201 – Why Wait? Put Yourself in the Spotlight with Amanda Berlin

Amanda Berlin

After more than a decade in the New York City public relations world, Amanda Berlin now uses her pitch powers for good. She helps entrepreneurs step into their presence, create a story that inspires others, and spread their message in the media.

Amanda has created a library of template guides and trainings. She works one on one with clients to assist them with strategic story-telling and media relations. Her knowledge and skills are based on 12 years of experience guiding strategy for major brands in the corporate world.

Amanda and her clients have been featured in all types of media from Business Insider to Entrepreneur on Fire and from WNYW Fox 5 to Bustle.com.

She’s the host of The Empowered Publicity Podcast. She loves arming soul-powered business owners with the ideas and the skillset they need to go from hidden industry gem to recognizable trusted expert.

Business Building Insights

  • Cultivate the ability to listen to your gut instincts and trust yourself.
  • By creating a story around your product, you’ll provide the media a reason to share your message to their audience.
  • When you are featured in traditional media, trust and credibility are established.
  • Traditional media allows you to leverage audiences that other people have cultivated so you can bust out from that word of mouth bubble.
  • Develop a list where you want to be featured. Look at your local newspapers, radio and television stations and also your own media habits.
  • The stakes are really very low when you pitch the media. It’s definitely worth the effort.

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

LinkedIn

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Thanks! Sue
Transcript
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 201 intuition and our gut feelings and

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reactions, pure wisdom,

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Attention, gifters,

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bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

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Whether you have an established business or looking to start one

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now you are in the right place.

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This is give to biz unwrapped,

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helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

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Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

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resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.

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Here is your host gift biz gal,

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Sue moon Heights.

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Hi there,

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it's Sue and thank you So much for joining me here

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today. I want to start off by doing something a little

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bit differently.

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I've talked to some other hosts of podcasts and they're sharing

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with me how much their listeners enjoy when they get some

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of their reviews read.

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I think it's just fun to have your name highlighted online

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and it also means then that you get a little bit

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of exposure for your business.

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I don't know.

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I kind of felt like it was a little self serving,

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but in talking with some other people,

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maybe I should be thinking of this differently.

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So I'm going to do this for a while.

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I'm going to pull up some reviews and share them with

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you. Today's review comes from Annie of natural Annie essentials.

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She says,

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love listening while pouring my candles.

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Thank you for your amazing show,

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Sue. I've been a long time listener and I love the

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show. It just keeps getting better and better always tuned in.

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Thank you so much Annie.

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I so appreciate it.

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It's so helpful for me too to get feedback that you

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guys are enjoying the show.

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Plus, as I've mentioned before,

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that helps us get more visibility.

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So if you're interested in doing a rating and review,

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your name too might be highlighted at the start of the

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podcast. Now let's dive into what we're going to be talking

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about today.

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The biggest thing when I ask about challenges in a business

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that's already established is how do I get more customers?

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How do I get eyes on my business?

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And towards that end I have Amanda here who's talking about

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something different than the obvious thing that everyone goes to today.

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It's always now social media,

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Facebook, Instagram stories,

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all of that.

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A lot of us were forgetting that some of the traditional

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PR methods still can be very powerful for your business.

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So I've brought on the expert.

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Amanda's going to talk to us about whether your business is

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in a position and is ready for media placement,

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how you proactively pursue opportunities,

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who you approach and what you should put in your pitch

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when you are representing yourself to all different outlets,

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whether it's a magazine,

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radio or,

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and finally at the end she has a lot of free

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resources that you'll be able to access that will bring you

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deeper over and above what she's going to talk about today.

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So without any more delay,

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let's get on to the interview.

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Thrilled to introduce you to Amanda Berlin.

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After more than a decade in the New York city public

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relations world,

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Amanda now uses her pitch powers for good.

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She helps entrepreneurs step into their presence.

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Create a story that inspires others and spread their message in

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the media.

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Amanda and her clients have been featured in all types of

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media, from business insider to entrepreneur on fire and from w

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N Y w Fox five to bustle.com.

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She's also the host of the empowered publicity podcast and loves

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army and soul powered business owners with the ideas and skillset

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they need to go from hidden industry gem to recognized trusted

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expert. Amanda,

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welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

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Hi Sue.

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Thank you so much for having me.

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I am so excited to have this conversation for our listeners,

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but also a little secret also for me.

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I'm excited to be with you and this is a twist

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on the work that I do and those kind of twists,

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keep things interesting and definitely helped me get super creative,

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so I'm excited to dive in.

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Wonderful. Well,

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we start this off in a little bit of a different

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way because as I was describing to you,

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we have an audience of creators and makers here,

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so I'm going to make you do like the inner Amanda

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creator right now and that is to define what a motivational

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candle would look like if it speaks all about you.

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So what color would it be and what would be a

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quote on your candle?

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Thank you.

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Yeah, so my motivational candle casts a pure white glowing light.

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And the reason why I chose that was because I really

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think of like intuition and our gut feelings and reactions as

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like pure wisdom.

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And I think of that motivational candle as being a reflection

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of that true wisdom.

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And if we cultivate the ability to listen to our gut

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instincts and to trust ourselves,

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even when it comes to like an idea that we might

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have before we discounted and say,

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Oh, that could never happen for me or I'm not big

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enough to pitch myself there or that person would never want

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to collaborate with me or whatever.

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If we pay attention to those kinds of gut base reactions

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and go with it and trust it,

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then I think it really can't steer us wrong.

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And there's,

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even if it doesn't end up working out the way that

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we thought it might,

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there's something comes out of pursuing that idea.

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So my candle is this pure white to represent this kind

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of, I don't really,

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I'm not a religious person,

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but I was prompted to use the word divine.

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This like kind of like guided intuitive process that we could

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learn to trust.

