Carving a PR Empire with Marsha Archer

This episode's guest, British-Jamaican-American Marsha Archer, takes us through her compelling journey and dives into the fascinating world of public relations.

Public relations is more than just a job for Marsha; it's an art form. We delve into the nuances of crafting a compelling story in PR, and Marsha shares how she ensures her clients stand out, reflecting their brand tone and unique voice. We get a glimpse into the exciting clients on the, M Squared PR agency roster.  Plus, Marsha opens up about her road to a better work-life balance - how she started her own business and the trade-offs she had to make.

As we round up our conversation with Marsha, she offers invaluable advice to aspiring entrepreneurs. From taking a leap of faith to start her business, how relationships have been the bedrock of her success, to admitting her weaknesses and learning to delegate effectively. Marsha's story is packed with practical nuggets of wisdom. So, don't miss this episode full of rich insights, powerful lessons, and an unforgettable success story.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Carry On Friends, the Caribbean American podcast. I am excited, as always. Why shouldn't I be excited about the amazing guest that I have on the podcast? And today I have the fabulous Marsha Archer on the podcast. Marsha, welcome to Carry On Friends, welcome, welcome, welcome. I'm excited to be here. Prr, pr, pr, pr, pr, pr. So why don't you tell the community of friends a little bit about who you are, caribbean country you represent and the work you do?

Speaker 2: 0:32

Yeah, so definitely hailing up all Jamaican massive. My parents are Jamaican born and raised. I was born in England but, you know, spent every summer as a child in Jamaica with my grandparents and I still go there. My husband is Jamaican, so constantly representing the island and you know all things working hard, you know, just truly representing who we are as a culture and as a people. So, yeah, you know, been in the US for, you know, quite some time, most of my adulthood. But I moved here to New Jersey, specifically in the US, when we migrated to the US from England. My parents migrated to England from Jamaica many years before that. So you know, first generation college graduate and only child, all of that stuff. So I've done a lot of firsts in my life. And then, you know, becoming an entrepreneur and running a multi-location public relations agency based here in Atlanta with offices around the country has been just an amazing feat. So I'm just happy to be here to share my story and just talk about all the fun things that we do at M squared public relations.

Speaker 1: 1:44

Why? All right, All right. First I want to talk about the journey. What age did you leave?

Speaker 2: 1:53

So I was 11 when I made that migration to the US from England and they were probably my parents were in their 40s when they migrated because they had me later in life, you know. So they migrated from Jamaica to England and had me later in life and you know, it's just been a journey nonstop ever since. I've lived in many states, mostly along the East Coast, just kind of following, you know, whether it was a career or college, just moving around with my parents. But yeah, I've enjoyed the journey thus far, for sure.

Speaker 1: 2:27

So, when you think of your cultural upbringing, what was it like growing up in the UK and then coming to America? What was that situation like?

Speaker 2: 2:35

Well, if you can tell, I don't really have an accent. So that was part of the struggle, right Trying to fit in. So I came out of the age where it was kind of late elementary school, so there was a lot of peer pressure, right, and it was, you know, up North where kids are, you know, not kind right, and so just trying to fit in and assimilate to what felt like was the norm, because I was teased for talking different, for looking different, and so, yeah, I really struggled to fit in and so I lost my accent in the process. And when I go back home to England, boom, it comes right back on, though, and when I'm in Jamaica, boom, I feel like I'm talking like mummy, you know. So, again, it just depends on where I was, but it was. It was not easy making that transition. So I really side with people who are immigrants trying to just navigate life in an unfamiliar place, because it wasn't easy for me. So I always almost immediately identified with the struggle that they're going through.

Speaker 1: 3:35

Wow, I would like to be the fly when you switch between. I mean, actually my cousin is in in the UK and I always found it fabulous when her mother would say Sabrina, and then and then sometimes he was like you know this British accent and the Patois, and I feel like you know that's wild. You know, one minute is the Patois that go into the cut me and it's like you know so I think that's the richness about the immigrant experience and our language right.

