SPEAKER_00 0:19

Coming up on this episode of Media Rebel Unplugged, what are you hearing from other women as founders that they're struggling with? Everyone's stressed out.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

And no one actually knows what they're doing. Yeah, I one person said, Hey, I know I've never been to your event, but I really think it would be cool if you did a pitch competition and every woman comes in and they pick some new ideas, and I responded, I would rather die than attend something like that.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

You leave the Raleigh female founder community. How did that start?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

I I just still felt alone, especially here in Raleigh. There's so many female founders, but we're all really on the island by ourselves. So I am knee-deep in burnout right now, and I haven't had it in a long time. I'm having intrusive thoughts because I'm so burnt out and I'm like, I'm gonna lose all of my clients, I'm gonna lose my business, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm going to therapy. She's telling me all these things to do. I'm not doing any of it. Because who has the time?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

So yeah, I need to do something. Welcome back to Media Rebel Unplugged. I'm Janice Becker. Today we're talking about how to show up with authority and how to stop being the best kept secret. Joining me is Melinda Jackson, founder of Melinda Jackson Public Relations, a boutique PR agency in Raleigh, North Carolina, and fellow podcast host of Unhinged Founder. Welcome, Melinda. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to get weird with you today. I'm excited to. I feel like as fellow founders and podcast hosts, nobody will truly understand like we will. Yeah, exactly. Well, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do before we jump on in.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Yeah, so I'm the founder of Melinda Jackson Public Relations. I've been in PR for about 16 years now. My background was entertainment. I lived in Los Angeles and I did entertainment PR for a long time and got really burned out and moved back to North Carolina, worked at an agency, and was like, I can do this myself and keep all the money. So I started my own company seven years ago. And we work with female founders predominantly all over the world. But anybody that's a thought leader, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

So you lead the Raleigh female founder community.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

How did that start? Yeah. So I don't know about you, but I've spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to be a part of female founder communities or going to events and um trying to be a part of masterminds and things like that. And I I just still felt alone, especially here in Raleigh. Raleigh is um the third fastest growing market in the United States right now. Um, I think we're media market number 22. So we're in the top 25, and um it's exploding here, and there's so many female founders, but we're all really on islands by ourselves. And unless you're spending all your money to go to chamber events to hang out with old people that work at the bank, you're probably not really um around other female founders. And so I posted on threads one day. Are there any female founders in the Raleigh area that just want to get happy hour one day? And I'd been posting on threads a little bit and saw that, well, there's a lot of people in Raleigh. I'm gonna keep posting. I think this is gonna get on their algorithm. And within a little bit, I had like a hundred comments and they were like, yes, like yes, please, please, please. So this was that was in April of last year. And I I just asked my co-working space, can I have the main area for a happy hour one day? I don't know how many women are gonna come, but we're just gonna try. And they were like, Yeah, sure. And then I sent out a couple of invites. The local news station came out, they asked if they could come cover it, and I said no three times. And then I was like, I would murder one of my clients if they said no to a media opportunity. So I said yes. And I was like, look, if no one shows up, just don't do a live shot. Like, tape it. If no one shows up, just act like people did. And we had 50 women at the first event, and we've done it every month since. And now we've started doing in-person coworking as well here at my coworking space a couple times a month. So we do a lot of different things, but it's a free event. I realize I'm rambling now, but it's a free event. I I don't want to gatekeep, I want people to feel like they can have a community where they don't have to pay $50 to come to a happy hour and have a cupcake and a glass of wine. So it's just been really rewarding, and I'm hoping to grow it over the next couple of months and introduce a little bit of paid programming, but still have a free event at least once a month that people can come to.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

I love that. You've really inspired me because I so I am a member of our local chamber and I'm on the board, and it's kind of a struggle with younger. And I feel like so. I'm 42 and I feel like I'm in this weird middle ground of I'm not old, but I'm not young.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

You know, and I don't really have that support. So I actually started the podcast because I felt like I was on my own island of single mom, founder of an agency. Less than 1% of agencies are owned by women in this space. And so I was like, all right, well, I'll just create my own community of women where we can come on here and talk about what life is like for us. How did we get to where we are? But it would be so nice to have a local presence. Like what you're doing is I've just never thought of it in that way. And I think that's very inspiring how you've tackled it.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Yeah. And for me, I I'm very much like loose and fast action, like messy action. I don't care. I'm I'm not the girly that's super buttoned up. That's not me. I always say I'm a rock and roll publicist. I came from entertainment. Like, I don't give a shit. So literally, you know, I just buy some Costco wine and put some cheese trays out, and people don't care. They just want community, they just want connection. And I'm very proud that we've sold out every single one that we've done. And now we're selling them out at a hundred people. And a hundred people don't come. And I don't beat myself up that a hundred people don't come because I realize I do this for my job. Like I know if I have a hundred RSVPs for a client event, that means 50 people are coming. 75 people are coming. So as long as there's five people there and they're making connections, that's a win in my book. And I'm just really happy that I've seen so many women get jobs from it, get clients from it, make friends.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

