Unleash Your Authentic Visibility: A Guide To Avoiding Shiny Objects With Amanda Berlin

Business owners are increasingly being pulled in so many directions, feeling like they aren't reaching their full potential in business and life, despite their type a ways. With my background as a therapist, entrepreneur, and as a.com dropout with ADHD, I interview and coach high achieving business owners like you who want to stop struggling for success by using psychological systems, strategies, and the occasional carefrontation. This is the easily distracted entrepreneur, your place to slay overwhelm perfectionism and shiny object syndrome so that you can get done what matters most to you.

00:00:40

Hello. Hello, my focus seeking friend. Today's episode is amazing, and I've never really said it like that before, so I legit mean it. I had the pleasure of interviewing the wonderful Amanda Berlin, and we had a really deep, raw conversation. And I think that you are going to have a lot of takeaways, probably.

00:01:08

I'm guessing for a lot of you, there's going to be a lot of resonance in what we were talking about. And yeah, I'm just excited to share it with you finally. But before we jump into that, I want to remind you that right now, applications are open for the Incubator program. It's a hybrid group coaching program that has both individual coaching, group coaching, tons of planning, tons of coworking. Like, basically it's everything.

00:01:38

But you don't have to take my word for it. I actually have a snippet from one of our Incubator members, Dania, who shares her feelings about the Incubator totally and honestly. I've done other coaching and I've spent you're my third coaching program, and it's the only one that's worked for me because it takes into account my neurodivergence and that I need that structure and that accountability and also the group energy. And every other coaching program has failed because it didn't take into account the way my brain works and it problematized my neurodivergence as well. Why didn't you do that thing?

00:02:26

And it's like, what? It's not that I didn't want to do the thing. I didn't have the structure to do that thing. You're charging me one on one or you're charging me for these retreats I go to every couple of months, but all of it's out the window. That piece of paper I wrote on.

00:02:38

Is like at the bottom of a bag somewhere. Yeah, but it's not integrated. None of it got integrated. And here it's like a little bucket.

00:02:51

You catch me on the Thursdays and then you catch me again on the Mondays with the coworker. And there's always these moments that are accountable but gentle and non shaming and neurodivergently focused, which is, again, the reason why I found you. There's nobody else that does it the way you do it. And I'm glad that you kept it small because that really helps me. Otherwise, there's too many sensory issues.

00:03:17

Yeah. I felt so honored and truly excited about what Dania shared, because when I created this program, this is exactly what I was hoping it would do for people. And she isn't the only one in the Incubator sharing her feelings about how much this is working for them and how grateful they are. So I would love to have you come and be a part of this. We have ten spots open only to find out more information and book a call with me to discuss if it's a good fit for you.

00:03:52

Go on over to forward slash incubator. Hi, Amanda. Welcome to the podcast. Hey, Amber, thanks for having me. Yes, I was thinking about it.

00:04:06

I'm like your podcast was one of I wasn't the first, but in those first so many podcasts, probably in the first ten or 15 podcasts that I did. And I remember scheduling it really early because I was on the West Coast. You were on the East Coast. And then getting totally neurotic about it because I was like, oh, my God. Nothing I said made sense.

00:04:29

It was horrible. I remember reaching out.

00:04:37

I just had to share this because I was thinking about like it's so funny to me now because all people come on that haven't been on many and they share that nervousness. And I'm like, do not worry about it. You're always going to sound better than you remember because I think we're so hard on ourselves. But my regret was I actually reached out to you and then I was like I seemed crazy and neurotic. Like I should have just left it and been neurotic in myself.

00:05:02

Well, I have not held on to that. I do not even remember that. Outreach, I love it. Good. Positive memories and perceptions of you.

00:05:11

Okay, wonderful. I have found that to be true. Well, that saying, right, of people forget what you said or what you did and they remember how you made them feel. That's good. I just had to share that.

00:05:25

All of a sudden I wasn't planning to and then I was like, oh, yeah, that's right. You were one of the first ones. And after that, I'm like, I am not scholaring shit at 09:00 A.m.. I am just not on fire at 09:00 A.m.. Yes, exactly.

00:05:39

I'm going to adjust here. But yes, I am so happy to finally have you on. I was sharing that I've thought about so many times of reaching out and then finally it's as it is. Like, you posted something on Instagram and I'm like, oh, my gosh, I'm going to do it now. Let me invite her.

00:05:57

Yes. Thank you. Now that obviously people know you have a podcast, but why don't you share just a little bit about you and then we'll dive into all the goodness you have to offer. Yeah, well, thank you so much for having me. It's great to be reunited.

