KO Your Brand

Katrina Owens (00:01.076)
What's up guys, welcome back to another episode of KO Your Brand, the personal branding podcast for fame ready entrepreneurs. I'm your host Katrina Owens, top personal branding and public relations expert wearing my gym clothes because I, for the first time in years, have gotten a gym membership. And I know this might seem like such a small thing to people. Last time I had a gym membership was literally like five or six.

years ago. And I don't want you to think it's because I've been sedentary ever since. I actually go to a personal trainer once per week, and I've been doing that for, I guess, a year and a half now. And I've kind of like always been like kind of jumping between other things like Pilates and yoga and boxing and

working out in my garage. But here's the thing, I got to a point where I was like, okay, I have all of this extra time. And I don't want to fill that extra time with work because honestly, I don't think that I need to. Obviously, as I grow my business and it becomes more more self managing.

The goal is for me to continuously working the same amount that I always do right now, is, mean, client work, probably about four or five hours a week of actually working on client stuff in a week. I mean, I, in my own way, when it comes to working on my business, I'm working on it all the time, it feels like.

which is a different experience, but going to the gym is actually part of that. And I basically got to a point in time where I ended up feeling like, okay, I don't typically do calls until like 10 a.m. I am super efficient with how I answer emails, how I get things done. Time blocking has always been a thing that I do and now I'm even stronger at it. So I got to this point in time where I'm like, damn, I'm just like sitting at my computer like,

Katrina Owens (02:18.542)
kind of wasting time because it feels like I should be like sitting at my computer because it's, you know, like late morning on a weekday and I'm like waiting for the next email to come in or I'm like refreshing my social media feed. And that's just not how I want to live my life. And I realized, well, first I was going to try and find like some sort of group fitness thing I could go like late morning.

And then I was like, what I really need to do is lift some damn weight. We hear about it all the time. Women need to be lifting weight, lifting heavy. I do it with my personal trainer, so I know how. So now it's just time to take it up a notch. So my trainer is so lovely. Her name is Anna Cruz. I don't believe that she's taking on new clients, but she does have some trainers that work under her that are trained on her method. If you are in like,

the Vancouver or Surrey area. She's wonderful. And I love her. And she has been the one that's always encouraged me to lift heavier, to work my mobility for golf. And so now I go to the gym. Like I'm aiming for like three times per week and then seeing her on top of that. like working out four times per week on top of like, you know, I walk my dog twice a day and that sort of thing, play golf, all of that. So.

That's feeling really good. So that was kind of like this next level version of myself task I needed to do to really step into my new era. Because something that's really interesting that's happening around me is every time I either like connect with somebody that I haven't spoken to in a while or maybe someone that has known me from a past life and we've just kind of reconnected, they've always said the same thing.

which is, it's so incredible to watch your growth, or you've been showing up differently, or I like this new voice or message that you're coming across on social media. And that's been really cool to have it go noticed because it is something that I'm working on. Boldly stepping into a voice that's louder about the things that I care about.

Katrina Owens (04:41.514)
that's unafraid of sharing my opinion and why I think it matters. And as a recovering people pleaser, having people disagree with me or like even sharing my perspectives on a platform where people could disagree with me has always kind of scared me. Because honestly, like,

I think that probably would bring up an insecurity. There's so much to unpack there. Someone disagreeing with you, that's a natural part of doing business. But I've always just wanted to be the person who doesn't take up more space than they need to, that doesn't make other people feel uncomfortable. All these different things. But what I've realized is if I'm really going to carve out a space for my personal brand and my voice, it has to be undeniably me.

And it has to be so rooted in like my fiercest perspectives. And I have to know that I share these because they work for my clients. I have oodles, massive amounts. I don't know, I'm trying to think of a word for like big right now, but I have a massive amounts of client results that prove that my methodologies, my frameworks, my resources work.

