As I walked down a street in New York recently, I strolled past a church and read a message on the board outside, which proclaimed: “I’ll be happy when I’m rich”. Wow! That really resonated with me and my mind started buzzing with questions, which is why the church is quite clever when it displays these often ambiguous messages. They’ve been around for quite a while so we can probably learn a lot about PR from them, but I digress…
So what does that statement mean to you? How rich do you need to be to be happy? What riches would make your life complete? Are you in your current role now as a stopgap to the next, in which you’ll be duly recompensed for the experience you’ve gained in the past?
I’ve asked several people what this statement means to them and mostly they talk about how many zeros they would need to be earning to make them truly happy. To me, though, it’s not about the money. Heck, I’m a Leo – if I have it I spend it, I’m not the saving kind of gal. However, I feel I am wealthy in so many other ways. I’m forever grateful to have found a job that I am so passionate about, which challenges me in every way, every day. I’m so thankful for the clients I work for (and I have worked for some horrors in the past too, so please don’t think it’s been rosy all the way); they are incredibly clever at what they do, respected within the industry and in turn show respect to the people who work with them.
When I started this job with no formal PA training, just a Performing Arts diploma, a few years’ experience at a talent agency and a couple of film and theatre production companies, plus a bit of pluck, I didn’t have the wealth of knowledge or contacts that I have now. I have built up an amazing personal support network around me and have great relationships with people who help me at every turn, as I do with them. I always say that in my experience the PA industry is extremely supportive, as we genuinely want to help each other out if we can. We really do want to be the best at what we do and to do that we have to rely on our contacts.
To me this is the best job in the world – someone employs us, yes, yet we are in effect our own bosses. We could all swap jobs for a day and cover the basics, but the rest is made up from our own ideas, the support systems we have in place, our networks that we depend on and much, much more besides.
The value of who we are is not determined by the job we do, the company we work for, or the money we earn. Our worth is our passion for life, what puts the fire in our bellies and keeps it ignited.
To me it’s not about what makes me rich, but what makes me ‘enriched’, because that is what makes me happy.
Donna Coulling trained as an actor at the renowned Italia Conti Academy in London and is currently the PA to Helena Bonham Carter, Rachel Weisz and Sir Derek Jacobi. She runs seminars on ‘How to be a better PA’ and ‘How to be a celebrity PA’ and writes a weekly lifestyle newsletter featuring reviews, fashion tips and anecdotes. Her first eBook, The Chamber of Celebrity PA Secrets, was published in February. See her website at donnacoulling.com for more details