00:06:14

I'm Amanda Berlin. I am a PR and visibility consultant for entrepreneurs who feel like they are really good at what they do, but not enough people know about them, and I help them use the all powerful tactics of public relations, which means we are not buying ads. These are all tactics that are earned exposure, that yield relationships that you get to capitalize on over time and that connect you to more of the right people. I use PR with my clients as a growth strategy. So it's not just about building awareness and getting you seen or getting your name in print, though.

00:06:54

That's part of it. It's about growing your business so that you can do more of the work that you love and earn more money and actually feel really aligned in how you're putting your business out there, because it's all very organic and all very relationship driven, which is something that I think lights up a lot of us. And so why not use that? Use relationships to grow your business. And that's what I help my clients do.

00:07:17

I love that. And I think that's kind of a theme. I mean, I'm sure everybody who's been growing a business or starts a new business, they've gone through these periods. But I really noticed that as a theme lately with established business owners that are transitioning either how they work, either going from done for you to consulting or pivoting and shifting a little bit about how they're serving people. And the frustration of these are really smart, amazing people who do wonderful work, but they're just not getting like they get the clients, but just not enough people know about them.

00:07:57

Right. And I think that's the frustration of then you start to doubt yourself and am I good enough? When in reality, it's like, you know, when you know these people, how wonderful they are. It's a numbers game, right? Yeah.

00:08:12

So what you describe is a soul crushing frustration when, you know, especially those of us who are in coaching or consulting, especially in the service based business space, we want to be of service. And if we're not fulfilling on that and we know we can help people and they're just not finding us, it is so frustrating. And like you said, it inevitably turns inward. And I think that there's a moment that's happening right now for those of us who not age actually, it's intentionally to age myself. For those of us who have been in like I've been in my career in the same area of expertise in PR for 23 years.

00:09:00

Okay. For those of us who have been in our business or in the corporate or the working world that's what I'm trying to say for that long, to not have the audience show up for what we know is a deep expertise is so frustrating. And if there's a moment right now for those of us who do have that deep expertise to begin to claim it, own it, and be seen as that resource that we know we are. Yeah, I think you nailed it by saying it's soul crushing. It really is because.

00:09:38

It'S kind of invalidation of all the work and all the years and all of the learning and all of the expertise. And so it just feels yeah, it is soul crushing. I mean, there's no better term for it. And it's hard because I've even gone through that myself with transitioning from, well, I was in the.com world first and then going into therapy, and then when I was ready to kind of more transition out of therapy and do consulting full time. My thing is I get to that point where sometimes it's like, you have great months and then not so great months, and the EB in the flow.

00:10:16

And I'm like, oh, this means I have to go back to just taking on more therapy clients, right? So there's this idea of I've got to go back to something because you're not getting the traction. I've been there. I think we've all been there at points, right? So I think it's such an important thing because there's different aspects, right?

00:10:37

There's sometimes where people don't know what their offer is. They don't know how to articulate it to people. There's times where people do that well, but they actually don't deliver well. And then when you see people who they know their offer, they deliver it really well, but they're just not reaching people. And that's where I'm like it really is about visibility, right?

00:10:58

Yeah. And in my mind, it's about authentic visibility because I think that something that compounds the frustration is thinking that you need to do the thing that's of the moment or the trend get on whatever bandwagon there is at the moment. And the reality is the tactics that I teach are timeless.

00:11:26

The very first PR firm that I ever worked at was a global PR firm where that was still family run. It is a household name in the PR world. And the owner would come he was elderly at the time, and he would come and still relive this first mediator that he ever he created the concept of a mediator. And he had two women, twins, who I don't remember the name of the product, but it was a perm, like an at home perm. And he had twins.

00:12:00

One did the salon perm and one did the at home perm. And he took them around to all of these different television stations across the country and it was like the world's first media tour. Technology has changed, but those principles are the same kinds of things that we are doing to this day when it comes to PR and media tours are one piece of it. But strategic partnerships, speaking, hosting events, media, these are things that were all in the structure of this massive PR firm that I had, that I had been working for. And these are the tactics that we're still using that still work today.

00:12:44

And so you don't have to drive yourself mad following all the trends when you're willing to sort of engage in these timeless tactics that build relationships again that you can capitalize on over time. I love that if you have the energy or if you're excited about something and you're like, oh, I want to do that, that feels like me, that's great. But most of the time I'm talking to stretched thin, burned out people and they're just like, oh my God, I can't add more things to my plate. But they know that it's important to get that visibility somehow. So I guess when people come to you, how do you help them, I guess, discern or decide what's their best route?

