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Hey guys, what's up. Welcome to my weekly Facebook live show. I'm Jen Berson. Hi, I'm on Instagram again today. Um, good to see you guys. I am the founder of generation PR, which is a PR social media marketing agency here in Los Angeles. And we specialize in promoting baby and kids, brand beauty and cosmetics brands, health and wellness brands. And I'm also the founder of profitable PR pros. So if you're watching on Instagram hop over to Facebook at some point and join us in our Facebook group, look for profitable PR pros, completely free group, and it is 2,500 PR professionals all over the world, supporting each other, um, helping each other through challenges with clients. That's what we're going to talk about today. And, um, you know, we're also supporting PR pros with an entire suite of programs to help you become a pitching powerhouse and, you know, convert your pitches for clients to press features and then launch grow and scale a profitable PR agency all on your terms.
So I come on every single Thursday at 11:00 AM Pacific, unless I'm out of town, which I was supposed to be out of town next week in Mexico, but we canceled our trip, uh, because of COVID. So just want to keep my family safe and not have to quarantine in Mexico for two weeks. If one of my kids happens to get sick because they're not old enough to get vaccinated yet, but anyway, so I will be here again next week, but I'm here every single week. And today's question came from a really good thread on our Facebook group, um, inside the profitable PR post Facebook group and getting a lot of love over there and Instagram, oh, I'm so happy. I went live on Instagram today, uh, but Francesca asked, uh, about a month ago and there were some really good feedback. So we thought it was a great discussion point because a lot of different, um, people had different had different, um, advice and things.
And so I wanted to share what their advice was and also share mine. So it was all about what happens when you're pitching a client. You've been talking to them for months, you've outlined your PR services, but there's constant delays. Like some manager is sick and they need their sign-off. They want to assess the deliverables. They want to have another call. They ask for more detail with your proposal. Um, they just seem to be dragging things out over and over again. And, um, Francesca said it was very annoying. Um, you know, what is a good narrative or email or message to put them, um, into like a, a feeling of pressure. So, uh, they feel like they have to start sign the contract and move forward. So she doesn't want to sound rude, but she doesn't want to sit around and waste her time. And I have to tell you nothing annoys me more than a client who is a prospective client. Who's kind of disrespectful of your time and makes you feel like you're just kind of at their Beck and call. Um, you know, it's, it's really annoying to me because it's like, listen, that sets the tone for the entire relationship. Hi Barbara, bye. See you over there.
And if you're here or hearsay high, because you guys know I can see you. Hi Nelson. So, um, this is me on Facebook. This is me on Instagram. I'm filtered over here. So I'm all favoring over here. Like hi Instagram, cause I'm a little, a little glam filter. This is the real me over her bags under my eyes and all, we haven't been getting a lot of sleep around here. Um, anyway, so we had a lot of good advice from the community and I want to share, um, everybody's advice and then I'll weigh in on my own and actually Nelson who's here did share some advice. I'll start with him since he's here. Hi Barb, uh, Nelson said they will be the client from health when you need to schedule interviews with the media for them. So my advice is to drop them and move on and find other clients, um, very good advice.
You know, uh, we had some other perspectives. Tony Boylan said that can be frustrating, but the patient, this was interesting. He said, think about the many times that you've gone back and forth over a purchase. If it's clothes or new car or anything, it's normal for us to waiver on big decisions. And there really isn't a good way to force perspective clients to speed up, giving them any sort of ultimatum. We'll just make them shut down and either search elsewhere or cancel plans for PR altogether. And she said, just ride it out and be helpful. Nobody likes to have their time wasted, but nobody likes to be rushed into a purchase decision either. And I really like Tony's advice there because it puts you in their position and it's an empathetic way to look at it. Like it's a hard decision, it's a lot of money.
It's, um, you know, we've hummed and hawed over decisions in our lives as well. And there might be something causing them to come to the brakes a little bit and just be empathetic and set in their shoes a little bit and be helpful. That's always my approach really, to anything during the client discovery period, to a point, um, you know, like Francesca do like wasting my time. And I don't like when it feels like I'm getting taken advantage of, but I like that approach at the beginning to be really helpful, answer their questions without giving too much away, but, um, you know, be, be helpful. And I hope I'm going to say this right. Um, I practiced it, but let's see all the, what Femi said, be extra patient with them, especially if this is their first venture into PR. Remember what you're offering is intangible.
