40. Send the F*cking Email: What happened in my business when I stepped up to Get Known

Pippa's getting personal - in this tell-all episode, PR expert Pippa Goulden is deep-diving into the decision that transformed her nearly 5-year-old business.

In this episode, Pippa deep dives into what happened when she stopped fear running the show and how she landed a big industry speaking opportunity that's helped to transform her business. 

Her biggest takeaway? "Send the f*cking email" - because how many times do we overthink reaching out to someone, convinced they won't want to hear from us? 

Pippa shares the freeing truth that nobody cares about your business as much as you do, and that PR momentum works like a snowball rolling downhill. Once you get started and push through that sticky beginning phase, opportunities start compounding in magical ways.

And once you've had a listen you can:

- Join Get Known - my six week group sprint starting in October that will get you stepping out of the shadows and known for what you do.

- Follow me on instagram @pippa_the.pr.set or LinkedIn (@Pippa Goulden) for more tips and insight into the world of PR

- Join my DIY PR membership using the code POD50 to get 50% off your first month - this will give you all the knowledge and confidence you need to get results for yourself. Have a look here

- Work with me 1-2-1 in Kickstart: The PR Accelerator which is a hyper-focused, action-taking, results focused programme that's all about getting you great PR results for your business, with me supporting you all the way.

- Or if you just want to hand it all over to me to do for you, I can do that too

Find out more at www.theprset.com and book a discovery call with me to chat more here or email me pippa@theprset.com

Transcript

Please note this transcript is generated by AI so apologies for any mistakes

Pippa Goulden (00:00)
Hello and welcome back to another episode of PR Made Simple. Right, today, I'm a bit nervous about this, I am getting quite personal in this episode because I want to talk to you about a decision that I made just over a year ago, I would say, that I was not going to let Fia run my business anymore. So to give you some context, my business, the PR set is...

five years old towards the end of this year so coming up for five years old and since I've launched it it's been a roller coaster but generally I love what I do and I love the fact that I have created a way of doing what I know I'm really good at and using my experience my expertise

in a way that benefits the people that I'm really passionate about working with. And I am really proud of that and have been all the way through. And don't get me wrong, the first kind of three-ish years of the business went really well. I got my members coming in, I launched new offers, I was working with some amazing people, but I had this niggling feeling in the back of my mind that I could build a bigger business.

and that there was something holding me back and so towards like the middle of last year so middle of last 2024 I did quite a bit of work I invested in a coach and I did a lot of mindset stuff and I realized what was holding me back and these kind of limiting beliefs and where they came from Mrs. Peel when I was five has a lot to answer for but anyway I did that work and it was absolutely incredible for me because what it did was

hold a bit of magnifying glass to the things that I was telling myself were holding me back and stopping me from growing my business and actually allowed me to see that they weren't the things that were holding me back from building my business and actually all of that stuff was me. And so despite working with hundreds of small business owners and founders and encouraging them to put themselves out there,

and to build their business through PR, I had been holding myself back. Now, I just wanna caveat this in that PR has been the way that I have built my business predominantly for the last five years. Absolutely no doubt about it. I have used all the different PR routes from press to podcasts to collaborations, doing guest speaking spots, that kind of thing. And I have absolutely built the business to date on those.

but there was some really meaty things that I had my eye on that I could see from an industry perspective would have really elevated me and got me in front of lots of the right people that I love working with but also put a bit of stake in the ground to say, look, she knows what she's talking about. She definitely is a PR expert. She is one to go to. And I had really held myself back from putting myself forward for those things. For a couple of different...

reasons having dug deep into the why behind all of this. The first one was that little bit of a fear of being found out. I mean how ridiculous is that? I definitely know what I'm talking about. The second one was that I saw other people doing those kind of talks and I was nervous about aligning myself in that ⁓ level of expertise. And the third one, and this is something that you may well be doing as well,

is that I did quite a bit of stuff for my business. I did build it through PR and I had this thought that, the people who run these events and manage these big podcasts, they will come to me because they'll see me. I made myself discoverable, which is something that I really do teach people to do, but I didn't do that final piece which was putting myself forward because I was probably quite scared of them saying no and then that would...

mean that you I wasn't this person that I thought I was and ⁓ don't know I kind of have unpacked it all but anyway what I'm trying to say to you is about in the summer last year I did a lot of work on all of this stuff and I realized that fear was running my business fear was stopping me from pitching myself for the opportunities that I knew would be really great for me to do and I knew that I could do them deep down

was stopping me from growing the business because I was scared of what was on the other side and would I be able to cope with that and all sorts of things but fear was running my business and I just got really bored of that I don't know if you're in the same situation but I just found that being worried about what I was doing was not how I wanted to live and

If I wanted to live like that then I could go and get a job and work for somebody else because it would be far more relaxing. And so what I decided to do as well as not let fear run the show was to really step into who I knew I was and who I knew I could be in fact. And I allowed myself to take some risks and I gave myself permission for things to go wrong.