So I'm only doing myself a disservice if I now continue to feel shy about sharing some of the things that I'm really not shy about sharing with my clients. It's time to put them online. It's time to step up and step out. And I'm so honored that people have been noticing. So it's no surprise that me going to the gym and then me being bolder in my message are kind of going hand in hand because all of these things are really like,

the next level version of Katrina, right? And before I get into today's topic, I just want to leave you with a little like mindset hack or mindset flip that I've been working on over the last, call it week or so. And that is every time I am doing a task, especially one where I feel myself being annoyed that I'm doing the task or it's something that I don't want to do, I ask myself, would the next level version of myself be doing this task?

Katrina Owens (07:02.722)
And if that answer is no, then I've got to shift it to someone else or determine how I'm not going to be doing it any longer. And so obviously like this is a bit of a gray area exercise because not every single task in the moment, I'm like, next level version of me wouldn't be doing this. So I'm not gonna do it. That doesn't work that way. We have commitments. We have a reputation to uphold. So.

For me, it's more just flagging the thing. So if it's a small task that's easily like, you know, easy to delegate to somebody else or, you know, a task that I just don't really have to do anymore, then that's easy for me to just make note of and delegate. If it's something larger, like if it's a relationship or a structure or something that's going to take some time to dismantle, it's not like I blow up my whole life in one day, okay?

I make a mental note, a mental inventory of the experience I'm having doing that thing and then work backwards. okay, so over the next couple of weeks, you guys will notice that I will probably shift away from some things that I used to offer, I used to do. And depending on when you listen to this, you'll be like, okay, this all makes sense now. But for some of these larger things,

I've had to realize like when I have a negative emotion attached to something it is because it's no longer serving me. And so there's been a couple things. I mean, I know a lot of you listened to my BC big episode and I really appreciate all of the people that reached out and emailed and DMed to tell me that they loved the episode and it resonated or even if it didn't resonate and you questioned it and you still like let me know. I appreciate that. love like.

I love the fact that I'm creating a dialogue here, but I lost my train of thought on that one. Okay, so I guess what I'm saying is I really appreciate the fact that not every relationship or structure or thing that I've created is going to serve me in my next era. So.

Katrina Owens (09:20.502)
it's okay to let things go, it's okay to let things fall away. And that's honestly like what I'm working on right now. And you guys will see some of those things probably start to unravel or unfold over the next couple of months. And yeah, you'll be like, okay, I see what you meant now. But this is part of that journey. It's realizing that we're not always going to be the right fit for things that used to serve us. And so when it starts to bring up

these feelings of discomfort or for me, find myself getting annoyed or frustrated. And as soon as something makes me feel that way, that's a pretty clear sign that I should no longer be doing that thing. It took me a long time for me to realize that because I spent a lot of time in my corporate career being really complacent and just feeling like...

Okay, well, I'm not necessarily happy and I don't necessarily like doing this task, but this is just the way things are. So we'll stick it out. That same perspective does not work when you're an entrepreneur. And I've worked so hard to refine my service offering and build a business and a life that really lights me up. So I'm very sensitive to tasks that start to feel like a burden or relationships or frameworks that start to feel like a burden. And I think.

that there are some goals I've been working on behind the scenes that I'm going to do a future episode on once I have more clarity and yeah, just a more fully baked story to tell on some of these things. But I know that for me to break through to my next level, it does mean letting go of some of these things that no longer fit, some of the things that are keeping me small and all of that. So it's really interesting to actually be talking this all

out on this platform. It's like, you know, I was almost a month ago now that I recorded that BC big episode. And now you guys are hearing this and you're like, okay, this is the continuation of that BC big. And then now here I am saying, okay, it's me really auditing my life, taking inventory of every single task I do, how I move through the day, and asking myself, would the next level version of me do this thing?

Katrina Owens (11:40.642)
So I just wanted to share that because obviously you guys are here because you're fame ready personal brands or you want to as well. Or for, and even if you're like, I don't relate to that word just yet. mean, we're gonna really dive into this fame ready term at some point in the next couple months. I have a lot to unpack when it comes to that. So stay tuned if you're still like not really resonating with the word famous and you're kind of like.

