Liz Nable 0:00
It's launch week again for the media masters Academy. And to celebrate, I'm bringing you a couple of mini episodes of the podcast featuring two of my most recent course alumni who've been smashing their goals and getting featured in the media as female founders, women led businesses, side hustlers and entrepreneurs. We've got a lot on our plates, both in business and in life, I don't want your media and PR strategy to be just another chore on your to do list inside the everyday operations of your business. It needs to be simple, realistic to incorporate into your working week and lay the foundations for media opportunities to continue to flood through your door year after year. In my experience in this game, women also struggle with overcoming imposter syndrome, selling themselves and realizing that they have value to add as experts in their field. Today, I'm chatting to Bridget. Johns of be simply free, who completed the media masters Academy in July. Bridget, an organization expert who specializes in optimizing space and time, had all those sneaking reservations and more about putting herself out there and growing her business using the media. Now she's being featured in the Australian Financial Review. I can't wait to share her story with you. Hello and welcome to medium magnet, the podcast for female founders and women owned businesses, startups and side hustlers who want to learn how to grow their business leveraging the media and free PR, I'm Liz nable, and I'm your host, personal publicist. PR, strategist and dedicated hype woman. My goal with this show is to give you a behind the scenes tour of how the media works to break down the barriers between your business and the big mastheads, so you can see how easy it is to get featured simply by giving journalists what they want. At media magnet, you'll also get access to the top journals, editors, writers and PR people in your industry and beyond, sharing their secrets and expertise on the how, why, what and when of pitching and getting featured in the media consistently, I will share with you how to build your reputation as an industry expert so successfully, the media will be knocking down your door. When I first started in small business, 12 years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. I had spent 15 years as a television news reporter working at several major networks in Australia, and then as a freelancer in the US and around the world. I spent years dividing my time between working long shifts on a news desk and traveling the world, chasing stories. It was unpredictable and exciting until it wasn't anymore. I decided I wanted a life where I was in charge of what happened next and where I was working to build my own empire, not someone else's. There was a lot I had to learn about running my own business, but getting media and great free PR was not one of them, I already knew what the media wanted. I knew the secret formula for what made news, and I knew how to leverage those media outlets to build my business, get more exposure, and ultimately make more sales. I was featured in every major media outlet in the country, and I never spent a single cent on PR, I took that knowledge for granted until it dawned on me one day that I could teach what I knew to other businesses, let them in on the secret, and they too could build their brands with organic media and PR, let me help you take your brand from Best Kept Secret to household name. This is media magnet, the podcast, and I'm pretty pumped to have you here.
Hello, Bridget, thanks for coming on the podcast. No worries. Thanks
Unknown Speaker 3:55
for having me.
Liz Nable 3:56
Well, let's start off by saying congratulations on your Australian Financial Review article.
Speaker 1 4:01
Thank you. Yes, it was your support that helped me get that one across
Liz Nable 4:05
the line. Tell me a little bit about how that came about and how you pitched yourself, and then we'll talk a little bit about the course and your experience after that.
Speaker 1 4:13
Yes, sorry after I have seen source bottle as a platform for connecting with journalists before, but I had paused it because it got a little bit overwhelming. But while I was in the course, I reactivated it and just made some time in my day to look at those twice a day emails that came through. And there was a request there from the Australian Financial Review for looking for someone to provide some intel around private schools and public schools. And I have some experience in my parents choosing not to send me to a private school and paying off my uni fees and leaving, yeah, without a HECS debt. And I shared that story, and then that links to my business, helping people to collect moments, not things. So there was a tie in there. And yeah sent the request through, and I think the response. Came back from the journalist within about half an hour, and then from your feedback, I was right on it and trying to get back to them straight away. And we were able to organize an interview over the phone, and they organized the journalist to come out to the property and take photos around our farm to go with the the article, which is the first time that's ever happened. Normally, I just send them a link to my media galleries. So yes, with your support, I was able to take that opportunity on board. And yeah. Now the the articles, almost here, almost
