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Hey Facebook, what is up? Welcome to my weekly Facebook live. I'm Jen Berson. I'm the founder of generation PR and the creator of the profitable PR pros community and our vast, uh, offering of resources aimed to help you become a pitching powerhouse and then teaching you how to grow and scale your own profitable PR firm. I go live every single week on Facebook. Join us in the profitable PR post community. If you're watching on Instagram, hop on over to Facebook, just type in profitable PR pros, you'll see our group. We have over 2,500 PR professionals all over the world, the most collaborative, helpful, supportive community of PR professionals. I see some of you guys here are in that group. Um, and we have all the programs that are designed to train you, help you become a pitching powerhouse. I actually was just interviewing, uh, one of the members of both of our programs, who is literally running her PR agency from a yacht currently off the coast of Majorca headed to, uh, somewhere in Africa.
I can't remember where she said actually, but, um, and it was extremely cool to talk to her. Um, really interesting to hear that she's a great storyteller, but didn't know that that was actually PR and she learned so much joining our programs, um, especially the pitch lab and then jumped into the agency accelerator. And now she's like a year and a half into her business and traveling the world with her family while like with her boys pulled them out of school, husband left his job and she supporting her family running her PR firm room generation from a yacht currently off the coast of my Yarka. She said, oh, it was just outside of my bikini. And I threw on clothes to come talk to you live in the dream. So if you've ever dreamed of that digital nomad lifestyle, it's totally possible. I've worked from all over the world when I've taken trips with my family, um, or not.
If I had just choose to check out, we've set up our agency in a way that we can run it without, um, having to work while we're on vacay. And I'm trying to figure out on Facebook, where are my comments? Um, anyway, I don't know where that went, but, um, I see that you guys are, oh, quite a few. Oh, I see. Hi Nelson. Okay. That's where you guys are. Awesome. Well, I'm gonna dive in today to talk about rates. And one of the things that Erin on that last interview said to me is that when she started her business and before we started working together, her rates were embarrassingly low. That was her quote. And she said that she found the confidence in our programs to five X, her rates, and now her rates are that. And then some, so it's really hard. Oh, good.
Awesome. Okay. I sent Nelson a package and he got it or a little, a little envelope, um, figuring out what to charge for your services. It can be really an honor going battle. Um, but you know, we always have this fear. It's usually what is driving the discussion is fear holding you back from asking for what you worth, what you're worth or asking for the value that you provide. We're going to talk about that as a way to just identify that thing that is keeping you stuck in your rates and playing small so that you can at least have that awareness and then look at it from a different lens that will give you that confidence to maybe slowly or maybe all at once, increase your rates. So, um, I know that we all like really struggle with this, but we all want to obviously be making more money.
And I want you to think about doing it in a way where you're not actually having to work more or work harder because we want to get you away from the I'm trading time for dollars model. And I don't want you to automatically jump to the decision that if you want to make more money, you have to spend more time bringing in more clients at the same rate. So I know that the biggest kind of challenge and working with all of the members of my programs is fear. That is the thing, the number one thing that holds people back from making the decision that they're going to raise their rates. Um, usually it's that fear. They're going to lose a client when they're having that discussion, give me a heart or a thumbs up or heart or thumbs up or whatever it is you do on each of these platforms to let me know that that maybe resonates with you.
Um, let me know. Um, and I'll say back when I first started my agency in 2005, I charged as little as I could for a bunch of reasons, but I realized that all of those reasons were really rooted in fear. Um, I was afraid that if I asked for more money, people would leave. They would say, well, we can't afford that, or you're not worth it. Um, I was an attorney when I made the transition. So I thought people would say, well, why would I pay a lawyer that much to do my PR you're not even qualified. Um, and it wouldn't be wrong. I still had to learn a lot. Um, uh, and hi, Melissa, Melissa saying, I don't fear I'll lose them because I feel we can always negotiate, but I'll only go down to a certain number. Yeah. And that's a great kind of mental place to start.
The decision to hire a PR firm should not be based on the price. It should be based on the fit on the connection, the agencies, um, expertise, um, and in established reputation, contacts, experience, and knowledge in your niche. Um, that's what we really try to convince clients of when we're on these calls, that we are the right fit. So that if price is a challenge, that decision will be a discussion. It's not the ending point. So I love them or Melissa, sorry, jumps into this discussion. Um, without that fear, because she knows that if she's truly the right fit, there's going to be a discussion about price. If the budget is, um, you know, out of reach for the clients. Um, I worried too back when I got started that if I didn't have experience or the knowledge to merit the rates, the retainers I was asking for that I wanted to earn, um, that that was going to come up.
People were going to say, well, you're not established and you don't really have the how yet. And, um, I also worried that there was this world full of experts, authorities, deep subject matter experts, niche experts, and that maybe I didn't stack up, but what I realized pretty quickly on and what I try to encourage members of our community to really think about and wrap their head around is that's just wrong. Um, you're probably undercharging. And in order to grow and scale your agency, you need to ask for more money. Um, and this is what happens. It's kind of this beautiful, brilliant thing. And give me a thumbs up if you've experienced this and, or a heart or whatever, that when you charge more, you attract better clients. Hi, Kelly Kelly says yes, all of years. Um, and Nelson says I had no fear at all anymore.
I charge what I want to charge. And if a potential client is not willing to pay what I'm worth, I won't take them on as a client. I'll move on and go find more fish in the sea. Yeah. Um, th there are instances and I totally agree with that. Um, and that's how I run my business and price our services too, but there are instances and we talk all about them, where we make exceptions for certain things that check a lot of boxes. Okay. So just know that there are exceptions, but when we started raising our rates, our agency became horrible. We attracted hierarchical or clients. Um, we are working with billion dollar brands. We have had a billion dollar brand, right. Each, each, each of our three niches, um, who all know that we work from home don't care. This was before COVID, I've been working from home for 16 plus years.
