Samantha Dybac is the CEO and founder of The PR Hub, an award-winning strategic public relations and corporate communications firm she founded in 2013 that now represents some of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs, business leaders, and high-growth, technology brands.
Sam has over twenty years of experience helping CEOs, business leaders, and founders unlock the value behind their personal brands and build the awareness, credibility, and trust needed to catapult them (and their companies) into the spotlight. She and her team represent a diverse portfolio of clients spanning digital technology and transformation, venture capital and finance, property, architecture, law, health & wellness.
Sam hosts the Top 10 Apple podcast, Influence Unlocked, and sits on the Board of the Centre for Future Europe Australia and the Advisory Committee for Ronald McDonald House Charities in Sydney.
Here Samantha shares a little more about her inspiring business journey.
Q: Could you provide a brief background about yourself, your family, and your business?
The PR Hub is 10 years old this year, a long way from what actually started as a side hustle while I was having a ‘break’ from being a business owner.
I had been working with (former NSW Liberal leader) Kerry Chikarovski, running her government relations, and managing her media engagements and personal profile. Through a series of introductions, networking events, and cold calls to people I had long admired in business, I started to build a small fold of clients, and the business has grown from there.
I’m the eldest of four children, all born and raised in Sydney, third-generation Ukrainian, and over the years, I’ve had to overcome the same fears and hesitations many of my clients face when we discuss the importance of going beyond your subject matter or industry expertise to help scale your businesses.
Today, I try to practice what I preach to clients every day; don’t shy away from your influence, embrace it. Use it in a way you can feel proud of.
As well as being a business founder and CEO, I am mum to 7-year-old Mischa.
Q: What inspired you to embark on the entrepreneurial journey?
My first corporate role while still at university was working for a company called Nad’s, which became as famous for its founding story (the now-iconic Australian brand was developed by a Western Sydney mum of Assyrian background) as its ‘no heat hair removal gel’.
I joined the company when it was fairly new and there were just four of us in the team, so my exposure to what went into running a fast-growing business (within a few years of my being there, the company went global and was turning over US$60m per year) proved invaluable.
I loved the concept of being in business so much that I actually deferred my Business/Law degree to work full-time for Nad’s, whose founder, Sue Ismael, was a huge inspiration to me. Female founders were rare back then and Sue was an incredible role model within a largely male-dominated business environment.
My first ‘real’ business was at age 23. I took out a bank loan to put money into a new business venture as a minor shareholder alongside three other cofounders, all men in their 40s who I had worked with previously in my first corporate role in brand marketing. I was insanely naive when it came to running a business, but my enthusiasm for building a business and creating something from scratch was unstoppable!
Q: What aspects of being an entrepreneur do you enjoy the most?
I love the freedom that comes with having an opportunity to build and execute an idea where you have the ability to affect real, positive change in an outcome.
In my business, I also really enjoy the opportunity that I have every day to work with other amazing entrepreneurs and play a role in helping them better understand their go-to-market messaging, and shining a spotlight on the great work that they’re doing.
Q: What are the significant challenges you have encountered as an entrepreneur?
In the very early years, I would say that getting into business as a young, inexperienced cofounder without an equal shareholding and ability to influence key decisions was a real challenge.
Now, as a solo founder, there are plenty of times when I have felt isolated or wondered what it would be like to have someone there to bounce ideas off, workshop challenges with, or spread the responsibility across all facets of the business.
Work-life balance has been a challenge for me, too, especially after becoming a mum. In the early years, I struggled with the concept of being distracted by my child when I was so passionate and invested in building my business. I went from side hustle to full-time business owner about the same time I had Mischa, naively thinking I could do both without taking proper time for maternity leave. I made some poor hires to support me at this time, to enable me to take a bit of a step back, however, the result was that the business almost went under, a costly lesson learned.
Q: What motivated you to join EO?
I took part in the EO Accelerator about seven years ago and over the years have had the pleasure of working closely with and representing several EO members from Sydney and Melbourne. They’ve always spoken really highly of the EO experience, in particular the opportunity to be surrounded by like-minded people with shared experiences and insights into how they have worked through their own challenges or success.
I really enjoy the learning and inspiration that comes from being around smart, passionate, driven business people. In my day-to-day work, while I can have some great broader conversations about business with a couple of longer-standing clients, it is not something that happens often (nor should it).
EO has been on my radar for a while but this year, following conversations with a few EO’ers - shout out to Mark Calabro and Ben Lipschitz, both clients whom I really admire and respect - it felt like the right time.
I am also really keen to see more female founders get involved with EO.
Q: Can you share a valuable lesson you've learned from your own experience or another entrepreneur or mentor?
Someone once said to me ‘Everyone’s a listener’. We were talking about this in the context of media opportunities and which interviews or podcasts or speaking engagements are worthwhile spending your time on vs others.
While as business owners our time is always stretched, and I encourage you to weigh up the merit of each opportunity that comes your way, it really only takes that one person to hear you speaking or read your interview to help create an amazing outcome or alter the course of your business.
Don’t shy away from being a spokesperson for your business and leveraging your own personal story, experience, your successes and failures, to differentiate your business from others in your space, and give yourself a competitive edge when connecting with existing and potential customers and stakeholders.
For more, I wrote an article for Kochie’s Business Builders recently describing 5 of my favourite lessons for entrepreneurs!