Liz Nable 5:29
here, awesome. Um, tell me. Tell us a little bit. Give us some context about your business. Be simply free, and where you're located in Australia. And then we're going to talk about why that article, even though it wasn't specifically about your business, why that's helpful to you, and why you pitch for that, and how that kind of works with media pitching,
Speaker 1 5:50
yes, so be simply free. At be simply free, I am a space and time optimizer, so I am really passionate around reducing waste. So I see a lot of people buying a lot of toys, excess furnishings, clothes, and wasting a lot of food waste. So what I do is help people declutter their spaces so we'd have less stuff in our home. So it's actually saving families money and also reducing their time commitments. When we have less stuff in our home, we can spend more time collecting moments, not things. So the broad term for what I do would be called a professional organizer, but I love to say it's around optimizing the space and time in people's lives. So yes, that's what I do, and a big part of that is to help people think about what they're wanting to spend their money on. And that's probably where that tied into that story. I have parents that are high school teachers. One taught at a public school and a private school, and they made the choice that they'd saved the money to send us to a private school, but when they saw no difference in education standard, we went on a big family holiday to the USA for five weeks between year seven and year eight. Back then, that's when high school started. So I used that in that was the story line the Australian Financial Review wanted to talk about. And then I was able to share my story, my parents story, what we are planning to do with our children, but also touch on be simply free and being able to encourage people to think about what they're spending, not just trying to keep up with the Joneses that everyone else is doing that. That's the only option that they have. So that's a little tie in that I was able to get there
Liz Nable 7:27
that's really interesting, that now that I guess you've done the course, or, you know, perhaps you can tell me, you know, six or eight weeks ago, before you did the course, would you have seen that kind of opportunity as a way to promote your business?
Speaker 1 7:41
No, definitely not. And I think it was through the course being able to understand that it's getting my story out there, there was a tie in, but being able to share that this is a something that's happened in my life, that I was able to use that connection with the Australian Financial Review, and who knows where I'll be able to touch base with that journalist again in the future, around another simplification story that really supports people, because I'm a big fan of saving money for these families life so they can do more of what they enjoy. So you never know where that journalist connection to can go. And with my organization skills, that journalist email is saved in a safe spot that I can come back to in the future, but by understanding the principles in your course, it was like being responsive. So those emails come out, I think about 10 and two, they drop into my inbox and really responding and sharing all the detail in that source bottle response. So it wasn't just like, Yes, I have this story come back to me. I wrote it out in the source bottle, so she had a clear idea of my story, and then the phone interview could elaborate on that, and that's more where I spoke around be simply free, so I answered her questions, but extended it to support my business as well. That's
Liz Nable 8:56
interesting, because a lot of so anyone who doesn't know what sourcebottle.com is, it's a call out service we can jump on. You can create a free profile. You can also upgrade to a paid a paid profile as well. But you can really use a service pretty well with the free version, and you just check little boxes of where you think your area of expertise might be in business. So if you have your own business, you might choose business, if it's in the fitness industry. You might choose fitness or skincare or beauty or health, or any of those things, and then you get call outs from the media who are looking for experts in that field. So anyone can jump on I'll pop the link in the show notes. It's just sourcebottle.com but that's interesting, because before people do something like my media masters academy or any kind of media training or pitch training, they would be inclined to just respond to that and say, Yeah, I've got a great story. Call me on this number, but it's really important to try and make journalists are time poor, right? And if you can make their life easier by giving them the. Answers without them having to email you again or call you or create another job for them. You kind of got your 10 steps ahead of all anyone else who's responding to those call. Outs, right?