Um, and everybody's finally caught on that. Like, you can do exceptional work when you work from home and it's kind of awesome. Um, yes, of course I negotiate Melissa. Absolutely. I do negotiate always. Yep. I'm open to it. Like, I will always come in at a rate where I'm expecting some kind of negotiation and sometimes they don't negotiate. They'll just be like, cool. Send a contract. And you're like, yeah, like it's the best thing ever, but we always have some kind of negotiation. Sometimes we'll put in services that maybe we could trim out because we don't want to just be like, sure, we'll cut our rate. We want to show like, okay. Um, you know, there are some essential services that are going to be, oh, Nelson. Yeah. Um, that are going to be like unable to cut rehab. Absolutely. Have to, um, yeah, we do start on the higher side to give room to negotiate.
Sometimes I'm extremely honest. I'll ask their budget. And if it's way out of line, I'll tell them, you know, here's my candid take on this. Like, we're kind of far apart, um, for what you're looking for. And we'll have a discussion about if I can get them up and if we can kind of discuss services without losing impact, um, to see if the only if I'm like, I really, really want to work with you. Like, I love your brand. It's going to make us look awesome. Um, Kelly's saying, have you found that the pandemic has made clients more leery of paying your rate? Um, I wouldn't say that Kelly, I would say that there was a pause in the beginning while everyone was just like, what the heck, what the heck is happening and what do we do? And we, weren't getting a lot of new business leads.
And then we started to see them come in. And now with Delta, it's a little bit slow. So on the new business leads, but I just got one this week, nothing that I'm super pumped about, and I don't think we'll pursue it. Um, but it's not like I did have some challenges at the beginning. Like one of my biggest clients declared bankruptcy at the beginning of the pandemic. They had been swirling the drain for years and years and years. Huge, publicly traded company that was on everybody's like number one, like top 10 list, number one of clients of, of, uh, brands that were likely to declare bankruptcy that year. Cool. Right. Cool. But the pandemic took them out. Um, that was hard, but it, none of it had to do with us or none of it was isolated to just us, uh, clients. I had, um, contracts that ran out.
Um, I had a big company consolidate all of their PR in house, which kind of sucked. Um, but they're talking about coming back. So, you know, there's a bunch of factors at play. And I think a lot of it this time around is that it's like all this unknown and we're still starting to see that this whole thing is very unknown. But when clients make that decision that they are seeking out PR or influencer marketing, social media, marketing, whatever it is you provide or all of the above they're on that path. And they're there knowing that that is an expense that they're now deciding that they're ready to invest in. So it hasn't made them say, well, the pandemic made me not able to afford, um, or not do, um, not check into your service, even though you're the best. Like, that's not a discussion, they'll say you're it.
But like, here's our budget. Um, let's figure this out. Or you can just say no for sure. But I will say that once I, um, raised our rates, we attracted hits like this. This is the crazy thing is we attracted a higher caliber service. And the nutty thing is that if we charged less, these clients probably wouldn't speak to us in the first place and we wouldn't be taken seriously. So it's kind of this interesting thing where there's this perceived value, you know, I'm not saying just like charging exorbitant amount and be like, I'm worth it. You know? Um, it's, it's all about, and we're going to talk about how you four strategies you can use to raise your rates and charge what you're worth. So we'll dive into that, but it's really about conveying that value. And that's like the number one thing. So it has to align with the value that you're offering, the value you are able to provide or that you expect to provide, um, based on your track record.
So that's number one, that's the number one strategy is know your value. Um, you know, when I started my agency, like so many other people, I experienced imposter syndrome and I had the ability, I had the part of me inability to internalize the things that I had accomplished. And I had this like overwhelming, persistent fear of being kind of exposed as a fraud. That's what imposter syndrome is. It's feeling like you lucked into everything you, that was a fluke or you couldn't do it again if you tried, or that just happens because of external circumstances and not because of anything you did. And that if clients asked enough questions that are going to figure you out, that's imposter syndrome. Oh God, hi Sabrina. She said, oh my God, that's me. Yeah. I experienced that too. Um, I'll dive into a little quick story here, even though it's not in my notes, but I think I was five years into running my agency with this feeling, because for me, I was like, I'm still a lawyer.
I'm still a lawyer. Every success is just me being lucky. That is exactly how I felt as well. And then one day in my career, I was five years in. I certainly hope it doesn't take you that long or that you're not already five years in, but five years in. And I was sitting on set at the Ellen show in the green room with two of our clients. Um, and Melissa was like, I've never experienced that. Oddly does that mean I'm cocky? Ha no, that's awesome. That's confident. So it just means it's a thing that doesn't, um, impede you in your work and it's something you don't have to overcome so good for you. Um, I think that's fantastic and I know you're awesome at what you do, so no, it's not cocky, it's confidence and that's great. And that it comes out of every, you know, in every encounter you have with clients, but okay.
Back to my day that I finally overcame on imposter syndrome. So, um, I'm on set at Ellen. I had two clients on the Ellen mother's day show. Um, this huge win for small clients. I don't even know if it would be possible anymore. Um, so I'm sitting there with two clients, both featured on this episode. And I had just gotten a call from another client of mine who was in New York. I couldn't go with her, but she had made her debut on the today show. I'm not even kidding you guys. This was the same day. She was in New York doing a TV segment that she ran the segment as an on-air expert, a segment. I helped her land and I had two clients that I was taking backstage to watch their brand on the Ellen DeGeneres show. That's not a fluke that isn't, well, here I go, undermining again.
