BinaryGirl Spotlight: Diane Rooney

What is your occupation/job title?

I'm President of my own consultancy, Rooney Consulting Group. I offer a range of business and marketing communications services, including web content development, newsletters, white papers, direct mail, sales brochures, and speeches and presentations. I also lead brainstorming and project design workshops. I've also been fortunate enough to do some web journalism for brandcities.com and some other sites. My clients are in technology, healthcare, and consumer products.

Are you self-employed?

Yes, I’ve been self-employed since January 2000.

What is your background? What types of degrees, skills, experiences are necessary for this field?

My background is in consumer products marketing. From 1980-1999 I worked in various marketing and new product development assignments at Warner Lambert (now part of Pfizer), Colgate Palmolive, and Gillette. From August 1999 to January 2000 I worked as VP of Marketing for a San Francisco start up. I’d gone from working for companies with tens of thousands of employees to one with less than ten. After that, I figured I would try working for myself for a while, thinking if it didn’t workout, I’d look for a permanent job.

My education includes a BA degree in English and Journalism, an MA in English, and an MBA in marketing. This seems to be a good combination, because you need the writing skills, and the MBA gives you an important business credential when you’re starting out. Before getting my MBA, I taught for a couple of years, which was great for overcoming fear of public speaking or being in the front of a group thinking on your feet. If I were doing it today, though, I’d probably go for an engineering degree, followed by the MBA. It just gives you so many more options in technology fields.

I think if your business is communications in a variety of media, you need to be a good communicator yourself. Good writer, good public speaker, not afraid to pick up the phone and network, pitch your business, or track down information you need. You also need the discipline to put distractions aside and complete your writing or design projects. Running your own business, you need to balance between current work and developing new business, keep good financial records, and get out and network like crazy. The principal challenge in freelancing is worry about the uncertainty of business. My suggestions for overcoming this are to not be afraid to tap into your current network for projects or referrals and use job boards to get some projects as well. Make sure you have your resume, reference list, and portfolio of writing samples and sites you’ve worked on together and ready to go. Look or speaking opportunities at conferences or for professional organizations. Join the relevant professional organizations and be as active as you can to increase your visibility.

How did you get started in this field?

I did so much writing and working with advertising, promotion, and in the last few years, web agencies, when I was in marketing. Marketing is a very communications-focused profession: lots of meetings, presentations, memos, trip reports, and developing advertising and selling copy. I tried to take the skills I’d acquired over the years and put them to work in a new way. My first projects came from people in my network, former colleagues, etc., and from job boards like elance.com. Later, projects began to come more from referrals by current clients and networking.

What college (if any) courses have been most helpful for your career?

It’s been a long time but the basic journalism courses are pretty good for teaching you business writing, and the MBA courses in marketing teach you the language, how to work together in teams, how to do situation analysis, and so on.

What are your specific responsibilities?

As a one-woman shop, everything! Delivering client service, business development, finance, and office management!

Describe a typical workday and workweek. What do you do during a typical day?

Phone calls with clients—it’s very important to keep in touch with people and let them know how the project is going. Networking phone calls—to build relationships with new people and to check in with people in my network on what’s happening. Tons of email. Lots of web research and checking out new sites. Hours at the computer writing. Trips to bank, post office, Office Depot, Kinko’s—a few times a week. I try to break for lunch or coffee with friends a few times a week and go to after work networking events at least once a week.

Name 5-7 job skills that are needed for your job.

• Writingskills
• Ability to communicate with people
• Enthusiasm
• Interest in a variety of businesses
• Quick learner
• Ability to stay focused on the project and minimize distractions

No.

Do you have flextime? Vacation time? Work at home? Telecommute?

I work from home. I converted an extra bedroom into an office. I love not having to commute – my last job at the Oral-B division of Gillette was in Belmont. I estimate not driving to the Peninsula daily in rush hour frees up 10-12 hours a week. If I don’t have meetings, I can take time during the day for chores and errands and then continue working at night.