Speaker 1 10:10
Yeah, definitely. And I have the free source bottle account so and there's many days that there's nothing relevant to what I can respond to in source bottle, so I don't, but it's just being ready to go and being able to respond to the ones that are relevant to what you're doing. And the beauty of source bottle, they'll send you your response so you can file it away. And a lot of times, I will copy and paste and combine past examples and make it relevant. And always try and respond to if it's got a name or an organization, say hi, so and so. And then I try, depending on that one, that one, I definitely put my LinkedIn profile down the bottom, just in case they wanted to see a bit more about my, yeah, qualifications and things like that. So, and I actually most of them now just pop that one pager speaking docs down the bottom just as another quick summary about me with a picture so they can see who I am. And that's
Liz Nable 11:00
so important, isn't it, we talk about, we do a whole module, for anyone who's not aware, inside the media masters Academy, about crafting a really beautiful brand story, which I know can be a frustrating exercise for lots of people, but it's definitely, in my opinion, having a great brand story is one of The most important marketing assets you can have for your business. So once you spend time getting that brand story right, I mean, how many times have you used that brand story since
Speaker 1 11:29
you finished the course, over 30? It's definitely with those links out for source, bottle and again, you won't always get a response back, but it's you've got to be in it to win it. The answer is no, if you don't put your your hand up there, so yes, it's just a standard one that saved there. Here's some more information if you want to read. And I did really value that in the course as well, you gave us that honest feedback of what was in there. And I think that's really important sometimes to have the fresh eyes. Like my business is four years old, and I'm so into the nitty gritty and the weeds of it, having those fresh eyes going, Nope, just simplify it. Ironically, with business, it was very valuable to and also to hear other people's start brand story and where it evolved to as well. In that group context,
Liz Nable 12:17
the brand story is important to, you know, take time to get it right, even though it can be frustrating to start a brand story from scratch, but it's also really important to have your social media prepared and ready for those media eyeballs. So did you do any work on your social media after the course to make sure you know if people Googled you or responded to one of those call outs that they would be getting the same message and branding across your different media, social media platforms. So as we talked about the brand story can be a bit of a hefty exercise, but well worth it, because you just repurpose it almost every day in the marketing of your business. What did you do to your social media after the course, because we talk a little bit in the course about being prepared for media attention, and you also just mentioned popping your LinkedIn link in, you know, in your source bottle, call out. Tell me a bit about how important that is to have that social media prepared, and what you did to perhaps clean it up or, you know, incorporate the brand story in it. And the things that you learned in the course definitely
Speaker 1 13:22
simplifying it and taking the time to relook at those key blurb areas the profile, particularly on Instagram. Whereas I spend a lot of the time I went through my LinkedIn because I figured journalists are probably going to be looking there as well, and refreshed my images along that top picture on LinkedIn as well, and just tried to have that consistent messaging across all platforms. So it was easy to say I'm the same person across all those channels as well, and making sure it was clear I'm a bit tricky that I actually have two businesses with be simply free is my professional organizing arm, and grant simplified is where I'm a grant writer, the common thread is I'm organized across both of them. That was a challenge for me when I was doing the course. But I think understanding that I'm still Bridget Johns and there's two elements of me, I shape the pitches to showcase my different streams. So when we were talking to Eloise around smart company, that was more of a grant simplified pitch supporting businesses to understand the grant process, whereas Australian Financial Review was more of a personal story, and how the ethos of be simply free and spending less on stuff so you can enjoy more life was more around a B, simply free angle.
Liz Nable 14:37
Now, so your business is online, obviously you're located regionally or remotely in South Australia. You live on a property. Tell me why? Like, when you were thinking about, I guess when I landed in your world somehow online, probably why did you want media attention? Like, why was the media masters Academy something that you wanted for your business? What was your end goal? The
Speaker 1 15:02
end goal, I think for me, was to give myself a bit more of an authority around what I'm doing and credibility. When people were coming to me for support, and it was actually a personal referral from someone I was working with to you. So I actually asked, like, where do I go? I've worked with PR people before, and they have done those connections, and I feel like my brand story and the evolution of my business is there, and I wanted to have more of that direct contact with journalists and people in the media. So that was probably the key thing that made me want to work with you, was helping have the support to craft the brand story, to try those live pictures, which I was petrified of when we did the first one, and access to the media contacts, of being able to go, Okay, if this story's around business, and helping them with grants, who are some of the key contacts in the business sector I can approach, and then maybe if there's a regional story that I want to talk about, the fact that this business is run from this Computer that I'm using right now and connecting with my decluttering clients all across regional, Australia, New Zealand and over into Europe as well. That is possible by internet. So it's yes, it's two pronged approach, the support to know how to pitch myself, but also who I'm going to pitch to. What do
Liz Nable 16:18
you think is sort of biggest takeaways from the course, what do you think that you know now that you didn't even probably know you didn't know eight weeks ago,
Speaker 1 16:27