There obviously might be some luck tied to that. I don't know, but like the magic sprinkle varied us was sprinkled all over it. But in that moment, I was like, I'm actually pretty good at this. I overcame imposter syndrome then in there because I decided if I sucked or it was a fluke or I was just lucky that wouldn't have happened. And I realized that was holding me back. Yeah. Sabrina's like Ellen and the today show that's a whole other ballgame. No luck. You're amazing. Yeah. Even that in like a month or a quarter would be amazing, but it was the same day, two clients on Ellen and one on the today show. And I w in that moment, I was like, I'm good at this. I am good at this. My team is good at this we're we deserve to be here. We're providing value.
And I was like, I'm never going to doubt it again, that I'm doing it for me. It was that verification. Or like the Val validity is not the right word. Oh my God validation. Oh my God, you guys I'm so tired that I was in the right career that I had made the right decision. I left law and was doing this and I was having an impact and I knew, yeah. Yeah. Hey Sally. Hell yes. I love that. Um, so, okay. So if that sounds familiar, like it does for Sabrina, but not for Melissa because Melissa is cocky. Confident. No, I'm kidding, Melissa. No, you're awesome. Um, and I'm so glad you don't have that. If sounds familiar at all, and you have imposter syndrome, here are some things to think about in order to be it beat it. Okay. So no, the facts, because facts can kill fear, the simplest way to undermine the fear that you're not good enough is to get a clear understanding of what other people get paid.
Okay, seriously, I researched my competition as often as possible. And I asked myself objectively, how do I measure up? Are my outcomes? Are my results as good as theirs? Am I visible in the industry? And as visible as they are, I did my homework. I poked around. Um, and I will say, this is easier to do now than it was when I was getting my start. And even 10, 15 years ago, 16 years ago when I got my start because of this community that we've created, especially in our agency accelerator program, people are sharing their rates, they're sharing their results. We had a coaching call this week in the AA. Plus people were talking about their connections to the media and the struggles they're having right now. So you don't have to sit and wonder, is it just me? Am I the only one that's really struggling right now?
Or is this across the board? What are other people charging? Um, yeah, so Julie, hi, Julie. She say, how do you make that kind of reference when you're just starting out? Which reference, tell me, is it, um, connecting with other people and understanding where you fit in? Um, you know, but just starting out in gaining clients and then getting that experience. That's a whole other discussion. We talk all about that in our programs too. And we have a program called lead to landed. I think that's what it's called, right. Lead to landed. Um, getting you your very first paying clients. And it's really good. It's only like it's under a hundred dollars. It's really good. So I don't know where you are comparing rates. Well, we talk all about it in the agency accelerator. I set out to change this, like close to the vest.
Like these are my secrets and you can't have them. That thing that happens in the PR industry, I just decided like that sucks. And it's stupid. I know there's enough work to go around Melissa, even like lives in my city and she's doing totally other stuff. She's got totally other different clients. We have different niches. There's enough room for all of us, whether we're in the same niche, whether we're in the same city, whether we're talking to the same editors, talking to the same types of clients, there's enough work to go around. So I just figured like this, like secretive nonsense. I don't like it. So let's change it. So in our, um, when our, um, uh, community kind of started and we started doing agency accelerator, um, we realized that people want to share and want to know, and we all share and we talk about it.
So everybody knows. And then once you hear other people's rates, you're like, oh my God, I'm totally under charging. Which is what Erin Carrie said today on the call. She had no idea. She five extra rates after joining the agency accelerator. Cause she was like, oh my God, what am I doing? I'm getting insane results for my clients. And I'm not actually getting paid for the value that I'm bringing. Okay. So keep that in mind Sabrina saying yes, but when you have a lot of money, you're able to make even more money for starting agencies. It's difficult to compare yourself to large established agencies. It doesn't have to be large established agencies. It could be other agencies of your size. It could be other agencies that specialize in your niche. Um, she's saying I worked for a bigger agency and I want to ask the same amount since I did the work.
But somehow I think no, that's a big agency, which I am not. Well, it's how you position yourself. Sabrina. You got to get into our agency accelerator program. It's so good. These are, these are money. Yeah. Look at what she look at. What Nelson says. I second, this, you can absolutely charge what a big agency is charging. If you've got the results to back it up, if you can, you know, show the value that you bring. Um, a lot of these are like small thinking or a limited mindset thinking that are going to hold you back and keep you stuck at this place. Okay. It doesn't have to be a big agency.
Oh my God. Yeah. Okay. Adrian saying, I need to join already. You heard great things from Nikki. It's really good. And Sally saying, get yourself in there. We will help you tackle this and you will see how to work out your pricing in a way that feels right for you. And if you've done the work and you get those same results, you're actually offering a better value to your clients. Yeah. Sabrina jump in there. It's super good. Um, you're offering a better value because they're getting more personalized service. They're getting direct access to you. It's a more white glove experience than a big agency that gets farmed out to like junior people. Not that you weren't awesome, but like you're, they're getting access to you, you know? Um, you know, so anyway, Henry chow child better. Um, I love my, uh, worldwide people. It's so cool to be able to connect with people all over the world.