Katrina, like what you talk about, but that still like triggers me. Stay tuned. I got more for you in the weeks to come. But today I want to talk about something that is pretty controversial in the marketing and PR space and it's paid public relations opportunities. And about a month ago, I released an episode called Why I Never Pay to Speak on Stage and that is something I stand by.

But I know I owe you a larger conversation around paid public relations in general, and paid speaking gigs are only one part of that. And just with some dialogue that's shown up for me on the internet based on some perspectives I've been sharing, this felt like the right time to dive deeper into paid public relations in general, the types of opportunities that I do support and agree with.

what I think you need to know before you decide to opt into anything and then just really doubling down on the fact that paid speaking and paid podcasting are two things I'm never ever going to get behind. And when we talk about having a bold voice and standing boldly behind your perspective, that's something that I had to do on the internet this morning. And I actually feel good about it. You know, there is somebody in my network who I know personally who

met in person before who I do obviously like and have a relationship with, but her and I have different perspectives on paying to speak. And at first I just didn't want to engage because I had posted something on threads about not agreeing with paying to speak. And she created some content off of that, which I'm not going to lie, you guys, if you see something like you disagree with on the internet,

Katrina Owens (14:00.598)
Like my, just because I'm a relationship girl, I would just be careful on like how you really spin it, okay? This person saw something that I had posted and saw her own opportunity to create content about it, basically like saying the opposite of what I believe in. And that's totally fine. I just felt like,

you know, from a relationship perspective, like it makes me feel a little bit different about where her and I are kind of at, just based on some of the language that she was using. And I mean, I obviously still disagree with her. Yeah.

I'm just going to leave that there. But anyways, so on one of the platforms where I shared this perspective, she actually like directly engaged me in some discussion. And at first I was like, am I even going to respond back? And then I was like, no, I am because I don't want to, I don't want to have someone in my community see her perspective, you know, off the back of one of my posts.

and then me just like not responding. That's passive Katrina. And that's not what next level Katrina would do. I believe so deeply that you should not be paying to speak on a stage. And I'm gonna reiterate why like in this episode. So if you didn't listen to the, I never pay to speak up episode, I believe it was a pulling punches. So just like a quick little shorty ep, shorty ep. my God, who do I think I am using language like that?

If you didn't listen to that, then I'm gonna just reiterate why I feel strongly. And actually I have another like opinion to kind of layer on top of that too. first let me talk about like paid public relations in general. So if you're new to PR, you may not know that you can pay to be featured in a magazine. There are awards you can pay for. You can pay.

Katrina Owens (16:05.024)
to go on a podcast, which I don't agree with. You can pay to speak at an event, which I also don't agree with. Basically, in the world of public relations, there are so many opportunities for you to be placed somewhere. And not all of these opportunities are bad. And I myself have invested in them before because I know how to use them properly.

And I do advise my clients on how to use them as well if it is something that comes up for them. I mean, even with one of the women I'm working with right now, she's running an event and I said to her, hey, if it's something you're comfortable with and if it's something that you have budget for, I think a paid media placement for this project that you're working on would really create some amazing buzz around the opportunity. And she totally agreed. And you know what? That's because

mature business women know what's up when it comes to investing in opportunities when they are right. You just need to know how to use them. So the biggest reason why I would say investing in a paid PR opportunity for me, the biggest and best type of placement is paying to be in a publication. Okay. And there's a couple of reasons why. So there's the brand awareness piece. And here's the thing I

I don't think I want to make something very, very clear before we go much further into this episode, just in case some of you decide to tune out and not listen to the rest. So before you go online and try to find someone who can pay your way into like Forbes, I need you to understand what that Forbes article would be for. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Traditional media isn't the thing that you're going to use to like generate sales.