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Well I think it's a deep message here anyway because with

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us being makers so often we think that because it's something

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that comes easily to us,

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number one and that we've made ourselves,

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it's less than what other people could possibly do.

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So you talking about an inner glow and listening to the

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message of yourself and also the creative powers within ourselves is

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really powerful for us here.

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So I love that.

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Great start.

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Thank you.

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Loving the candle so far.

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And what's the quote?

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So the quote that I would put on my candle is

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by Maya Angelou and I've actually seen it attributed to a

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couple of different people,

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but I believe that it is hers.

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People will forget what you said.

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People will forget what you did,

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but people will never forget how you made them feel.

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And that is so meaningful to me on so many levels,

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not the least of which being that I had it tacked

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up in my cubicle when I worked in the corporate world

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and it really served as a reminder to me that even

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in this corporate environment where the morale was low and people

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could be rude and the culture didn't resonate with me,

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that it really mattered how I showed up for myself because

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I wanted to be proud of myself.

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At the end of the day,

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I wanted to be proud of how I acted and I

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also realized that I could have a positive impact in the

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midst of all of the negativity and sometimes vitriol in the

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corporate world.

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I could actually have a positive impact simply by showing up

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as a pleasant person.

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Yeah, like a real life person who has emotions and let's

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face it,

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relationships really in the end when you strip away everything else,

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it's all about relationships.

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Yes, absolutely.

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Okay, so let's spin off this.

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This is perfect because what I'd like to do is start

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by talking a little bit about your corporate world and how

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you got to where you are here today.

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Absolutely. So I started out as a publicity strategist and really

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a publicist in the very beginning of my career,

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I worked in celebrity publicity and I wasn't that challenging most

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of the time to get our client's attention because they were

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doing creative projects that were super fun and they were famous.

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Yeah. So everyone wanted them probably Exactly.

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Most of the time.

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Sometimes we had authors or B or C or D level

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celebrities that were more of a sell,

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and that was where the work came in.

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But that was where I started and it was really fun.

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But eventually I moved over to a more traditional agency role

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where my job was getting our clients electronic publicity.

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So the team that I worked on didn't specialize in print

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publicity as much as we specialized in television and radio at

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the time.

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And then I worked my way up to become the editorial

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director at a small firm that specialized exclusively in radio and

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television and it was incumbent upon me to meet with our

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clients and gather all of their messages for the new product

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that they were launching or the new pharmaceutical that they just

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got approved or the new initiative that their nonprofit was launching

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and take those messages and pair them with a spokesperson who

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would deliver those messages in an interview and then create a

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story that was going to be interesting to the media.

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And that was what I did day in and day out.

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I wrote pitches and conferred with our clients on what they

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would think is an acceptable delivery of their message while also

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balancing the needs of our media contact out there in the

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world. Because the media,

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and we'll probably dive more into this,

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the media is not going to just talk about your product.

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You need to create a story around your product so that

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the media has a reason to give you the platform to

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deliver your message to their audience.

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So that was what my job was,

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was helping my clients understand the story that we needed to

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tell about their product or about their new initiative or whatever

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it was.

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So at that point,

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I had been editorial director for about six years,

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and the last three years of that time I really knew

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that I needed to do something else.

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I was saying before that the culture was not aligned for

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me. The work didn't feel like it was making the world

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a better place.

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I felt a real pull to do something that had more

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of a positive impact and I really was burning out.

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I was burning out on all the writing that I had

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to do.

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I remember my boss at the time when I started that

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job, she said,

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you're going to burn out because it's a writing job and

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writers burnout.

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And I didn't really know what a burnout was even at

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that point,

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but I definitely was getting there further into those years.

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So I was burning out and really looking back on it

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in hindsight,

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it was the culture that was killing me.

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It was killing my soul.

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So for three years I really felt like I needed to

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move on and do something.

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I just didn't know what that was and I wasn't about

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to leave my well paying corporate job to go like figure

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it out.

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I lived in Manhattan,

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I owned an apartment,

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I had responsibilities.

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It was never my style to just be like,

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Oh well figure it out.

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But ultimately that did become what I did because I got

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let go from that job.

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They downsized and eventually went out of business during the tail

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end of the great recession.

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I got downsized And got let go in early 2012 actually

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around the time that we're recording this,

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it's early 2019 or coming up on next week is my

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seven year anniversary of being let go from that job and

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for the first year I really kind of dabbled and that

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was like my,

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I'll figure it out kind of moment because I allowed myself

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the time to sort of not in a,

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I wasn't that generous with myself,

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not in a like,

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Oh you'll figure it out kind of way.

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It was more like,

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why haven't you figured this out yet?

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Well it has to be stressful.

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I mean I'm with you.

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I agree with you that having to do it that way,

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if it was your own choice wouldn't be the way to

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go. And I'm an advocate because we have a lot of

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people listening here who are working a nine to five job

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and starting to build their business on the side and maybe

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it's only going to be on the side.

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Maybe that's what they want.

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But I do hear a lot of people who had the

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inner rumblings like you did that you're stain,

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but there could be something better for you and then you

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kind of get pushed into doing it.

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So probably the best thing ever.

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Absolutely, and it is really hard I think because I did

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want to start my own business for so many years and

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I didn't,

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not that I didn't do it,

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I tried,

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I actually did a lot of freelancing on the side and

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a lot of different things on the side,

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but really it's my belief and it really is just my

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belief. I haven't sorted this out via science in any sense

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of the word,

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but I believe that we kind of need to not have

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that safety net if we're going to make it an actual

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full time business.

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I feel like it's hard to have that plan be sort

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of like lingering there if you really want to go all

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in in your business.

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It's a good point because you're not as tempted then to

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go outside of what feels comfortable and safe for you.

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But if you need to,

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if you almost don't have a choice,

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then you take those more.

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What I would say risky actions,

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even though they're not really risky,

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it's probably more risky just to stay doing what you're doing

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cause you're not making any progress.

