Megan, tell us a little about your story, including business and personal achievements:

My name is Megan Woodward and I’m a 35-year-old mother of two.

I wanted to be a journalist ever since I was a little girl. I’d like to say that originally there was a burning political reason or an underlying humanitarian goal, but I just loved the brightly coloured blazers of the 80s and 90s the female journo’s of the day were wearing!

I went on to spend nearly 15 years as a journalist, witnessing and reporting on some of the best and worst of life. After attempting to juggle life on the road with the rigours and demands of two young sons, I moved in to the world of PR.

In August 2018 I made the exhilarating / anxiety inducing / maddening / wonderful jump in to life as a sole trader. I attempted it a few years back but it didn’t work how I’d hoped. This time around I’ve got my business brain in check and am committed to making it work – work for me professionally and also work for me personally.

As my 93 year old grandmother always says, “You can have it all, just not at the same time!”

What made you make the move from Journalist to PR/Content Creator?

When I had my first son nearly 8 years ago I left my national TV reporting role but I was lucky enough to return to the ABC in Townsville in a radio news reading capacity. I started at 4am and was home by 10am and it worked well. When my second son was born, two years later, we’d moved to Brisbane.

When he was 10 months old I was offered a return to Landline, the ABC’s premiere rural current affairs show. My love for the bush and long form story telling – and my ego – got the better of me and I accepted the gig. Juggling the nights away and having to call in grandparent reinforcements to help my husband juggle his own demanding career and two little boys under three was a level of planning not for the faint-hearted!

When we moved to the Sunshine Coast in 2014 I reassessed what the next phase of life looked like and balancing life and career better was at the top of the list. I’d been approached by a lot of different people asking me to work for them in a PR capacity and I started to realise what my life as a journalist could bring to the table in other sectors.

I worked for local organisations here on the Coast for a time and then took on a senior role with Australia’s largest agri-PR company, Sydney-based Cox Inall Communications, working remotely from the Coast for more than two years.

After years of long Sydney-style hours from the corner of my home office I decided the time was right to branch out on my own again.

What tips do you have for other people who are starting up a new business?

I’m only six months in, so I feel like I’m the one still searching voraciously for tips and shouldn’t be handing pearls of wisdom out just yet!

But I will say that one of the best tips I’ve received is to treat new business life just like new motherhood – listen to ALL the advice, but only use the pieces that work for you.

Small business – especially in the communications and creative industry – is a wild beast. A bit like a newborn! What works for someone else won’t necessarily work for you.

How do you juggle a new business and being a working Mum?

Juggle is almost a laughable adage because juggling is quite an ordered and skilled profession! Our life resembles more of a drunk skipping octopus with arms and legs flailing at speed 24 hours a day! I’m still working out how to ‘turn-off’ and I’m not sure that’s something I’ll ever master.

It involves a lot of late nights and early mornings. The biggest thing for me is meal planning. Sounds ridiculous, but if the late afternoons and early evenings are ordered, I can cope. At the end of 2018 I took on some in-house contracting work with the Noosa Council, which was absolutely wonderful – but that meant sitting back down at the computer at 8pm and doing a days’ work until 2 or 3am for my own clients. It’s all a balance – but we all make choices. Having a lot on your plate as a sole trader is a blessing – no one wants to be twiddling their thumbs staring at an empty ‘Outgoing Invoices’ file!

Why do people need a Story Teller/Content Creator and how can you help them?

People are my greatest skill: talking to them, writing about them, making any topic a personal one.
Everyone has a story worth telling; and every story has an audience if it’s told authentically and with skill.
A lot of businesses and organisations struggle to tell their story without corporate speak. We are existing at a time when connection is more important than ever, and the personal touch is noted and valued – versus a quick snip of social media.

I can help craft a strategy and communications plan around what sort of story you want to tell – and then help build a narrative (PR speak for write a yarn!) to achieve the campaign goal. That might simply be a one-off project to get greater awareness around your business or a particular assignment or product; or it could be an ongoing engagement campaign that is multi-layered and delivered over a number of months or even years to support a total step-change in the way you or your organisation is understood by your target market.

And what’s on the agenda for Megan Woodward this year?

While I’m not a huge fan of the word ‘hustle’ because I think it’s been overused and in the wrong context in recent times, the truth is that it’s probably the best word to describe 2019!
I’m excited to get cracking on some new projects that have presented themselves to me over the Christmas break and continue meeting with prospective clients – and of course look after the clients who have already entrusted me with their own media and communications goals for 2019.
I’m also excited to do more MC work in 2019 – an old journo loves time in stage with a microphone!

Coast or City?

Coast wins hands down every time … but my heart actually belongs to the bush.

Most inspirational person you have interviewed as a Journalist and why?

I was a journalist for a long time… so this is a tough question! There’s been plenty of impressive, rich, famous types stand at the other end of my microphone over the years but inspirational would have to be handed collectively to the graziers of north-west Queensland who I saw deal with devastating droughts and floods; in equal measure, the parents who would speak to me outside court rooms after hearing the grisly details of how their child was killed. The most inspirational stories are always delivered by those who never planned to have to be inspirational.

Top PR Tip?

Don’t worry about trying to be unique. Just be authentic.

To find out more about Megan head to:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-woodward-b836238b/