Speaker 1: 4:09

Where, no matter which culture we go into, you know, and the accents we add on top of that, you know, it just makes the language just fuller, like you know, add some American slang or some, you know, uk slang on top of a Caribbean or a Jamaican accent and it's a whole new world Like real 20. So you are in PR, you are an entrepreneur, you have a multi location business. Talk to me about why you chose to go into PR.

Speaker 2: 4:43

You know, I don't know so much that I chose to go into PR or that PR chose me. Because growing up, you know, my mother always said why was you know? And so I was like, okay, I don't want to be a nurse like you, which is, you know, the quintessential selection, right? You grow up wanting to emulate your parents, either your mom or your dad. And so I just knew it, that I was going to be the next Jamaican nurse and I said no, I don't want to do that. So I kept playing that back in my head like what can I do as a nosy child? And so I said I'm going to be in TV, I'm going to be a recorder.

Speaker 2: 5:18

And so when I got into college which I attended Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, so I'm a big HBCU advocate I decided that I was going to explore journalism. So I actually bounced around between broadcast, then I went to the magazine side, I went to the newspaper side and I ended up realizing that PR kind of touched on it and really encapsulated all of that, and so I ended up graduating with my BA in public relations. So I've never looked back. It's all I've ever done. I've never had a career or even a part-time job that didn't involve some level of PR. So yeah, I'm a big advocate of this industry. I love it.

Speaker 1: 6:01

Before we get into you actually building your business. What is one misconception people have about PR?

Speaker 2: 6:07

Oh gosh, I would say definitely like. If you even look at our Instagram, which is at msquared PR, people think, oh my gosh, they have such a fun job. It just looks like it's fun all the time. There's a lot of hard work that happens behind the scenes to have the fun and to show up in cute dresses with fun clients like Jimmy Chu or Givenchy, or a hotel like Waldorf Astoria in Atlanta, in Buckhead. So while it looks great on the surface, we work extremely hard. We're constantly in front of our computers, constantly on the phone, and you have to be an amazing writer to be successful in this industry.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Wow, amazing writer. Why is that?

Speaker 2: 6:50

Because we're constantly communicating and so if you think of like the caliber of clients that we work with, a Givenchy, for example, if you're writing on their behalf, it has to be on brand. You cannot have typos. You have to understand their brand tone and brand voice to come off sounding like that, because you're an extension of their company. So not only do you have to understand their brand tone and voice, but when you work in a PR agency, you have multiple clients. So think about all the voices that are playing in your head and trying to make sure that you don't misuse a word. So I always give an example. Like you know, free we all know what that word means, but in some circles, free is a little bit lowbrow and complimentary. While it's the same word, it's a little bit more highbrow. So it's down to like the little nuances, like that Interesting.

Speaker 1: 7:41

So walk me through you now opening your own business. The first location, like did you work with an agency and what made you pick up on it? I work for myself, you know. Like walk us through that journey.

Speaker 2: 7:57

Yeah. So I never really had the entrepreneurial spirit and I will say my entire pretty much my life and my career has been organic, and I would say that's probably what has led to some of the successes is that I haven't really gone out charging for a lot of the things that have happened. They've just kind of fallen into place. And so when I started my first agency, I had just had my first child, who is now 19. And I just was looking for something that was you know what we're all chasing that work life balance. And I was like you know, I think I worked so hard for this company and at the time I was working for a major hotel company I said, you know, at this juncture in my life I want to really be home. I was leaving before he was awake, I was getting home after he was asleep and I was like, okay, before you know what he's going to call the nanny mommy and that's going to be the end of it, right. And so that's what really drove my decision to become an entrepreneur.

Speaker 2: 8:57

And when I did it, I knew I wanted to do a lot of the things that I had already done in my career in the past. So I wanted to represent hotel. I wanted to represent retail, which is a personal and a professional passion of mine, like I love fashion, and then I also wanted to do food and beverage. I love dining out.