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Yeah. Actually I love that point when you said it's not

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really that risky.

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It does feel very risky.

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Everything feels like it's risky.

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But I think that it's important for us to remember to

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your point that the stakes are really very low in all

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of this.

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Like the worst.

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I actually remember thinking that in my first year or two

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of business when things were really tight and I was just

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getting things off the ground.

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It took me a year to go back to the timeline.

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It took me a year to find my footing and to

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really find what my business was going to be.

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And I remembered thinking in that first year or two you're

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not going to die.

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Like that would be the worst case scenario.

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And so if that's not going to happen,

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then the stakes are low.

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It will be okay.

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Right. Well,

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and there's also the point that you're not going to land

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it necessarily.

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The very first thing that you try,

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you get out there,

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you take action,

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then you tweak a little bit and eventually you get to

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a path that you know you start to get traction and

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it feels solid and then you can start really taking off.

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I do have a question for you,

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and this is more just curiosity so we don't have to

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spend a lot of time on this,

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but back in your editorial director days was what you did

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successful if you got placements for your client or did they

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need to then also sell or do something that was more

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tangible and monetized within their business?

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Our success was reflected in the placements that we got.

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They knew coming to us that they were going to get

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placed on local television across the country and local radio.

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That was the goal and it really is a publicity effort

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and I think that you and I will dive maybe more

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deeply into the benefits of television and radio specifically,

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but for most businesses,

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television and radio is really a visibility effort.

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It definitely could be defined by an assessment of return on

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investment because you can quantify a television placement,

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a three to five minute interview with what it would cost

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to buy ad time there.

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And so that would be like the return on investment.

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But it's actually really hard to quantify sales from television and

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radio in particular unless you're going to ask your customers where

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they heard from you.

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And on the large scale,

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like our clients were pharmaceutical companies and consumer products like Johnson

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and Johnson and Brawny and things like that,

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they're not asking their customers where they heard of them,

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so they weren't going to necessarily be able to track sales.

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When we're talking to gifters bakers,

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crafters makers though,

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it's much smaller scale.

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So we would be able to track return on investment in

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quantifiable sales probably.

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Right. But it's,

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I don't want to say a secondary result of placement.

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Maybe you could say it that way,

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but it's part of a whole marketing strategy.

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One element of the mix I guess.

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Yup. And you can really see that very much so when

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you're looking at those massive companies that are doing many different

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things in order to get the word out and get their

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product into the hands of their consumer.

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We just need to do it on a much pared down

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level, but we still need to be doing a lot of

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different things.

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Right. While you were doing that,

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at the same time,

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I was doing very highly targeted,

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direct mail marketing campaigns to similar clients you just talked about,

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so that's really interesting.

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So Proctor and gamble,

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you know all of that.

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Oh, interesting.

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Yeah. Let's start talking a little bit about what we really

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came here to talk about,

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which was getting visibility in that manner and you do know

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visibility is my word this year.

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Amanda, I know.

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So And give biz listeners,

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we've been starting to talk about what your word is if

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you're following me on social media.

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So a lot of you are acquainted with what we're talking

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about here,

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but I want to start by saying that I think a

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lot of us who are following the trends,

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listening to everything that's going on,

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have gotten sucked into the all powerful social media edge,

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Facebook live and posting and all of that,

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which I'm not discounting.

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It definitely has its place,

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but I think what has happened is we've forgotten about traditional

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media a little bit.

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So I'd like to start with why is traditional media still

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important with all the other options that are available now?

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It is so,

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so, so,

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so, so important because social media allows you to talk to

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your existing audience.

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A traditional media or even new media like podcasts and online

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media allows you to leverage audiences that other people have cultivated

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so you can bust out of that word of mouth bubble

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of the audience that you've already created.

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You're getting out of the echo chamber of your audience and

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reaching new people by utilizing the media.

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That's one contrast between social media and regular media.

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The other thing is that media,

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when your customer sees like you have the initial exposure and

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the initial woo lightning strike of being featured,

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of being interviewed,

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being written up somewhere,

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there's an immediate result or catalyst that mobilizes customers based off

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of that,

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but then when people see that you've been featured in media

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that they trust,

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whether it's a podcast or a magazine or a local news

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station or something,

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when they go to your website because they've heard of you

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somewhere or they saw your social media posts,

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they go to your website and they see you've been featured

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on all of these places.

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It really establishes trust and it inspires credibility and inspires them

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to really believe that you've got the goods that you're endorsed

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and the media is really the only way that the consumer

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is going to come to that place of trusting you because

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they trust that media outlet.

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The trust is transferred.

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Got it.

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Would you suggest then that it shortens the sale?

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That was the other part that I was going to say.

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It's a really is a fast track to that trust factor

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because again,

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they trust the media outlet.

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They trust the podcast or that has introduced them to you,

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especially with podcasts.

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I'll just like do a tiny tangent about podcasts for a

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second. The audiences that listen to podcasts,

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obviously you're listening to this podcast.

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The audiences that listen to podcasts are really loyal and they

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trust their podcast or to introduce them to people and ideas

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that are relevant to them and that are high quality.

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So that trust transfer is really evident when you're talking about

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podcasts, but shortening the sale?

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Absolutely, because we've really believe in the media.

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We really believe if a product is featured in the media,

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if a person is featured in the media,

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we trust that we trust that they have earned that opportunity

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and that they are worth that feature or that interview.

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So some of our listeners are just starting out.

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They might have a product,

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they're just going to craft shows and some of course are

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more established.

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Maybe they have multi location,

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brick and mortar shops,

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or very solid online presence.

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Is there a certain point in your business development where you

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could start engaging traditional PR for visibility?

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Yeah, I think you can start as soon as you have

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an established business,

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so I don't think you need to have a certain level

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of revenue or a certain number of locations or a certain

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number of sales or anything.

