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Andrea Spirov

What does a typical day for you consist of?

Right now, I’ve taken on the duties of homeschooling my son because of COVID-19 so the time when he would usually be at pre-school (morning) is spent with him working through the work his school is sending through to us. After lunch I interview potential clients, work on deliverables for existing clients, and continue my education and business development by engaging in webinars and virtual networking opportunities. Some days of the week have hours set aside for planning activities, which you always have to do as a business owner. At the end of the day I answer emails that couldn’t be answered more quickly during the day, and ensure that I have thought through everything I needed to in order to be successful tomorrow. My day always has writing happening in it. And I often work for a couple of hours in the evenings and several hours on the weekend to catch up because of the disruption to our schedules caused by the pandemic.

What advice would you give someone considering this career?

Be curious, outgoing, and ask the right questions. For the work I do, there is no formula, and only improving the quality of the questions you ask will help you to achieve a better result. You have to be an outstanding listener, understand how not to lead someone when you are questioning them, and you have to be able to turn things inside out and connect dots in order to have an effective creative process. You also have to know yourself and be able to hit pause – you are like an athlete or an actor, reliant on your own mental faculties to think and receive information, and process it in a way that generates original output. So learning self-care and your working style is critical. You cannot be afraid of uncertainty – I’m talking about the entrepreneur part of my job right now. If you’re not willing to take risks and sit with the uncomfortable aspects of going out on your own, if you’ll feel stressed out by not having a steady paycheck, get a job instead. That said, I don’t want to discourage anyone because the risk of being an entrepreneur also brings its greatest rewards.

What is a book or movie that has inspired you?

Joy. I relate to Jennifer Hudson’s character on so many levels.

Do you (or your company) offer internships or job shadow opportunities to high school students? If so, how would a student go about applying for one of those?

I am not currently able to offer this.

Andrea has 20 years of experience in marketing communications and business, which she leverages at her own firm, ‘spired Marketing. She works with CEOs and founders to create a messaging strategy that forms the basis for every aspect of the company’s communications, which is critical in aligning leadership objectives with the customer experience. She began her career in the corporate communications department of a Fortune 100 (#20 at the time) company, moving on to a career as an art director at the top agencies and in-house departments of clients like Target, Macy’s, Coca-Cola and Tetley. After completing a MA in Media and Communications, she worked in the newsroom of a major Australian newspaper before moving on to create three startup companies, one of which took her all over the world as a writer, working with companies like Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Radisson, several tourism boards and many independent hotels and restaurants. Her objectives are to work on social-benefit and sustainable for-profit projects, and to champion women’s causes and leadership development programs in our changing world.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaspirov/

http://marketing.spiredgroup.com/