the fact that journalists, I always knew, journalists were busy, but I think hearing it from you as well, and understanding they are getting probably hundreds of emails a day, and you can just put your best foot forward. If they're not getting back to you, can respond again. I think particularly for women, we feel like if they haven't responded, we'll just let it go and won't follow it up. And the importance of being able to say, Hey, I'm still here. I'm here when you need me, type thing was really reassuring that it's not just me there. They're not taking the story from it might just be the wrong day, the wrong pitch, but I can always offer another option going forward, but I now have those contacts to say, Hey, want to lead on this angle. I'm here and ready and waiting when you are but also to be able to respond to them really quickly and be, be the person that they can call up and say, Talk through the extra questions they have from the pitch that I've sent through, I think
Liz Nable 17:22
a lot, and I say this, I mean, I work majority, for the majority of the time with women. There are men who do the course, but most of the women, or a lot of the women who come into the course, like you mentioned before, almost feel like they're they're not worthy enough to pitch a story. Their business is not big enough, or they don't make enough revenue, or they don't have a big enough team, their brand story is that not that exciting. It's almost like they're apologizing when they when they pitch. In fact, many of the women who when they start to pitch in the course are apologizing, which we snap them out of real quick. How do you feel about, you know, selling yourself now, like, what's your how? What do you have a different perspective about selling yourself now than perhaps you did before you did the course? Yes,
Speaker 1 18:09
I'll just put it out there. It's getting over that fear of the tall poppy syndrome. And no one knows about you if you don't tell them about you. So I'm very comfortable to say this is me. This is how my story links in with the angle you're looking for. Happy to chat more. And I've sent out probably over 30 different pitches, and not all of them have come across. Some are still in the pipeline and will come out later down the track, and before we got on the course, talking about some of these connections with journalists I've made a year ago or something, but then I'm at these different events and seeing them again. So it's all those touch points. Maybe the next time they're looking for someone, they'll remember me, and when I jump into their inbox, they'll be more likely to respond. So you just never know where that connection when it will turn into a piece of media. Yeah,
Liz Nable 18:58
it's so interesting, isn't it? Once you sort of realize that, like, you have value to add. It's not so much about self promotion or selling yourself in a really icky way. It's about, hey, here, I know what's going on, you know, in the grants award writing business. So I know about, you know, finding more time in your day, or organizing, you know, your house, so that you feel decluttered, or, you know, all those sorts of things. I think a lot of women don't realize that they do have something to add. They have value to add. Do you feel like there was, like, a because I think this happens in the course a lot. I'm keen to know if you had this, like, penny drop moment where, because a lot of people, a lot of people who do the course, like, Yeah, but I don't what's the story angle? What's the story angle? And then you can almost see the light go off in their brain when they're like, oh my god, I get it. I get it. Like, I understand now what makes news and what is newsworthy, what the story angle is, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 19:47
And I really loved the live pictures and having a bit of a brief around what the journalist was looking for. And I think that definitely helped being able to say Sunrise was around the consumer, the tech, the tech. Time saving and money saving hacks. So I'm like, Yes, that's my Ian, it's talking about the ways of being conscious of what you're consuming can actually save you money. And we have $7,000 worth of stuff in our homes. And using those statistics, so that's a actual report that says, on average, families have $7,000 worth of stuff they can sell. So that was the angle I was able to go with, with Sunrise and then, yeah, understanding business. Okay, I need to pitch it that way. But it was also helpful to hear other people's pictures and the feedback that was being given from our live pictures, from the journalist to the other people. And I tweet some of the pictures I did live based on something someone said a minute beforehand, and they were petrifying. I I'm more comfortable sending an email to someone pitching a story and happy to talk to them on the phone after they're ready to learn more, but to stand up or not stand up, but be on a zoom call with those journalists was a really good way of Yeah, ripping the band aid off. Yeah, setting it dire.
Liz Nable 21:00
It's not as scary as anyone. They're not they're not mean and scary. Did you have, do you have any sort of top takeaways from the course? I guess, even if it's really, really simple, or possibly you think it might be obvious that have really kind of helped propel you forward in like this, PR and and media pitching for your business?
Speaker 1 21:21
Yes, I would make sure that you've got the time capacity to do the coursework during the next time slot that you're offering the course for, because the most benefit you're going to get is to attend the session where you're going to learn and then come back with the questions for the Q and A afterwards, and do your best to attend as many of those live pitches as you can obviously, we all have different time commitments, but if there's any possibility you can juggle something else around, you're going to get so much benefit from pitching to everyone that's on offer to you, even if you think there might not be an exact fit for your business, I still think it's worth putting something out there and seeing where it could go. Because, yeah, I heard lots of the stories from others that even chatting to them, we had a little good sub group from your courses and rural, rural women. And I think there was before one of the sessions were like, Oh, we're not sure what that would pitch. And then a couple of them have been able to get articles and stories on those platforms as well. So do the work, put it out there, put the rough draft out there, and get and be open to the positive and the feedback you're going to get, because fresh eyes is what the journalist is going to see all your content as. So use your feedback to shape what the journalists are going to be wanting.