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I think you can start as soon as you have your

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idea and infrastructure in place and I would say one of

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the great places to start for your audience in particular,

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gifters bakers,

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crafters makers,

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whether they are just starting out or they have multiple brick

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and mortar locations would be with local media.

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And I would say there's a scale in terms of where

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you are in this journey.

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If you're just starting out,

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I would say that maybe a feature in your local community

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magazine might be something that would be a good showcase for

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you if you have a product or a multiple brick and

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mortar locations.

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I would say you are an established business and you were

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making an impact in the community and you could be on

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your local television station doing a quick segment about something relevant

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to your business.

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So I think that,

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I don't know.

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Those are the two ideas that come to mind for me

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in terms of where this community can begin.

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Okay. And I'm almost thinking too,

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and I know I'm an old,

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let you really talk about this in detail,

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but a grand opening,

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someone who's a local business owner or has been a local

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residents of a community and now starting a business of their

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own could be a great story also for local.

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So even just getting started could be good.

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Absolutely. And also I'll just note that that's news.

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When you say grand opening or something,

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that's time sensitive like that,

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that is news.

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But we don't think of it that way.

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You know,

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you're so busy with everything else that's going on with that

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event. All right.

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So there's lots of businesses out there,

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there's lots of people doing great things and I think we've

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always kind of felt like the media should come to us.

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So let's talk through that fallacy,

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that thinking.

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What would you say to all of that?

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Absolutely. That is a common,

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I don't want to say misconception.

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I think it's a common road we go down that really

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keeps us safe from putting ourselves out there and being vulnerable

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because this whole effort of being visible is very vulnerable.

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And just to reiterate,

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I want to remind you the stakes are very low.

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I love that no one is going to and like yell

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at you or embarrass you or anything.

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But the fact is it is vulnerable.

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So believing that the media has to come to you is,

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it would be nice,

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right? It would be so nice.

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And it happens sometimes,

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right? Of course,

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of course,

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yeah. That's wonderful.

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And that's called reactive PR where you respond to inquiries and

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you take advantage of opportunities that are offered to you and

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that's absolutely a valid way and should be a part of

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your always part of your effort.

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You should have a wave,

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a method for fielding those kinds of inquiries when it comes

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to the reality is that that could and very well may

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happen to many of us,

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but the fact is you want to,

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I think that we really want to take control of this

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effort. We want to be featured in the places that are

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going to cast us in the best possible light that are

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going to put us in front of the correct audience and

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that are going to make the biggest impact on our business.

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And the only way for us to really target that media

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and be strategic about it is to be proactive and to

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actually get out there and make the ask Ourselves.

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Okay. That makes total sense because we know best the type

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of customer we already have and where we're feeling,

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especially within our local communities,

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what the placements should be that will best serve us.

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So then the big question,

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it's just one,

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three letter word.

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How Right.

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Well, so for someone starting out,

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I think the biggest thing to remember is that you have

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to create a story.

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Like I was saying before with my journey and the work

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that I did in the corporate world and the work that

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I still do with my clients is that we create a

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story that's going to ignite the imagination of the decision maker

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on the other end of that email or that phone call

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and really show them that you have something that's really interesting,

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unique and insightful to offer to their audience and it may

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be centered around a product,

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but the idea is that you really want to showcase your

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product in a way that is showing that it's something innovative.

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It's going to help the audience do something more easily or

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more quickly or for less money or something like that.

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The other kind of story is the story of you and

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your journey to create this which Sue,

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I know that you talk to some really inspiring entrepreneurs and

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gifters bakers,

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crafters and makers in your community and every one of these

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stories is so amazing.

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They're fascinating.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I want to see them in print.

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I want to hear them interviewed.

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I want to see them showcased in their local media market,

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doing a kind of like,

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here's a business owner from our community who's doing something new

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and innovative or interesting or and supporting the community,

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supporting their family.

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This is a valid story idea,

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particularly for local media and for podcasts as your journey story.

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So the first thing to do is figure out what your

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stories are.

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Okay, so that's perfect because a story is not,

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I have a new product and it's on sale for this

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price. That may be a story for you,

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but it's not a story for media for sure.

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Right. So you are saying,

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if I can summarize again just to make sure we're driving

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it down.

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The point is if you're focusing on a product,

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there has to be a deeper interest level for why people

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who are watching that show reading the paper or whatever it

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is, how it could integrate in and be useful to whoever

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the audience is.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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So that would be one way or how would unique or

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different, or maybe there's a super fun story about the product

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and a customer who used it or something,

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but there has to be some story.

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Exactly. And then also one of the stories could be you.

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Yup, absolutely.

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And I'll also add in there the story of the product

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could also be about a trend and how your product is

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at the forefront of a trend that they haven't reported on

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yet or something like that.

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Got it.

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Okay. Wonderful.

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Perfect. Or it's something useful that could apply to a certain

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time of the year,

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for example.

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Yup, exactly.

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Like maybe you have a tax filing system or your product

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can be used for that type of thing as you're coming

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into taxes,

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something like that.

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But there's gotta be an angle.

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Right? That's a big word in the Indus PR industry.

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Right angle.

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Yup. Exactly.

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You're very savvy,

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Sue. Well,

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I don't know.

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I'm trying hard.

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Okay, so first thing we have to do is figure out

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that what the story or the angle is.

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Right? Exactly.

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So then what do we do Then?

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I would suggest that you start to make your list of

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media where you want to be featured.

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And this is another huge question that often comes up with

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my clients is like,

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okay, where like I have no idea where to begin and

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it's actually much easier than you might think.

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There's a couple of key ways to start researching your media

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opportunities. And the first I would say would be,

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especially for this community,

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it would be to look at your local media opportunities.

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So what local television stations do segments with local business owners,

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what local magazines do features on local business owners?

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What local radio stations have some kind of a segment that

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you could contribute to?

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So look at your local media.

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Then I would also suggest looking at your own media habits.

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What do you love to listen to?

