The hello guys. Welcome back to another Facebook live show. I'm Jen Berson. I'm the founder of generation PR. Um, we are an award winning, oh, I love saying that, uh, full service, public relations and social media marketing agency. And we specialize in baby and kids, beauty and cosmetics and health and wellness brands. And I am also the founder of the profitable PR pros community, also award winning. So cool. We were, uh, given a best in business award. It's actually right there. Wait, how do I right there by Inc magazine? Um, you know, based on the transformations of members of our community all over the world. So incredibly, incredibly cool. Um, and sorry, I have like five hot things cooking right now. People are getting BA I'm gonna be the bottleneck for the next hour. Um, but I am so happy that you're here. I'm so happy that you found us and I am excited to chat about today's topic.
Um, today we are gonna talk about boundaries because, oh my God, some clients just don't respect them. They don't get 'em. Um, and it's up to us to implement it, put them in place and, you know, set healthy boundaries for ourselves to, you know, I'm just looking at this dog. Okay. Where is she now? Um, to create the kind of business in life that we want. And that's my entire purpose for being here, just in this world, the PR community to try to offer, um, Strat resources, tools, all the things you need to be more profitable, make more money and less time and more importantly, and probably most importantly, run a business that you absolutely love. I mean, I'm 17 years into running my agency. I still run my agency and I love it so much. And I get so excited for client ins. I get so excited for, um, press features and new clients, and I realized what a difference it makes in your life to have a business that you love, that totally lights you up.
That also works really well with your personal life. And you know, now as a mom of two and my older son is on the autism spectrum and has a, you know, some other learning disabilities, I need to have work that will support my, you know, family life and how I have to be present for my son. And this has been a gift and that is why we put together our agency accelerator program. So total side note, but we are gonna be doing some fun activities to open the doors for the next cohort of our agency accelerator very, very soon. Um, there is a, I probably can put a link here to it. Hi everyone. Oh, look. Oh gosh. Everyone's talking to me. Hi, Gail Nelson, all an alley. Hi, um, familiar faces and some new people. Um, I'm gonna just drop this action plan. So it's really good.
You guys, this is a brand new resource. Uh, thank you, two new clients. Um, and then another one cooking and it's gonna be delayed a little bit. They have to get their ducks in a row. Literally what she said to me, we need to get our ducks in a row. Um, so this is a brand new resource we put together really good. It is. Um, you'll see, just grab it. It is the sort of framework. It's my proven framework for, uh, growing and scaling a profitable agency on your terms. There's a quick training. It's actually not that quick, honestly. Like I get so excited about all of the pillars and the content in them that I tend to talk a lot about them, cuz I want everyone to see for me in my mind, it's like this puzzle and it all fits together and when it clicks, it just makes sense.
Um, and you see how all of the things you're doing in your business, totally support and help the other things like nicheing down. And uh, every client is a stepping stone and leveraging your results and then, you know, becoming a niche expert and, um, charging more for your services because you're go to you're sought after. So that's what I put together there. Grab it. It's awesome. And let's talk all about these boundaries because, uh, well first of all, you guys know that we always base our training off of questions that are asked in our community. And this training is based loosely on the question around how to deal with disorganized clients who frequently send last minute asks. Okay. So, you know, what do you do in that case? I know that we've all worked with disorganized clients at one point or another. Um, sometimes they're really busy and it's hard to get their attention when you need something.
And then it's always like a fire or drill because they waited too long. So, um, we want to help you figure out what to do in these situations to help you avoid headaches. And we also know that there's this really delicate line between setting boundaries, keeping clients happy and obviously protecting your time and your business. Um, and, uh, we, so based on the question we got in the training, I'm gonna respond to that. Plus I also have a few important notes to share about the importance of setting boundaries and where that process starts and you might be surprised. So, um, let's dive in specifically to that question about last minute asks if a client comes to you with a last minute ask, it's up to you to determine whether it's reasonable, the request is reasonable. Can you make an exception? Um, we don't want to set a precedent that this is gonna continue to happen.
That you're okay with these like fire drill, you know, jump through the jump, jump through hurdles asks very last minute. So in that instance, think about analyze the nature of this last minute, request us. Is it something that could have been prevented? Is it something that, uh, maybe you've asked for several times and the client keeps getting to it last minute? You know, uh, is it, you know, truly a last minute, like, you know, I know, uh, Nelson who's on here just had a client in, uh, new of New York times, um, clarified please. And it was a, a last minute interview or a, you know, sort of like next day situation and that's gonna be a pretty quick turnaround. And obviously in those instances we jump and we make it happen. But if it's the client requesting things with an urgent, see then think about how it could have maybe been avoided or is it something that you've been asking them for several times, wall street, journal, wall, street journal, obviously for WSJ, you jump through those hoops and you get your client to cooperate, you know, so, and congratulations on that amazing, um, placement for your client.
But if it's not one of those situations and it's really the client asking you, you know, for a fire drill or dragging their feet, um, you know, sometimes what we do is we will put a deadline on, uh, on a what the request is and when we need to have it back by, um, telling the client, you know, just kind of in your professional expertise, kind of gauge it, but also back into it a little bit, um, so that you have some run, like a little bit of cushion, we call it, you can say, um, this is requests can be completed by X date, um, and kind of back in and, and, uh, you know, give yourself a little time that's if you're asking a client for, um, something that you know is gonna take them a while to pull together. Uh, the other thing too, that you might wanna consider is saying to them, if it is thing that is outside of scope, or because there's a rush, you know, fee involved, you can say to clients, you know, we can complete your request by this date.
