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(continued from page 124) Step 5. Generate Traffic with Integrity. Learn low-tech, low-budget methods to generate traffic on the internet or put direct mail strategies into place for offline success. (Or both!) Step 6. Continue to Convert Traffic into Prospects. Use the authentic relationshipbuilding elements of intimacy, mystery and sensuality to deepen and strengthen the ties between you and your clients. Step 7. Strengthen the Trust Relationship. If you consistently and purposefully build the relationship with people in your niche, the more accelerated your success will be in related groups of potential buyers. Step 8. Pursue a Bold, Outrageous, Provocative Position in your Niche Market. Figure out what you believe in, and take a stand, working at all times on your authenticity and integrity. Your business success IS a reflection of your personal mastery. This is important and often skipped. If you commit to mastering this final step, you’ll be far ahead of many others who are after the same success you are seeking. There are fortunately several additional sources of support. The Small Business Administration – and its website, www.sba. gov – is extremely useful. Websites like www.entrepreneur.com and www.startupnation.com have good advice. “The Consultant’s Calling” by Geoff rey Bellman is a useful read; and talking to a wide variety of small business owners is a great way to get a feel for this kind of life. If after your research and soul searching you are ready to go, then just do it. My own experience is that it is immensely satisfying and exciting. Good luck. You can contact Peter at peter@expmatters.com, by calling 202-2105587 or by visiting his website at www.expmatters.com. ★
A Successful Transition From Public Relations to Washington Ambassador by Peter Sherer
I
f you happen to be in front of the Old Post Office on an early spring morning and you see Pete McCall boarding a bus with 50 noisy eighth-graders, you know he’s pursuing his passion. But how did a communications professional who had worked on the Hill, for the US General Services Administration, the American Institute of Architects and the AFL-CIO decide to just become a professional tour guide? Pete’s interest didn’t start in his early 60s in 2004 when he decided to hang up his journalism/communications hat after 42 years. To get the whole picture, you have to go back over 50 years and see Pete as a teenager handing out brochures for four summers at Rock City Gardens on Lookout Mountain overlooking his native Chattanooga, Tennessee. Greeting tourists, taking tickets and trying to catch the eye of a pretty girl were about as good as it could get for Pete. For a former newspaper reporter, an assignment as a congressional press secretary in the nation’s capital 38 years ago was too good to miss. All during his professional career, his strong interest in Washington and its monuments were punctuated with trips to Civil War battlefields. Pete dragged his wife Celeste with him often enough that they finally reached détente when he agreed to go to one winery for each battlefield. Pete’s idea of a good time was to take friends and visitors on trips around the city. So after some soul searching about what part-time job he would love in retirement, Pete signed up for tour guide training. He thought this vocation would combine his love of American history, architecture, urban design and explaining things to newcomers. In late 2005, after a two-track course and armed with a license designating him a professional guide, Pete became one of the nearly 900 tour guides leading two to four day tours of students in the spring and seniors in the fall. He soon discovered that being a male tour guide was unusual because the profession is almost the exclusive province of retired women. Not bad duty for a guy with a history of looking for pretty females interested in history. Pete filled me in on the tour industry. A dozen or so tour companies bring many of the 25 million visitors to Washington each year. Some guides work for only one company. However, Pete is an independent contractor which gives him more freedom to choose when to work. It is hardly a get-rich scheme, but Pete earns $30-$50
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Pete McCall, photo by Andrew Lightman.
an hour and often can work 12-hour days in peak season, which runs from March through June. He admits it can be physically exhaustive, but he makes enough money to enjoy some good meals with Celeste. Another factoid: a bus driver is called a “motor coach operator,” and they can make or break a tour. An experienced driver who knows the best routes between attractions is a lifesaver when you are in a bus crammed with noisy eighth-graders who think the Mall is going to be a chance to shop. Pete prefers senior tours “because they eat in better restaurants, and I am a foodie. The Union Station food court just doesn’t cut it for me, especially every week for months in a row.” Pete is now on the board of The Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington, comprised of some 350 professional guides who want to share the latest information. He enjoys traveling to see how other cities handle their approach to tourism. Pete and Celeste are total travel nuts who have visited to more than 60 countries together but have never been to a Wal-Mart. I asked Pete to share his thoughts on what one should do in the early stages of retirement. He said, “Do what interests you – do something you are passionate about. Your choice will be an extension of yourself. I am a performer at heart. I love to expand the minds of the kids and to pique their interest in history. I also love my rapport with my fellow guides. I love showing off my city. I consider myself and the other guides as her ambassadors.” You would be lucky to ride on a bus with Pete.
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