or generate traffic to like your website or your brand. Doesn't work that way these days. There are thousands of articles posted on Forbes.com or any other publication every single day. And how many of you are actually going to like Forbes.com and looking at all of the articles that are posted every single day? Literally none of you are doing that. So why would you think that other people are? And I know that we're not always supposed to base like, you

Katrina Owens (18:28.78)
buyer behavior off of what we do, but that's one thing I can tell you for a fact, okay? There is nobody that has the time and interest to go to Forbes.com and look through every single article that's posted on a daily basis. That's fucking crazy. So the one thing that I want you to be super, super cautious of if you are going to invest in a paid PR placement in a magazine or a publication is this. You are not paying to be placed in that publication to generate brand awareness.

Okay, we are not doing that as a way to like hack our way to more traffic or more visibility. That piece is strictly for brand authority. If I turn to a client and say, I think you should consider this paid opportunity in Forbes, that's because I know that they already have a captivated audience who would convert based on seeing this authority boosting content. Because think of that logo or that

media feature as an endorsement, right? Like you are paying to be in Forbes and you are going to use that placement to continue to nurture your existing audience. That paid PR feature is not to bring in a new audience and that is the biggest thing that people get wrong. So if you're someone who has a small social media following and doesn't have an offer or something that is already like

converting people, if you find it really hard to engage your audience, if your audience isn't buying from you, paid PR is not going to help you do this. And this is why I wanted to talk about this topic, because I think that's the biggest misconception. So paid PR is something that you invest in when you're like, my audience is hot, how do I get them over the line?

Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of extra brand authority to really kick things up a notch and inject that little extra oomph that you need to get people pressing the buy now button on whatever you have. So that's the biggest thing I wanted to get out of the way. But here's the other thing about paid PR, because there are a lot of lifestyle publications, different awards, industry publications and awards that have different paid PR opportunities as well. And I want to make something really, really clear.

Katrina Owens (20:52.154)
you are not going to be eligible for these opportunities if you don't have like a strong brand platform in place already. Okay? So if you are effectively a nobody with no social media following, no website, no brand platform, especially when we're talking about like these niche lifestyle publications, they're still a vetting process. I'm thinking back to a lifestyle publication that I was involved in.

last year, there was actually a significant application process involved because I was going to be someone that the publication was featuring, was aligning themselves with, and they want to make sure that they are choosing who they align themselves with very, very carefully. So if I was just like Katrina Owens with no direction in my personal brand, no clear way to help business owners, none of that.

I wouldn't have successfully secured that partnership. So that's the other thing. People think that paid PR is like kind of that like step you can skip, but it's not. I even think like I had a client at one point when I had my agency who was placed in some larger publications like Vogue or People. Like you can't just buy those opportunities. You have to have like a strong

brand and product and all of these things in place before the publication will actually allow you to do that. And here's the thing, like these placements aren't that expensive. And that's why there is a vetting process involved. So if you're out here with like your new brand and business, you have like 200 followers on Instagram and you're like, okay, I'm going to use this like authority boosting content. to invest a couple thousand dollars to get a paid placement. You might not even be eligible.

because this isn't something that just anybody can buy. And the third piece of that is you're probably not sure where to find those opportunities because you do have to have existing connections to publications or to media buyers to be able to secure opportunities like this. That's where somebody like me comes in. That's something that I can help my one-on-one clients with a lot because...

Katrina Owens (23:10.124)
you know, I do have existing connections and rate cards and I know where to find opportunities like that in my group program. If that feels like more of your vibe right now, that's more of a place where if a paid opportunity comes across your desk or lands in your inbox, I'll be able to advise you on the group coaching calls, whether or not I think that that's the right investment for you. And I can also coach you on how to use it properly so you can see some great ROI from that. Okay, so that's one.

of the things that I wanted to make really, really clear. I actually invested in a paid PR opportunity a couple months ago. It's all kind of still unfolding, so don't rush to my social media. You're probably not gonna find anything. Oh, actually, you might. You'll have to message me if you're like, hey, is it this? It's kind of like a scavenger hunt. But actually, most of the deliverables haven't even unfolded yet, which is very cool.