00:13:28

Yeah, absolutely. So this is part of our work together is figuring out what direction do we want to take your visibility. And it all starts with what you want to happen at the end. So begin with the end in mind, start with the goal, and then we reverse engineer the strategy. And so for most of our clients, especially in the service based, small business, micro business, solo entrepreneur world, they want more clients, they want more opportunity to drive revenue, they want more opportunity to serve.

00:14:04

And so the tactics so to get even more specific in terms of where to begin, if that is your goal, the tactics that drive revenue most quickly are the most intimate types of visibility. And so going after the big media placements, there's like an inverse effect on a business based on how wide the opportunity is that you're engaging in. When it comes to visibility, the less likely it is to translate into clients, the more intimate the type of visibility that you're engaging in is, the more likely it is to generate clients. And so intimate visibility is mimicking word of mouth as closely as possible. And so those are your strategic partnerships.

00:14:58

The people who can introduce you to an audience that they've already cultivated, whose trust they have earned, and whose trust they can pass on to you by making that introduction, that is classic word of mouth. And it's like leveraged on a larger scale when we're talking about strategic partnerships. So that's one area where we would begin. Another area is speaking or hosting events. Because that is a really powerful way to a create visibility and validity for you because you're kind of like appearing on a stage, whether it's one you created or one that was created by someone else that invited you to be on their stage.

00:15:40

But it also gives you that personal experience. It gives the audience a personal experience of you, whether you're in person or virtual. They're seeing you in real time, you're speaking to them, you're engaging with them. And so those are the two tactics that I lean into in my own business and also in working with my clients. Even though that's not always what people think about when they hear PR.

00:16:05

Those are the tactics that drive the most results for these small entrepreneurial, solo business owners, small business, micro business clients. Oh, I love that. It's interesting, right? Because I think yeah, when you think PR, you're always thinking media, and then you're thinking about collecting all those logos for your website because we know it gives credibility. Right, but that's a good point.

00:16:32

And I've heard from people that have lots of logos on their website, but it's like those exposures didn't necessarily translate. And so I always think, I wonder, was the type of exposure not in alignment? Because sometimes they've gotten exposure for something that's not exactly what they do for a living. Right, right. Or is it that they didn't have a nerder sequence?

00:17:00

I always wonder those things. But what I'm hearing you say though, is that's kind of just how it ends up being most of the time. Yeah, like I said, I've been in this industry for 23 years, but I've been doing this work with entrepreneurs for the last eleven years and I still am surprised when a client after client after client validates for me. Like, yeah, I got that project featured in whatever magazine, didn't get a single client from it. I'm like, again, it just keeps checking that box of like it just doesn't necessarily work that way.

00:17:37

I have gotten clients from a column that I used to write or like a placement. I wrote a column that got syndicated to a wider business audience and I did get a client one time from a media placement. But yeah, it's validity. It's the thing that when someone hears about you through these more intimate types of visibility, and they go to your website and they have this positive association with you, and they visit your site, and then they get to confirm that what they had assumed about you based on that interaction was correct because you were validated by these media outlets. Okay, yeah, no, I mean, it's so intriguing though, when you say that.

00:18:25

I think that's the opposite of what a lot of people are promoting because I've been around for a while, too, and so it's like you see the trends and the media part and it's still to this day, obviously there are some people built everything on that. But it's so intriguing, as you said, when you talk to people who've been in business for a while or people who are doing really well, it seems to not translate. And so it's so nice to get validation from an expert that that is true because I'm always like, what's going on there? What's going on? I mean, don't get me wrong, I still want to be on like, I don't care.

00:19:05

Yes, of course. So it's so never this is never going to end Oprah. She doesn't even have a weekly show anymore and people are still like, I. Know, I don't care, I don't care. I want the oprah effect.

00:19:21

I just actually just want to meet her face to face. So that I can say stupid, neurotic things and then be embarrassed and then go into a shame spiral. But yeah, I know, right? She doesn't even have a show. But I'm like, well, Super Soul Sunday.

00:19:35

Like, maybe one day, yeah, I can be on that. You should be on that. And we can work up to that. We can work up to that. We'll start and one other thing, though.

00:19:47

I'm really glad that you mentioned creating your own stage. Right. Because just this last week in my membership, we had Amber Hawley come in, and she was a guest expert and did a training, and she's a speaking coach and consultant, and she was talking about that. She was talking about she created her stage because she wasn't getting those opportunities and sold it out, and it's just catapulted everything. And again, like you're saying, I think people forget those tried and true much easier if it's hard to get opportunities.