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Where do you get your information and write down all of

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those outlets and then finally look at people who are a

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little bit further down the road then you and see where

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they've been featured,

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where have they been able to place a story or tell

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their story or offer their and write down those media outlets.

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And I offer templates and materials to do all of this

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with my clients,

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but I have a lot of free resources on my website

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too, including templates and things like that.

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Oh, perfect.

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So tell us your website since we're talking about it right

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this minute.

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It's Amanda berlin.com

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and if anyone listening,

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I actually don't have a free download of the media list

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template. That is something that I give to my clients when

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they start working with me.

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But I will give you one,

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I'll give you a link to it.

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If you want it,

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email me and ask me for it.

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amanda@amandaberlin.com Oh,

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that's so nice.

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Thank you Amanda.

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I appreciate that.

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Sure. I think what I've gotten out of what you just

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talked about is that once you're researching who's even there,

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like who's available for you even as potential,

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then you want to see how they run their shows and

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see if what you would be offering slips into the natural

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themes of their show.

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Exactly. If they don't do local interviews or product highlights or

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something like that,

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it's all straight 100% news.

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You probably want to look for something else.

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Yup. That's a really good point.

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You want to look for formats that will be conducive to

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you offering your story idea,

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but the other way to go about it too is let's

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say you find a media outlet that seems like it would

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be a great fit for you,

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but your story idea maybe isn't exactly right.

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Try to figure out how you could contribute.

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I often tell my clients,

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ask yourself,

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what does this audience need to hear from me?

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What can I teach to this audience?

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Something like that.

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That makes sense.

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Yeah. You don't have to PEM yourself in by those two

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story ideas or story angles.

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You can always create new story angles as long as it

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feels like it's serving your goal,

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Right? Your goal.

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But really it's your goal and what you have that you

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can provide.

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But in the end it's all the value to their audience,

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right? So that's the wave.

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You got to circle it back,

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I guess to look at that.

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Okay, so guess what?

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We have three places that we think could be really good

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opportunities. We know the story,

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we know the fit,

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but now we're stuck now.

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So what I suggest is kind of warming up the contact,

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warming up the lead.

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So I would reach out to the decision maker.

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That may be the podcaster,

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it may be the editor of a particular section of a

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magazine, it may be a TV news producer,

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it may be a radio producer.

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Reach out to the contact and just give them a Pat

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on the back or high five virtual high five for the

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work that they're doing that resonates with you.

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So in a very genuine,

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honest way,

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I would love to see my clients reaching out and saying,

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thank you so much for your segment.

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On XYZ.

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I thought it was really helpful.

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It resonated with me because of ABC and keep up the

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good work.

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Something like that.

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Very simple,

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straightforward. I call it the unasked ask where you're just kind

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of putting something out there that is good will but also

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may start a conversation and may also eventually lead to some

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name recognition if you reach out again with an actual pitch.

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So that would be the first thing that I would suggest

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and I really think that the most personal media is podcasts,

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and I know that as a podcast or,

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and I'm sure Sue,

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you would agree,

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when you get an email from a listener,

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it's like,

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thank you.

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That's all awesome.

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It never gets old,

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but you don't think that media people have been pitched so

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much that they'll see this for what it is?

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No, I don't think so because I really do want it

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to be genuine.

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I really want anyone who adopt this strategy to reach out

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in a real genuine way because you actually really do have

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to be a fan of the media that you're pitching because

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you need to have consumed it first of all,

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in order to know what kind of idea you can offer

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that will be resonant with their audience.

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So you've already been a consumer of that media and I

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want you to get really excited about it,

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get excited about the opportunity or the possibility that you could

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contribute there.

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So I just really do want that to feel super genuine

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and not like smarmy in any way.

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Right. And I think there's something else that you and I

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have talked about a little bit too,

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and that is,

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it's really a two way street because they also need to

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find things to feature.

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Exactly. So if you can slip in and make it easier

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for them,

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that would be great.

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Absolutely. Okay,

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so we're warming them up.

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Well, obviously that means we've found their email or somehow to

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reach out to them,

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which gift biz listeners could also be a lot of the

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local newspapers.

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And even television,

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somewhat cable,

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but mostly other TV too might be part of your chamber

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of commerce or other networking groups that you're in.

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So that's another place to source and find the right contact.

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Good point.

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Yep. So we found out how to reach out to them

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and we've warmed them up and then now we're ready to

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present an idea,

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which is what you call the pitch,

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right? Exactly.

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Yes. So there's a couple of different ways to go about

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it. For the bold among us,

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sometimes a phone call is really valuable,

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but more so to traditional media.

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If you were to say,

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can we hop on the phone?

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I have some ways I think I could contribute to the

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show. Maybe we could talk about it and have some ideas

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in your back pocket,

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but then also just listen to what they might be looking

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for. That's a possibility.

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And you also can always call the assignment desk of any

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television station and ask for the right person to talk to

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once you've identified the show,

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that might be the right fit for you.

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So you can call and say,

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who's the producer?

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For good morning Austin or whatever it may be and they

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will connect you because again,

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like Sue said,

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they need you.

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They need the to be offering ideas and tips.

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They are meant to be talking to you.

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That's why there is a phone number.

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That's why they sit at the assignment desk because they field

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tips and then they assign them to reporters or producers.

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So for television station that might be a way to go

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about it.

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A more traditional way to go about it would be to

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write your pitch.

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And again,

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on my website at the bottom of the homepage,

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I have a template download for writing a pitch and really

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it's very straightforward.

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You want to keep it as simple as possible and a

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lot of it also has to do with the subject line.

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So I would put interview idea or segment idea or guest

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idea or something like that right there in the subject line

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with then a headline.

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So guest idea how gifters makers,

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crafters and makers can publicize their businesses.

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That could be potentially,

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if I was pitching Sue,

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that might be what I would,

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maybe a version of what I might put in the subject

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line. So start with the great subject line that actually indicates

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what it is that they're going to find within the email.

