Anyone else have trouble celebrating the good things in your business?

Do you feel like the ball could drop at ANY MOMENT so it’s easier to remain calm, collected, NON-EMOTIONAL and to just keep focus on the NEXT goal. 

I’ve been in business for a bit over four years and I swear to God it still feels like my first year sometimes. I have a really hard time celebrating the wins -big and small. It can sometimes feel like it’s never enough. It’s an exhausting way to run a business. 

But since today’s my birthday and I’m not getting any younger EVER, I want to start this new year with a better mentality. So today, I’m going to talk about how I landed on the homepage of Entrepreneur.com this week and hopefully give you some solid insight how you can too. 

Here’s how I went about securing my own press. 

🌟I knew the social proof power of the press so I started figuring out where my business story could make sense (did this early last year in 2020.)

🌟I landed on Entrepreneur, Business Insider & Inc.com as “goal press gets”. 

🌟Researched who reported there and started following key people on Linkedin, Instagram and Twitter. Engaged naturally with their content when I could add value. 

🌟Started making more intentional Instagram posts, reels, stories and Linkedin content in order to match how I wanted to be perceived (as the go-to video storytelling expert)

🌟Asked my network if they had any connections to specific people and if anyone would mind doing a warm intro or send me an email (I didn’t immediately send any outreach or asks but kept those in my file when I was more ready.)

🌟Met a woman last year online named Sabina Hitchen, who runs an online community helping small business owners secure press and we started knowledge swapping over zoom.We become friends. Still have not met in person. 😂

🌟After about six months, Sabina mentions I should try and connect with a woman named Jessica who writes and makes video for Entrepreneur. (ticks off nicely on my GOAL LIST.)

🌟One week later (randomly) in one of my larger mom business groups, Jessica’s name popped up in an email in this group. I had no idea she was even part of this group.  I replied to her and we started chatting. (thanks Sabina for mentioning her name to me!)

🌟Because I have a media background, I definitely had an easier “in” in finding common ground but it was just a “Hey, I bet we know a lot of the same people, maybe I can help you…wanna zoom?!” This was still last year. 

🌟We set up a zoom and we hit it off. I explain to her my background and the pivot to helping small business owners level up on video. I ask her a lot of questions on what she’s working on, what content she likes making and if there were any “dream stories” (I know she writes for this community as I had looked at all her stuff prior to this call.)

🌟A few weeks later I get a note from her asking me if I want to do an interview as she thinks I’d be useful for HER audience. 

And the rest is history.

The link to this article and video is here. And the bonus…the interview went so well, the editors decided to split the interview and make a Part 2 that will come out later. 

Moral of this story is.

This was a slow burn to press.

It didn’t happen overnight.

There was a lot of time making video and post content more valuable.

I did a lot of research on my end so when I did get an opportunity with a reporter, I was pitching but not pitching at all. 

I was ready. 

Because of Covid, I said yes a lot more to meeting random people online and taking the next step of setting up zoom meetings. I’m not sure had it been a “normal” year if I would’ve made the time for that. As a result, I expanded my network a ton and met a lot of amazing ladies (Sabina being one of them and unbeknownst at the time, the key person to bridge the gap between me and the reporter.)

Aim high. Put yourself out there. Don’t get discouraged because good things take time. More time than you think. 

OK, I’m signing off for the rest of the day and getting ready to go out…like out out out in NYC tonight. I literally have not bought clothes that weren’t maternity or didn’t have a GIANT elastic waistband in approximately two years.