00:20:22

Create your yep. Mm hmm. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's how my big fat Greek wedding was made. Neo Vardolis wrote that herself because she wasn't seeing the opportunity.

00:20:33

She I mean, there's countless stories like, it is so hosting your own events does a lot of things for a business that even appearing on someone else's conference stage does not. It puts you at the center of something which also validates you as an expert. It kind of allows you the opportunity to create an experience for your audience, which also deepens the relationship and the connection that they have with you. And if you combine and we do this a lot with clients, combine the strategic partnerships with the event, then you can leverage those other partnerships for a wider audience reach. That's a tactic that we all are familiar with, the virtual summit or whatever.

00:21:21

An untold benefit of doing an event like that, though, is that it really deepens your relationship with all of your collaborators. It gives you the opportunity to give them an opportunity to be seen and heard, and it just creates a deeper connection between you and all the people that you've invited into collaboration. Yeah, I love that. And honestly, well, I'm somebody who relationships is my business, right. Like, as a couple's therapist.

00:21:49

But also, I think it's that ENFP in me that loves I just want to have a good time and be with people, and so I love promoting other people's stuff. But it's true.

00:22:02

When you show up and you have integrity and you guys support each other, you can build those unbreakable bonds with people or that business support system that helps you when you're having those days where you're, like, in the soul crushing spots. Right. Yeah, absolutely. We need community. That's the thing, too.

00:22:23

It's so isolating sometimes to be not just to be in your own business, but to be in the feelings of your business and to feel those moments where you're like, nothing is working, or it just feels like I'm shouting into the abyss to get those feelings normalized and to feel less alone in that is huge. Yeah, I agree. I think that's something I see in the work that I'm doing a lot is, like, in the groups that I've created, the membership and the incubator, that's the piece that I think is so powerful for people. Almost immediately. It's that vulnerability and connection.

00:23:00

And it's like, I'm not alone. Right? Like, that not feeling alone. Yeah. I always love when we can understand that that vulnerability actually can bring us closer to people.

00:23:11

Right? Yes, absolutely.

00:23:16

There's a community that I joined, a networking community, where they led with vulnerability. It's like a pretty high level engagement with a lot of founders and tech entrepreneurs and all of these, really, people that don't necessarily even speak the same language as me metaphorically. But the entrance to the application to enter this community was all about, are you willing to be vulnerable? Are you willing to be real about what the experience is like in your real life and in your professional life? And I was all in with that.

00:23:58

Yes. That sounds amazing. I love that. I love that people are doing that because it is important. Right.

00:24:09

We need the knowledge base of how to build and grow our business. We need that knowledge. But it's the emotional side of things that impacts. Like, we can know exactly what to do, we can know all the tactics, but then there are reasons we don't implement them or we hold ourselves back, or we sabotage ourselves or all the things. Right.

00:24:27

And so that's such a huge piece if somebody is in that place, and I would say most of our listeners are service based entrepreneurs. So a lot of what you were just talking about and so the goal is getting more clients. What would be, like, step one that you would say, for people on where to start? Yeah, when I work with clients, I always start kind of at the most base level of how you talk about what you do. And so messaging is so important.

00:25:09

And this is an aspect of my work that I love because my history, like my corporate years, were spent taking uber complicated information like FDA approvals and pharmaceutical BS and financial firm data and whatever, and making them palatable to the real world to get these clients in the media.

00:25:38

It's tremendously more rewarding now to work with entrepreneurs who are service oriented and who this is their life's work to help them tell the story of themselves and their business in such a manner. And this is what you can start to experiment with, tell your story in such a manner that it actually resonates with the person that you're trying to reach. It's not about you. It's about what they need to hear to know that you're right for them. And so that's where we would begin, is developing messaging that resonates with the right people, not just a nice way to tell your story or a way that feels right to you to tell your story.

00:26:21

That's only half of it. It's about the language that's actually going to activate your client, your prospective client. Oh, I love that. Messaging is everything, right? Yeah.

00:26:33

The copy we use the wording how we attract people. And I think that a lot of people struggle with that. Right? And then it's the, oh, this isn't working, so they move on. And I feel like staying I guess having somebody like you who's an expert in that would help you feel more solid in it.

00:26:52

But I guess do you see that? Do you see that people are constantly changing up their messaging and that might be problematic and building that know, like and trust factor. Yeah, it's definitely possible that messaging is not working. That's a real possibility. But changing it up.

00:27:15

So there's so many variables, right? It's the message, it's where you're putting it. It's whether you're cutting through the clutter. How are you leveraging different conduits to your audience, whether it's a strategic partner or a media outlet?