Speaker 2: 9:14

So I always say you know, what we do at M squared PR is after a consumer has paid all their bills and all of their essentials are out of the way, whatever they choose to do with that leftover money is what we are promoting, right? So we're promoting travel, we're promoting dining out, we're promoting, you know, hotel stays, whether it's you're getting on a plane and going to a far off destination or you're just going a couple of blocks away and checking in to do a staycation. That's what we represent. So we do get to play with the lifestyle of a lot of brands, but our job is to make sure that our clients really stand out because we have options. So where you choose to dine out is probably the voice that's speaking loudest in your head. So we really want our clients to be that loud voice.

Speaker 1: 9:58

Amazing Restaurants, yeah. Clothes, yeah yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:06

All of everyone's biggest addictions, right. And so it's hard because we walk into our client's spaces a lot and it's the chef going oh my God, I'm working on a new menu, you got to try this. And you're like okay, I'm going to the gym the rest of the week because this is so good.

Speaker 2: 10:21

Your diet is out the window, the window and you have to try it because, essentially, you're going to have to turn around in a couple days, weeks, months and talk about it, and the best way to really be able to be the best storyteller is to understand the story you're telling. So, yeah, it's really a fun career. A lot of people get into it and they laugh, and a lot of people get into it and they realize, oh, so this isn't just all cuteness and great photos after all. Yeah, no, it's a lot of work.

Speaker 1: 10:49

I love what you said. Understand the story that you're telling. I mean, it seems simple, but it feels like if it was simple, obviously everybody would have been doing your job. So how do I understand the story that I'm telling In full transparency? It's very hard for me to talk about myself. I can't talk about myself. I'm podcast, but you're under.

Speaker 2: 11:13

Yeah, people say that it is hard to talk about yourself, but from the standpoint of really understanding the story. So, for example, I'll use a chef. If he says to me hey, come in my kitchen and try this new menu item. It's going to be on the menu come fall I will say, ok, chef, this is really good, tell me about it. I don't want to just know about the ingredients, I want to know why you put that on the menu. Was it because it was something that your mother grew up making at home? Is it something that was a composition of your mother and your grandmother's recipe? And now you're putting a little spin on it to put it inside the restaurant? That's the story that when I am pitching a food writer or a food editor that they want to know because otherwise they're getting pitched by so many other people that are just pitching a menu item. But my story is going to be compelling. It's going to use food and wine magazines latest ingredients of the year.

Speaker 2: 12:09

I remember when kale was the ingredient of the year many years ago. Everywhere you went you had braised kale, kale salad, kale dish, kale juice, and so again, when you take a little thing like that and you try to turn it into a story or you try to add it to the menu. Now you're in a crowded marketplace of everyone using one ingredient. How do you make your story rise above the rest? So it really is about getting to the deeper level of the story, not just hey, I'm another chef with another restaurant that has kale on the menu. It's no, I braise my kale and I do this with it, and I'm using some ingredients that I grew up from my home country. I put a little curry in it.

Speaker 2: 12:50

Whatever it is, you want to be able to tell the story so that it just kind of sticks out and it makes people want it. And that's what our job is is to make people desire to be a part of our client experience. So, whether it's you're going to Jamaica and you're checking into a hotel, we all know that there are tons of resorts, there are tons of bed and breakfast how are you going to choose? And so, if you're able to Google Jamaican hotels and resorts, you're looking for third party. You know perspectives on where to go. You're looking on TripAdvisor to see different people's experiences, and so our goal is not to just tell that client story, but to make sure our clients have a story. So if you have a spa at the hotel, what's a signature spa treatment that's really going to stand out right? It may stand out more if you're not just using massage oil but now you're using some elements that are native to Jamaica and you're intertwining it with the oil for a really localized experience. That's the story.

Speaker 1: 13:49

Well, after this recording, I have a comeback. I listen to this so I can't tell. I'm like mm-hmm, mm-hmm, I think I'm making up the story. I'm not making up, but I'm like, oh, maybe I should tell that story.