Hello. Hello. Um, okay. So no, the facts, facts, kill fear. Get in our program, talk to other people in our industry, do your homework, talk to members of our program. And I don't know where she is. Hello girl. Hi Natasha. So once you do your homework, you might just realize you're at the top of the class. If you're not, you're seeing where you fall short and you can equip yourself to make the changes that are necessary to really help you get there. So you can kind of see like, okay, where am I falling short? Is it result is a case studies, is it testimonials? Is it experience? What do I need to get to where my peers are and to be able to charge that rate and we help you with that. Okay. That's number one, we're going to recap know your value. Natasha knows her value.
Natasha has raised her rates. Um, Nelson knows his value. Um, and he says, when a company hires me, they get me not a junior person. Exactly. And he just stood his ground on a client that asked for a rate reduction and he said, I'm not doing that. Here's all the value I provide. Here's why I'm essential to your business. And they said, send us a contract. And he locked in that rate. And he shared the script that he wrote to that company that Natasha says, I sure have he shared with us the script that he used to convince that CEO to lock-in his rate and give them an extent extension to the contract. That is what you get in our community. People that are like, here are all my here's my, all my, how to Natasha just shared a bunch of stuff with us on our coaching call this week.
Um, intake questions for clients. Just awesome. Melissa says, I do get a bit hesitant on charging more when I'm not sure how many results I can get a certain client, like one in a smaller city where there are fewer media ops. Um, yes, but they're paying you for your know-how. They're paying you, you know, if there are fewer media opportunities, then technically you're not going to be spending as much time the value you provide, isn't going to be as much because it's limited. The pool is limited. So maybe the price reflects that because you see that there isn't, this it's also going to take you less time because you're only pitching four or five outlets, not hundreds because it's a nationwide thing. So that would get reflected in the pricing, but don't allow this. I'm not sure how many results I can get a certain client.
Um, in terms of pitching is out of our hands, media gatekeepers, make the decisions, not me. So how can I charge? They're paying you for your know, how your storytelling, your ability to pitch the media, your ability to craft compelling stories and position clients. That's what they're paying you for. You get paid regardless of results, but obviously, you know, you're great at what you do because you're very confident in it, which is awesome. So charge for that. Um, I always remember you saying never go lower than $2,500 a month. That's what we teach in agency accelerator. That's my goal for everyone, at least at a minimum, um, you know, think about that. If you have, um, you know, $2,500 a month and you got four clients super manageable, it's over a hundred thousand dollars in revenue a year. Well over that. So, you know, it's a nice place to be.
So that's what we aim for. And of course we have people that are charging five figure, monthly retainers, all sizes that we've scale. You know, we charge more than that, you know, five figure monthly retainers, sometimes multiple. Um, yeah. Awesome. Listen to Nelson. Yeah. Um, Nelson saying I have a PR presentation deck that I send prospective new clients to show how good I am and my value. I'd be happy to share it in profitable PR pros for everyone to see if I can upload a PDF or PowerPoint in there. Can I do that? Jen send it to us first Nelson and we'll let you know if it's okay to just post it directly. Um, you know, uh, and, and then I'll just take a look first if that's okay. Um, might be something we want to adapt. It might be similar to a resource we already have, but I would just love to see it.
And I have to say thank you for that opportunity to, um, give that immensely valuable resource to our community. That's so awesome. And you're so great at doing that all the time. So, um, okay. Yes. Um, yeah. You're welcome, Melissa. Bye-bye okay. Ask for what your worth is. Strategy number two. So when we started working with our larger clients, we tripled our rates. They never batted an eye and they never negotiated. So clients, like I said, the bigger ones will not take you seriously. If your rates are low. And if your rates are too low, you tend to attract lower paying lower caliber clients. You end up always having to bend over backwards to make them happy. There is a 99% correlation and sums up are hard. If you agree, if you've experienced this between discounting, your services, offering lower rates and then, you know, getting these lower caliber clients and then the lowest paying clients, being the biggest pain.
Look at those hearts on Facebook and Natasha's like facts. Um, yeah, it's totally like a thing. Um, Sally posts that in the agency accelerator, plus let's get a grip discussion going about that. So she can talk about her nonprofit looking to keep costs, low, being hesitant to ask for higher rates, Melissa, I thought you had to go. I have a friend who does it, the other way, asks client what their budget is and then says what she can do with them, for the price. That's another strategy. Um, and of course we always ask clients for their budget. Sometimes they won't tell you, um, it's helpful when they do very helpful obviously, and you never know until you ask. So that's another way to do it. Sometimes Melissa, they just won't tell you. So you're flying blind. Um, it's a power move, right? Just tell us what you can do and how much it costs.
Yeah. Um, so we know it's a perfect correlation. When you discount your prices, you attract low caliber clients and they will suck the life out of you, Instagram, you know, it's true. Give me a heart. If you've experienced that, it's freaking the worst. I hate it. You're like I did you a favor and now you're driving me crazy. Um, okay, bye. Um, so what's happening with these higher paying clients? Higher caliber clients is they believe in you. They know Natasha says freaking vampires. They know good bank. You, they, that you must be worth it because of your rates. And that you'll provide them with a X exceptional, excellent service. They let you do your job without ever questioning your process or what you're doing. It just is what it is. That's how it is. And it's awesome. You're like these, oh, I'm totally like slow and frozen here.
Uh, okay. Well, I won't look at myself. There's a delay. It's very weird. But, um, when you, uh, ask for what you want and you get these higher rates and clients leave you alone, it's like the dream it's living the dream. So if you don't ask, the answer is always going to be, no, people are never more open and willing to give you what you want then after you've just made their life a whole lot easier. Um, uh, yeah. So if you do a great job and you meet their expectations, or even over-deliver, you'll end up with more opportunities than, you know what to do with, um, and this all starts, this is what we teach you guys. It all starts on that sales call. So if you're on a sales call and you've provided value to someone before they even hired you, you start showing you're an expert.