00:27:37

I just had a call with a prospective client right before this, and she asked me, what's the likelihood or what is the turnaround on media placements? And I said that it's the right message in front of the right person at the right moment. It's a lightning strike. There's no way to know exactly what's going to work. It's the right combination of things in front of the right people.

00:28:01

And so if you're constantly changing your message and constantly changing where you're putting it and constantly changing who you're reaching out to, there's so many variables in there, it's hard to tell what's not working. And so going about it in a way that's, again, going back to the discernment, kind of being really specific about what you're saying, who you're saying it to, even getting feedback, we used to do that all the time. I would rewrite pitches over and over and over again. Things stop working, they work for a little while, and then you need to go back and reconsider what messaging you're using. So it's a living thing, all of it, the whole strategy, whether it's your messaging or who you're reaching out to.

00:28:47

Okay. Yeah. I mean, obviously, like you said, you're good at taking very complex things and making them seem simple, but it is hard. Right, but I do like that idea of being more methodical because that's going to allow you because how do you assess what's working and what's not, right? Yeah, and I think that's a big piece of it is that I think we feel so many people feel, like, stressed and overwhelmed, and so there's like this frenetic energy of like, go, go.

00:29:16

And they're never assessing, like, did that actually do anything? Is this a good choice for me? Right? Like all of that kind of stuff anytime. You can be thoughtful about that.

00:29:27

I think it's important. Yeah. And I'm just like anyone else, I also struggle with the details. I'm a bigger picture thinker. So being methodical and allowing things the time that they need to kind of roll out and then assess is very challenging for me as well.

00:29:50

But what has helped me recently, especially just coming into this year and just a little backstory, I guess, last year was really challenging. It felt like an extremely hard year for whatever reason, and I really added to the existing struggle with my own suffering. And so I was punishing myself on not a literal level, but I made it harder for myself. I just really made it harder for myself emotionally. And so coming into this year, I was like, fuck that.

00:30:31

I'm not doing that anymore. Oh my gosh. I am not doing that this year. I'm not doing that this year. And I'm also a consumer of all of the course in miracles and positive.

00:30:50

You can't frame things in a I am not XYZ. Like, you have to frame it in the positive. Like, I am doing this instead. Fuck that too. I am just not doing that.

00:31:03

Oh, I fucking love that. I can't even tell you when I said and I was laughing, and I'm like, oh my gosh. I'm like, well, first of all, every time I have a conversation with somebody and they say that that 2022 sucked so hard, I feel so validated because I think we all were like, 2021 was fucking awful every year, and then it progressively got worse. And that's the thing where I felt like, yeah, 2021 was hard, but 2022 is a kick in the nuts and I don't even have them. It was just the worst.

00:31:34

That was like the worst analogy ever. But I was like, it was the worst year. And I agree. I feel like I exacerbated the suffering and at the end of last year, just like a month and a half ago or something, but I did the same thing where I've met some new friends and the energy is so good, and we're really supportive of each other, and we know we're all on that precipice of amazingness. And we did a whole retreat together, spent the night, and we met with an energy person who was psychic and releasing.

00:32:08

It was all about releasing. And I literally was like, okay, I get to allow myself to be in this process, but come fucking January 1, this shit's different, right? Yeah. And I honestly felt the shift. And I love even because I always say I'm singularly woo.

00:32:27

Like, I do love all that course in Miracles, all that kind of stuff, but there's a time and a place where you're just like, oh my fucking God, I can't I just need to be yeah. So I made that choice. I'm not going to suffer anymore. I'm not going to. Suffer in the same way.

00:32:44

Whatever 2022 yielded, I'm still here. My daughter's here. I provided for her. It's all like, everything is fine. Nothing bad happened, and that suffering was not necessary.

00:32:56

So I'm not doing it anymore. So what I'm leaning into this year is all things that I can do to move my business forward that are joyful. I just want to have fun. If I can't have fun doing this, then perhaps I don't want to do it anymore. So, so far, I'm having fun.

00:33:16

But the point that I want to make is that I am focusing on the plan. There are several things that I know I love to do to put my business out there, and I'm just doing those things. And so it eliminates a lot of the shiny object, eliminates the shoulds completely I should be doing this or I should be doing that, or I should get on that bandwagon. And it allows me to operate in integrity in my business, in alignment and with joy, which is way more attractive than suffering. Absolutely.

00:33:55

The whole proper wording thing, which I'm quite terrible at, actually, which I'm not supposed to say that right. But I'm just kidding. But being in that energetic space of joy and happiness and abundance, I do think that that is attractive to people. And there's an energetic thing that even if you didn't talk to somebody, it's like, energetically. They can feel it.