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So an idea they're going to find a guest idea or

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a segment idea or whatever and then the headline that you

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imagine maybe they would even use on the air or in

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their podcast episode or something like that.

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The idea being that you just want to make it as

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easy for them as possible to use your idea and if

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they could see it immediately working in the context of their

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show, then that's plus one in your column.

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So from there you want to again make the connection like

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thank you so much for your work on XYZ.

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I loved this and this and this.

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Thanks for the work that you're doing.

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I wanted to see if you would be interested in an

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idea on and then you can put your headline and then

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you want to distill your segment idea into three T's bullet

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points that speak to what you imagine talking about in that

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interview. If we're talking about an interview here,

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so you would tease the points that you would make save

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to come up with your talking points.

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It does require some by advanced either research or just jotting

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down of ideas so that you have a really fully fleshed

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out story ideas because you're going to want to include the

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points that you will make in that interview in the pitch.

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And then following those bullet points you will put a short

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version of your bio.

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So again,

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writing your media bio is something you can get on my

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website in the free resources.

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So it's like a three to five line bio that speaks

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to why you are perfect to be delivering this segment idea

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or this interview idea.

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And if you have any other media clips,

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be sure to include those in that bio.

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Like I've been featured here,

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here, and here.

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I've talked on this topic here,

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here and here.

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If you don't have any media clips,

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I always say do not worry about it.

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I don't want that to be a deterrent to actually doing

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outreach. So it's only a must include if you have them

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And someone started,

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someone who has references now and has been seen places at

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one point didn't cause that's why they now have that.

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Right. So it's okay.

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Exactly. Yup.

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So the last thing is just issue a call to action.

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So it could be as simple as,

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please respond to this email and let me know if you

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like this idea or if we can book a time for

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an interview or something like that.

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And that's it.

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What I was thinking as you were going through all of

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this is two things.

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Number one,

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it's pretty concise because if you make an email that's way

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super long,

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it'll probably get tossed.

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No one has time for that.

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Yeah. And then also you're doing a lot of the work

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early on.

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So as things progressed,

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it's been established and most likely,

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unless they switch it up,

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but a lot of the work,

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so I'm thinking you're putting in the work early so it's

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not time wasted because then it's already done once you get

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the booking and you're going for the interview.

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Yup, exactly.

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We are in a positive mode here,

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so we're assuming that everything has gone well.

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They get a call back and they're interested,

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they're completely interested.

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They want to do the interview.

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And I'm sure there's steps that have to be taken and

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every organization's different in terms of what the procedure is.

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But how does someone,

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once they're actually going to do the interview,

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how do they set themselves up to present themselves in the

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best light possible?

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Absolutely. So I would make sure that,

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so we call this media training,

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right? You want to be prepared with what your talking points

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are, what your key messages are,

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and really how you're going to present your story and your

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idea. You really need to prepare.

Speaker:

You can't go in and wing it.

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Plus you don't have a lot of time.

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Right. Especially for local television segment,

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right? It's three to five minutes And will they tell you

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how much time you get?

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Yeah. Okay.

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They would tell you.

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But yeah,

Speaker:

so you want to determine what your key messages are and

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what your talking points are.

Speaker:

But then I also would suggest letting all of that go

Speaker:

at the last second you've prepared and then it's time.

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I know.

Speaker:

So you did an episode recently about affirmations.

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Then it's time to bring in your affirmation,

Speaker:

your media mantra,

Speaker:

which mine is,

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I know my stuff and remind yourself that you were made

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to do this.

Speaker:

You have been working on your craft for as long as

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you have.

Speaker:

You know your story,

Speaker:

you know your stuff,

Speaker:

you've prepared and it's just time to take a breath and

Speaker:

walk in there with confidence because the camera picks up all

Speaker:

the little ticks and twitches that we might have.

Speaker:

It's really important to sort of be composed and confident when

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you walk onto that set.

Speaker:

The other thing about it though,

Speaker:

another piece of media training that I offer my clients is

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that it's okay to name what's happening.

Speaker:

So like if you do feel nervous,

Speaker:

sometimes it really lightens the nerves.

Speaker:

It lightens the mood.

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If you say like,

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Oh, I'm sorry,

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I'm just so excited to be here.

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I'm a little nervous.

Speaker:

Something like that.

Speaker:

If you were to name it,

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you obviously cannot take up a lot of time,

Speaker:

but even if you say it before you go live,

Speaker:

sometimes it lessens the burden of carrying that in silence.

Speaker:

I think also to the point of just you give up

Speaker:

all of what you were thinking,

Speaker:

all of your prepping because you want to come out and

Speaker:

represent your personality because that's again how you're different from other

Speaker:

people. So you've already got the knowledge,

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you've already made the pitch,

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you've already perfected your bullet points as you're saying now,

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just walk out and be you.

Speaker:

Yep, exactly.

Speaker:

Way easier said than done though,

Speaker:

right? Yeah.

Speaker:

It's not a bad thing to be running on adrenaline in

Speaker:

those moments.

Speaker:

It's okay and you want to be present and you want

Speaker:

to be genuine and you want to be in the moment.

Speaker:

So that's another reason to set aside those notes and just

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go in and stake your ground.

Speaker:

Perfect. All right,

Speaker:

so guess what?

Speaker:

We did it.

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It was great.

Speaker:

We're so proud and family thought friends saw it,

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customer saw it,

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et cetera.

Speaker:

How do you capture the clips then that you could use

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and can you just use them?

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How does the backend work?

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Yes, absolutely.

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Yes, you can.

Speaker:

They've aired on the television show or they've aired on the

Speaker:

podcast. You absolutely can.

Speaker:

I don't think there's a way to like download the video

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and put it on your own site,

Speaker:

but even so it will be,

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you know,

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it'll have what they call the bug from the television station,

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so it will be identified as having come from that station.

