I Managed a Political Campaign

Photo by annie bolin on Unsplash

I fell into politics by accident in 2018.

I had just launched my communication business with the help of a person at my local Chamber of Commerce. After a few months, she called me and told me she was going to run for state senate. She asked if I would be willing to work on her campaign as the communication director.

I jumped at the chance to have a new type of work experience. I thought I would learn something valuable. In fact, I learned lots of valuable things.

By the time the general election rolled around, I was the campaign manager, as well as the communication director, cheerleader, therapist, website designer, and social media content manager.

Running a political campaign was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I learned on the job, and built an entire operation from the ground up with little money and even less help.

Here are the mistakes I made, the lessons I learned, and why I am ready to do battle again in 2020.

The Lessons

Get trained first.

I didn’t do this. I dove head in with a lot of opinions and no knowledge. Being part of a political campaign sounded glamorous, and instead of studying first, I ended up fumbling around for a couple of months. Once I got serious, things got easier…