00:34:20

And then you start having people reaching out who've known you for a long time or whatever. Right. So that's where there's something happening there. But I love that. That's the thing.

00:34:31

Did we start these I mean, I obviously know we have to support our families. We have to support our lives. Right. I'm a primary breadwinner, too, so I understand. But why did we start our businesses?

00:34:43

Was it to be fucking miserable and work all the time and just be stressed out? I don't like, no, I could go work at Starbucks. Although I did that. That's not so fun. That is a hard yeah, it is in the service industry, too.

00:34:59

I was the worst server. I was not good at that. I love it now. I'm so curious if you want to share, what was the mindset or what was the breaking point where you're like, okay, I'm done with this. Yeah.

00:35:19

I really suffered, I'd say from April through December of 2022, and it felt horrible. And so I did have this moment where I just was like, I'm not doing that anymore. You know what? Actually, this was the moment. I was having a low moment.

00:35:38

I have an accountability partner that I talk to every week. We've talked to each other. It's probably like, seven years. Every Monday we talk to each other. Yeah.

00:35:47

And I must have been crying to her. She sent me a book. She sent me a book from, like, an Amazon envelope arrived. I was like, what is this? I don't remember what I ordered, and it was super thin.

00:36:01

I was like, Is there anything even in here? And it was like a tiny little self published book by a man named Richard Dots. And I started reading it, and I was like, yeah. And it was kind of like a Course of Miracles light version, whatever it was. It was, like, 95 pages, and that was really just like a turning point for me.

00:36:21

I think it was just, like, the thing that it wasn't some great work of literary art or whatever. It just was something that activated a different way for me. And also, just, like, to your point that I've had over the years, particularly early in my entrepreneurial career, I've had those moments where I was, like, egging myself on. Like, you can go back to the cubicle that's available to you. Do you want to do that?

00:36:50

And the answer was always no. And so if that's not what I'm going to choose, then I better make this livable for myself. And I can't drive myself into the ground for whatever. If I made a mistake or if I lamented something for too long, whatever, enough, like, come on, it's got to be livable at the least and fun at the best. Oh, absolutely.

00:37:18

Yeah. We can be our most toxic bosses. I think for people who've had toxic bosses, you're like, we maybe are the worst. Absolutely. But I love that even well, obviously this person knows you really well because seven years, right?

00:37:37

But isn't that interesting? Like you said, it's kind of like the lightning. It's like you read something and yeah, it's not like it's I don't know, I couldn't even think of, like it's not like it's The Odyssey or The Iliad or the most whatever fantastic thing ever written. It's literally like that thing that the message just resonated with you. You reminded me of when I was working at a political consulting firm, and it was really miserable, and I was doing their websites and stuff.

00:38:08

I liked the work, but I just wasn't happy. Right. And I knew I wanted something else. And I went on a trip where I had to go to La to set up their office tech stuff, and it was just like a there and back. And I read this book by Sark called Wild Succulent Woman.

00:38:25

I know. I read that one. Yeah. I don't know what it was about that book. Like, you're saying, I think she's fantastic.

00:38:32

So I'm not saying it wasn't good, but I read that book and I literally was like, I'm leaving my job. And then I started applying, and then I left. And it was so funny because I'm like, sometimes some message just reaches you in a certain way, and I'm like, I'm done. I'm no longer tolerating this. Right?

00:38:51

Yeah, absolutely. I love that book. Those books were really sark's books were really prominent during my summer camp years. And so they would pop up. I mean, I love the artwork, the watercolors.

00:39:06

They're beautiful, beautiful books. Oh, my God, I must be way older than you. I don't think so. I think I must be. I think I am.

00:39:14

No, I don't think it was a new release when you picked it up. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. Although I will say, because she lived in the Bay Area, I actually went to one of her book signings, the one where her book about the power of taking and again, like, I'm such a fangirl. And then I get all shy and nervous when most people would never believe that about me because, you know, out there, here's this woman who is like my counterpart in Amazingness, and I was like, all, I love your books.

00:39:47

I know. It's so weird to meet your never meet your idols. I know. And I'm telling you, I love her stuff and it speaks to me on many levels. So, yeah, I agree with you on that one.

00:39:57

That's awesome. That's wonderful. That was a little tangent, but I appreciate you sharing that because again, I think people worry, like, if they share that, that somehow people don't think I hear kind of like, that you're a bad business owner. I'm doing air quotes here, or you don't have your stuff together, you're not on top of it. And I'm like, I know people that are making plenty of money but still feel that it's not just about money.