And it is, you know, this is the pro the project fee or the, um, the, the fee for this last minute request. Um, something like that. So we did an entire training on rush fees. And if you wanna learn more about that and how to do it, and in what instances it's appropriate and what instances, it's not, let me see if I can get you the link right here. Uh, yes. Where, okay. Uh, how to charge a rush. Don't go right now because stick with me here. Um, so that's something to consider and I don't always advocate for rushees in every situation. I don't think they're always appropriate. Our motto here is, you know, service over serve, um, not to the point where you're taking advantage of, of, but I don't nickel and dime, but if there was something that was like crazy, you know, urgent that could have been avoided, then we probably would bring up that piece of it, to the client.
Um, and then if it continues to happen repeatedly, it's a separate issue. So if it does happen over and over again, you know, about charging a late fee and it sends that message to the client that their behavior is causing disruption to your workflow. And again, everyone in our agency accelerator knows my goal is to get you into a flow state in your business. You know, so you're working on the activities you loved, you know, uh, kind of outsourcing things that make you feel like you're in the drudgery zone and they're not loving it. And you get all of your clients on a similar, like, it's kind of like a pipeline and they're all moving at the same pace and they get the same type of reports and you're sending pitches and follow ups the same day. And so you're just in this flow state and it creates all these efficiencies in your business.
So when your client comes in and they're like, last minute I need this hurry up, blah, blah, blah. It messes with your workflow. And that late fee will send a very clear message obviously. And then also, uh, you should have in your, um, your contracts, that rush fee, it says late fee in my notes, I'm gonna put rush fee. So I don't mess that up when I record the podcast, put it in your contract so that it can protect you and be really clear what constitutes a last minute ask for a rush fee. Um, some of our members also recommended a client conduct section in their con in your contract so that clients know what's expected of them. And when, and you have something to point to when these unpleasant situations arise, the typical situation here, our members called out was when let's say Nelson lands, wall street journal, he's got this amazing, um, oh, hi Des.
Yeah. Uh, I feel, feel like you were one of the people that mentioned it on our call, um, saying that you have, a conduct yeah. Conduct, uh, clause in your contract typically works well when you're representing individuals or you're gonna be doing PR for, let's say the founder of the company. Um, if this guy didn't show up and Nelson burned his wall street journal contact, that's a problem. And that is a breach of client conduct in your contract. You know, it's, it's not showing up to interviews it's, um, you know, being disrespectful or not, not answering quite questions. Um, you know, things like that. Um, not asking for rush jobs last minute when they could have been avoided. So client conduct Des has one loves it. If you can maybe put an example Des when it came in handy, if you, you know, have a specific, so a situation where it helped save your agency in some way, let us know, cuz I'd love to hear how it worked in reality. Um, so think about that. If you want to put something like that, a client conduct clause, no one ever thinks they're going to need it until they need it. So that's what contracts are for. Just have all the inevitable hi ALM. When clients dishonor the contract, how do you enforce the contract? Is it through an attorney or a third party company? Um, well for holidays last minute, meetings, client texting the phone, um, phone calls. Yeah.
It's like, this is all boundaries stuff that does about, so it keeps yes boundaries so clear. So we're gonna get into like specifics about boundaries and oh my God. Do I have a story for you guys? Hi. Hi. Hi, Natasha. I love when I see all my people, all of these people except uh, maybe Allie, I don't know. Are you in any of our programs, Allie? Everybody's in, um, Gail is gonna join. Um, anyway and I posted a, a link to a, a resource we just put together. So, um, grab it because it's a really good one. And it'll get you in that agency growth mindset for 2022. Anyway, so, um, hi Sasha. Okay. Um, RFPs. Okay. We've done training on RF to be careful. Don't give too much away. And if you know that so many people are throwing their hat in the ring, maybe don't, um, participate in the RFP.
Um, anyway, that to total sidebar and Allie, thank you, um, for participating, uh, in our Facebook group and yes, you'll have an opportunity if you wanna, you know, jump into any of our programs. They're very, very good. Um, yes, this group is amazing and so supportive and I'm so glad that you love all of the advice that we share here. Again, it all comes from members of our community asking these questions. Um, oh, hi, Ricky. Uh, I have one too. She's talking about a client conduct clause and I used it once helped guide the conversation when the client wanted new pitches to go out over a holiday weekend. When the original plan was to go out after the holiday, the client calmed down and backed down. Yes. And this is like an emotional, uh, therapy group therapy support group. And you know what, Natasha's so on the money there, because when we are running our businesses in a vacuum with blinders on, as I did for so many years, like probably, I don't know, 14 years before I started to bring other PR pros into a community and hear what they're doing and how they're doing it.
Um, it's really hard because you're like, am I crazy? Is this right? Is the client crazy? What's going on? Like, you know, and you don't know what other people are doing and you don't know how to address some of these problems. And sometimes we just want to give in. Um, and so Natasha's right, we have this community, people like Des and Ricky and Nelson are sharing their situations and how they solved them. And number one, you're like, I'm not crazy. And number two, you get a roadmap for working through a challenging situation, you know, and in some cases specific verbiage and Natasha said, oh my God, I don't know what I would do without this group. Probably. Um, would've gone back to corporate life. No, never, never again. Um, and Natasha, you know, this is your year and we're getting on it, but, um, this group is amazing.