Hi, Brandy. Um, you start showing someone that you're an expert. You give them value. You really show them what, you know, then they are more willing to an open to paying higher rates, especially because you've stepped into that role as an expert and an authority in your niche and in their industry. And you show them how you're going to bring them results. So think about that. You are giving value on the sales call and, um, you're showing them already, like, I know my stuff, I'm, you know, this is where and Natasha weigh in on this. If you think this is helpful, but we, um, in the pitch lab give these monthly execution plans. And part of it are editorial calendars that actual publications are working on. And when, and when you have that and you're on a sales call, namedrop, oh, Allure's working on their August. Issue is going to be their best, you know, best of beauty issue or Oprah magazine is going to be doing their, um, you know, small business Roundup in October. Natasha says the execution guides saved my life, but I like using them on sales calls because we have 45 pages of content. You can start rattling off ideas. You're not giving your strategy.
You're showing what
You know and how it can benefit them. And when you do that on sales calls, they're like, this is our, this is our agency. They know what they're up to. And we, and they'll just want to work with you. Um, you're giving them value right out of the gate. So that's number two, ask for what you're worth provide value on that sales call. So they feel your expertise, right? From the beginning, total game changer to my current client strategies and potential clients, sales calls. Yes. I love that. Um, use of them as well. We get them to you so that you can help position your pitches so you can make them timely and relevant to what the media is looking for. And when, but there are so many other values and she says, the guides are worth the cost of the program alone. You know what, I'm going to screen, grab your comments.
Cause they're all right here. And like a nice tidy little package. Boom. Thank you. Appreciate that. So yeah, check out, um, the pitch lab, uh, for that. And it's so affordable. That's what, um, Aaron Kerry said on our call today. Just totally affordable, no brainer decision to be at, at a minimum in the pitch lab. Um, the other thing, uh, strategy, number three, for knowing your, your worth and asking for, to set clear boundaries. So I really want you to listen to me on this one. This is really important. You cannot yield to your client's demands at all times at the expense of your own wellbeing. It never works at least not for long. So set healthy boundaries and the secret to doing this as clear communication from day one. So you can come up with a set of simple packages, um, you know, what you offer and what they get and lay it out and lay it out, what you will get them in terms of the services, but also the resources you'll create access to you.
Um, and what amount of money. So the other thing, okay, ups, um, I'm in bed right now, overworked, uh, see she didn't set boundaries, um, doing this not only makes boundary setting simple and straightforward, it also really makes you look professional and buttoned up. Um, I will say I don't personally do this piece that I'm going to tell you about. You might want to consider it. I don't do this. I'll tell you how I set boundaries, but you can specifically write them out. Tell the time of day you're going to communicate with them, how you'll communicate. What's the best days, which days that you aren't available. Um, the exact services you're providing and any resources you might share. What I do is I will not work. I okay. Even if I am after hours, I will not send emails. I don't send a proposal or respond to them in the proposal phase on a weekend or late at night.
I don't want to set the expectation that I'm working at all hours. So I'll hold onto it. You can use boomerang and Gmail and schedule it to go out. First thing in the morning, the next day. Um, I think when you start, I had a client that got my cell phone and she would text and I would just jump and be like, oh, she texted the little one, but on the thing, oh my God, it drove my family crazy. I was missing time with my children. I was like completely checked out when I was near my husband. And like, and honestly he runs his business like that. And it drives me nuts because I think women were a little better at the like multitasking, even though we all kind of suck at it, we think we're good, but you're always half checked out. I think there's a huge spider across the wall.
I don't have my glasses on. I got to see what that is. It's looks gross and huge. Um, yeah. My husband is like always on his phone and I'll make a nice dinner and we're sitting down to dinner and I'm like, hello. Hi, did you? You're eating the food. Can you even taste it super annoying? But he that's how he wants to work. He wants to be the go-to guy. That's always responsive. I want to get results during normal business hours. I haven't had a client call or text me on a weekend in more than a decade. Think about that in more, probably longer, more than a decade. I haven't had a client call or text me on a weekend. You know, if they email late at night, they get a response, their response first thing in the morning and you're showing them, Hey, I'm going to respond to you during business hours. Lucky we set it up that way. Natasha, you have to really set these boundaries. So if you're working on a retainer, this is like a big off, and you're going to hate when I bring this up, but, and the clients want to track your hours. How do you think I'm gonna respond to this? Clients are like, well, I just need you to track your hours.
What would you do?
How would you, how would you address that? Tasha has like 10 green barf emojis. Yeah. No, it's the worst. Okay. So here's my rebellion against billable hours when I was an attorney girl by yeah. When I was an attorney with Sabrina. Awesome. Nope. It's great. Love it. Love it. That's exactly how I would respond. I have such a rebellion against billable hours. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was our rate was so high as an attorney. I think they were billing us out at $400 an hour, whatever it was. And so every 10th of an hour is $40. So six minutes cost $40 of your time. You were allowed to go to the bathroom for six minutes without stopping the clock. But you went for more than six minutes. You had to stop the clock. So I'm like, am I going to take an $80 potty break right now?
Or am I going to like run to the bathroom pee and run back? So I don't have to stop the clock. That's insanity. And Sabrina has such a good point. I had to do that at my previous agency. This is what feeds burnout. Yeah, it's sucks. Okay. And it's not in the client's best interest because you're limiting the amount of opportunities that you throw them into that just come your way because you're in the niche and the other clients will open doors for them. And you'll say, well, if I throw their hat in for this, then it's going against these hours and I have to track it. It's too hard. It makes you like, well, I'm not going to pitch the other client because I don't want to have to manage that timekeeper. It's just super annoying. So here's what I would say is, um, that, uh, what do I say, say that we say, no, it's not how you do your business.