Speaker 2: 14:01

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:01

But oh, my grandmother always met my church. I have to perform in everything at church, even when I didn't want to. I'm up there on stage singing. You know same poem, I reading scripture, or you know all these things. Like I don't want to do it, I did it last week. We tagging it.

Speaker 2: 14:17

But when you think about it, kari Ann, that's exactly the story. Right, you're in this position to now run a major podcast because you got that confidence of speaking, of being on stage, because, even if it's a podcast, you're still on stage. Right, you still have to be able to hold the attention of your listeners and the people that you're interviewing. You've got that skill set at a very early age. Do you know how many people struggle with what you're doing? So if somebody were to say, how did you get to this place of running a major podcast and interviewing people and finding great people to interview, it's because you were instilled with this confidence of being, you know, on stage under the lights for many years, because your grandmother put you in those positions. So you're just at a place where this comes naturally to you. That is a story, thank you.

Speaker 1: 15:05

Thank you, grandma. Thank you, it paid off, grandma, because let me tell you when I tell you, every Panaka church we had to go there and rehearse and say poem. And you know, and my friends from church, they're almost like siblings we talk about it like we couldn't sing. But why were we on this choir? Why Tell me why? Yeah, or, and my grandmother may have known what she was doing, but poor me, just miserable, like I don't want to do this, but you dare not show any reflection that you upset, because then that's a whole other story. Now you got two more to do.

Speaker 1: 15:41

So I really enjoy this conversation because, as you said, we're in a space with I mean, you don't focus in this space, but I think it's transferable to other content creators, those who are in this space, and how we can better tell our stories, especially stories around people of Caribbean heritage. If you are a Caribbean blogger and you like to travel, or artists, or you know something, being able to tell our story is going to be a differentiator, right, yeah, because you have one Bagajamaicans, you have one Bagachini. Everybody is somebody, right? So we have to be able to tell a good story. So talk to me about opening that first office and expanding, because what I want to glean from that is the friction of growth that a lot of social media preachers don't really share, because starting a business is one thing, growing that business is a whole other ball game, and the growth part is where it gets yucky and not many people talk about it. So, as much as you can or choose to, what was it like starting and what did you experience growing that to have multiple locations?

Speaker 2: 16:50

Well, I think the first thing that I would say is that every person who is an entrepreneur or running any business of any size needs mentors and I say plural, right Not just one, but multiple and your mentor should never be from the same industry as you. It's good to have one or two in that space, but sometimes your mentors need to be in other spaces that coincide with your business. So if you're running a business money, right, you're dealing with a lot of money have a mentor that might be in accounting space, bookkeeping space, so that you can bounce ideas off of somebody and your business doesn't have to get audited by the IRS, and you realize that one major slip up created a whole issue for you and then you don't have a business anymore. So that would be my first piece of advice. But when I started the company back in 2008, I actually moonlighted While I was working full time with a major hotel company in the city. I moonlighted for about a year and a half and just kind of took on small projects. But at the same time, I was also building my mentor base right of just people that could advise me, people who had their own businesses, people who were in corporate spaces.

Speaker 2: 17:59

And so when I started the company, I wrote my resignation letter, probably six months before I turned it in, because you never know when is your last day going to be right, because you want to make sure you set yourself up for success. So I said, ok, marcia, you're going to do this, you're going to do this. And I wrote the letter and I kept it on my desktop and I remember waking up one Friday going I'm going to turn it in today. And I just picked a day. And I remember my husband saying today, why today? And I was like I don't know, it just feels right. I feel like I'm at that point, that breaking point of I'm moonlighting and I'm working a full time job and I'm getting like two minutes of sleep. Right, it was just at that point. And when I did turn in that resignation letter, I remember my boss being so disappointed and her remark back to me was I'm why now? And this feels like the wrong time.