It is so fantastic. And I'm so glad that you are all here and you're getting value out of it. So, um, back to this sort of last minute, ask with these clients, cuz I hate it so much. If you have a client that consistently sends these last minute asks, um, it's, it's probably someone that doesn't value your time or respect your time. And it's honestly not the type of partnership that should exist between clients and PR pros. So to me, that means that you're at their disposal and if they're dragging their feet, they're times more important than yours. Um, and you know, for me, I'm always driving for a partnership with clients. We're trying to become an extension of their team. And you know, if a client doesn't respect our times, it's not the kind of client that I wanna work with so we can try to course correct.
And if it doesn't get better, when we're trying to let them know that the things they're asking for and in that timeframe are not real reasonable or we're charging late fee and they're not getting the message then, um, you have to accept, it's probably not ever going to get better. So you need to decide, are you willing to put up with that? Did you charge a pain in the tax when it came to your retainer? Sometimes you can build in a nice juicy and then you have a little, we call it pita cushion pain in the cushion for bringing on a team to help support this client, you know, or building out more of a team to help support this sort of, um, meaty client. And if you accept that it's never going to get better and you don't wanna deal with it.
You might need to think about parting ways and we have done that and it feels amazing. I'm telling you, it feels, uh, amazing to, you know, be like that. Nice to, nice to know ya. See, you wouldn't wanna be ya. Um, in the nicest obvious we part ways always. Um, I know which client Kelly. Hi, nice to see you. She's saying I should have charged a P to fee on this specific on a specific client. I know which client, um, yeah, so think about that because it's never gonna get better if they continue to do it. And you can explain to, uh, the client, what you and are sacrificing with these last minute asks. If it, you know, if it kind of comes up over and over again, it's to the detriment of their, um, you know, other initiatives that you have in the works for them, they're going to burn relationships.
They're going to lose opportunities, Natasha wasn't at you where you said, um, and I hope, I know I'm not, I'm not gonna name specifics, but you went through your email to recap last year and you realized you had well over a dozen emails with opportunities for a specific client that they never replied to and those opportunities were lost. And those are the clients that are gonna say, what are you even doing for me? Yeah. So, uh, those are those clients and you're gonna be like, are you freaking kidding me? How about all of the emails I sent you that you just ignored? So, um, think about, uh, I have ended a contract off of inability to work because they were just not respecting boundaries ended respectful. Absolutely. Um, absolutely. I mean, we've done it too. And that is you being a boss and saying, you know what, this is not okay.
Um, you have more respect for yourself and your business and your time and they just don't get to treat you like that. You decide, how do you want someone to treat you? Um, if the client is coming in a last minute ask and it's reasonable. So, um, you can decide whether you wanna jump and handle that, but it's going to be to the detriment of other initiatives that you're working for. Um, and I have to be honest, this is how my relationship with Amanda is, and I respect so much that she will be like, okay, if you wanna do that, you have to put all of these other things on hold, because this is the plan. So is this important to you, to the detriment of all of these other things, um, that we're working on. And I have now learned that not every single thing has the same level of importance or priority.
And if I have an idea, I will share it and it'll be on the back burner and we'll figure out the right time for it to happen. But not every idea that comes up and is in a certain timeframe is necessary or important. So it's like you realize now that if you're jumping through hoops to make that request happen, it's to the detriments of their other initiatives, you have to tell them that because there's only so much horsepower. There's only so much bandwidth. This tends to come up a lot too with like a award requests, award submissions. So if you're providing, we call Miranda, oh my God. Yeah. She's of expensive but she's worth every penny. Um, she's incredible. That's the integrator in my business. She's customer service. If you've ever emailed us and you gotta reply, it may look like it's coming from me.
Um, but she always signs it. And if I sign it, it really is me. So you you'll know who you're talking to, but she's awesome. Um, but yeah, so, um, oh God, what was I gonna say? Something just came up, uh, anyway. Oh, awards. So, um, it's always the client being like, oh my God, the allure beauty awards, the deadlines tomorrow. So we have really gotten on top of this so we can have time. We're submitting awards for our clients right now. And we just had a new client that started 20 days ago, say where are all my sample requests? Where, you know, we, we worked on strategy. We wrote the pitch, pulled the media list and we submitted them for a huge award. And we got an email this morning. Like I wanna be sending out samples and it's gonna be a whole complicated answer because you know, samples are totally different than they used to be editors.
Aren't asking for them with work from home, blah, blah, blah, but also expectations on how long things are gonna take. And when it's been 20 days and we're like, oh my God, this is not okay. So this is one of those expectation resetting moments. And I think that we're pretty good at them. We're pretty diplomatic. And if they're not getting it, it's gonna be a challenging relationship moving forward to say the least, but we'll handle it. I'll report back, you know, tell you what happens. But, um, yeah, that's where, you know, I'm sorry we just submitted, we wrote this whole award application. It's really complicated. It took probably three or four days. Um, you know, give a, give a team some time, make it happen. Uh, and also here's the thing. Don't be intimidated to say something. That's how I feel. I'm gonna get, you know, into a discussion with the client about, um, you know, what's realistic and you may feel like if you say something they're gonna fire you, but it should be a mutually respectful relationship.
And you can do it in a way where they respect you, where, um, you know, they see that you are running a business, just like they are. And if they expect you to operate in like fire drill mode at all times, you can remind them. You are not an in-house PR person. Let me say that again. You are not their in house PR person. They hired you for your expertise, your contacts. If they want someone on call 24 7 to jump through hoops and be available at the drop of a hat, they need somebody in house and they're not gonna get somebody as seasoned as you, or as, um, here, my husband goes dropping all his tennis matches into my calendar. Um, they're not gonna get somebody as dialed in as you, they're gonna have to pay for databases. They're gonna have to pay for benefits and blah, blah, blah, blah.