And so there's a few different ways that that manifest fusted itself within the business. So I launched new courses like my new Get Known course. We're just coming up for the third cohort of that now because it's really good and it works. I allowed myself to put my prices up. I allowed myself to add on things to my one-to-one accelerator. So I added on a three month option and hey.

People wanted to work with me. I put up the price of my membership because it delivers such incredible value anyway and it gets people such great results and guess what? People still join the membership. They still come in at the slightly higher price point and all of these things that I've done to step up haven't made people run away. In fact, I would actually say they have attracted people to come to me more.

And there was one key thing that happened to me, I would say. So I did all of this work. I really realized that there were some key things that I wanted to do. And one of them was a big industry speaking opportunity, talker, a big industry trade show that really would help to cement the fact that I know what I'm talking about. It would align me with lots of other experts, from a B2B perspective. And it was a bit of a moment

that I knew that if I could get that, I could really look at the opportunities that could then come from that and use it as a momentum builder within the business. And so rather than waiting for them to discover me, like I had been doing for about three and a half years, I put on my big girl pants, I pitched to the right people. In fact, she was actually leaving, so she then passed me on to somebody else, had a call with that somebody else about two weeks later.

and within a couple of weeks had secured that speaking opportunity for myself for a few months later down the line. I then did that speaking opportunity in January at the beginning of this year and I cannot tell you how much doing that has changed my business. Not just doing that speaking opportunity, but how embodying that person that I want to be, that founder, that business owner, that expert, how stepping into those shoes

and really putting myself forward and pushing myself forward to do these things has been so incredible for my business this year. 2025 So Far Touchwood has been the best year I've had in business, but not only financially, it's been great. It has attracted incredible clients, incredible members, incredible people that I absolutely love and I'm passionate about working with.

into my business. It has helped me to then collaborate with other female founders and work with other female founders who a couple of years ago I was just looking on from the sidelines at thinking ⁓ wow I wish I could work with them and now I get to be in a room with them all the time. It's helped me make some really important decisions in the business. I've stepped into a mastermind, I've changed a few of the ways that I work.

And I can honestly say that doing this work last year, stepping into those big girl pants and allowing myself to stop being ruled by fear and to find the joy in what I do again, because FYI, this is so cheesy, isn't it? On the other side of fear is joy. It's quite amazing how the things that scare you the most end up being

things that you actually love doing the most in your business. So this big speaking opportunity, I did it in January. I was so nervous about it. My poor family the whole week before I did it, I was not the best person to be around. I had about 700 different outfit changes. That energy was not a great week, but I did it. And I remember on the way in on the train, I'd posted something on Instagram.

and Nikki from the Wilder Collective who is amazing, messaged me back and she said go on that stage with the confidence of a mediocre white man and you will be absolutely fine and it's so true isn't it because I think as female founders we overthink, we talk ourselves out of opportunities, we worry what people are going to think of us when actually you know one of the key mantras and the key things I've learned in my business is

that nobody cares about your business as much as you do. Nobody is paying as much attention as you think they are. And that is incredibly freeing. And so what I would love you to take from this, my open being vulnerable chat, is that actually holding yourself back from doing things that scare you, that are going to push you further than maybe you've thought you wanted to go, can actually

be the most incredible things for you in your business because it opens up opportunities. So from doing that speaking spot, I then actually got approached to do more speaking slots because people could see that I did them, that I was confident on a stage, although behind the scenes maybe not so much, but you know, I could deliver a bloody good talk that helped an audience really understand what PR was and how they could use it in their business. And that then,

allowed me to do more speaking opportunities and I got asked to do, I've been done a few talks this year, big in-person events and that kind of thing and they always bring new people into my world. They open up opportunities for me and my business in ways that I just couldn't have if I was sitting here behind a screen all day every day and they've opened up more podcast opportunities, they've opened up more guest speaking spots in memberships.

