LOVES PARK, IL / 19th August 2020 /ZEXPRWIRE — As a teenager working at an amusement park Robert Smith knew he wanted to do more with his life. “I knew I wanted to do something in business,” he said. “I sold candy bars door to door. I had an entrepreneurial mind. The bigger side of things was I just wanted to be able to do something.”
In 1996 at age 22, he started a child support collection agency. Eventually becoming the largest privately owned child support collection agency in 5 different counties. That’s where he learned about marketing and PR.
Today, the Loves Park, IL resident is the CEO and founder of RSA, a marketing and PR firm. The company, offering a variety of services including digital marketing, public relations, reputation management, and advertising.
With 19 years in this industry, Smith notes he was able to grow his business by recruiting a good team of staffers and media contacts.
” It’s nice to be able to call the Senior Producer at Oprah’s Network or Business Editor at USA Today,” beams Smith
Smith adds,”. Finding the right folks on my team is also important.”
The economic downturn in the late 2000s was difficult for many companies but Smith found partnerships and joint ventures to stay afloat and prosper.
“Our business is all about connecting people,” he said. “Even though there was a big economic bust, we were able to find some of our best growth in that time because a lot of companies fell off, they couldn’t make it and we did. We had to figure out ways to make sure we watch every dollar. Make sure we were as productive as possible. Make sure we were value-priced in some sort of way so we could continue on.”
Smith has received several Entrepreneur of the Year awards and was a member of the USA Today Small Business Panel.
One of his passion projects is helping a Houston company raise money to make sanitation equipment for hospitals and medical clinics to help reduce the spread of Covid 19.
ABOUT RSA
Robert Smith is the Founder of RSA. He directs their strategy, operations, and media relations. RSA has currently gotten over $50 million in free publicity for their clients.