And I'm going to tell you guys something. As soon as that very first deliverable from this paid PR investment I've made, as soon as that very first thing came out, I secured two one-on-one clients. So let me do some quick math on that one. My ROI on that was effectively a triple what I invested. But I'm the expert on this, right?

That opportunity came across my desk. I analyzed all the deliverables. I thought about how I was going to be able to use it. I have some other things in the pipeline where I was like, okay, I have like a couple of different organic opportunities that are appearing around the same time. So if I add on this paid opportunity, you know, that's in the same week as this other amazing organic thing that I'm doing, holy shit, I'm about to blow the roof off of this place. So that's the strategy.

I would never invest in a paid PR opportunity if I knew there wasn't organic opportunities around it to amplify and support the success of it. But just to go back to my original example, so one of the deliverables from this investment had already come out and I secured two one-on-one clients from one social media post. And it was two potential clients that had already kind of been in my pipeline. They're interested in working with me. I knew that.

Katrina Owens (25:33.708)
And then the day that this post went live, they both reached out to me wanting to move forward with working with me. And that is why I believe in the power of paid PR. Sometimes you just need a little extra brand authority boost to be able to get people across the line. And that's okay. Cause brand authority building is effectively trust and credibility building. So that's why I really think that you should be investing in that if, if the opportunities come to you and this opportunity that I invested in it.

came to me through a friend, I did have to do a little bit of groundwork and I had to have a profile and a philosophy and an ethos that really aligned with the publication to be able to actually land the opportunity. It's not like they're just taking money from everyone. Like I said before, if I was Katrina Owens with 200 followers and no clear personal brand platform or anything, this opportunity likely wouldn't have been for me. And that's okay.

But that's just to show you like a different side of paid PR and why I really believe that it can work for you depending on where you're at in your personal brand. Okay. So now that we've kind of covered that paid publications like magazines and awards kind of fall into that category too. I used to work in the real estate development industry and there's a couple different associations that do awards every single year.

you have to pay a very hefty fee to even be eligible for these awards. Okay? So it's not like they look at the industry overall and like cherry pick the people who are really out there doing their best work. They're just picking from the people that pay and apply for the awards. Yet these awards are quite prestigious in the industry. Okay? So I don't want you to think that paid PR or paid awards are like this.

like weird or icky thing. Like it's a quite, it's quite a normal experience across industries and it's totally okay if you know how to use them properly. Most people don't know how to use them properly. And that's where I come in. That's why I have this podcast is why I do my group coaching. So I can make sure that you are not just wasting your money. But on that note, there are opportunities that are a waste of money and they are paying to be on podcasting and paying

Katrina Owens (27:57.998)
to be on a stage. Wait, let me say that again, Heather, because it didn't, I feel like that's a strong statement, but I didn't say it quite right. Actually, I'm gonna take a drink first.

Katrina Owens (28:12.782)
But speaking of a waste of money, there are actually two types of paid PR opportunities that I do not agree with and I will not be convinced of. Paying to be on a podcast and paying to speak on a stage. Okay? Two things that are highly controversial right now because people have very different thoughts about why they're okay. But here is the funny thing about this. The only people that are like,

paying to be on podcasts, pay to speak opportunities are totally valid. They're a great way to grow your business. The only people that are saying that are the people that have these paid opportunities for you and want you to buy them. Okay? I am a neutral party. I don't have any skin in the game. Okay? I'm not here with like, you know, some sort of offer that requires you to like, either not care about paid PR or care.

