Dear God, you have no idea how much I have dreaded writing this section! You will probably say “You are in advertising and sales, surely you have great communications skills!!?”. To which I would answer “Why yes, yes I do!” because I like flattery, it makes me feel good. But that is really beside the point because when I am selling a product I do not have to talk about myself. People that know me would scoff because I am always telling funny stories (mostly true) and making people laugh but what they don’t notice is how seldom I let something personal slip out. However, since the whole point of this page is full disclosure, here goes….

My name is Tom Johnson and I currently live in the mountains of North Georgia. I moved from a fairly large urban city called Roswell and even years later I am still trying to adjust to the country. It is surprising how much can change in just sixty miles or so. In Roswell, advertising involved large ad campaigns and expensive web sites but in North Georgia it is usually done with a yellow page ad and maybe a chamber of commerce membership. So, in my boundless wisdom I concluded that this was a market calling out for a writer and I really don’t feel like packing up ALL this stuff and moving. So, that is where I am at now, let me tell you about where I have been.

I started work at 15, working the fry station at Burger King, I have rarely if ever eaten there since. Burger fights, that’s all I’m saying. I went to college down in Kennesaw at what was then a college. Now it is Kennesaw State University, nothing has changed but they charge more tuition. I wanted to go into law like my brother so I went Pre-Law/Information Technology. The Pre-law major resulted in my taking a LOT of English courses. After a few years in the business my brother warned me away from law as a career, so I graduated as purely IT. I worked as a sales manager at a few large retail chains like Target and Walmart and somehow they would find out that I was a decent writer. From then on, I was doing their advertising, no matter what my job description said. I learned that I like sales and marketing if they are done right but I didn’t enjoy working for commissions in a retail environment. Since everyone in the department is competing for the same customers, you never really make friends and to be truly successfully you have to be dishonest. You say anything to close the sale and you can make a lot of money but you hate yourself. I wanted a career that would let me utilize my strengths to help people but would still allow me to be honest. I studied to be a Realtor, passed the licensing exam and went into business for myself.

Yes, I know what you are going to say but it made perfect sense at the time! I envisioned helping couples to find their first house and steering them through the obstacles of home buying and selling. After all, I know the basics of law needed in closings, I have a ton of experience with marketing and sales and I have a way with people. I got eaten alive. I learned very quickly that if I were going to make any money, I would have to become someone I didn’t like and I couldn’t do it. After a few years, I got out and took a job with a computer company. I have a card here somewhere, let me see. Ah yes, I was the Director of Marketing and Residential Support. Essentially that meant that I was again in charge of doing all the marketing but in my downtime I ran the repair and upgrades department.

In my last year with the company I decided it was time to go out on my own again but this time as a Professional Communicator/Writer. I started a company called Content Creations and I haven’t looked back.

It normally doesn’t occur to me to talk about the different things I have achieved or groups I have been a part of but since some of you may think it is important to the conversation, I will list a few:

  • Georgia Association of Realtors 2002 - 2006
  • GRI Graduate Realtor Institute (Realtor college essentially)
  • Ambassador for the Pickens County Chamber of Commerce
  • Member of the Chairman’s Council for the Cherokee Chamber of Commerce
  • Member of multiple networking groups
  • A Partner in Education since 2006 (Mostly going to the schools to talk about careers)
  • A+ Certification

Okay, I believe that’s everything.

I hope you all enjoy my blog.

Tom