So what we say is what we charge is not based on how much time you spend on an account, but it's based on the fact that you're an experts and we bring results. Um, and the other argument is like, think about how fast you can cut to the chase on something, because you're very dialed into your niche, you know, directly who to go to. You have a dialed in media list, you have these relationships, you have industry know how, you know, what they're working on. So all of that time and research is just available to the client. And if that's based on, um, time or all of that, not time at expertise, research, know how all of those things that you already have dialed in because you're an expert. You're not going to be able to charge the client for the time to go and do all of that.
Again, they're just paying your rate because they're coming in at a time-saving advantage because you're awesome. And that's who you, you know, you're already coming in at an awesome, hi Holly, um, at an awesome, you know, subject matter expert already. And so they're paying that value right out of the gate. Yes. Sabrina, you pay for the years, we've invested in our expertise, not the hours we spend on your brand. Exactly. And in fact, I think it's better when someone gets me a result faster, like I'd rather pay someone for like today. Okay. I'm getting a haircut for the first time in, I don't know, eight months, something like that, probably longer. I would rather pay more to get out of there faster than pay for someone to charge, you know, charging me by the hour and what I'd rather pay $350 or whatever. Let's say $300 for, um, a three-hour haircut.
That's a hundred dollars an hour or a one hour haircut where I can get out of there. And the job is done faster. It's like time doesn't equal. It's the result you care, you care about. Right. Get me out of there faster. Um, get you a result faster, cut to the chase. It should not be about the amount of time you're spending in exactly. Like Serena said, it's about your expertise. Um, and then stick to your boundaries, uh, on these, um, you know, these, these boundaries that you set. I know it's tempting to answer that urgent texts that came in at 2:00 AM. I don't know why they'd be texting you at 2:00 AM. Sometimes we have international clients. Maybe they're emailing it to them. I don't know why they would, but um, you have to resist that urge. It can be. Um, uh, so not following through on your boundaries.
We think if impresses our clients like, look how available I am. I'm so responsive. What it lets them know is that they can take advantage of you, that you have no limits and they can access you whenever you're on vacation. They should hear from you your time with your family. They should hear from you. You're showing them. I don't respect my time. So why should you, I hate that your time is the most valuable thing. So you have to show that you respect it. Your time is valuable, it's worthwhile. And like, um, Sabrina said that it does make you resent your work. It fuels burnout when you lack boundaries. So it's a long-term problem. What does Natasha say here? Yeah. That's why I do it. I want to make sure I'm not making pennies for putting too many hours in. Absolutely. When you start to factor it in, I mean, I talked to some women in our agency accelerator and we really thought about what they were charging, how much time they were spending.
And then ultimately what that meant they were making. There is like a woman I've been working with for four years. Um, Joe, she was making like $7 an hour and she was shocked to figure that out. She was thought she was charging a lot, but after she paid all the other people paid the team. And then all of the time that she spent making things right. Putting in her time investment, putting her stamp on everything she was making on average $7 an hour. And that was like, you know, so that's great point, Natasha. Um, the number four point I have for you start making ways, um, oh really Natasha saying yes, her story is what inspired me to do this, to take, to do our programs. Is that what you mean? Yeah. It's a really great story. Um, she's super smart. She's based in Florida.
Uh, and so awesome. Um, let me know. Yeah. Start making waves. Okay. People are going to pay more to work with someone who they deem to be an expert, a thought leader. If you don't believe you're good enough or smart enough or informed enough to have a voice in the conversation. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Awesome. So happy to hear that. I don't think I ever knew that if you don't think that you're qualified to speak in these public arenas on a subject, you can wait. And then, you know, you're not going to be able to be an expert and you're not going to charge what you're worth. If you don't think you can weigh in on the conversation, you never will. And this is another way that imposter syndrome is going to creep in and hold you back back. Um, you know, you may eventually, um, gain success and respect in your field without having a prominent voice in your industry, but it's going to take a hell of a lot longer and be harder for you.
And it really doesn't have to be that way. Like we know that we can, we pitch our clients, we position them well, even if they're kind of new in their industry or they've never, you know, there's a lot of experts that don't have certifications or professional qualifications, but they have results. They have transformations. They've helped people do something. They have a process for how they help people do that and their clients get results. So they are qualified to speak about that. And we positioned them to the media based on those facts, you can do the same thing for yourself. Okay. So how do you get started doing this? You study the subject matter for the niche that you're in and really think about. This is why I encourage everyone to niche down. When you're a generalist, you don't appeal to anyone. You can't raise your rates.
You have to become known as a go-to authority in your space. So study the subject matter for the niche that you're in. And once you know everything about the niche, not everything, but like what's now, what are the trends that are taking place in the niche? You can put yourself out there and speak to those trends. Um, you know, start talking about what, you know, on social media, sharing your, um, and I've seen Natasha, she jumped off, but she started doing this a lot. And like her content is getting shared all over the place. Now she's putting together fun, engaging content, really showing her expertise and people are interacting with it and they're seeing it, you know? So write articles, give quotes, show that you are an expert in your niches to attract the kind of clients that you want talked about, what you've learned, so that businesses are going to begin to see that you're the go-to, you know, your stuff, and insert, hi, Milan, insert yourself into the conversations around topics that are relevant to your niche so that you can attract your ideal clients.