I'm a neutral party. I'm here telling you from my personal branding and PR perspective why I don't think these opportunities work. Makes no difference to me and my business if you decide to pay to speak at an event. Makes no difference to me, does not affect my business whatsoever. But if there is someone who is telling you this is why paying to speak at an event is awesome and that person runs,

pay to speak events, please see the conflict of interest there and why you should be very, very discerning about your choice in that situation. Okay, I'm just gonna leave it at that. So anyways, I'll tell you a little bit about why I don't believe in these types of opportunities. And let's start on the podcasting side of things first, because I am seeing all of this pop up on threads where people are like, someone just invited me on a podcast and then.

told me in like very small letters at the bottom of the email that there's a fee to be a guest. Is this normal? Why is this blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I fricking hate this guys. Like, let me give you like a big picture view. People like Joe Rogan, Alex Cooper, the podcasters, like the smart list guys, Amy Poehler, all of these like big time podcasters, they are not.

Katrina Owens (30:32.394)
asking their friends or their guests to pay a motherfucking fee to go on their podcast, okay? Because they would be like, why?

I have never seen a paid podcasting opportunity that is worth it. Just let that sink in. Anytime there's a paid podcasting fee, it is a low quality podcast. It is a podcast that appears to be zhuzhing their metrics a little bit. So by zhuzhing, I mean lying.

Okay, maybe fluffing, like, you know, inflating their numbers. And they typically say that the fee is to cover production costs.

Okay, if you are a business owner with a podcast, hello, that's me. It is your responsibility to cover the production fees. You are completely devaluing your guests' time and energy and effort that they're gonna bring to your podcast if you are asking them to pay a fee so they can spend time providing value for you and your podcast.

And there's a reason why the high quality podcast that most listen to the chart topping podcasts of the world don't do this. It's because they don't need to. It's because their production, their asset, their podcast is so high quality that they can bring on sponsors, which results in ad dollars in revenue for their business. It means they also have successful businesses elsewhere. So they can happily invest.

Katrina Owens (32:30.292)
their money into the production costs of their podcasts. I guess should never be covering the production cost of anything. Okay. So as soon as you are offered a paid podcasting opportunity, just run. Don't even bring that one to me because I have never ever in my life come across a paid podcasting opportunity that I thought was high quality and worth it.

It's always given me the ick. It's always looked like, honestly, a very low quality production considering that these podcasts are typically looking for someone to cover the quote unquote production costs. Okay guys, so that's the first side of the coin. Paid podcasting, don't do it, don't even think twice. Now, paying to speak on a stage.

We've talked about this before. I've just told you at the beginning of this episode, we talked about paid PR opportunities that I do agree with. Magazines, award submissions. It's probably other things that fall into that bucket, but largely those are the paid PR opportunities that I see most often that I do wholeheartedly agree with, with obviously the disclaimers, okay, that I've given you early on. The reason.

One of the biggest reasons why a pay to speak opportunity is not the same as paying to be featured in a publication is because the time, energy, and effort that is required for you to see a return on each one is entirely different. Okay? So let's take the example of you paying to be in a publication. You're going to pay to be in that publication. You are likely going to complete a verbal or written interview.

you're going to provide some photos, you're going to likely edit or help edit and review like the drafts. Your time investment is very, very minimal, which means in that instance, the biggest investment you're making is financial, but you know that you've already got the audience, you've got the tools, you probably have an email list, a social media following. You've got the platform set up that

Katrina Owens (34:57.01)
Once that article is live, know exactly what you're going to do to maximize its potential. So let me repeat that again. Your time investment is pretty minimal. You're just making a financial commitment. Same as if you were to pay to run ads, as an example. The reason why pay to speak opportunities are not equivalent to that is because you are not only paying to speak on a stage.

In order to receive conversions, leads, ROI for your business, you must now prepare a talk that is going to convert from the stage. And I mean, if you listen to my episode from the other week where I talk about how much time I put into practicing and preparing for one of my speaking ops.

Like, it's no joke. You are going to be practicing probably an hour every day for however many weeks. If you're brand new to public speaking, you're going be practicing even more than that. You know, for me, I already kind of classify myself as a more advanced public speaker. So the amount of time I spend working on my talk, perfecting how I speak, how I show up, obviously I still make an investment in that, but...

