My Word of the Year
At the end of 2024, I found myself at a crossroads: do I continue building a media consulting business, or do I get a job?
One word helped me discover a way where I can do both: Impact.
This was my word for 2025. As I navigated my way through a tumultuous economic year, I kept focusing on impact.
How can my work have the most impact?
Where can I create content so I can have the most impact?
How can I position myself for long-term impact?
I had been toying with the idea of a corporate offer for roughly two years. I saw a way for me to secure one contract and work with a large number of spokespeople - as opposed to securing dozens of smaller contracts for the same result.
The only thing holding me back was a clear knowledge gap. I had never worked in corporate communications. I didn’t know their pain points or how to speak about them with the same depth of understanding as I do for small business owners and entrepreneurs.
But I knew this move would help me concentrate my work for deeper impact, so it was worth exploring.
As soon as I decided to focus on this corporate offer, the universe delivered. Throughout the month of December, my inbox was filled with job postings for media relations at every major bank in Canada. I was also shown similar postings at insurance companies, even the MARS research lab.
I applied for all of them.
In January, I started interviewing for a position at the second largest bank in Canada. I had four interviews in total. In each one I was asked why I wanted this position. I answered: Impact.
I want to use my skills to share knowledge and information that will have the greatest impact on others. It’s why I got into news. It’s why I got into lifestyle. It’s why I started McEwen Media. I saw a chance to do the same for the bank.
It worked. I started my contract in May.
The position immediately delivered on what I was looking for. Within a week, I knew what people had told me for years: I have a corporate offer.
In my spare time, I started mapping out what that could look like: the target market, the deliverables, the org chart, and the process.
In September, I started mapping out my approach to building media strategies and developing subject matter experts. I knew this process would form the basis of a corporate offer. And I can take action on it whenever my time at the bank is over. The more I worked on it, the more a new idea emerged.
I knew how this work is helping a large organization with hundreds of spokespeople. And, I know how this work has helped the solopreneurs I’ve been blessed to work with. What if I made this process available to anyone struggling with their brand right now?
Within weeks, my core media strategy process was packaged as an online course. It’s available now, with an option to book a VIP session and work on it with me.
I now have the best of both worlds: a full-time position where I’m delivering my corporate offer to a best-in-class brand, and a product where I can continue supporting solopreneurs and small business owners who want to create with clarity.
When it came time to name the course, only one thing felt right: Impact