Okay. So you are not their employee. You are running a business. It's a, you know, it's a contractor relationship and respect the business that you're running and don't let the clients tell you how you should be running your business. Okay. Um, so that's the specific one. When there's like a last minute ask, how do you handle it? Do you charge, you know, um, we're gonna dive in specifically to the importance of so setting boundaries and how to do it. So we know we've created this business and you can make it look however you want for yourself. And that's why boundaries are so important. Um, I'm trying to see if I included this. Uh, no, I, let me start with a story. Okay. Um, so back when I had, um, my second son, who's gonna be 10 in three weeks or less than three weeks. So a DEC a decade ago, my very first client that I ever worked with, I supported them for 11 years.
So this was like, um, I don't know, six years into working with them. And the CEO was a woman and very much like, yay. You know, friend we're friends came to my baby shower. Um, so it was a very like Jacqueline Hyde personality, odd like a Gaslight type thing, which was my first experience with the, the concept of gaslighting. They didn't have that term or didn't say that back then, but I was like, am I crazy? Like, this person just said this to me and then flipped on a D like, it was crazy anyway. So, um, and I was not the only person that this person treated that way, but so had my first son got home from the hospital and let's say, okay. So I had him on a Friday, was in the hospital until Sunday and I got home and that Tuesday, I get a call from her an email.
And she was like, Hey, I have a gift. I would, I'm in your area. I would love to bring this gift to you. And I'm like, um, okay. You know, when you're like freshly off of having a baby, you do not wanna see a soul. I was nursing. My kid also had colic and he had colic that young, which normally it's not a, a newborn, but it's usually a two week old baby screamed his head off nonstop. The only way to shut him up was to nurse him, screamed his head off nonstop. So here's this woman that's like, I'm coming to bring you a present, shows up at my house and comes up to my office. She'd been here. She knows where my office is. It's upstairs and plops down on the couch, opens her laptop and is like, let's talk strategy, sat in my house for four hours.
I had a nanny because I had my other son. I had like two kids under two. My nanny's running around this calm woman. Who's never been anything other than like a perfectly Zen person running around the house because this baby's screaming. And I couldn't nurse, cuz this woman is there. And I'm like, when is she gonna leave? Why can't she take a hint? She was sending me a very clear message that yes, this happened. I'm not even joking. She was sending me the message. Don't get too comfortable just because you had another, a baby doesn't mean that you are not on the clock. It doesn't mean that you're not, um, committed to our, you know, our, our work together. And it felt to me like a very, I own you moment and I let her do it. I let her do it. Um, the moment I ex accepted that my business would be okay without this client, cuz I had such an affinity.
I was my first client. I loved them. Everybody kind of knew me for working with them. It took years and a lot of abuse. Um, and, and that, and I'm not overusing that word. It was a lot of, a lot of abuse. Um, when I accepted that my business would be okay without them, that we would be okay that the narrative would not be that they outgrew us. And we were, she even said something like this to me anyway, that, um, that they outgrew us and we were, we were um, ancient or whatever. Um, so the second I accepted that I felt so powerful. I felt so empowered and it was years after this. It wasn't like, oh my God. She showed up at my house when I had a newborn and now this is not okay. It took me years and I was so liberated and it felt amazing.
And then ultimately our relationship parted because she didn't wanna do PR anymore. She wanted me to run her affiliate program and I was like, that's not what I do. And it was just a good time to move on. And then the very next day, I'm not even exaggerating to you when I tell you the very next day, one of their competitors reached out to me. I tripled my rate because when you're with a client a long time, you can only do like little incremental increases, especially when you're just starting out. And you're with someone for that long incremental increases. But when a new person comes from the outside and you have all this expertise and all these contacts and all of these great results you can leverage now, your rate is something different. And I tripled my rate and they did not bat an eye.
So think about that. Um, you know, when you think about these clients that yeah. Um, that, that, uh, kind of, uh, steamroll you, um, that was one of the lowest feelings I've ever had. You know, also just being exhausted from having a newborn and nursing and this baby never slept. He screamed his head off and she just showed up at my house and I was like, get down anyway. Uh, so setting boundaries, this is why it's important. And I know nobody's gonna do that to you, but um, you want your business to look however you want it to look. And that's why we start our own businesses. If you are gonna work 24 7 and that's what you want.
Cool. But that's not what I want my business to feel like. Um, good, Allie. Oh my gosh. Are you having a boy or a girl? That's so exciting. Yes. Uh, yeah, you need to hear this message. It's about boundaries. Um, and I think if you're running your own agency, you should get in the agency accelerator because you will have time to really set up your business to be operational and working really well when you go on maternity, however long you want to. So think about that. Um, it's one of the reasons why I created the program. Oh boy, I'm a boy mom two, two times, boy, mom. Um, but yeah, this is a discussion we all need to hear because sometimes clients creep in and we're just like, I guess this is how it's gonna be. Um, but set boundaries. And when you have your boundaries in place, clients will respect what your availability is.