I've been more confident pitching myself for other opportunities and don't get me wrong, yes, rejection still happens. Not everybody wants a piece of Pippa Gouldan and that is absolutely fine. you still get a bit of a kick in the stomach a little bit but I've learnt how to deal with that rejection. What I've learnt really hugely this year is to not let that rejection then stop me from keeping going.

because I talk about this all the time with my clients and my one-to-one members and my get-known, it's about a momentum. And at the beginning, it feels hard and sticky and it's like you're pushing that snowball up the hill, but then you get to the top and it starts to slowly go down and then it builds and it builds and it builds. And that momentum is so powerful. That is when you get to that sweet spot of people coming to you, of you not having to pitch yourself all the time.

Pippa Goulden (11:37)
also this work has inspired my little mantra which is send the fucking email because how much do we just overthink about I shouldn't send that to them because they might think this or they won't want to hear from me because of XYZ how do you know and I was doing this myself and so this work that I've done has inspired me to just get on and send those fucking emails because you never know

what opportunities might open up as a result of it. And I am living, breathing proof that actually sending the fucking email has led to some amazing opportunities for me and my business. So if there's one thing that I want you to take from listening to me today, it is just going and sending the fucking email to whoever you've been putting off. Just do that one thing for me and start those conversations because you never know what brilliant things are gonna happen for you in your business.

Pippa Goulden (12:30)
So I really hope

that this has inspired you to see how stepping into those shoes can really benefit your business. How pitching yourself for the stuff that you are scared of actually can lead to some really brilliant opportunities for you and your business. And you just don't get these opportunities from focusing on Instagram the whole time or just from sending emails.

What is magical about PR is that sometimes you just don't know what's going to happen and what opportunities they can lead to. It's like my DIY PR member, she got an article in The Telegraph, it was read about by the producers of BBC Morning Live and then she went on the TV and she talked about her business on BBC Morning Live. That absolutely would not have happened if she'd just been focused on Instagram and battling an algorithm that is not on anybody's side at the moment.

You know, it takes time. I'm not saying you can snap your fingers and this will all happen for you. But if you have your sights on great PR opportunities for your business, then you need to be getting yourself out there. You need to be getting known for what you do. You need to be putting yourselves forward for things. You need to not just wait for things to land in your lap because it absolutely doesn't happen like that. I always remember Liz Aridon talking on...

this podcast, I'd highly recommend her episode if you want to have a listen to someone who's done a brilliant job of building her profile. And you know, now she is, she's a leading go-to breast cancer advocate expert. She's often on Lorraine and Woman's Hour and lots of incredible places she works over in the States, brands approach her to work with them. But she didn't start off like that. She started with 2000 followers on Twitter. Okay?

She had the credentials, she had the expertise, but she didn't just launch into being this go-to leading expert. She did it through consistently putting herself out there, building her name, getting known for what she does. And it's those incremental pieces that put all the pieces of the puzzle together and that's what helps you build and drive that momentum.

So hopefully you have been inspired to do some of this work for yourself. If you want to get started with this, my Get Known group sprint kicks off in October. This is exactly what we do. We follow my proven framework that actually works to get you out there, to get you ready to get out there, to get you pitching to the right places I've done it two cohorts now and the results are amazing. We had

Somebody from the first cohort got interviewed on Sophie Ellis Bexter's podcast. She got a six page feature in a magazine. We've had other people who've secured clients from articles they've got whilst they've kind of generated whilst they've been doing it. And also the beauty about Get Known and all the work I do is that it is not just about those six weeks that you're working with me. I am equipping you with skills.

that will allow you to keep this momentum going and building long after we've worked together. So if you want to find out more about Get Known, pop onto my website, theprset.com and you will find all the info about Get Known there. It is an absolutely brilliant program, even if I do say so myself. it's not about a course that gathers dust in your inbox. It is all about taking action to build that momentum.

and I hope that you have felt inspired by my own vulnerable story. I will go back to not oversharing next week, but I really wanted to just show to you what does happen when you step up. until I took that spoon of my own medicine that it really massively.

made a difference for me and put a bit of rocket fuel into my business and I am really loving what is on the other side of that and so I hope this has inspired you to take a spoon of that medicine too and do it for you and your own business. So thanks for listening,

will see you again soon for another episode of PR Made Simple.