That's really great, like mindset repositioning while waiting reiterate the value proposition of your service by referencing recent case study that the client can relate to. That's awesome advice for us. We know the value of what we provide PR in our eyes is very clear. And I've said this over and over again to our members and to this community. It's not always clear to clients what it is that we do. It's like this big mystery and it is intangible. And a lot of times we're asking them to pay us and it will all the time. You should be asking them to pay you in advance of service, but we're asking them to not always see the exact ROI on things. Being able to show features, but not always say what that resulted in. That's hard for some clients, especially when they're very metrics driven and they want the, of these KPIs and they want you to like show certain tangibles.
Um, so, uh, okay, hold on. So Instagram, I got a phone call, so that was a little, little disruption there. Um, hopefully you guys are back and you can see me. You're still here. So that's good hybrid. Hi Brittany. Um, so I really liked that reiterate the value proposition of your service by referencing a recent case study. So that's showing them like, this could be, you look, what we recently did. This was the client's challenge. This was our approach. Here's the results that we got. That's really helpful to them. It's showing them ciao. Hello. Uh, it's showing them what is possible for them by what you've done for another client. Um, hi Lindsey, uh, literally had a CFO call today regarding the metrics. Yeah, I hear you on the intangibility. It's really hard and they're getting more, uh, specific and they're asking for different deliverables beyond the normal reporting, which is like comparable ad value impressions.
We actually did a masterclass Shauna. Um, it knuckles who I do not speak Italian. I wish I don't. Um, but Shauna knuckles in, um, who is helping me run my agency, she's in our programs and she has her own coaching programs, supporting agency owners as well. She did a masterclass inside of our agency accelerator call all around Barcelona principles and new reporting metrics for clients. And it was awesome and it really helped our members think about how to answer those challenging questions. Lindsay, like you had with the CFO who wanted more deep dive metrics, um, sometimes it does come up in this, in a sales period. So you want to have a way that you can translate their KPIs into something that's measurable that you can actually deliver without promising a certain number of hits because we just can't do that. Um, and Nelson saying, I have a client right now that is giving me grief over a renewal.
Now the CEO is asking me to jump through hoops and create a list for him of major hits that I've gotten for other clients. After he told me two weeks ago that he would renew, I'm really getting annoyed and debating whether or not to drop him. That's one of those, um, one of those itch issues where you have to kind of like trust your gut, sometimes the relationship changes, um, and it becomes not exactly worth it. If you, and you know, cause you've done this a long time to trust that feeling of like, this is different, the CEO, it, I don't like the jump through hoops you've already been there. You've already proven yourself. What's changed. So why do you have to at this phase do that? You know, so I think Nelson knows at this point how to really trust his instinct in whether or not this is something worth pursuing or not.
Um, but I love that advice from Oliva family. Awesome. And I hope I'm saying your name right name, right. It's beautiful. Um, Natalia cruise or T said, I would just ignore them and keep following up on others and keep prospecting. If someone isn't responding, they're not interested. Um, crystal Willis said to motivate potential clients, I'll usually email them and let them know that the retainer offer is good until a certain date. And my rates and bandwidth are subject to change. If other clients enroll dead lightens and scarcity create urgency. That is true. Um, we'll talk about that a little bit more. Um, cause I share my advice here. Um, Miranda, my amazing integrator, who has a ton of experience booking clients that send them an email with the rates like crystal mentioned and then wash your hands at it. If they book they book, if not, hi Ellen, if not move on, um, move on to other prospects in the meantime.
So I like a lot of this advice and I say, trust your gut and what feels right. And not every client will be humming and hawing over the same reasons. Um, there's a lot of different reasons and it's not always the reason they give you. Um, they're, you know, you have to kind of listen and pick up on the, on the clues by, by. Um, part of it is, uh, like we just had a client that did this and I'll, I'll deep dive into what happened with, but um, there's outside factors. You don't, you know, you're, you're always listening to the key decision maker. There's other factors outside of their control. Like the launch date is delayed because of production issues. It's not always that they don't want to work with you. It's not always the price. It's not always you or they're talking to another agency.
