It’s a new week and this week’s business woman is one of my favorite Atlanta PR ladies, Ronnika Ann!! Ms. Ronnika-Ann truly is one of the hardest working women you’ll ever meet. Apart from running her multiple businesses, Ronnika is engaged to be married to the love of her life soon. Checkout the full interview and enjoy!!!

1-Can you tell my readers a little bit about yourself ?

I am Ronnika Ann, Multi Entrepreneur, Author and Speaker. As a follower of God I believe to serve everything I do with a pure heart and to exceed greatness. With my PR company, iGN PR & Co., going into its 5th year, I continuously strive to be the leader and visionary of every campaign I touch. I spearhead strategic campaigns and develop goals for each client I work with. Every win and opportunity for growth is personal. That commitment to personal growth is at the heart of my team’s efforts and daily I work relentlessly with top Industry Heads, to focus on mastering relationship-based business to earn my clients’ public support. My

2-What’s a normal day like for you?

Every day is different in PR land. My days start early! At around 6 am. I start off with prayer, meditation and a good work out. A health mind a spirit is important when you work in a field like mine. Around 8:00 my work day begins. I am answering emails, meeting with clients and of course: pitching, pitching, pitching. Throughout the day or at night my duties include: escorting clients to their appearances, conducting interviews or managing events. I handle each client personally, unless I am called to be two places at once. As the owner of iGN PR & Co, often times, I have speaking engagements and appearances of my own. Oh and I can’t forget that somewhere in the day I find time to spend quality time with my dog, Alpha and finance’ Carlton McFall.

3-What inspired you to start your business/blog?

I started my first business in 2011. It’s a non-profit ran in Biloxi, Ms; however everyone knows me from iGN PR & Co. What inspired me to start iGN PR was my passion to work in the PR industry. I received my undergraduate degree in Mass Communications and my Master’s in Business, so running a PR firm gives me best of both worlds. Being an entrepreneur is a great idea, it’s a wonderful thought. But you never know how it really is until you do it. I have days where I think “Okay, is this for me or is it not for me?” And then I remember why I started. But the quality of your work goes into that. You can’t call yourself an entrepreneur if you’re paying people under the table. You can’t call yourself an entrepreneur if you aren’t paying people. So my inspiration came from me wanting to be that “right” Entrepreneur who will give people opportunities to grow their own dream. Whether they are employee or client of iGN PR, everyone is treated like an Entrepreneur.

4-What are some of the challenges you face as a woman in business

I actually talk about this in my latest book “Putting the PR Back in EntrePReneurship” Part II. Balancing personal and business is a normal struggle. Women faces many challenges such as dealings with their love life, personal family goals and so much more. However, I believe these challenges are meant to be faced. Women Entrepreneurs can be mothers, wives and so much more. It is just important to understand that YOU WILL have to sacrifice a lot of things to grow a successful business. Understand you cannot have everything at one time but you can have everything if you tackle them one at a time.

When I started my business, I was fresh out of college, past university campus queen and so many other things. Living in Atlanta and being from a small town caused a lot of attention and pressure to put on my shoulders. Today social media for the average person is use to update people about their school status, location, current mood and etc. Slowly I started to use social media in another way. I didn’t want to put my current mood, location and other personal information on my social media pages because honestly, I didn’t know what those answers were myself. As a business owner that wanted to be taken seriously; I had to remove Ronnika Joyner and insert Ronnika Ann into the world of social media. That’s right, I created a business alter ego for the world to see and I kept Ronnika A. Joyner for my family and friends.

Ronnika Ann was born and Ronnika A. Joyner became a private, fun and personal person to her internal circle. However, Ronnika Ann became a professional being; sharing quotes, educational articles and business tips on social media. This was my beginning way of me balancing business and personal. So when “competitors and haters” started to attack my business, I never took it personal, because they really didn’t know me. They knew what I wanted them to know about me. I was my personal publicist and only shared about me what I wanted to share on social media.

5-Running a business is not easy how do you stay motivated?

My motivation comes from my faith and God’s anointing for me to help someone else. My job and calling is bigger than me. I’m God’s publicist. I am suppose to succeed because so many things were against me. I am suppose to succeed to tell my testimony that can save someone else life. I feel as though a lot of business owners are struggling out there and they are the tiger of their circle, but sometimes the tiger doesn’t have anyone to lean on. So if you can go to my page and get some kind of inspiration, because you are that tiger, I’ve done my job. As entrepreneurs we hold everyone up, but who’s holding us up? For me it’s my God and my Church so I want to share that with others.

6-What are three things that no one tells you about being an entrepreneur?

This is another point I discuss in my book. “Putting The PR Back in EntrePReneurship” Part II was written to talk about the inside of your business. The inside structuring of a business is something people do not mention when there is talk about becoming an Entrepreneur. So in short my three things would be: 1) How to structure your business from the inside, out. 2) How to develop departments and a team. 3) The legal steps that are needed to protect your business. In my book I quote: “Grow steady and strong; not fast and weak”. I know, I know…We hear that you must have a strong foundation almost at every seminar, but as an entrepreneur you are eager, impatient, excited, scared and a bit stubborn. So how do you create a foundation, but still continue to grow? You see, this is where the mix up comes in. You first need to establish which foundation you are building, then move forward accordingly. If your cement does not dry first, everything you build on top of it will eventually fall.

7-What advice would you give to your much younger self?

I would tell my younger self to slow down and enjoy the process. Growing companies for other people are fun, so it should be fun to grow my own, right? I did not notice that when I was a young Entrepreneur. I tell my clients and team daily, You are your first client and first priority. If you cannot handle you own business how can you serve a customer or handle a client? Many people rush into entrepreneurship without fully appreciating what they can offer to the world. Entrepreneurship is not only about being your own boss but it’s about creating a healthy, loving life for yourself and for others. To do this you must love, focus and appreciate you. When you love yourself you tend to prioritize yourself. When you appreciate where you are in your journey, you tend to not settle for less. When you remain focus on your goals, you tend to knock them out of the park. So do not forget the reason you became your own boss. If you are unorganized, struggling to keep a steady revenue flow and you’re stressed out; then you might as well go back to having a corporate job because you will not have the loving and healthy life that you admire. Instead you will live by direct deposit to direct deposit.

8-What’s Next For you and your business?

iGN PR & Co in the process of expanding physically to two other markets. We represent clients nationally while being headquartered in Atlanta, but we are now growing teams in LA and Miami. Second, My consulting service PR for a Day and PR Workbooks are currently on a seminar series tour, “Putting The PR Back in EntrePReneurship”, that is traveling from state to state. Also, iGN PR just opened another luxury events and wedding planning division that is ran by multiple Entrepreneurs. So we are looking to produce pageants, weddings, and intimate events starting in 2018. My wedding of course is the first project so I must mention that I am getting married this year as well.

9-What are some of your favorite inspirational quotes?

Ofcourse I am a writing and I write original quotes daily, however right now my favorite quote is
“I do enough. I give enough. I have enough. I AM ENOUGH!” by Jason Wrobel. This is a small and simple quote but I say it daily and it has been so impactful to my daily meditation rituals.

10-Any words of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Dear aspiring Entrepreneurs, please understand that everyone started from the bottom. Do not compare your current to someone else’s because everyone’s journey is different. Yes, we do have overnight successes, but that does not happen every day. So don’t wait for a hand out. Use your abilities to create a plan to make your dream happen! You will appreciate life so much more, knowing you built your own opportunities. – RA

Follow Ronnika-Ann and her brand on Instagram: @iGNPR, Twitter: @iGNPR