I Was Cataloging My Past

I launched Halligan Entertainment & Media in 2014 (now Halligan Media), and my website followed the next year.

At the time, I had just left my job anchoring a four-hour morning news show (5-7 a.m. on the CBS affiliate and 7-9 a.m. on the FOX station). I loved being an anchor for so many reasons: meeting and interviewing all kinds of people, collaborating with creative co-workers and being surrounded by the constant action of the newsroom were among my favorites.

Not making my list of favorites? Showing up every morning at 3 a.m. or working until almost midnight as an evening anchor. But hey... it builds character.

I left my full-time role on air because I was relocating 170 miles away to get married and move in with my now husband and his then nine-year-old son, who had lost his mother to stomach cancer. Even though my career was extremely important to me, my mission shifted from informing and entertaining the public to something much more personal: becoming a full-time mom overnight and helping raise a little boy into the wonderful young man he is today.

Creating Halligan Entertainment & Media allowed me to stay connected to the career I had worked so hard to build while also taking on what became both the most challenging and rewarding role of my life.

A few years later, while serving as Chief Communications Officer for the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, there wasn't much extra time to devote to Halligan Entertainment & Media. But over the past few months, I've been rethinking, redeveloping and rebranding my business.

As I started rebuilding Halligan Media, I found myself doing what I often do: making lists.

As the host, producer and writer of Hollywood's Top Ten, creator of Top 5 on KX 93.5 and author of 4 or More, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised.

I'm a list maker.

So, I started listing everything I'd done.

• Jobs I'd held
• Broadcast affiliates I'd worked for
• Television shows I'd hosted
• Organizations I'd represented
• Boards and committees I'd served on
• Festivals I'd judged, moderated or participated in
• Media statements, magazine articles and screenplays I'd written

O.K., great.

I've done all these things.

So what?

In a world where everyone seems to be collecting credentials, certifications and followers, I found myself asking a different question:

What does it all mean?

That's when it hit me.

I wasn't discovering my niche.

I was cataloging my past.

Ultimately, that realization led me to Authority & Pitch Strategy.

It's not about making a longer list.

It's about making the list make sense.

Lists have a time and place.

But my career isn't a list.

Your career isn't a list.

It's a story.

Then I realized something else.

No one hires me because I have a long résumé.

They hire me because of what all those experiences add up to.

They're not looking for lists.

They're looking for perspective.

Judgment.

Someone who can connect the dots.

Strategy.

I stopped asking what all those experiences said about me.

I started asking what they allowed me to do for someone else.

That's when it all became clear.

Authority isn't built by adding another accomplishment. It's built by understanding what all your accomplishments say about you.

That's how I work with my clients.

I help them discover, articulate and communicate their value. Together, we develop a clear, authentic strategy that positions them for the opportunities they're seeking. I become their strategic communications partner.

We all have accomplishments.

We all have stories.

The challenge isn't collecting more experiences.

It's understanding what those experiences say about you - and learning how to communicate that story with clarity, confidence and purpose.

That's the work I love.

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If you'd like to learn more about Halligan Media or explore how we might work together, feel free to reach out at Lynda@HalliganMedia.com.

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