Speaker 2: 18:50

The hotel was going through a major transition. There was a new general manager coming in, major hotel competition was opening up in the market and I was like you know what, I can't worry about anybody else's right time other than Michael. And I remember still sticking with it and it all panned out and played out in my favor. That same client who had never worked with a PR agency they always and only hired people to work inside their building and only represent that hotel Turned around to me because I gave a month notice. Again, I was in no rush and I wanted to make sure I burned no bridges gave her a month notice, probably three days to that 30-day expiration of the of my notice. She said to me how would you feel about representing this hotel under your agency? We really don't want to part ways with you when I tell you. It was like a jaw-dropping moment because had I even thought that that was remotely an idea, I would have proposed it myself, but it never was. In the history of not only that hotel but the corporate office of that hotel it was never even an idea. So I kind of created that Space for not only myself but for other PR people to come along and work with other respective hotels under that hotel brand and they were able to work Remote work through an agency and it's all successful.

Speaker 2: 20:11

Again, pr is about relationships, right, and so if you've got a good thing going, it's really not an easy thing to kind of break away from, and they did not want to lose that momentum. They knew that I knew their story, I knew their brand, I knew their voice and I knew how to measure them up against all the competition that was coming into that marketplace. So that was essentially how I built the company and my first client was that hotel, which was my former employer, and the good thing that I was really smart about and that came from just Talking to other people and getting a lot of good advice. I started my business at home. I built out my basement and that was my office and I thought, oh my gosh, it's just gonna be me a little office and a laptop within three months. Carry on. I hoped.

Speaker 2: 20:57

One of my mentors, who actually owned another agency in the same space as me hospitality but we were good friends for a long before I started the company and she was like you know what, marsha, competition is good and competition is healthy. Let's work through this together, because anything that I can't take on, I at least know I've got a trusted other PR agency that I would not mind referring things to. And I said to her I said Melissa, I'm just curious, at what point did you know, when you started your agency, that it was time to hire someone? She said Marsha, I'm gonna tell you this, the fact that you're calling me up to ask me this question, it's already time for you to hire. If the question has even crossed your mind, it's time. And I hired my first employee within three months of opening up the agency, and that first employee Also worked in my basement. Because I wanted to be smart and I wanted to be financially smart and I was like I got this whole basement here. Why would I go in and, you know, lease out an office space and I've essentially got this. So I ended up hiring two more people in that office in my basement of my home, before I even went into my first least office space, which was about 10 minutes from the house, because I never wanted to be too far from my children and they were now going into school and at this point I had a second child. So, yeah, that was my only caveat wherever my office is, it has to be within a certain radius of their school. But yeah, that's essentially how I started the company Try to be financially smart.

Speaker 2: 22:27

I tried to be really smart about not trying to repeat mistakes that had already been made. So I made sure I talked to other entrepreneurs and had them as mentors as well and I said top three things you wish you had known then, that you know now, and the biggest mistakes. And when they gave me those pieces of advice, those were the things that I immediately implemented, like make sure you don't try to do your books on your own, make sure you have an expert in accounting to do your quarterly returns, to make sure your taxes are on point, to make sure You're balancing your books. Now it's like, yeah, I can write something with my eyes closed, but when it comes to the numbers, not my thing. So you got to admit your weaknesses too. And that was the biggest thing, and I knew math and numbers were a weakness for me. I didn't want to touch it because I did not want me Myself to be the demise of my company because I'm not great with numbers.

Speaker 1: 23:17

That's wonderful. And so now, if I'm doing the math, you know you've been in business for yourself for 15 years 15 years. Yeah, congratulations, thank you, thank you. So what would you say to your younger self or to me or anyone listening? Three things, the same question you asked those mentors Three things. What are the three things you would say to your younger self or to me or anyone listening right now about avoiding or mistakes with business, or anything?