00:40:24

Right. It's about that has nothing to do with it. It has nothing to do with it. My business did totally fine last year, and I still suffered, which is the point.

00:40:35

What was the point of that suffering when it did totally fine? So that was what I was like, forget it. I love that so much. So, yeah, going back to because I really love as somebody who most of the people I work with are, we tend to be shiny object chasers. We tend to be a little like we like we'll call it multi passionate.

00:40:59

Right? Like, that's our way of excusing, doing lots of things instead of focusing. And it's true. But I love anything that's about sustainability and about kind of narrowing and being discerning. And I know this is one of those things where it probably just depends on the client.

00:41:18

But when people are starting out and they're kind of growing or trying to scale, do you have a certain number of things? That you recommend? Or do you recommend them stay and only do speaking stuff until you get to this point and then add do you have a particular approach? Yeah, there's a framework that's sort of customizable to anyone, wherever they are.

00:41:52

In. Their business growth, but also in whatever they want to achieve, whatever their goals are. And that's sort of the way that I work, is super customized, so I don't necessarily roll out the same strategy for each person. I said that way more. Not as forcefully as I meant to.

00:42:13

I do not there is no way that I roll out the same wait a minute. Yes, I said it in a way that indicated I don't always roll out the same strategy. We don't use the same strategy for everyone. There are tactics that everyone will use because they are part of the PR arsenal, but they are malleable and we get to be creative in the way that we implement them. And certainly the stories that everyone is telling is going to be different, are going to be different because everyone has a different story.

00:42:50

And the messaging is really what's so important at the foundational level. So. To be a bit more specific, the things that are great for if you are going to be super discerning in your marketing and PR, the things that are great for initial growth are strategic partnerships and activating the community that already knows about you. And so that's always where I start with people who are like either they're opening a new line of business or they are just sort of like recalibrating after a contraction year or they're initiating a new service. We work again on all of the messaging that goes around that and we help build out the language that you use to market that new service.

00:43:42

And then we want to tell the people that are closest to you about that new service because they're already invested, they already have potentially worked with you or they know you and they can refer you or something like that. So that's where I would start if. You'Re sort of in that out of the starting gate kind of phase, so strategic partnerships and sort of your existing footprint, then if you're in sort of like a growth phase, then I think you go into these other tactics, whether it's speaking, hosting events or media. Media is going to be great for anyone at any phase because it's not necessarily the thing that grows a business, but it's the thing that validates a business. And it also gives you great practice in being out there and speaking your message.

00:44:35

So media, it can always be a current that runs underneath any strategy, but don't rely on it to grow your business. So that's sort of where the discernment comes in. Was that specific enough? Yeah, no, that's helpful. And that's why I say, I know it's so hard.

00:44:52

Like therapists are famous for saying it depends and it's so annoying. It's so annoying to people. And I'm like, I get it and it depends. And I think similarly, I think what you're saying too, is the way I work, there are core things that we address and look at, but how we put it together for somebody is so unique based on everything about them. So it makes sense.

00:45:17

It makes sense.

00:45:20

I guess I'm trying to think of if I was the people who are listening some of the questions I imagine that they would have, one would be, could you maybe define what strategic partnerships are? Because that's something I know because I do it, but also I think most people wouldn't they're like, what does that mean? Right. Yeah. So I define strategic partnerships as people or organizations who are doing something different than you, but for the same audience.

00:45:49

And so for a lot of our clients, I just built out a strategic partnership strategy for a client that is kind of a disruptor in the fitness industry. They're an online fitness studio that specializes in creating movement opportunities for people who have been kind of marginalized in the traditional fitness world. And so what I talked about in that strategy is creating like 360 degrees of support for that client through their strategic partnerships. And so who else is serving your client in a different capacity that by virtue of your alignment with them, you are giving more value to your client and potentially getting access to their client base because you're giving value to their client. Right, okay.

00:46:45

That's a great way. So I guess then just because some people need examples so that could be doing webinars or I have people come in and teach in my membership because it's always like they're doing the other parts. That's not my expertise. Right. And so there's that guesting or whatever, or podcasting, I assume, or like you said, you mentioned online summits.

00:47:15

I'm trying to think, are there other examples of how that might look for somebody? Yeah. So the way that I define it is strategic partnerships can be their own visibility, vertical, so you can create those connections and not have any kind of event like you're describing in mind. So you can do a strategic partnership outreach. And yes, it's valuable and it lends purpose to your strategic partnership outreach if you do have something to invite someone into or you have an idea for how you can partner, but it's not mandatory.