Sometimes they're bad at communicating what's really happening. Um, but here's what we put together in terms of our advice and taking everything the community offered and kind of summing it up into something that you can take away. So I do feel like it's a red flag when a perspective client takes forever to book services. Um, sometimes there's budget issues or it's a bigger company. Sometimes that's the challenge with us as like a large company has a lot of different hurdles. Like there's a lot of decision-makers, there's a bunch of different people. They have to run it up the flagpole. And in that instance, it's probably the same when you're going to be working together because there's going to be a lot of people weighing in. And so for us, I like think of it like steering a cruise ship, the bigger the company, the harder it is to maneuver and we're nimble.
We want to move fast. We want to be like a speed boat. We need to just have autonomy. We need to go. And if they're having a hard time getting approvals from all the various parties, imagine when you have certain things that you need to work very quickly on a short timeline, you know, cause you want to meet an editor's timeline. You want to meet a journalist deadline. So it's very challenging to work quickly with a big company. Big companies sometimes will have autonomy in their individual divisions and there'll be able to get you an answer quickly. And then you're like, this is awesome. Cause they have big budgets, but they're also going to help you move quickly. And sometimes they'll come after an agency like yours because you can move quickly and they don't know how to really do that on their own. But it is challenging when you see in this approvals phase that they're like stalling there's deadlines.
There's a lot of key decision makers. That's a challenge for me. And I get nervous about the type of company or client, um, who has a ton of approvals or they're demanding things like immediately in this process. Like I need this proposal right now and then they lag. So they're telling you, please hurry, please get us this proposal. We need it right away. We're considering all of these things, um, you know, in the next week and we need it, you know right now. And then you don't hear from them. That to me feels like a red flag. And that happens a lot with the companies. I think everyone's at their Beck and call. It's like this, hurry up and wait forever back and forth game. And it's frustrating to me. Um, so for me that's a bit of a red flag and then if it's not a big company and there's this kind of delay and they're not booking services, this is also a huge red flag.
And you need to just step away because if they're ghosting you right now, they may go see you for payment. That happens a lot. Um, and you definitely don't want to put yourself in that situation where you say to yourself, like we've done everything we're supposed to do. I was waiting on this company for the proposal. They finally signed my agreement and now I'm waiting on them for payment. It's kind of like a pattern of behavior. They don't see that your time is valuable. They don't respect your time. They don't respect the value of the service that you're providing. And sometimes when they have, however, the decision, it's not a thing people say anymore, hem and haw. I say, it makes me probably sound like an old lady, but it's the right thing to say here. They just drag. They don't really see that your time is as valuable as you know that it is.
Um, they're not respectful of your time. So they're going to be hard to work with because they don't always respect those boundaries or they don't appreciate the value of the services that you're offering to them right from the start. So in those instances, I feel it's likely not worth your time to even pursue these types of delayed response clients because they always lead to bigger headaches long-term and you can always pin it back to that courting period. Um, Jenelle high, she's saying, I love what you said about, they are ghosting you about the proposals. They will go to you for payment. It happens a lot. Unfortunately, when you can look back and see this kind of pattern and we all want clients, listen, I want clients to, I want it to work out. I always want it to be a fit, but anytime there's challenges down the road, I can always look back.
I can always look back and be like, I ignored it. There were some red flags and I chose to ignore it. So that's just, all I'm saying is like pay attention to those signs. Trust your gut on those things. Nelson saying, I just got through a pitch to a COO and director of marketing of a huge wellness company in Canada. It was a warm lead set up by someone I know in the capital markets, the CEO was supposed to be there and I probably could have closed with him on the zoom call. Now I have to wait for his team to go to the CEO and repitch me. And this was frustrating. That's always a challenge too, is you think you're talking to the key decision makers or you hope you are and then you're not. So that's what happened to me, Nelson, just now with a company we have been talking to since freaking October and the way they sounded was like, they were launching this product wide at Walmart.
They had done a test market in Texas and it worked really well. And they were going to be launching in Walmart and walmart.com nationwide. And we talked to them in October about this. We jumped through so many hoops, their parent companies and New Zealand, but they have somebody here in the U S and we talked to that person quite a bit. The person in New Zealand, we always made calls at a time that was convenient for the New Zealand decision-maker. And then she never came on the calls. She was stuck in traffic. She was on another call that was running late. It started to feel like the us Walmart launch or our time or her local boots on the ground, LA marketing person, our time wasn't a priority. Our initiative wasn't a priority. And that was getting really frustrating to us because we were like, we're setting these times.