You have to convey yourself as someone who is informed and smart enough to have a voice in that niche informed and smart enough to have a voice in your niche. So people respect what you have to say. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to be out there, put it out there. Hi Daria. Um, you just have to be out there, put yourself out there, right. Um, you don't have to be everybody's expert to be an expert. You just need to remember what you know and what you believe and what you have experienced is valuable for people to know and for you to share. Um, what do I say here? Uh, I got profiled by apple. Um, I had the coolest thing. One of the coolest things that ever happened to me is getting selected by apple to be featured on their website as an entrepreneur on the go using apple devices, to fuel my business, um, and sharing how I've been able to run my business, using apple products, that piece it's on my website.
Um, it's probably 10 it's more than 10 years old now because I wasn't even a mom yet. And my older son is 11, so it's probably 12 years old now, but it's really good. It sat on the apple website for like five years or so. And, um, I was able to leverage it and get so much more opportunity and bigger clients based on that piece. And it only came from me just talking about my business to somebody that happened to have it in. And I was just passionate about my business. Um, I've been a podcast guest on some of the top podcasts sharing my expertise on, um, apple is evergreen. Yeah, it is. Um, it's not on their website anymore. I was promoting an iPhone generation to second generation. That's how old this was. Um, yeah, it was super, super cool. You know what, maybe I can quickly find it while we're talking.
Um, oh wait, uh, and share it, um, while we're chatting. Cause it's really cool. I'm really, really proud of it. I mean really awesome thing that helped. Um, let me see. Oh, let me see, uh, copy video URL. See if that works, guys, let me know, navigate away from me. Just click it and then, um, yeah, this video Sabrina, thank you for being here. Um, this video is going to live on this Facebook page and we post it on YouTube and we, yeah, there's, we'll, we'll send out a replay announcement and stuff, but it's going to be on our, on our page, um, generation PR Facebook page. Okay. So check out that, but not until I'm done. Okay. Cause I'm almost done. Um, one of the coolest things that ever happened to me and that, you know, getting my name out there, I've been featured in Forbes business, insider Huffington post Inc com.
Yeah, of course. Sabrina jumped into our programs. If you like this free content, I'm going to knock your socks off. I promise you Daria's and there all these people, Sally Nelson and Natasha, it's an incredible program. Well, if I do say so myself, it's very good. Um, and great people. So, um, yeah, I've been an entrepreneur magazine. It's just from putting myself out there and this has really helped me get a name for my business for myself as an expert and attract bigger and better clients in my agency. So you should do it too. Um, and it'll help you raise your rates. So to recap, the four points that I want you to really check into, know your value, ask for what you're worth. I want you to set clear boundaries because this will start to seep into your profitability when you're available at all times, you show the client that your time is not valuable.
You don't respect it. So they shouldn't either. None of that guys, um, setting clear boundaries is number three and number four, start making waves be the expert you are thanks Daria. She says, hi, Sabrina. Jen is incredible. I like to repeat these because anyone watching on the replay doesn't know what I'm reacting to. So I'm always like, oh, it's so sweet. And it's like, what is she talking about anyway? And also Instagram, I'm having these two conversations, but um, I love this topic. You guys, that, it's my favorite thing. When I had the podcast interview today with Erin who is literally running her agency off the coast of right now, she's in Majorca, um, from her yacht, no joke. Um, who told me that everything she learned about PR and running her agency, she learned in our programs and she quadrupled no that's four times.
What's five, five [inaudible] I dunno, I can't think of it. Pen toppled. I don't know. Is that a word five extra rates after joining the agency accelerator, um, made me just so happy heart bursting with pride because that is what we're here for to make you more money in less time, help you run a business. You love, you're passionate about living your dream. Um, that's going to be coming out really soon. Um, hint, hint, we're launching a podcast. Um, so it's gonna be really good. So anyway, thank you guys so much for being here. I'll stay on for one minute. If anybody has any questions, I'm here for you. Um, this one's really long, but I know this topic is super, super popular. Oh. And look, it there's a lot of people on Facebook. So let me know. Um, that's epic. Yeah. And we're just so excited to share stories for more members of our community and um, more helpful strategies for, um, more helpful strategies for, um, growing an agency, connecting with the media, connecting with your industry, peers, feeling more confident, running a business. You love running a business while being a mom, running a business in a pandemic crazy. Right. Um,
And if I could get, uh, Julie, oh,
Awesome. Let me get it for you right now. Um, she's saying, where can I get info? Um, on the agency accelerator, um, profitable PR pros. Um, oh, okay. Hi Elaine. I did see your question. Sorry. You had to repeat it there. Thank you for doing that. Hold on just one second. Let me get this link for Julie. And then I'll answer your question. That's a very good one. Um, here's the agency accelerator For you, Julie. Thank you for your interest. If you have any questions, um, head up my team [email protected]. Oh wait list.
Oh,
Oh my God. I forgot. We're launching again. So it's closed. Um, if you want to learn more, if you want to learn more, um, send us a message. Wait a second. I might have like a secret, like way to get you in. Hold on. Oh, that's an old page. Okay. My team is going to be like, what are you doing? Okay. I have a really old page. That'll at least give you info on it, Julie, Julia. Oh, I'm so sorry. My vision super bad. Um, I now see your name is Julia. I am so terribly. Sorry. Um, this is a secret like D I don't even know if it works anymore. Um, let me see it, hold on. Um, because yeah, if you're interested, this is an old page we have since read on it, but hold on, hold on, hold on. Um, wait, maybe that does work.
