLL), to ten-and-a-half years in the Olympic Movement — including being Chief Press Officer at two Summer Olympics. (Along the way I also freelanced for three different full service agencies when I was living in Jacksonville, Florida.)
Although Now Hear This initially was focused on only serving music clients, eventually I saw the benefits to using my background and my skills to widening the focus. Fast forward to present day and we have clients from northern California to south Florida and points in between, ranging from yes, still music clients, but to now also authors, actors/filmmakers, a non-profit, and even one client who is none of those.
I’m often heard saying that there are a lot of people who do what I do that give what I do a bad name because they’re after quantity and not quality. “As long as the check clears,” as the saying used to go. I, however, cannot put my head on the pillow at night knowing that I merely took someone on as a client because of the money. I want to work with clients I believe in and it will show in the pitching that I do for them.
Results and success are different for everyone. For one music client, me getting her booked to perform at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood was something she otherwise hadn’t been able to accomplish. Getting in-store book signings for authors has been rewarding too, hearing them tell me positive outcomes from those events. It sounds cliched but it’s true — we are helping these folks realize their dreams.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In late 2013 I got the idea to start a podcast because I thought it would be a good marketing tool for my business. At the time, I wanted more music clients and thought that if I did music interviews, that my expertise could come through while talking with these guests during full-length feature interviews. My thinking was that someone listening in (insert city here) might say, “Wow, this Bruce guy really knows his stuff. I wonder if he could manage and promote me from across the miles?”
Over the years what I found was that the guests themselves were the ones providing real value. Since these are such substantial conversations (episodes of “Now Hear This Entertainment” average 54 minutes), the basis for a relationship was being put in place.
I stopped focusing on trying to convert audience members into clients and instead put a priority on maintaining relationships with the guests in order to help me serve my current clients. This includes using Instagram to keep up with them, plus meeting for breakfast or lunch or even just coffee when I’m in their city.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Without question, becoming a Member of The Recording Academy has been a huge shot in the arm, to put it mildly. To have that stamp of approval from the top of the food chain in the music business is hard to put a value on.
For starters, just the recognition from them alone of all of my years of hard work in the entertainment industry — the clients I’ve served, the accomplishments I’ve been behind, and the support I’ve shown (blogging and podcasting) — is a rare moment to give myself a pat on the back and say, “People have noticed and appreciated all I’ve done.”
But to now (a) have the opportunity to network with fellow Members of the Recording Academy, and (b) set myself apart from others who do what I do since there is this endorsement from the folks who do the GRAMMYs (among other significant initiatives) elevates my reputation and opens doors unlike I would’ve been able to do before.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://now-hear-this.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowhearthisentertainment/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NowHearThisInc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucewawrzyniak/
• Twitter: https://www.x.com/NHT_tweets
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/watchNHT
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nowhearthisinc
• Other: http://bit.ly/spotifyNHTE

Image Credits

Headshot (c) Ti King | The Podcast Academy