She's not showing up. We thought we were talking to the key decision maker and then she would say, I have to go run it by the team in New Zealand. So they delayed in October, um, made it sound like we were hired, but the reality was they hadn't even gotten a date from Walmart on when the launch was happening. So then it didn't happen. And then it finally was going to happen in July, the end of July. And they reached out to us like, what was it? Five weeks ago? And they were like, what do we do? What's our timing. And we're like, your timing was two months ago, but we'll do what we can. And then we put something together and then they were really kind of dragging and lagging again, getting the key decision makers, um, excuse me, I'm trumping eyes, those key decision makers to actually come to the table, hear what we had to say about the strategy.
And then eventually we just said, no, we can't do this because we are set up to fail with this timeline, given the delays. I mean, we've been talking to you since October and now it's like pedal to the metal. We said, we are not going to be successful with this timeline. They are de Hyde area where they're definitely playing games with us. So we turned them down and we said, Nope. And we said, here are the key success factors. And they're not here. Like given this short, condensed timeline, we don't have that ability. So then they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, what is it going to take? We got on a call. And then they ultimately were like, yeah, we see what you're saying. And we're not going to pursue PR for this launch, but we'll come back. But it's one of those words, like it's never going to happen.
It's never going to happen. They can not get out of their own way. And we could see that back in October when we couldn't even get the decision-makers on the call and they strung us along, like they're ready to get started, but they didn't even have a launch date. They didn't even convey that to us. So it was like really frustrating. So thanks for the love over there. Facebook, um, I am gonna give you four tips for booking clients that are struggling to make a decision. Okay. So here are four tips. It's a kind of boiling down of everybody's advice and an approach that you can use so that you don't get stuck in this endless loop because it does not feel good. So number one be patient. So that's just a thing you got to do with all of this. I know we're like raring to go and we want to hit the ground running once we send a proposal.
But after you send a proposal, you realize that the client has a lot to think about, especially if they've never invested in PR before. So this kind of takes us back to Tony's, um, position, which is kind of put yourself in their shoes and all of what Femi, who kind of said the same thing. It's like be patient you're offering something in tangible, especially if it's new to them. Um, it's challenging for them to, you know, see that intangible, especially if they don't really know what PR is. So we don't want to pressure clients. I don't love pressuring clients. Um, I think it sets the wrong tone when you just start out. Um, so I want you to give your client app ample time and opportunity to read the proposal and discuss with their team as needed. And of course, you're going to follow up that's number two.
So follow up, once you waited an appropriate amount of time, maybe it's like three to five business days at a minimum, you can make a follow-up call or send an email, probably the way that you've been communicating with them. And sometimes clients see the proposal, but they move on to other things without reading it. And then they forget to finish it later. That definitely happens. Um, so you're kind of nudging them. It's like a friendly follow-up to get them back to thinking about your proposal. So follow up, you're kind of keeping the door open. You're keeping the foot, your foot in the door and then give a timeframe for responding to your proposal. So it's not indefinite. So then you can say with a deadline on a quote or a retainer amount. So they're more likely to take action now. So you can put that in the proposal.
If you want, you can say it's good for, um, 30 days or it's like, I had a client come back to us after six months because I didn't put a date in there. And it was a little annoying. Um, I, we still ended up working with them and I was still okay with the rate, but it was like something that we've changed now where we'll say it's good for a certain amount of time, because I'd never had anybody like sit on it for six months and then be like, just kidding, here we are. Hi, we're back. Um, and it wasn't even like, let's have a call. It was like, we're ready to get started. Uh, okay. Where have you been? And never go sit on payment or anything like that? Um, that was one of those things where it was kind of like, all right, let's see what happens and it was fine.
Um, so yeah, if you put it in there or in the follow-up email, give them a timeframe so that they're more likely to take action now. And then number three, I liked this one a lot. So it's like consider offering them some more details. So if you haven't heard back at this point, send another followup to see if they have any unanswered questions that you can help with. And if they say no, you know, they've likely probably possibly let's say possibly already disqualified your proposal and just thank them for their time and move on. Um, if the prospect is willing to engage in a conversation about your proposal, you're still in the running a potential client who agrees to keep the lines of communication open has obviously seen something they can appreciate about your proposal and they're considering it. It could be that they're in discussion with another agency, maybe they're negotiating rate or negotiating some other factor, but they don't want to let you go at this point.