Yeah. Um, don't tell my team. Um, just so you can or more listen, we're technically not open right now. Um, cause we're going to be launching again next month, but if you want to learn more about it or you can get on the wait list, if you click that original link I gave you, gave you, I forgot we shut it down right now. Um, yeah. Okay. Um, and then Elaine, okay. I run a digital programming. I re I run digital programming courses and group coaching for small businesses on media relations and content marketing. I'm struggling with pricing. Do the same principles apply to online programming. So you're talking about, I, sorry, Julia. That was so like not smooth and not cool. Which just how to do that. Totally not like the IP the way I just did that. Um, so Elaine, tell me more. So you are teaching businesses through DIY coaching, DIY courses and small group coaching on how they can connect with the media and they can create their own content and how and why and what that looks like.
Right. And you're curious about charging, um, what rates to be charging for that. Is that what you're, what you're asking about? So it's you have, uh, yeah. Okay. I mean, this is my world to look, I have, you know, my agency side of the business that's retainer, but my coaching stuff, I have courses. Yeah. And it's all, um, there's two levels like you do. You've got the total DIY and you have, um, that content plus access to you. So I think, you know, depending of course, focus on the transformation, what is the transformation you're going to provide people? I'm sure all of that is apparent in your marketing materials and how you're selling the content. Um, but at the end of the day, access to you is valuable and it costs a lot. And, um, we've done it a number of ways. We've had a mastermind that was a 12 week, um, plus the agency accelerator and private community.
And we had it w it was $10,000 to go through that program. Um, we wanted more continuity after they went through the program and to keep our community. So we offer agency accelerator plus, which is a monthly ongoing, you know, like I think it's under $200 and they get the community, they get access to me on a coaching call once a month, um, private Facebook group, things like that. Um, so it's really about tiers of access to you. And you want to take them on a journey basically, you know, so where do they start? What's a smaller price point, small, quick win transformation you can give to them for under a hundred dollars for us. It's lead to landed for under a hundred dollars. We teach you how to find your first paying clients, how to fill your pipeline and, and, uh, secure clients. Okay.
And then of course, we teach you what to do with those clients and how to keep them in your universe and how to grow a business around it. But our journey starts with a low price point, just because we want to show you, here's what we can do for you. And we want to get them a quick win and a transformation, so you can start there and then you bring them on a journey. The next thing is your, your courses. And they can do it themselves, or if they want hand-holding and they want more access to you, you know, then that's comes at a higher fee. So, um, think about that in terms of your pricing. I don't know, I'd be curious to know what you're charging. I think when you have results that you can show based on what people have learned and what they had done in your, um, courses themselves.
And also what, you know, you've got to start building testimonials and case studies, and it's a journey. Oh my God, it's a lot of work, but it sounds like you're already having a lot of success and traction there. Um, the other thing that's challenging that I have found when I tried to sell PR courses to non PR pros is you really have to show them the value of what PR does for their business, because it's not always obvious to people that aren't in it like we are. And because it's not a core function of running their business, like it's not what they do day to day, and it's not directly bringing in, um, immediate revenue, measurable revenue. It's harder to convince them to spend the time. It's really hard. Um, great information, Jen. Awesome. Good. Yeah, Elaine, I hope you're still here and that this is valuable, but, um, I had a hard time.
I had a whole program called press success. It's it was great. It was very well done, probably too well done. I spent a lot of money on branding and, and uh, uh, video production. It was so unnecessary, but it looked beauty. I mean, it was beautiful and it was very well done and the information was awesome. Um, but I was trying to sell it. Okay, good. Awesome. Um, I was trying to sell it to entrepreneurs, brands, and experts to do their own PR. And it was $2,000, I think when it ended up going down to 1497 and they didn't want to spend the time to go through it, they just saw that it was like another thing that they would add to their plate. So then it was like convincing them that somebody else on their team could go through it or that they could get results quickly. Um, you know, there were a lot of challenges there, but Elaine, who are some of your, um, like course creation mentors, is it like Amy Porterfield or James Wedmore? Like who are you dialed into on that side?
And if you want to DM me and we can have like a private conversation, this is my world. I've been focused on this a very, very long time. I've been in masterminds. I've, I've gotten all the courses now. I'm just like fully focused on what I'm doing. Um, and I'm like investing in me and Facebook ads and my team, my integrator, we have a plan we're like head down, working on our plan piece by piece until it's successful and then moving on to the next thing. So that's part of it too, is not doing too much at once. Cause it's confusing. Um, love the hearts. Okay. So the tummy, I, if we want to take it offline too, that's totally fine. Um, but this is my world. I love it. Uh, DME? Yeah. Okay, cool. No, awesome. I love it. Let's chat. I obviously we're doing similar things.
I'm so happy to share my experience with you. Um, yeah, but that's what I have for you guys. Thanks Instagram for sticking around you guys are just, you guys are just tried and true supporters over there and um, Facebook guys love it. Awesome. Do you have any questions about any of this stuff? Let me know. I'm so grateful for you being here. I'm so grateful for all of you that are in our programs. You make this community awesome. Amazing. Um, we're looking for ways to give to this community all A's. Um, and of course, anything you want training on, or you want us to talk about, put it in the profitable PR press Facebook group. Um, thanks, Elaine. And, uh, we'll create content because we just want to serve you and answer quiet. We don't know what you want to know until you tell us. So let us know. We'll build some content. I'm getting my hair cut. I'm so excited. And that is it. Have a wonderful day rest of your day, week send positive healing vibes for my family, my dad. Um, please. He will be fine, but I would love some positivity non COVID related, but, um, anyway, that's it. Thank you guys. I really appreciate you all.
Bye in broadcast.