How many hours per week are expected or warranted for peak performance?

There's no set answer…it all depends on the number of projects and the deadlines.

Are many evenings or weekends required for your job?

They’re not required, but I work a lot at night and on the weekends to keep on track with my projects.

How much travel is involved with a job in your field?

I’ve traveled very little. Only two trips out of the Bay Area, and one of those was a day trip to San Diego. So much is done virtually.

Could you give me examples of projects that you are working on?

Right now I am working on two speeches….one for a designer to give at an engineering conference and the other for the head of a biotech firm for an investor conference & publication. I’m working on web site content for three sites, one in consumer e-commerce, one in biotech, and one an ebusiness in business services. I am also doing some sales brochures and newsletter editing for a high tech company. And, I’m working on getting speakers and updating the conference brochure for an e-commerce conference next March, and trying to finish some articles on marketing research and packaging for a marketing site.

Could you describe your work settings? Offices, machinery, resources etc.

It’s pretty simple. Got a computer desk and bookcase from Office Depot. There’s a combination scanner/printer/fax/copier, second phone line for the modem, land line, and a Compaq Presario desktop computer setup. I use stackable crates, again from Office Depot, for the files. I also have a Toshiba laptop.

What personal qualities do you think are necessary for someone to be successful in this occupation?

You need enthusiasm and persistence. You need to project a lot of positive energy and confidence, because people relate positively to that.

What is the major challenge you face at work?

Balancing the current projects, and balancing between current projects and business development. I'm not always successful.

What aspects of your job do you find most rewarding (pros) ? Least rewarding? (cons)

I learn something from every project I take on, and that’s a real pro. I learn about the company, its industry, learn new technology or the vocabulary of that industry and important things about it. I also love the feeling of actually finishing a writing assignment and sending it off. Least rewarding is dealing with people who don’t pay promptly.

Are you confronted with difficult decisions or situations in your position?

No.

Do you have a lot of interaction with a certain occupation? I.E. media, engineers, etc.

Given the range of clients, I work with a lot of health care and biotech development and marketing people, and a lot of communications people at high tech companies.

What is the Female to Male Ratio in your position/field?

My sense is that there are more women than men in business communications, perhaps about 65% women.

Has the field changed since you first started your career?

Wow, marketing has changed so much, but then I’ve been in it a long time (20 years). The great news is that there are so many more women, and they have bigger jobs. The other two big changes are the fragmenting of the consumer audience…not a mass market anymore but a collection of smaller markets, each with its own characteristics and needs, and the development of so many new communications media (internet, cable, VCR, DVD, satellite, wireless, etc). The pace of business is much faster, and the face of business is much different..not everybody in big, old companies but startups, technology companies, free agents, etc. The way people find jobs is different because of the job boards and because networking is so much more extensive.

Describe the changes taking place in your field. Project future trends? Turnover rate?

I think more people will go freelance as they become disenchanted with corporations.

Do you think women avoid technical careers? What do you think can be done to encourage girls to get more involved in the technology field?

A lot of women avoid technical careers perhaps because they think it will be too hard in school or because they get involved in another field. High schools and colleges need to more actively encourage and sell women on the advantages of technical fields, and make sure they’re supported. The technology industry needs some more initiatives on this front as well, maybe more scholarships, internships, or taking it on as a cause.

Do you believe that women will be in more technical jobs in the future?

Absolutely. I think the numbers in technical fields and technical companies will increase, just as it did years ago in medicine, law, marketing, and other fields where the numbers were more heavily male 20 years ago.

Do you have any advice for women and girls that are interested in going into the field?

Get the best technical education you can. Try to get some teaching experience because it makes you comfortable speaking in front of people. Get a series of mentors depending on your needs at that time and be sure to give something back to them, too. Look at any situation as a networking opportunity…you may meet a contact at the dry cleaners or on line for coffee. Remember, you're always marketing the brand called You.