Um, see what you can do to kind of like keep the heartbeat alive there. The best question to ask is, are there any questions or concerns relating to the proposal that I can help you with? And then that gives them the opportunity to learn about any. It gives you the opportunity to learn, um, about any possible objectives and how to overcome them. And if there's a problem, the client will let you know, if there's a concern or a concern, you can still take the bid just by, um, clarifying the issue for your prospect. So you never know, until you ask, you can kind of figure out is this going to be loud at the Gardner? I don't know what that is. Um, you can still figure out what is the holdup. If it's some service that you're not offering, maybe ask them how, what, like what the goal is that they're looking for, what their objectives are and how, what you're going to provide to them actually does meet those objectives or how you would start here.
And then you could grow into that service, but it's not essential yet to move into that other thing, because you need to have this foundation laid first, something like that, where you might be able to overcome it because they're looking for something, but you can reframe them to show that what you're offering them actually does meet that objective. Um, so number three was, you know, offer more details. Um, the other thing that I do at this phase is if they gave you a time that they're looking to get started and that is upcoming, or it's like here in past, these are resources that you're tying up. I mean, if we told them we can meet your timeline and they're still not coming to the table, I let them know, you know, we're, we have people dedicated to this and we're here for you and we're ready to get started.
So I kind of, I just want an answer either way. Like if it's a no, then tell me we're tying up, not tying up cause that's negative, but we have resources allocated to provide you service immediately. Like based on the timeline we discussed and it would be helpful to know if your timeline is delayed, because then I don't have to tie up my team. And then also we get an answer. So we know actually what WTF is happening here? Like what are they actually doing? A number four. This is where every single thing that I do is being gracious. Um, being gracious, being kind, not taking it personally, because they're going to go off into the world. They're going to talk about their experience with you if you kind of lash out because you're mad and you take it personally, that is not going to set you up in the long-term for a good relationship.
And you also don't know why they're delaying. So if they're unresponsive, even if that's the case be gracious. So no matter the outcome of the dialogue, you start with your prospects. After they read the business proposal, always extend courtesy and gratitude. Even if the proposal ends, when they choose to do business with your most intense competitor and your back and forth discovery process on a high note with a really sincere thanks, because what this shows is that you have grace under pressure and it preserves your reputation as a stellar PR pro like you are a professional and they'll remember that and you can earn their business or even their recommendation down the road. I mean, we've had them go always gracious, right? Daria. You've been here a long time and I know that you always act that way, but you, you know, that that's how I conduct our, you know, our business and for various reasons clients leave or they don't sign on.
It's always thank you for the opportunity. It's been such a pleasure getting to know you and your business. I wish you the best of luck. If things change, please let us know. We're here to help all of that. Okay. Um, Nelson saying I hate proposals or RFPs. I do not do them. I would much rather get the decision maker, CEO or VIP or VP of marketing on a zoom call and close them there. The last thing I asked them on the call is, can you S can I send you a contract? And they usually say, yes, that's good. That's a really strong call to action. Like, boom, let's make this happen. I'm going to draft up your contract. Um, yeah, and actually RFPs. We've had a lot of members Nelson asking us about RFPs. So we are pulling together an RFP masterclass for our members, um, and I with you, but we have people that want guidance on how to do RFPs, the best way to respond all of that.
So we're putting together a masterclass and we'll talk about the pros and cons, but, um, some people don't have an extensive network and sometimes they feel that they have to throw their hat in the ring with these RFPs. You know, I don't do them either, but, um, sometimes I do, if it is someplace I have an in and it's part of their process and it's something I know is a formality, very rarely that happens. So that please always, please always demonstrate grace. Um, RFPs are a complete waste of time. In my opinion, I know mem uh, tender masterclass. I think it's in the agency accelerator side, which I know you're not in that program, but, um, it's really good because I am in the exact same boat as you. I absolutely am, but our members are asking about it. So we're bringing everything to the table and we're giving them guidance on when you would do them when they're not a good idea and a complete waste of time, like you say, um, and then how to respond, what to put in.