Liz Nable 22:36
Yeah, good tips. I'm keen to know, because a lot of, I guess people's main reservation is like, I I don't have time to spend all what, you know, they're all business owners. They're small business small to medium sized business owners who do the course for the most part. You know, startups, entrepreneurs, side hustlers. No one has time to be spending, you know, 25 hours a week pitching, you know, pitching themselves to the media and potentially not getting a response. What? How have you taken that on board post the course, like, are you consistently doing it each week? And how much time do you spend? I want to sort of quantify to people. How do Yeah,
Speaker 1 23:10
well, I'm a big advocate for using 1% of your day. So that's one of my philosophies. 1% of your day is 14.4 minutes. So imagine if you just said maybe every second day to start with, or even once a week. Looking at that source bottle options that come into your inbox on one day, you choose whatever day it would be, and you could probably get two or three pictures sent out in 1% of one day. So I'm actually intentionally putting it into my Monday to Friday that I can literally do it from my phone these days, I can go and copy and paste and that brand story will be what you'll use for crafting some of those pictures, and just tell the journalists what they want to hear. And yeah, you won't get a response from all of them, but you never know where that story could go. And to have a photographer come out and take photos on my property that will be in the Australian Financial Review, yeah, it's an amazing opportunity. And sort of a list thing that I didn't even at the start of the course we sort of talk about what publications we want to be featured in. I don't even think I wrote that down because I thought it was a pipeline dream. So amazing to think that, yeah, my name will be in the Australian Financial Review. Yeah,
Liz Nable 24:18
awesome. And you can repurpose that. Obviously, those photos and that article can be used, you know, in your own media, on your website, in your signature, you know, email signature on your as featured in media section of your website. EDMS, I mean, social media, everywhere. You'll be everywhere. I hope you're going to repurpose that, because that's what I tell you, what to do. Um, so just before we go, I guess, any advice to someone who's maybe listening to this, the doors of the course open. Obviously, next Tuesday, they're open for eight days. Who might be considering the course knowing what your reservations were, time, money. You know, are you going to get featured in the media? What would be your advice to some. On who's sort of considering it all, think, you know, sitting on the fence,
Speaker 1 25:03
yeah, reach out, send Liz an email. See if you just if there's any concern you have, put it in writing and share it, because I'm sure you'll be able to come up with a solution for them as well. But if you get out of it, what you put into it, Liz, you're not going to be hand holding everyone. You're going to be supporting them, but you've got to do the hard work yourself. If you're wanting to do your own PR you need to do that. If you do want to invest in someone else doing the PR work, that will cost you money, but this is a very cost effective strategy to get all those tools to be able to do it yourself. Now and maybe down the track, I'll invest in a PR person, but I feel at the moment, it's definitely a very cost effective strategy to get my name out into the media.
Liz Nable 25:46
Awesome. Um, have you got any sort of media in the pipeline? Any more media that we should keep an eye out for? Got the AI, do we know where that is coming out? Um, I'm
Speaker 1 25:55
not sure. The the photographer came out last week, a bit of a blur between some different travel things, so they have all the images. So I'm not sure exactly when that one would come out, but hopefully in the next couple of weeks, and a few others that I'm just having a chat with and doing that follow up and saying, Hey, still here, if you're wanting to follow up on that story and repeating new angles, particularly with the cost of living. At the moment, I can definitely offer a lot of suggestions and support for articles and stories around that avenue. Awesome.
Liz Nable 26:26
Thank you. Bridget, well, we look forward to seeing your name up in lights and look for be simply free in the media. It's been a pleasure having you on the show.
Unknown Speaker 26:33
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Liz Nable 26:35
This episode of media magnet was brought to you by my signature group coaching program, the media masters Academy. The media masters Academy is a live, online, six week course taught by me and designed to teach you how to become your own publicist and give you exclusive access to pitch the country's top journalists and editors. Doors open just three times a year. Check it out at Liz nable.com along with a ton of free resources to help you get started taking your business from Best Kept Secret to household name right now. If you love this episode of media magnet, please share it with your business buddies or on social media and tag me at at Liz underscore navel. And if there's a specific guest you want to hear from on the show, or a topic or question you want to know more about, please tell me, so I can make sure the show stays dedicated, especially for you. You.
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