We had the good fortune of connecting with Dennis Welch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dennis, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I am from Houston. I could read and spell before I started elementary school, so they were thinking about starting me in the third grade rather than first. My mom said no to that idea and I began school at Janowski Elementary in Mrs. Elzy’s first grade class.

On the first day of class, when it came time for reading circle, the principal, Mrs. McRee, walked into my class and called my name. I thought I might be in trouble!

Instead she kindly walked me down to the school library and told me that every day, when my group went to reading circle that I was to quietly excuse myself and come down to the library. She said I could read anything i wanted for that hour. What a gift she gave me! I read the works of Mark Twain, Charlotte’s Web, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and books like that all through my elementary school years.

My love for words and books began right there.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have learned that relationships are everything and to have them you have to be relational in your dealings, not transactional. I would add that making the decision to do your business like that comes with responsibility.

For example, if I read a manuscript from a prospective customer and I am pretty sure we are NOT the right people to help, I CANNOT say yes. I am required to say no, even if we need the business. No debate.

We have been in this business for 13 years, now and every dollar comes from referrals. I don’t think that happens all the time in transactional businesses and I am beyond grateful for it.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, if it was baseball season, I would take them to see the Astros. I started watching the Astros and becoming a fan when I was a boy and I have never gotten over it.

Houston has the best restaurants anywhere. We would have to try Pappasito’s (and Pappas Seafood), among others.

Perhaps we would fit in a round of golf at Memorial Park.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
All through my life I have been blessed to have just the right person show up at just the right time over and over again. In music, it was my first producer, Kemper Crabb.

In my business life, I would say my manager at Gallup, Ron Balmer, has been a great influence. He is whip smart and very cool under pressure. He lives his principles every day and he cares. I only worked with him for three years but he had a sizable impact.

I learned a great deal when I went back to University of Houston in 1995 and got my MBA. I moved through those three years with the same 40 people and I had a fantastic study team of five. I gleaned something from every one of them during that time.

All of these people prepared me to run my current company, Articulāte PR and Communications. Not surprisingly, we specialize in books.

Website: https://bearticulate.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennisrwelch/

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