As long as you're getting the work done. Um, you know, we do not respond to messages after hours. If your, if you allow your clients to send you messages after hours on the weekend, then you'll never really have any downtime. You won't be able to spend time with your family and check out or be present in your personal life. And when Allie has this new baby, you know, time is so incredibly fast and so incredibly slow all at the same time. I cannot explain it but that's just how it is. You wanna be present and enjoy it. You're not sleeping. You're a mess. If you allow clients to creep in on your nights and weekends, you have no, um, connection to what's going on in your, you know, personal life. It's just sort of out of your hands. And you're allowing people in, um, to control all hours and all, you know, all you know, hours and, and nights and weekends of your business.
So I want you to have a business where you can be present in your life so that you're not constantly checking email all hours of the day, wondering after hours, what clients are texting me or asking for me. Um, if they send me a message after hours, even if I'm working, cuz sometimes I do work. I've told you guys I do this. I will get the work done and I'll boomerang it to go out in the morning. First thing during normal hours. Um, I don't want them to see that I am accessible and online when it's late at night, I just, or on a weekend. And I will tell you, I have not had a client message us, reach out, ask anything. And it's my industry. We're not, uh, a, a 24 7 operation. It's not, um, you know, breaking news type situation for our clients, but clients don't bother us.
They just do not bother us. So, um, you know, when you have your client do this text nights, weekends, blah, blah, blah, the first time they do it, consider how you will reply because that is setting a precedent. Um, yes and yes, for me weekly on biweekly schedule calls, cut down the random calls and texts crystal. That's a great way to do it. Ali is like a hundred percent so glad you brought this up. And I joined today. Awesome. Right. And I love that. You're like the universe is aligning things for me because I needed to hear or this. Um, yeah. And Crystal's like, I stop replying on nights and weekends. Yes. Um, discuss the expectations and boundaries. Um, and the contract thoroughly before signing ensure these terms and penalties are clearly stated. I try not to be like penalty penalty penalty because to me it sets up the relationship to be somewhat adversarial.
Um, you know, it's, we're, we're pros here. We're all pros it's in there. They can see it. Um, you know, and maybe they will start to, it's like we're training my puppy right now. And it's like reinforcing the good behavior and you know, bad behavior. It doesn't get the same. the same, uh, reinforcement or attention. So if my client is messaging me nights and weekends, it is reasonable to get back to them on Monday morning. It is reasonable to get back to them the next day when you're online. So think about the first time you do it, because that is going to set the precedent, how that behavior is addressed. So set very good habits from the first interaction you have with them. Um, like I said, you may find free time nights' weekends, but, or, and also this goes for the proposal. This goes for the proposal.
Um, if you are working late at night on a proposal, do not send it. Don't be like, oh my God, they're gonna be so happy when they wake up in the morning. And my proposal's there. Yeah. If they see you sent it overnight, then now your potential new client sees, oh, my PR agency that we're thinking of hiring works, works nonstop. That shouldn't be something that they think about when they're considering working with you. It should be the content of your proposal that persuades them. Okay. I try not to do it because they will just be like, um, I know, um, forcing boundaries has been great for mental health. No means no uh, yeah. And they respect it honestly. And Sasha has a way of dealing with it upfront setting these expectations and boundaries, addressing it in the contract. Um, they are notice, right?
I mean, we don't because our clients are like more companies versus individuals. But if I see during the courting phase, how they're behaving, this all comes up in our red flags and our, um, like sales process content in the agency accelerator. There's an entire lesson and a, a tip sheet on red flags. That's one of the red flags. So if you see that they're behaving like that in the like courting phase with your proposal, guess what? That's not gonna change. It's only gonna gonna get worse when they're paying you. So like what Natasha is saying, this is a mindset shift that you have to make Natasha shifted her mindset and said, this is not working for me. It is not good for my mental health. I need to set boundaries and I am comfortable doing that. So we know that there's this like pride with PR professionals where we're super responsive and we're fast.
And we're like, and I have a team member, that'll send me an email and then send me a text and say, did you get my email? And like, I just literally sat down, like, what are you talking about? Give me a second to just, you know, open my eyes for this morning. That's my team. But they love being super, super responsive or I'll say, oh my God, did you see the news? Like something, you know, breaking news. And they'll like, they'll say, oh yeah, I already knew about that. And it's like, this news came 45 seconds ago. Like, are you proud that you were the one that heard it 45 seconds ago as I was typing to you, they love to be first and, and fast. So this is this kind of pride with PR people they're super responsive. They respond as fast as possible because sometimes this is about breaking news, you know?
Um, and you have to respond really quickly. Um, you know, sometimes you wanna align your client with something that's being discussed in the news, like a newsjacking approach. And it comes up and you're like, oh my God, I have this idea. Let's respond right away. There is this badge of honor that comes with it with PR pros, give a thumbs up or a heart. If you know what I'm talking about, guess we're communicators, we're comms pros. So we like to be like, I'm a great communicator. And I, you know, respond very quickly and you're gonna hear from me, um, yeah, look at those hearts. So you have it in your head that maybe you are the one that will not be able to sleep or, you know, be able to focus on anything else or relax until you get that response off. So that's on you.
Um, Natasha's like, girl just went through the same situation. She's talking to Allie, so many red flag, but I was trying to see the best in them. It came to bite me in the behind bad last week, retainers up next week. And it is the best decision for the both of us. Definitely listen to your intuition. Yeah. A lot of what we talk about in our programs is honing in on your intuition and not ignoring it. And the red flag situ is like one of the biggest opportunities to listen to what your gut is telling you. Cuz sometimes we talk ourselves out of it, cuz money is money and we're like a, client's a client and you know, all, it'll be fine. It's not gonna be fine. So just no pay attention to that intuition. Um, so, uh, this is the thing you have to tell yourself that it's okay to have those boundaries and you need them in order to be successful.