00:47:52

So you don't have to have a membership in order to engage a strategic partner. You don't have to have a podcast. You can just reach out and say, hey, I think we can support each other. Let's chat and brainstorm how we might do that, how we might align to support each other. That's fine.

00:48:09

To your point, looping in the opportunity to speak or to co host an event or to be on someone's podcast or teach in their membership, that's a value add. That's like a collaborative event, the way that I look at it. So it kind of like spans the boundary between strategic partnerships and hosting events. So you get that extra bang for your buck when you invite your collaborator into an event, but then you also to your point, it's really valuable to be able to offer something like that to your strategic partner because it's an immediate win win. Yeah, no, I'm glad that you made that distinction.

00:48:51

Because when I think about I have so many people that I refer to because I know that they're the best people to support what my clients are going through. I think about HR people or just different things like that. So I think that's helpful because I can almost hear people saying, I don't really understand what strategic partnerships mean. Right. So that's really helpful.

00:49:17

Well, I want to be thoughtful about time. And I know I feel like we could talk a lot longer about so much of this stuff. But I guess if there's okay, one thing, though. One question, because this was the one I was like. Because this one I also can hear in my head from people is if they're focusing on whatever that thing is that they chose to do to kind of get visibility, does social media have to be a part of that?

00:49:47

So I look at social media as that is your existing community that you are nurturing. So it's almost in my mind analogous to your email list because they're people who are already in your orbit. You can use social media as a call to action when you're out there being visible on behalf of your business to invite people to come and follow you. And that's like one step closer to engaging them as a client. But I look at it as it's a validator it's an opportunity for you to have voice.

00:50:28

It's opportunity for you to put your message out there. But it's the choir. It's the choir that you're already preaching to. You want to grow that choir. You want more people, more voices in there.

00:50:39

But I don't see that as a visibility strategy. I see it as part of your platform. And that's how the industry sees it, too. There's a concept of rented media and owned media. I don't mean media like the news media.

00:50:59

I mean like very general media. And the rented media is when you're leveraging someone else's audience. So like strategic partnerships, conference speaking media, owned media is like your platform, your newsletter, your social media, even though arguably that could be rented. I was like, Isn't that rented? Actually, we're just freeloading on there.

00:51:24

We're squatting. When we're on Facebook or Instagram, we're squatting. Really? Exactly. There's so many words we could use for that.

00:51:33

Exactly. But yeah. So I see that as part of your platform that it is necessary to cultivate a presence there, but it's not a visibility tactic. I love that you said that because I think when people go, okay, I'm going to do visibility, they literally are going all in in just their social and then they're feeling frustrated and exhausted and worn out. Even just how we think about it can change even the pressure of it and how we look at it.

00:52:06

So thank you. I think this was helpful. I think it was very even for me, it's really validating and to kind of look at things in a different way. So I really love that so much. Good.

00:52:18

Yeah. And permission to set aside things that you think you should be doing in deference to things that feel more energizing. Exactly. And that's often, like, when I'm working with people and they're really overwhelmed, I'm like, let's put a pin in that. Because really, like you said, have you gotten a client from that?

00:52:40

Now, sometimes we don't necessarily know because it's that they're getting exposure to us and so they're building trust with us. But at the same time, I'm like, let's put a pin in that and not let's look at something a little more strategic and something we can really count on to get us that. So I love it so much. So if people I feel like obviously people are going to want to hear more from you. Where should they go, what should they do?

00:53:08

What's the best way? Absolutely. Well, you can find me on Instagram at Amandagale Berlin G-A-I-L. But always I am available for chatting. I love to talk through what is present for you, what feels challenging, what your goals are and what the path forward might be, and we can have that conversation.

00:53:29

Gratis. Just go to Amandaburlin.com consult. That'll take you right to my calendar and you can book a time at your convenience and you can always my website is amandaburlin.com. I have some free trainings there. The link to the consult is there.

00:53:46

I have a download for writing your perfect three line bio for all of the podcast interviews you're going to book, so that's always useful. Also good for conference whenever anyone asks you for a bio. But, yeah, I love to chat about all this, as I'm sure is obvious here, so please be in touch. That's awesome. And just as an extra, obviously, I feel you've shown your credibility, but as an extra push for that, when I met you, gosh, it might have been like six years ago or so.

00:54:18

And you spoke at Biz Chicks Live. Yes. And I actually booked a paid thing with you and it was phenomenal. So I just want to give so people she is worth talking to. She knows her stuff.

00:54:32

Thank you. Thank you so much for coming on. Been my pleasure. Amber. Thank you for holding space for these conversations.

00:54:38

Awesome, thanks.