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The little thing in the corner that says like news seven

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or whatever,

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so it'll have their logo so you could post it if

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it's on YouTube or something like that.

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You could absolutely post it on your website because they've made

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it public.

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You should absolutely have links to your media placements on your

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website, on a press page or some best practices in web

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design actually indicate that you should have some of your best

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press clips right under the header on your homepage.

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So you can do like an as seen in kind of

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montage or collage or whatever it might be called.

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And are those be clickable links or just the logos or

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Those could be just the logos.

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But on your press page you want to include links.

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Got it.

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Will a television station give you a file?

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I don't know.

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You could ask.

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There's no harm in asking.

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That's the kind of thing that actually you do want to

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keep the conversation going.

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You want to create a relationship with that television producer or

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whomever it is.

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So you should not feel weird about asking any question you

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might have or offering a new idea or anything like that.

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So remember that they are not up there on some pedestal

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with looking down on you.

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They do have a lot to do and you don't want

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to make their job any more difficult,

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which is actually my only reservation in asking them for a

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file is that it may just be annoying for them so

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you could ask for a link to the show or something

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like that or you could look for it yourself,

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but you want to honor their time and honor any extra

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effort that they put in getting you the opportunity or helping

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you capitalize on the opportunity.

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But I would say for anything that you're going to do,

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like on your own site,

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I would try to do as much of that on your

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own as you can.

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Got it.

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And as you're talking,

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it also brings to mind that this shouldn't be,

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I guess in our minds a one and done thing like

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you're on a show and then that's it.

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Now you go onto the next one.

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If you can continue the relationship,

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you may put yourself in a position to be the trusted

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advisor about chocolate and then maybe they're going to reach out

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to you when they need a segment because Valentine's day is

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coming up.

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Absolutely. So it's,

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it's just the start of a relationship.

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It's not just for one,

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a one time thing.

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Potentially. If you're lucky.

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Exactly. Well,

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it's also up to you to nurture that relationship as well.

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Offer them a new idea.

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If they don't come to you with that Valentine's idea,

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then you can offer it to them.

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There you go.

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And obviously we didn't say this,

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but I think we all know to do this.

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A follow up a thank you when something's gone well,

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so that's something.

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Yeah, and that could be looking forward to featuring this on

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my website.

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Really appreciate it.

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Enjoyed it so much.

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No know whatever it is.

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Whatever you say.

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Yeah, just normal,

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regular cordial wording I guess I'd say.

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So gift biz listeners.

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Isn't this exciting?

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Amanda's talking about something that I don't think we think about

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often. As I was saying in the beginning,

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it's always social media.

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How do I post more?

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How do I get more followers?

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All of this type of thing,

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the followers and everything,

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and this is something that now sounds so doable,

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even though it sounds a little bit scary and risky,

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it's really much more low risk than we think.

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That was great,

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Amanda, that you talked about that because I think we get

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so fearful because we think that,

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Oh, if they aren't interested,

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the whole world's going to know in reality only we know.

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Right? Or whoever you choose to tell.

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Exactly, and it has been fabulous how you've listed all of

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the things to do because any of us could get started

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right now,

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like as soon as we're done with this show,

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you could start taking some of these steps and working yourself

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toward having a spot on your local TV show become a

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reality for you.

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Absolutely. I want you to start right now.

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Yes. Empower them.

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Amanda, what do you say to somebody who's thinking,

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okay, this all sounds good,

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but I'm not sure We said this throughout the course of

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this interview.

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They need you.

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They need your ideas.

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It's not like you're going out there and begging in vain

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for some exposure because of vanity.

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I mean I don't mean in vain.

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I mean for your own vanity,

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you are putting yourself out there because you think you have

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something valuable to offer to this audience and even if your

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motivation really is to grow your business and support your family

Speaker:

and do this thing that you love,

Speaker:

I think that is a positive enough intention to this ball

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rolling and someone out there is going to be inspired by

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what you are putting out there so you owe it to

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them as well.

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If you don't find the intrinsic motivation within yourself to start

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doing this,

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then think about the people out there who are waiting to

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hear from someone like you.

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The people out there who are going to experience the positive

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ripple effect of your courage and putting yourself out there.

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I love that because I want to learn how to chocolate

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dipped strawberries properly.

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I want to learn how to make a gift basket that

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I can give to my mother for her birthday.

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Or I've always thought about knitting a scarf but don't know

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how or the right colors.

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Like there are so many ways we can take our creative

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works and spin them to be a value to an audience.

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Yep, absolutely.

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So just you have to think a little differently than what

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we normally think of as business owners.

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Love this.

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Thank you so,

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so much Amanda.

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These have been just a whole package of great gifts for

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us to take with and move forward and take action.

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It's my pleasure.

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And now Amanda,

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I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

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I'd like to invite you to dare to dream.

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So this virtual gift is a magical box containing unlimited possibilities

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for your future.

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So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable

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Heights that you would wish to obtain except this gift.

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On behalf of myself and my listeners and we'd like to

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know what's inside your box.

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Oh Sue,

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thank you.

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And everyone out there.

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Thank you so much for the gift.

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This was so thoughtful.

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Inside. This box for me is really a business that is

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filled with integrity,

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with positive intentions and really massive abundance,

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but built on the intention that I'm helping other women in

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particular raise their voices and be heard and seen for the

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powerful creative forces that we are,

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and I do this in really an honor of my own

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daughter. I have a five-year-old,

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I'm a single mom,

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and I really want her to see all of us out

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there doing this work and being seen and being creative and

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creating something that no one else could possibly have created simply

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because it has emanated from our unique being.

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So that's my wild though.

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I think attainable dream.

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I love it.

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Taking responsibility and driving our future,

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not letting things happen to us.

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Yes, I loved your gift because it goes both ways.