And in order to have your mental health to have downtime, to reset your mind, um, your clients are not going to feel like you're giving them bad service. If you wait to respond during, during normal business hours, that's not bad service. If you get them results, it shouldn't matter when you communicated in order for those things to happen. So some people, and it sounds like, um, Sasha did, as this they'll set clear communication, right from the start, by including the details in their proposal about availability. Like you get one call per month and I'll be accessible from email during nine to five, um, during the work week. But I personally don't do this and I don't recommend it. I think that that implies almost like there might be an unprofessional relationship from the start and you're like planting your flag and they're, you know, going like, okay, you know, what did I do?
I didn't do anything. Um, it, it usually will come into play with a corporation or a bigger client. So I would never really say this to them. They're on business hours too. So the expectation is that they're, um, you know, they're already on that same timeframe without you having to say it specifically, if you represent individuals, that's where like a conduct clause can be helpful. Um, and you know, I, I don't like to say, oh, to our clients, you're, you're limiting how many times they can call you right now. I'm dealing with an attorney for special ed for my son and my husband are like, should we call him? I don't know, is this important for $400? Like every single discussion is $600, $400. You know, it's like awful to see that I don't wanna set up my relationship with my clients like that. I want them to feel like we're a team and all of that. And usually they don't abuse it, but if it's an individual, like Sasha said, put it in your contract, make sure they see it before signing it, um, and state it clearly. But, um, yeah, so I, I once had a client that I allowed to text me because I was so eager to please her.
Um, she text me all hours of the night, 10:00 PM on a Saturday. Um, and I had to set those boundaries because it would've been, uh, what was I saying? It would've been a lot easier if I set it right out of the gate because I was the one that jumped through hoops to be like, you know, this amazing, like I, I got you. Yeah, I'm a team, I'm a team player, you know, and it was my fault and I allowed her to do that. Um, you know, so think about your behavior from the beginning because that's what you're showing is. Okay. It is okay to treat you like that. Um, you guys know, I talk about Miranda a lot. She is amazing at this. She's very protective of her time. Um, especially after hours and to me, all that matters is that she's crushing it during her available hours.
And she'll get back to me right away the next day when she's back online. And you know, maybe there's a few instances where we have an issue, but it's really important to me that she's checked into the business that she's excited about it, which means she is doing this to protect her energy and to avoid burnout. And then she gets back online and we're like a great team in making great, amazing things happen. Okay. Um, so I respect that and you know, trust me, your clients will too, and be confident to do that because this is your business. You need to set it up in a way that makes you feel good, where you have energy, where you're excited. I don't want a text to come in. And you're like feeling that sense of dread. You're like, Ugh. You know, we all know those clients when the phone rings and you're just like, Ugh, I have to talk to this person.
This is all, um, you know, don't allow that to creep into your nights and weekends. And if you, um, take time off, the other thing I want you to know is that that is okay. It is perfectly fine and acceptable for you to take time off, you know, for you to, um, like yesterday I had an IEP meeting for my son's, um, special ed and I had to take off in the middle of the day to attend that meeting. I don't have to tell anyone about that. You know, nobody needs to know, but also bigger, long periods of time. Um, if you, I don't work on Fridays. Typically clients tend not to bother me. What's going on Lola, there's a loud car outside. And she's like, what? Um, oh no. And Natasha saying, um, this morning saw a text, an instant panic attack. I hate that feeling.
I hate that feeling. How can you avoid that? You know, sometimes when you see those text messages, well, first of all, my clients, honestly, don't even have my cell phone. We meet on zoom and they can email me. They don't really text me, but I know some of you represent individuals and sometimes you're going to events and you need to have like instant communication, uh, um, you know, anyway. So, um, unless you have the kind of work where you have to be connected to breaking news, um, it should not matter when you get your work done, what matters are the results? And it's your job to kind of convey to the client that you're available during your killer hours. And for me, it's not really even explicitly saying it it's more doing it. Does that make sense? It's um, exemplifying my boundaries. Um, when I'm replying, when I'm getting things to them, how quickly I reply to an email , you know, um, like that email we got this morning, I don't know if anyone on the team has responded to it yet.
You know, one of the members of my team is getting married this weekend. So she is offline and the client knows that. So she chose today as the day to be like what's happening. She knows that our main account executive is getting married this weekend and is off, is offline. And she told her I'm not online Thursday and Friday, kind of a red flag for me. And I was like, I swear to God during the courting phase, she was normal, but this is not, it's not okay. I know. Um, Allie said I took a year off because I was burned out and I am a firm believer what for you is always there for you. I came back after that year and doubled our income. That is so awesome. I love that because you were refreshed and you were re-energized and you knew exact, you had clarity, you knew exactly what you wanted and then you realized my time is valuable and I'm not gonna allow myself to get burnt out.
And when you will, your income, you can bring on a team. Some of them show their true colors too late. Yeah. I think this one's gonna be good. I think she's just excited. So we'll yeah. Um, we'll just, uh, sort of reset, I think, but, um, you know, for me it's about, I don't say like I'm available these hours, blah, blah, blah, blah. Do not call me nights and weekends. I don't say I just do it and they get the message and nobody's like, you aren't respond. I've never, people are like, they're so responsive. Nobody's ever said that. So, um, you know, unless there is a breaking news situation, but those are usually few and far between. It's about conveying by your actions. Okay. And, um, follow through on these boundaries. Don't just have them in your head and let a client kind of creep in a little bit and then a little more and learn more.