And we all know what not to put in. You don't give away your strategy, especially when they're clearly putting this out there as a fishing expedition. Um, yeah. So grace, under pressure, you're going to perceive your reputation as a stellar PR pro you are just the consummate professional. Um, you know, it's all about image and reputation. That's part of what we want to have out there for our clients. So we have to demonstrate the same for ourselves. So yeah, that's how I would approach it. And this is always, the challenge is getting clients to actually take action. Um, you know, it's annoying when they string you along. Sometimes you just have to move on. And what I always try to remember is that there is something better for me out there. Something that is a better fit, something that is going to be, um, you know, that I'm more passionate about.
That's going to light me up. That's going to make me feel appreciated and clients that are going to actually be responsive and pay their bills on time. And that I'm not going to have to struggle and fight at all turns. It doesn't have to be that hard. And when clients show you who they are in the discovery process, believe them pay attention to it. The signs are always there. Okay. So that's what I have for you guys today. We have this really great resource for you. Our agency accelerator tool kit. We've promoted it for a very long time. So you guys may already have it. If you are new here should not Dre. Oh, you got my little packet. You're so welcome. You're so welcome. I hope you enjoy it. What'd you think of those stickers? Aren't they, the cutest. I love them so much. We designed some stickers for our members, stick them all over and then show me on Instagram or you put them, um, I have a laptop over here. Let me get this laptop and show you what I put them on your little stickers. Aren't thank you. So I put them on an old laptop.
That's our pitching powerhouse profitable PR pros. We had little stickers made up for our members and they sent some other goodies and Chanel drones. So glad that you got your package. Um, anybody have any other questions for me or want to weigh in on this topic or dealing with this right now, where you've put out a proposal and people are like, you're like a tick-tock on the clock. Where are you guys? Um, yeah, I want to talk about any trips that you're taking so that I can live vicariously. Since my trip to Mexico was canceled. I haven't got a new dress. I got a couple of cute outfits. Um, I don't know if I can ship to Canada without it being like a whole to do. Um, the packages are for our agency accelerator. Um, let me see what I can do Nelson. I think we may have your address.
I spent so much time on new business proposals. Hi, Jessica. Um, are you feeling like it's a waste of your time? Sometimes you have to have a better, we'll get you a package Nelson. You're like such a valued member of our community. I would love to get you our, um, stickers, sending stuff to Canada as a challenge, but I probably can send a letter with the stickers in them. Um, you may be already getting one. I don't know. We have a process so that I make sure I get everybody, but, um, Jessica, sometimes there are other things during the vetting process that will prevent us from even getting to that proposal phase. Um, so that you don't waste your time. And we talk about red flags in our agency accelerator. I have like an entire module. Um, oh, yay. Lindsay, Miami and San Diego next week.
You still live in LA Lindsay. Um, yeah. Um, email it to us. We probably have it, email it to us. Um, but sometimes you can avoid getting into that. I don't want to go down the road and even spend the time to write a proposal for every single client I talked to, if the red flags are like, you know, the alerts are, are blaring and I know they're not going to be a great client or they can't afford us, or they're just looking for strategy or they're not ready. So we have, oh, you're in New York. Oh, okay. Um, Hmm. Wait my turn LA, but yeah. So, oh yeah, no, no, no. That's I, I think I knew that, um, well enjoy San Diego. It's going to be awesome. And Miami sounds fabulous. So sad. Um, I had like new swimsuits. I had never planned to pack so cute for a trip before.
I usually just throw everything in my closet, in a bag and then go like, what the heck did I do? But we're, we were supposed to go with a huge group, like 17 people, um, for other families to Mexico. And this, um, doctor that my husband is friends with, that lives in the bay area. He's chief resident at a hospital. And he was the one who planned the whole trip and invited all of us. And he said he and his wife just really thought long and hard. And he sinks so many COVID cases. So many Delta variant cases in his hospital. And he said, because one of his daughters isn't vaccinated and he is seeing some vaccinated, people get the Delta and then transmit it to people who are not vaccinated. Um, he just said, it's too risky. And we didn't want to get stuck quarantining in Mexico.
