From Government Worker to PR Agency Owner Traveling the World on a Yacht — PR Pro Spotlight ft. Erin Carey

pr pro spotlight Aug 24, 2021

“I love that PR has allowed me the freedom to travel the world while combining my passion for travel and my desire to be an entrepreneur.”

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live a life you love running a PR agency and working with your dream clients? Our PR Pro Spotlight Series interviews our students and community members who have made the leap into PR and found huge success!

We’ll be covering all the juicy insider details, from their biggest challenges and favorite parts of the job to their best advice for aspiring PR pros.

Today, we’re sitting down with the amazing Erin Carey, Founder of Roam Generation PR! Erin has an incredibly unique story that you don’t want to miss—she’s traveling the world with her family and running her successful PR agency, all from her yacht!

Tell us a little about your business and niche! Your story is so unique.

I’m the founder of Roam Generation, a travel and lifestyle PR agency focused on helping brands and experts raise their profile and increase their organic reach.

I have 20 years of communications experience in the corporate environment and have interviewed in excess of 1000 people throughout her career. I have an inquisitive nature and love to ask the big questions, to get to the real heart of the story.

Roam Generation came about while my family and I were living on a yacht and sailing the world’s oceans. However, we weren’t sailors when we came up with the crazy idea of leaving the rat race and sailing away.

Without letting that minor detail get in the way, we bought a yacht on the opposite side of the world and went on to cross the Atlantic Ocean a mere 18 months later. Now, our family of five is cruising the Mediterranean with hopes of eventually sailing all the way back to Australia.

While sailing the world, I’ve met the most inspiring people and had the good fortune of visiting the most incredible destinations.

Roam Generation was created to help elevate these stories and destinations in the hopes of inspiring more people to step out of their comfort zone and live a life less ordinary.

Roam Generation helps adventurers and travel-based individuals and companies build their empires to the next level. From international press coverage to the rapid growth of social followers and impressions, Roam Generation has the expertise and the necessary relationships in the travel and lifestyle sector to build credibility, brand awareness, and audience.

Wow! That’s amazing. What were you doing before you became a PR pro?

I worked for the Australian government in personnel security. I worked there for 15 years, before taking a two-year sabbatical where my family and I bought a yacht and sailed the Caribbean.

During that time I fell into a PR role for the second most popular sailing YouTube channel in the world. Once the sabbatical was up, I had to return to my old role, where I also juggled running my PR business and three kids.

After 6 months of doing both, I quit my almost 20-year public service career to work on Roam Generation full-time...and I have zero regrets!

Can you share some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a PR pro?

I've had the challenge of starting from scratch. I literally didn't know what PR was a few years ago. I didn't have any contacts in the industry and had no idea how the media landscape worked. I had never worked with an agency and didn't have a marketing or PR background.

Another challenge I have experienced is running a PR agency from a yacht while my family is within 10m of me at all times—not to mention the fact that my agency is completely remote, so I’ve never met most of my clients in real life, and I’ve also never met my contractors!

How did you find the Profitable PR Pros Community, and how long have you been a member?

I found the community through a quick Facebook search...and I’ve been a member for almost 2 years now!

I’m a member of a number of Jen’s programs, including:

What’s your favorite part about being a member of the Profitable PR Pros community?

Given that I work alone from a boat, feeling like I have a team around me is so important. Being able to ask questions without fear of judgment, and benefiting from so many diverse and experienced PR people has always been so valuable to me.

Knowing that there are others also going through the same kind of challenges enabled me to persist, knowing if others can do it, I can too!

I think it would have been almost impossible for me to have experienced such rapid growth without the Profitable PR Pros and Jen.

What inspired you to join our programs?

I've always been a big believer in finding someone who inspires you and learning all you can from them to replicate their success. Jen is that person for me.

If I can create a PR agency even half as successful as Jeneration PR, then I will be happy. I am well on the way...and that is majorly due to Jen and her programs along with my determination to never give up and that I will succeed.

Have our programs helped you experience positive transformations?

In 12 months, I have gone from someone who fell into PR and was charging as little as $500 a month to a confident PR agency owner with 5 contractors, charging 5 times that amount and rising.

What do you love MOST about the work you do and the clients you work with?

I love that this work has allowed me the freedom to travel the world while combining my passion for travel and my desire to be an entrepreneur.

I feel like I have won the work lottery – my clients are all running inspiring businesses in the travel and lifestyle sector, and through Roam Generation’s work, we are inspiring and educating more and more people about the benefits and rewards of travel.

My clients inspire me to live my best life and in return, I am the best person to represent them because I literally live the lifestyle we represent.

What are some outlets you’ve secured features in for yourself and your clients?

I have been lucky enough to secure features in many top-tier publications. Personally, I've featured in Forbes, Conde Nast Traveler, CNBC, Business Insider, Financial Times, and Yahoo.

I've landed my clients in many publications including Forbes, USA Today, BBC, CNN Travel, Insider, Yahoo, CNBC, Daily Mail, Explore, and Travel Weekly to name a few.

What advice would you give to aspiring PR pros?

My advice would be: don't reinvent the wheel!

Jen has done all the groundwork for you. Just do her course and combine that with determination and tenacity, and you are almost guaranteed to succeed!

The Pitch Lab is gold, and it's affordable, so there's really no reason why everyone can't do that one and uplevel their pitching skills!

And I know that The Agency Accelerator might seem like a scary chunk of money to invest, but honestly, you're investing in your company and you WILL get the returns within a few short months, guaranteed. You’ll raise your retainer prices, too—before I took the course, my retainer rates were literally five times less than what I’m confidently charging now. Without the course, I wouldn't have had the confidence to have increased my retainers.

Other than that, my motto is just don't give up. If you don't give up, you can't fail. Just keep trying and you'll eventually get there in PR!

We’re so grateful that Erin decided to share her story with us! We can all learn a lot from her innovativeness, courage, and her stellar advice.

Check out Erin’s agency Roam Generation now, and be sure to join the Profitable PR Pros community over on Facebook so that you can take advantage of all that this amazing community has to offer!