Now they're like owning you nights and weekends. And I will say, and for Allie, who's pregnant. One of the biggest reasons that I got into PR, um, and the reason that I love it so much is the flexibility to be present for my kids. And I made this move before I was even a mom and I had my agency a few years before I had my two kids and I had two kids under two. I nursed them and my business didn't suffer. Um, we were steady because that was the choice I made. I didn't wanna grow during that period, especially with Jack, because he had colic and he screamed for a year. It was a frigging year. It was horrible. You feel like you are a non person when you do not sleep and you have this baby shrieking in your face, 24, 7, and nothing you do can get him to shut up.
Um, and for those who wonder, he is like the he's, he's awesome. He's a great kid. Now. It's like the one where we're like, we don't even like you, like, we don't love you. We don't like you. We just have to keep you alive because that's the law. Like we felt no connection to this kid. I'm not, I'm just keeping it real here, honestly. And even my family was like, this kid looks like a pluck chicken. He screams his head out. This eye are bugging out. He's so like the, the, you know, the less you sleep, the less you sleep basically. So they say sleep, the get sleep. This kid never slept. We never slept. It was a nightmare. So the only thing I could do in that period was survive. Literally just get through it. And so my client load was steady and I had a team.
Um, we did not grow because I did not have the bandwidth. And once I felt more settled and Allie, you will not have a colicky baby. You will not, your baby will be a perfect little angel. That'll sleep right away. Um, I, I just stow that on you. Uh, but you know, keep in mind. Um, that's, you know, that's sort of, um, that's the reason why I did this. Not keep in mind, but just to clarify oh, no, just for payback. Allie's like, I was one, um, yeah, it, your mom will say I was joked. That's why I don't show up. um, your mom will be like, payback's a, Allie. Um, anyway, so I love this so much because I able to be present for my kids. Um, but this flexibility that I built into my schedule was intentional. Uh my husband just texted me some very weird, uh, breaking news, not breaking news, but anyway, um, you have to be intentional about your hours that you're working your time, how accessible you are and setting these boundaries is how you create a business that will support the kind of life that you wanna have.
And I've always said that if I were working nonstop or I was still an attorney, I would not have caught the signs of my son's autism when he was a, you know, 10 month old baby, I caught it so early, um, and got him into regional center and got him evaluated and had him in OT. And, you know, it's a journey where 10 years into, or 11 years into this, and he's still in all these services. Um, and we're learning more and more and it's evolving, but I have to think that if we didn't do early intervention, it would've been a lot different, a lot harder. Um, and I know that I was meant to leave law, to be on this path, to be able to be there for my son. And then also, so to give others the model for how to do it in a way where they can be intentional set the boundaries, build the business they want on their terms.
And, um, it's easy to go overboard and just think that you have to work, work, work, work, work. What does that Rihanna work, work, work work have a terrible voice, but that's not the way to build a sustainable business. Just ask Natasha, ask Allie, you know, boundaries are key. So that's what I have you guys. And, you know, make sure you download this agency action plan. It's really good. Very good. Even if you are inside my agency accelerator, grab the action plan because it is like a succinct little cheat sheet on the entire path of profitability framework, the four pillars, strategy, sales service, and scale alley. You will not be good to anyone when you are burned out. That's what she said. Absolutely. Absolutely. I just did a pod cast where I talked about being at the end of my rope, you know, and telling my husband like I'm at the end of my rope.
And that is when he knows that I cannot do anything else. So sometimes I'll say we're pulling frozen old crap out of the fridge and putting it in the air fryer and that's dinner. And that has to be okay. The kids are gonna eat waffles or cereal. That has to be okay because I cannot do anything beyond that. Allie just went in and signed up and she's on the wait list. Yay. You'll love it. Um, well, you know, you'll be part of our launch, which is coming up very, very soon. Um, but yeah, and so we'll be opening the doors really soon. Um, program will help you with everything we discussed in today's training because of the, in like how it's very intentional, the kind of business that you are looking to build. It's very intentional. And I look at it like stepping stones, uh, done is better than perfect for, or, and beyond.
Thanks, Adrian. Yeah. I'm like, they're not gonna die. Like it's one meal and I have to be honest with you. My kids don't eat anything. Um, they're very picky eaters. My older son eats nothing and he'll eat peanut butter and jelly, but the school will not allow peanut butter. We're at a private school now for dis kids with dyslexia and ADHD. He goes to school. He eats nothing. They call me all the time. Uh, do you have anything for lunch for your son? And I'm like, he won't eat. Um, oh, yay. Ricky, you subscribe to my podcast guys, if you listen podcast or you just feel so inclined, um, leave a review, leave a rating. Um, it helps people find us more recently. I'm seeing people are actually finding our podcast, which is so cool to me. We're on Spotify, we're on iTunes. Um, and you know, uh, I, yeah, it's it's, to me, I love podcast.
As I pop in my earbuds, I walk the dog and anytime I can share something, that'll be of value. Like Ricky said, love your wisdom. I love that. Thank you so much more recently on the podcast, just sort of blurted out. Like without even it sort of just came to me, but then somebody said, can you come on my instant stories to, um, um, talk about the four PS of press features, press placements. And I, I just kind of came up with it on the fly and I was like, it's not really a thing, but I guess it is a thing. So it was something I talked about from early on in the game I came up with was like, um, people always said, you're so passionate. You're so passionate. You're doing. And I felt like that was the key ingredient because we really believed in the brands we were pitching and that, and I talked to clients and they were like, you're so passionate about our products.