Our hotel was like, no problem. If you get COVID and you have to quarantine, we have a whole wing for people who are COVID positive and it's the rate. So you stay in the room for two weeks and the rate is 70% of the normal rate. So they're like, we offer a discount. It's still a thousand dollars a night because this is an all-inclusive. So, um, no, thanks. Like I'm gonna go spend, are you kidding me? No way, $14,000 to go be quarantined in Mexico because one of my kids gets cold. Like it just, the risk was not anything we were willing to take. So when the doctor kind of told us the reality and pulled out, we all canceled and we're super bombed, but, um, you know, everybody has to stay safe and healthy. So, and we're actually supposed to go to Canada for labor day.
We're going to go to Banff, which was our trip last year, over labor day that got canceled. But so far, it seems like it's still happening. I hope. Yeah. Daria. I know it's the right decision. Absolutely. Um, you know, and the other thing too is my, my father. I know my mom's watching, my father had heart surgery on Friday and, um, I didn't want to risk not being able to see him. Um, he is doing so good. It's insane. Let me just tell you guys what a beast my dad is. He is, it's an amazing, so, um, I know it's, it's opening up August 9th. We're going to be going for labor day to Banff lake Louise Jasper, um, for a week. So yes. Thank you so much. So my dad, you guys is incredible. He's been a runner for like 60 years, 50 something years before Nike even was Nike, like before people jogged and he still runs, um, and is like, he's a neighborhood staple.
People know my dad, they're like, that's your dad that runs like he's been running in the neighborhood forever. And, um, you know, he's in his like mid to late seventies and many years back, he had quadruple bypass. Now my dad is like tall and thin, very athletic. He eats extremely healthy. Doesn't smoke, doesn't drink. Um, only eats dessert on the weekends and has never really broken that unless it's like a birthday, he doesn't drink sugar soda, like super healthy. So when my dad had that surgery, people were like shocked because he is like the healthiest guy, any of us know. And he bounced back from that pretty quickly. Um, but he's had challenges since then with like slow heartbeat and low energy. And he ha you know, whatever. So lungs, it's not long story short, but he needed a pacemaker and ablation, like all these other procedures.
And they were able to get them in faster than they thought. So he got in last Friday and he had, I don't know, like six hours of a heart surgery with a pacemaker. And I was really nervous. Like, are we going to be able to see him? And you know, my mom couldn't go to the hospital. She was only able to drop him off and pick them up. And he got, he went home that day, that night. Um, and then I saw him the very next day we met him out for lunch. He looked totally normal, had his normal level of energy, like looked great. You would never know this was six hours. I think around six hours of heart surgery, where he was completely under anesthesia and showed me the pacemaker scar, it was gnarly. And he looked, I mean, I just am like, you are an absolute beast.
And then the next day, my mom's was Sunday. My mom said your dad sneaked out while I was asleep. And he went for an a mile plus walk. So my dad can not be stopped. He is like a nut bag. And I'm sure it was a hundred degrees out. And he had just had heart surgery and he is like already exercising. And like, one of his friends texted him and said, can you play golf on Tuesday at 10:00 AM? And he looked turns to my mom. He goes, can I play golf on Tuesday? And she was like, no, absolutely not. He's like, yeah, no, I didn't think I could. He probably would've done it if she would've said. Yeah. But, um, I'm so grateful. I'm so happy. I'm just so I'm so relieved and so happy. Um, you know, so part of that was just wanting to be able to visit my dad and not, you know, go somewhere, travel and then have to quarantine and not be able to see him.
Um, so yeah. And the other thing that I'll say to you, to you guys is, um, I went to a funeral yesterday for, um, the husband of one of my husband's cousins. And, you know, this was a 45 year old guy, um, passed away from a Safa GL cancer. And he was just an absolutely wonderful, well loved well-respected pillar of the community, just like this gentle giant of a guy. Um, battled for four years has a four year old daughter. All he ever wanted in his whole life was to be a dad. And then he had his daughter and seven months later, he found out he had this cancer and it was just the worst of the worst battles. And he, it was just horrible. Um, and yeah, um, and my husband's cousin is the sweetest, loveliest, nicest, most thoughtful [inaudible] person I've ever known genuinely.