For someone who is more of a beginner or new to that world, the time investment is even more. Not to mention the financial commitments around traveling to the event, if it's not in your city, investing in a speaking coach. What else? All the time it's going to take you to create the slide deck, obviously practicing it every single day, multiple times a day.

If you're not a graphic designer yourself, you may hire somebody to help you do the slide deck. Yeah. There are so many extra costs involved, time, energy, effort, and financial that you are not just simply paying a fee to speak on a stage, just as you were paying a fee to be in a magazine. You're paying a fee to speak on a stage in addition to paying

Katrina Owens (37:20.382)
so many more additional costs. Not even to mention if you're someone who still is working in your business, on your business and needs time at your desk or in your office, however much time you need to take off to do this event is going to cut into that, your revenue generating time. And the thing that I dislike most about pay to speak opportunities is they really often target like early stage business owners.

Because here's the other thing, you guys, if you're a more established business owner who speaks at events frequently, you expect events to pay you, okay? So you're sure as hell not paying to speak at an event. So that's one of the biggest issues I have is that the whole act of like pay to speak events feels very predatory because you're targeting someone who's like really looking for this opportunity to get on a stage.

And then what they don't know is if they actually want to see the return, it's on them to now do all of these other things to make sure that they can actually see their investment come back to them. And that's not even going into the fact that any pay to speak opportunities, similar to the pay to podcast opportunities I talked about earlier, pay to speak events have always looked pretty low quality to me. Okay?

And if you are someone out there that runs pay to speak events and you're feeling triggered right now, my question for you is this. Are you bringing on the most aligned speakers to this event that you're running by asking them to speak at it?

Probably not. If you were to run an event where your income did not depend on your speakers paying a fee to be on that stage, would you choose different speakers? Of course you would. You are targeting a very certain type of business owner and I just don't agree with it. And you can disagree with me and you can continue to run your pay to speak events.

Katrina Owens (39:36.162)
but from a values and ethos perspective, this is just, this is a hill I am willing to die on.

And obviously it's not because I just vehemently disagree with all paid PR opportunities, I don't. But I think we are lying to ourselves and all of the business owners around us who are less informed about these types of experiences, know, haven't done a lot of speaking events, are eager to get that experience and they think that these pay to speak opportunities are the only option for them right now because it's hard.

to pitch yourself to speak at an event when you have no experience. It's really hard. Just like it is hard to pitch yourself to podcasts and publications with no prior experience. But that's why we have to spend so much time working on our personal brands and our pitch and investing in our businesses so we can earn.

That's why this media is called earned media, public relations, organic public relations is called earned media. And this is why, because you've got to earn it. And so now we see this market for people that are willing to pay a hefty price tag to get on a stage because they know they need the experience.

It just feels like it's taking advantage of a very certain type of audience member. And if right now you're listening to this and you are someone who has been offered a pay to speak opportunity and you're like, was I targeted because I'm not far enough along in my business? Or if you're feeling like a bit of discomfort around that conversation, yeah, probably. And that's why you need to invest in personal branding.

Katrina Owens (41:34.35)
programs like the one I offer first. Because here's the thing, I'm all for speaking for free. Okay? I speak for free. And not only that, I speak for free, plus I invest in my own travel. I invest in a speaking coach, I still invest my time, effort and energy, because to me, that's my investment. You know, someone's giving me an opportunity to speak on a stage. And then my investment, my time investment, and financial investment is okay,

to make the impact on the stage, here's what I'm going to do. And that's the trade off. But as soon as you add a fee on top of that, because the other thing is it's not like that fee is gonna be small, you guys. It's always gonna be a couple grand.