We love that. So I said, passion plus persistence plus patience equals press placements. And then I was like, actually, there's a fourth P it's, uh, um, it's positioning. And that's the entire approach that we teach inside the pitch lab, which is our membership. That's awesome. Nelson's in the pitch lab. Um, Natasha's in the pitch lab. Um, and then as I was chatting with Charice, who is maybe here, lurking, cuz she says she comes on my lives. As I was chatting with her on her show, she brought up planning. So five PS planning plus positioning plus passion, patience and persistence equals press placements. How's that for the five PS? I like that a lot. Um, sometimes we get clients, that'll say I have an urgent thing and it's a project and I need you to start tomorrow. And our launch date is February 20th and you're like, eh, you didn't plan.
It's not gonna work. So I loved that fifth P Charissa, you're watching so smart. Um, and that came up on the podcast. I was like, oh yeah, I made up this thing a long time ago. So, um, yeah, the podcast is fun. I'm so glad you guys are checked into it. If you've listened to an episode and learned something, please leave a review. Um, rate us, grab this agency action plan. Nelson says, um, this, oh, you listened in Jane. Awesome. Yeah, it was really good. She's great. She is a great interviewer. I love her energy. Um, it's Charice Ford I think is her last name and she's the six foot publicist and she's beautiful a model, um, super smart. And we had a great chat. I think if out to her, um, Instagram, it's still there. And thank you for saying that Jane and Nelson said, I'm probably signing two more clients at 8,000 per month, per month, each one for six months and the other for a year, congrats Nelson just also had some other major client wins that he has shared with us.
Um, and his motivation and my motivation is the same. It's always to show what's possible. You know, it's like, if we can do it, you can too. And um, you know, these are these, this is great. That's a great rate and great revenue for your business and profit to on a team. And I don't know if Nelson's comfortable with that, but to me when you have that many clients and you have that much revenue, you can bring in someone exceptional and have a life. Um, and I've told you guys, uh, many, many times you might be hearing it for the very first time. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got very early in my business was less equals more money, bring on a team, leverage their time. Um, don't burn yourself out. Cuz I maxed out at a certain rate and I was like, well, I can't feel that I'm successful until I replace my salary that I made as an attorney. And I was like hovering right about there. Um, yes you will. Absolutely Nelson have to bring someone into freelance. Absolutely. You need to start looking right now that is you are gonna make yourself crazy. And I know you can handle it a lot, but you are like at a new level. Okay. So just keep that in mind. Oh, hi, Ashley.
Um, this is so spot on Jen. I have asked a client to book a time to meet with me with normal working business hours and they team of three, keep telling me that they are working at their jobs during that time and want to schedule with me after 7:00 PM or on the weekends. I'm seriously about to drop them. Ugh. Good. I'm glad you see that Ashley stand your ground, you know, um, or maybe you just do a monthly call instead, um, you know, once a month and find a time where they're willing to take an hour during lunch or whatever. We have a client that has a team all over the world. So like tonight we're reviewing, it's a new client and we're reviewing their press plan in order for us to align. It's 4:00 PM my time. Um, and it is, um, for someone on my team, it's like 6:00 PM her time.
And I have someone in Singapore. I have someone in Columbia, not me, the client. And that's the only time that works. And it stinks because my kids come home from school at that time. Um, or just before then. And I like to do homework with them, or just check in how is your day what's up, blah, blah, blah. Um, I read with my son every night, the one who is struggling with dyslexia, that's part of, um, his program that he's in. Um, and I'm, and I'm loving it. He is finally confident reading to me and it's like a really special time for us. And I don't like to say no to him when he's like, mommy, I wanna read to you. I wanna be that person. It's only 15 minutes. So to take a call at four that I know is gonna be two hours, it's hard for me, but because it's an international scheduling thing, but 7:00 PM Ashley, Ugh. Do not like it.
Um, so anyway, see how you feel about setting your boundaries. Um, and again, grab our agency action plan. I'll stay on a one more minute, um, to see if anybody has any specific questions. Thank you guys for being here. Um, I'm so glad that you, uh, like the training Ashley and Jane that you like the IG live. Isn't she so great. Char she's she's awesome. Um, anyway, I'll hang out for a minute and Ricky's now subscribed. Listen to an episode, leave a review. That would mean so much to me. And, um, yeah, we're opening the doors to agency accelerator. I'm so freaking excited and we have something really, really cool and special. We're doing this cohort. Okay. Bye Ali. Feel good. See you soon. So we have something really special. We're planning for a, um, cohort, um, the newest cohort and anyone who's already enrolled in our program gets to join us for this too.
So we'll be sharing more about that. I'm so excited about it. This has been very, a long, busy time in the making, getting it prepared for you. So I'm excited to, uh, share what that is when we open enrollment. It's gonna be good anyway. Okay guys. Well, thanks for being here. I have nine texts that I have to, that I have to get back to. So none of them I'm sure that important, but anyway, um, thank you so much. Love sharing all of the ways that we can create a business that will light us up and serve us and not suck the life out of us. So that's boundaries, healthy boundaries are very important for that. Um, leave a comment here. If you, you know, learned anything specific or in the, in the profitable PR pros group, key takeaways, aha moments again, thank you so much for being here. I am so grateful to not have to speak to myself every week, cuz whether you're here or not, I'm gonna be talking and it's so much more fun to have conversations. So I'm grateful for you have a wonderful rest of your day and I will see you again real soon. Bye guys.