Speaker 2: 23:44

Oh, wow, follow your gut, always follow your gut. It sounds so cliche, but usually the first thing that hits you is always going to come to pass. And when you think too long, too hard and you come up with new ideas, you usually always realize that your first and original idea was probably the best one. Hire the right people. Hire the right people and trust them to do their job. Because, again, when you get to that space in place where it's too much for you as an individual, you want to be sure that you can release it. But also, if you got a hover and if you got a micromanage, why are you hiring other people? Right, it's better to correct and to coach than it is to micromanage and hover, because then you're now losing the trust of the people that you hired to put in place. Yes, no one is ever going to do it like you. I will tell you that I have found that over 15 years no one's ever going to run this agency or do the work like I will. But I have to trust and release that they're going to do the best that they can. So that's number two and number three. Oh boy, what would I say as far as my third piece of advice Love what you do. Just pick something that you're absolutely going to love, because most people get into the entrepreneurial space thinking, oh, this is going to be easy, I'm going to make all this money, I can vacation whenever I want, I can just do things on my terms. It's actually harder.

Speaker 2: 25:09

I remember coming home and telling my then three year old son Mommy's not going back to work, mommy's going to be working from home and Mommy's going to be spending way more time with you because that was my motivation, right. And I remember him hitting like the age of four and a half going Mommy, you're never here. You didn't make it to my school program. I thought you were doing this to be with me more. And he was poor. And I was like, oh my gosh, out of the mouth of babes. And it was that pivotal moment that I was like, okay, marcia, you got to ease up, because you realize what you put in is what you get out. But sometimes you can put in a little too much that you start to lose yourself and I realized I was losing myself to my own company. So, yes, while you do get, you know, the carte blanche of making a lot of decisions and doing things on your own terms. It's not always easy. Sometimes it's harder.

Speaker 1: 26:02

I love that. Yes, I don't. I don't subscribe to the school of micromanagement. I come like. For what Then why? Why me to go delegate to you if I micromanage you? Yeah, you know my sister in law is like Queen of delegation. Yeah, I don't have time to do that, but no, on a serious note, those are really really good pieces of advice. So what is the celebration looking like for 15 years session?

Speaker 2: 26:31

We definitely are doing something. We're probably going to delay it until about October. August is our anniversary month and it's just a very busy time of the year. We're back to school and end of summer. So we did our 10 year at the rooftop of a major luxury hotel. We had about 300 people come out, you know. A good mix of just fans and followers and media people and just friends and family was amazing. So, of course, you know, coming up 15 years, we got to do more, we got to go bigger, we got to go higher. So yeah, we've got plans underway.

Speaker 1: 27:04

I am so sure I mean Marcia. This was such a lovely, lovely conversation. For real, I feel I feel energized to go tell my story. No, I'm not joshing you. I'm like seriously, because it's, it's an ongoing thing that a lot of entrepreneurs I know struggle with. If you're not naturally a marketer or a PR person, you're like how do I talk about myself? And you know so I'm always looking for little hacks or strategies on how to be better at that because, like you said, telling the stories important.

Speaker 2: 27:37

Really yes.

Speaker 1: 27:38

We want to tell a story so we can know what people know what we're doing and be successful. Yeah, so, if you can, what's the proudest moment? That, like I know, all of them are proud moments for you in the business, but like which? One was like oh my God, this is like one of the proudest moments.

Speaker 2: 28:02

I would say, you know, every milestone has been amazing. Right, you hit that three year mark, that five year mark 10 years was amazing for us, 15 fields, even more amazing. But I would say what truly makes my heart happy is to know that I've got people on my team that love what they do almost as much or just as much as I do. And then I would say, another proud moment for me is probably when we scored some pretty amazing clients, like opening up Givenchy, opening up a Tom Ford store, jimmy Chu, like wait, you're trusting your brand with us. It really is one of those moments that puts you back in your chair like, oh my gosh, we're doing this Because you read about these things, you know, you flip through the trade magazines and you see XYZ agency was retained by big XYZ corporation. And you're like, oh, I guess we'll just keep on doing these small things, cause we're not there yet or we'll never get there. You do sometimes become your worst enemy. But unless you go for it, unless you take the time to make and build and foster those relationships, it feels unreal. But it is doable, right, it's doable. But you gotta show up, you've gotta do the work and you've gotta present as the agency or the person that is 100% capable of doing the things that you're gonna be tasked with doing.