And, you know, we're devastated for them, but the, the funeral, it was like interesting to attend a funeral of somebody who was able to, he saw the end coming and he orchestrated his whole funeral and it was beautiful. It was so beautiful. And he had a mission to get all of us to think about certain things and the mark that you leave in this world and telling people how you feel about them while you have the opportunity. And it was, you know, and it was just lovely. It was lovely. And, um, it made me really think about my community here and how grateful I am to be able to connect with so many people and how all of this group has come together and supported each other and the generosity of it. And it's just been like one of the greatest joys in my life to witness this community coming together.
And, you know, just made me really appreciate, like part of this was his yeah. Loving on your people. Absolutely. Like make sure they know how you feel, you know, and part of what they were talking about was the, the, the effect of what Michael, you know, wanted people to do, like taking his message and spreading it in the world. And the more people that you get, that message to the more of an impact that it has. And I see that in this community, it's like, we all are here to support each other. And it's attracting all these people who were like, wow, there's a community that's going to help me. Well, I want to share, like I was going through some of our feedback and, um, Lacy, one of our members, I look back at something she said, and she's like, this community makes me want to give, and this community makes me want to grow and step up what I, hi, Natasha, it makes me want to like really step up my game.
And they gave so much to me. I want to give back. And that felt very authentic to what Michael wanted his family and friends yesterday to take away from his funeral. So, um, it was really powerful. It made me like so appreciative for my dad, you know, recovering and just being there for my children, like all of that. Um, like I know Natasha's boyfriend just lost his father who was such a lovely, wonderful person. Like never take any of this stuff for granted. And, you know, I just am so grateful. Like my parents and my in-laws are here and we can spend time with them. My kids are going to go see their in-laws my in-laws tomorrow. See their grandparents, my kids are going to camp pretty close to my mom and dad's house. And I'm just looking at that. Like they get to see their grandparents more and like what a gift that is.
And I just, anyway, I'm like all, she would be mushy, but, um, you know, really kind of taking away, like, yeah, like why would, why would something so bad happened to something? So somebody so wonderful. And how do you look at that and try to find the good in it. And a lot of people gave speeches yesterday about that very thing. And, um, that was the key takeaway from every single person was what he stood for and how he behaved in this world. Um, prioritize, prioritizing, you know, being, being a good person and doing good in the world and bringing people together and being charitable and giving, and, um, always seeing the good in people and not being judgmental and all of that, um, spreading that message was like extremely powerful. So that was my takeaway. It was a really, really sad day, but, um, you know, it was, uh, it was a really beautiful send-off and kind of interesting to attend a funeral of somebody who's very cool and very thoughtful who had time to be like, this is exactly how I want it to be.
We're going to play this song and then this person's going to speak. And then, I mean, it was cool. Like it was cool. And one of his brothers is a comedy writer. So it was like the perfect amount of levity at the moment we all needed it. And he was hilarious. It was like so funny, his co his brother is like a really, really amazing comedy writer. So anyway, yeah, it was cool. It was cool. And it like really made me think so not to be a Debbie downer here, but, um, it always, any time, anything like that comes up, it just makes me appreciate everything. I mean, everything, and especially this community and just how giving and helpful and sharing and Natasha, for example, um, one of our members, Kelly, um, really wants to knock it out of the park for a client because she had a little bit of a setback and she wants to crush it in the LA market for a local event.
And all I did was tag, I couldn't get to anything yesterday because I was at this funeral all day and I tagged Natasha. Um, and I tagged Amanda. And the next thing I knew Natasha had reworked her pitch gave her media contacts. I mean, like it was Natasha. I am so grateful. And I know Kelly is so grateful. That is what this community is like, are you kidding me? That was just so selfless and giving, and I just appreciate her for everything. And just everybody in this community anyway, um, go call someone right now or send them a text, anybody that you want to, you know, express how you feel just a little, a little something to let them know how much you appreciate them or something small or something they've done for you. That really meant a lot. Maybe they didn't even know. And yeah.
And, uh, you know, it'll make their day and it'll feel really good, um, to just kind of let somebody know the impact they've had on you, even, even a small little, you know, simple gesture that maybe they did that they may not know. Hi Ryan. They may not know, are you okay? Okay. They may not know how to impact on you, but, um, you can let them know what that did for you and that'll make them feel really good. And anyway, go do that right now. I'm going to do that too. Uh, and I really appreciate you guys being here. Thank you so very much. And we will chat soon. Be well guys, bye.