Speaker:

You give to us and then we give back to you,

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so<inaudible>. Okay,

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one more time.

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How can our listeners get in touch with you?

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Please come find me@amandaberlin.com

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I was going to give my email address again,

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which I can also do.

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amanda@amandaberlin.com if you have any questions about this whole process,

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I know that it's overwhelming and you're probably super motivated to

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get, but inevitably it's like,

Speaker:

I ha what am I supposed to do now?

Speaker:

So please feel free to reach out to me and if

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you go to the resources page on my website,

Speaker:

you'll find lots of free downloads that can help you with

Speaker:

this effort.

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Beautiful. Thank you so much.

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I am thrilled that you had time to come on the

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show, share all of this information with us and I think

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gift biz listeners,

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you're going to have to report back to us when you

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start getting media placements.

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We want to know.

Speaker:

That would be great.

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Thanks again,

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Amanda. Thank you so much.

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So. So I'm usually pretty good at keeping secrets,

Speaker:

but I'm spilling the beans.

Speaker:

I can't help it.

Speaker:

I'm so excited.

Speaker:

I just want to tell you guys what I've been working

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on over the last few months.

Speaker:

It's been a little bit of a secret project because I

Speaker:

wasn't sure exactly what the timing was going to look like

Speaker:

on it,

Speaker:

but I can't,

Speaker:

wait. I have to share with you my secret.

Speaker:

Many of you have been following me for a while.

Speaker:

Know that I wrote a book that came out last may.

Speaker:

It's called maker to master,

Speaker:

but that's not what this is about.

Speaker:

Although it spins off a similar concept.

Speaker:

When I was getting serious about writing that book,

Speaker:

there were actually two books that I had in my mind.

Speaker:

One was maker to master and that truth be told was

Speaker:

the harder one to do,

Speaker:

but I also was really interested in writing a book that

Speaker:

was an inspirational book kind of inspiration a day.

Speaker:

I know you've seen those out there where it's 365 inspiring

Speaker:

thoughts for your year or something like that.

Speaker:

I think very often we get defeated by our own self-talk

Speaker:

and we also sway away from core solid business growth values

Speaker:

because there's a new social media site that it's available or

Speaker:

other things come up that take our mind off of the

Speaker:

really important things that we need to grow our business.

Speaker:

As things happen.

Speaker:

My idea continued to evolve and I came up with the

Speaker:

idea of instead of doing a 365 inspiring tips type book,

Speaker:

it would be way more helpful for you if it was

Speaker:

included in some type of a planner so that every day

Speaker:

when you're planning out your day,

Speaker:

you'd also then see a tip.

Speaker:

If I look at how I work with things,

Speaker:

I don't know if I would have a book on the

Speaker:

side of my desk and every day look at one day's

Speaker:

inspiration and then other days,

Speaker:

inspiration, way better to have everything in one place.

Speaker:

Consequently, I have created a planner.

Speaker:

It's called inspired a daily planner specifically for you,

Speaker:

our wonderful community of gifters,

Speaker:

bakers, crafters and makers.

Speaker:

I'll be sharing more in the upcoming days,

Speaker:

but let me give you a few highlights here.

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One of the cool things about this planner is you can

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start any month of the year.

Speaker:

Have you ever been like me?

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Where all of a sudden in may you decide I want

Speaker:

to start doing things different.

Speaker:

I want to get myself really organized,

Speaker:

but then you go to find a planner and they either

Speaker:

start in September going into the next year or you have

Speaker:

to buy a year and all the prior months of the

Speaker:

year are useless for you because you're already in may with

Speaker:

this planner.

Speaker:

You can start any time.

Speaker:

If you're listening to this announcement in January,

Speaker:

you can start it right away.

Speaker:

If you're hearing this in may,

Speaker:

you can use this planner starting in may.

Speaker:

It has monthly and daily layout,

Speaker:

so you'll be able to keep yourself really organized and special

Speaker:

life enhancing sections.

Speaker:

More on that later also includes what I've been talking about

Speaker:

earlier and the reason I changed this from a book to

Speaker:

a planner and that is daily inspiration.

Speaker:

Things that you need to be telling yourself,

Speaker:

affirmations to get in the right mindset as the owner of

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your business.

Speaker:

Also, business tips and ideas.

Speaker:

Some of them you're going to read and you're like,

Speaker:

yep, got it,

Speaker:

it's covered and then others might give you some pause ideas

Speaker:

of things you might want to implement into your business to

Speaker:

further either solidify or grow what you already have going.

Speaker:

That's all I'm going to share with you right now,

Speaker:

but I will tell you that we are just weeks away

Speaker:

from getting this out to you.

Speaker:

I'm going to do a limited first run and if you

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want to be one of the first ones to know when

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it's available,

Speaker:

jump over to give biz unwrapped.com

Speaker:

forward slash add me and you'll get an email when the

Speaker:

planner is ready.

Speaker:

That link again is gift biz unwrapped.com

Speaker:

forward slash add me there is no time like the present

Speaker:

to take the next step on solidifying the dream you have

Speaker:

for your business.

Speaker:

The new inspired planner could be just the ticket to making

Speaker:

sure that that actually happens for you this year.

Speaker:

Thanks again for joining me today and I want to make

Speaker:

sure that you subscribe to the show because you do not

Speaker:

want to miss what I have coming in your way next

Speaker:

week to little bit of Self reflection for you.

Speaker:

You might walk away learning a little bit more about yourself,

Speaker:

feeling really good about some of the things that you're doing

Speaker:

for your business and understanding why some other things you do

Speaker:

are just so uncomfortable,

Speaker:

they don't feel like a really good fit and then what

Speaker:

to do about that.

Speaker:

Have I peaked your curiosity?

Speaker:

I found this really,

Speaker:

really helpful to me and interesting just to understand myself better

Speaker:

and why react to things in business that I do and

Speaker:

that's all coming your way next week on gift biz unwrapped.

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