As soon as you add that fee on top of that, the whole thing is out of balance. Because I just do not believe that your audience and the room you create is going to be high quality enough that that person is going to walk away having exponentially increased their ROI. A lot of the time it's because I don't think that person is equipped to do so. Selling from the stage is hard. It takes experience. I also don't believe that a beginner speaker is actually strong enough.

to sell from the stage. And that's why I encourage all of my group coaching clients to get experience running their own master classes or even their own events. I think I mentioned this in the previous episode that I did on this. If you are someone who is considering a pay to speak opportunity and say it's like three grand to speak on a stage, I would much rather you take that three grand and run your own event.

because now you're gonna be cultivating your own community, your own audience, something that is a direct result of you and is going to have a far greater impact on your business than speaking at someone else's event. Because here's the other thing. Yes, speaking at an event is an incredible brand authority booster. Obviously, would be like, that's like not even something that I'm negating. Anytime I've spoken on a stage has done amazing things for my business. And that's why I believe it's such a powerful tool.

Katrina Owens (43:48.44)
But the caveat here...

my God, I lost my train of thought, Heather. Give me a sec.

Katrina Owens (44:03.352)
Got it. But the caveat here is that once that speaking event is over, like let's take, for example, business besties, the event that I spoke at a couple of weeks ago now. That event is over. Yes, I have content from it. Yes, I grew my audience from it. Yes, there are some great relationships that have come out of it. But once that opportunity is over, it's over. And then it's up to you to find the next one and the next one. When you run your own events,

you are building a much more connected community to you. When I ran my first event, my FEMA entrepreneur event back in March, that created incredible momentum for me that I was able to use in so many different ways. Now I'm planning my next series of events that are going to be in like the fall and the spring. And the content and the metrics, audience size, demographics, all of that stuff,

is not only powerful for me running events in the future, because now I've experienced, I have a built-in audience that will be eager to come to the next one, all of these things. I also have the ability to use that information to bring on sponsors and also increase my revenue and ROI in different ways. But if you're simply throwing that three grand to speak on someone else's event, like that amount is not going to go as far.

So that's why I really encourage people to take inventory of this and really decide.

Is there a better investment you can make than paying to speak at an event? I really think that there is.

Katrina Owens (45:45.464)
So that's what I wanted to get across today. Like paid PR, paid opportunities are so controversial. I mean, it's so gray area, except when it comes to paid podcasting and paid speaking gigs, okay? That to me is pretty black and white. If there is ever an opportunity that comes across your desk and you're like, but maybe this one's okay. My inbox is always open, you know?

you want to see the type of support that I can provide to you in the Fame Ready Entrepreneur Program or as a one-on-one client, the best thing you can do is reach out to me with your questions because I'm always happy to answer them and I can give you a little bit of a taste of what it might be like to be a client of mine. So obviously too, these are always great questions for me to be fielding in future episodes because I just want all of you to be so well informed when it comes to the types of opportunities that are out there.

how to use them effectively, what you should and should not be investing in. And honestly, I'm just like so protective of all of you because if you're listening to this, I want to make sure that you're making sound investments in your business and building a really sustainable business model for yourself. So if you're interested in learning more about the Fame Ready Entrepreneur Program, this is just a reminder that the price is going up at the end of July. I'm increasing the registration fee by about $500.

at the end of July 2025. So if you are interested in registering, I really encourage you to do it now. I'll be able to start coaching you within the next week. And every single week I'm posting amazing speaking gigs, podcast opportunities, and publication features that you can start pitching yourself to right now. And they're not paid opportunities, by the way, they're organic. And honestly, the results of the women in the program right now...

are super, super cool. I'm gonna do another episode just kind of recapping some of them because they deserve their own time in the spotlight because the women in the program who really decide to like go after their big PR dreams are so inspiring and they constantly inspire me to dedicate more and more time and energy into doing my own PR too. So if you like this podcast, please rate and review wherever you listen to podcasts. It would mean the world to me if you could leave a five star review to help.

Katrina Owens (48:01.664)
others find this personal branding and public relations podcast and I will see you all next week. Toodles!