Speaker 2: 29:29

And I would say a lot of the reason that we got to these places was just by fostering relationships. Right, it's who you know. That will never go away. Who you know will always come to pass and it will always come to benefit you. So always foster relationships.

Speaker 2: 29:45

You know, I see a lot of people. They meet you for three seconds and they're like what do you do? And if it doesn't sound like something that's an opportunity right now, they move on to the next person. No, you just never know. Foster those relationships. I always say the big trick and I know a lot of people don't use business cards anymore but even if you have to open up your notes app and you just met someone new, make a few notes. Whatever you figured out about them in that short conversation, make a few notes. And when something in those notes becomes relevant like if they just had a baby and you know now is back to school time. Hey, how was it, you know, sending little Bobby off to school for the first time? I know that must have been hard. You are fostering a relationship. You're not calling to say hey, I need something, what can you do for me? You're simply fostering a relationship. People remember those things more than they do when you call to ask for something.

Speaker 1: 30:37

Let the church say amen, amen, amen, amen. Well, as we wrap up, what's one last thing, or is there anything that we haven't covered? That you're like? You know what, kariyan, I really want to talk about this. Is there anything that you want to cover? Because I really like your energy, you know.

Speaker 2: 30:58

Oh, I like my energy. No, I love giving energy and I love, you know, uplifting people. I do it every day with the people on my team. I even have to do it with my clients sometimes that are afraid to tell their story. They don't want to go on TV because they think they're not made for TV. So it's all about encouraging people and pushing them to that next level slowly but surely.

Speaker 2: 31:20

But I would say my next piece of advice in closing would just be you can do it. You know, I always tell people you can do it If you just put your mind to it. You can do it If you take the time to do the due diligence and the research. Like when I'm media training somebody, I'm like you can do this interview, it's fine. And they're like no, no, no, no, I'm just afraid to be on TV.

Speaker 2: 31:42

What I'll do? I'll take out my phone and I'll say let's just do some role-playing, right, and I'll just video them on a basic iPhone and before you know it, they realize little things that they do, that they move their hands too much or they don't like the width, and they start working on those things slowly but surely and before you know it, it's somebody I can't even keep off TV because they're like so when's the next segment? Right, I'll be on the Today Show. So you just never know. You just got to ease into things and do the research and do the work right.

Speaker 2: 32:09

So if you're a chef and you want to be on TV, look at other chefs that have been on TV. What did their table look like when they set up their table to do a demonstration on GMA or something like that? How did they speak? How did they go back and forth between the interviewer and them so that they didn't talk all the time or that their answers weren't one worded right? So it's all of those things. So I always believe that with time, with research and with the due diligence, you can do it.

Speaker 1: 32:36

I love that and I mean you just said something that, with time, even you talking about practicing with the client, it's not that we intentionally see a celebrity or whoever on TV and want to think that it comes natural, but that's what our brain thinks we don't go to. Oh, they had to practice in rehearsal or they had a lot of time to perfect this right, and we're comparing ourselves to the perfection that they've worked towards, as opposed to we didn't see when they were first on their first audition tape, lord knows right. So we should keep that in mind, that we're comparing ourselves to a more revised and professional or trained version of someone else, as opposed to or novice version right now, and so thank you for sharing that.

Speaker 2: 33:31

That's a great reminder. Yes, and so my original point is you never know what's going on in the background to see what you're seeing now. So, yes, it's a lot of hard work to get to certain places in life and business.

Speaker 1: 33:43

Wonderful. Well, congratulations to you and your team. Tell Madisna say hello. Hi, I'm Madisna. I talk to her, you know, and, as I love to say at the end of every episode, walk good and walk good Madere.