I do feel like when we put on events, we're the worst at actually being present in the events. You know, people are always trying to chase me down and trying to delegate a little better, which I think as a founder is a huge uh it's a undertaking because you want to have so much control over what you're putting out and what you're doing that things run smoothly, that it's important to also know when and how to delegate. And I delegate what's that? I don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Like, and I should and I could see a look on your face, you were like delegate. I'm like, oh, I can't do that, girl. I can't. And I try so hard and I have a team. I have a team. And they're always like, please, please give me stuff. And I'm like, no. And then I cry at night because I'm so tired.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Yeah, yeah. It's uh it's a double-edged sword, really, when you're like, okay, well, it went well, but now I'm totally exhausted and I can't think and exactly doing disassociative type things.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

So I rent an office at my co-working space. And another female community had asked if I could co-host an event with them. And I'm like, I don't want to co-host. I don't I don't have the capacity to do this. You can have it here. I'll just be in my office working, like whatever. So they were here. I had had a 12-hour office stay. It's like eight o'clock last night. I had insomnia the night before. I go in this bathroom and the cleaning staff had been in there. They had the door open because they had mopped the floors or whatever. I go in the stall and just completely leave it open and sit down on the toilet. And I'm like, there are people here. What am I doing? And I'm just like, slam the door really quick. So I'm like on the toilet peeing with the door open, and there's another door open, and there's like 10 women in the next room. I'm like, what am I doing? But that's burnout. That's burnout.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Yes. And burnout's a real struggle. I we talk about burnout so much on here. You know, how do we manage it? And I feel so hypocritical at times. I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I know that I am burnout, but I am not doing it. I'm just gonna be completely transparent. I need to be better at that.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yeah, like I am knee deep in burnout right now, and I haven't had it in a long time. And I'm being just very vocal about it, and I want my clients to know about it. And of course, everyone's like super kind and supportive. So I'm working 12-hour days and I'm not sleeping, and I'm so worried, and and I'm having intrusive thoughts because I'm so burnt out, and I'm like, I'm gonna lose all my clients, I'm gonna lose my business, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm going to therapy, she's telling me all these things to do, I'm not doing any of it because who has the time?

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Yeah, we can be our own worst enemy. Those intrusive thoughts will end up becoming reality if we don't address what's causing the intrusive thoughts. Exactly. Exactly. And I know because I go through the same exact thing of I'm like, what what can I take off of me right now so that I can be more present for myself, you know? Because when I look at the single mom life and then the multiple businesses and all the other things, and you're just like, well, where's me? There is no me. It's bedtime by the time there is me, and I'm too tired for me then.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Yeah. And for me, like, I mean, I've been in PR for 16 years. I've had my company for seven. My boyfriend and I have been together um almost three years now, so two and a half years, and we moved in together a year ago, and he has kids. And so now having three people thrown into the mix, like it's hard enough throwing one person into the mix, but there's three people now, and I'm having a hard time juggling that and finding routines that work for me because I was I'm so type A. I'm such a routine person. And those routines are out the window when I have to get up at 6 30 in the morning and take kids to school, you know, 30 minutes from our house in traffic and everything else. So I'm just trying to give myself grace in this moment.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

You sound like you would qualify for this women's retreat that I'm putting on in October. You might need to sell it to me, girl. You might need to sign up because you know, I had my moment, like you, of doing all those things of running around and just the mom taxi. And um, and that's what happened is that I have this book coming out, and I was like, you know what? It would also make sense to do a retreat. Cause I'm talking about the book's called The Rebel Rising Within. And I was like, well, the thing is, it's hard to continue to rise when we don't rest and we don't heal. And so I'm I'm launching this retreat. I'm serious, I'll send you that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Well, and one thing that keeps coming up for me, and maybe it's a little extreme, but I'm like, I kind of just want to go on a silent retreat. There's a place here in the mountains in North Carolina that does silent retreats, and I was like, I would not be able to have any of my electronics, and I wouldn't, I physically wouldn't be able to talk to anybody for like four days. Like, that's the theme right now.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Yes, same, same. So going back to what you're experiencing like with the founders portion, and you know, you're surrounded by them and these mixers. What are you hearing from other women as founders that they're struggling with? Is it is this the same thing that we're talking about? Yeah. Everyone's stressed out.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

And one thing I just keep telling people is like, no one actually knows what they're doing. You know, I've worked with celebrities, I've worked with millionaires, no one actually knows what they're doing. Everybody's just doing the best they can at the end of the day. So a lot of imposter syndrome for sure. And that comes up for me too, even with the women in my community. I'm like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, like they're doing more than me. Their website looks better than mine. And then I will spiral out instead of celebrating the fact that I brought 50 women together. You know, I just focus on that that one thing. But a lot of imposter syndrome, a lot of burnout, and then just a lot of that feeling really alone, or the same things that we were saying of just they're sick of paying a ton of money to be a part of groups where no one cares about them and people aren't lifting up their voices.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Yeah. Have you heard of the school community? Is it S-K O L? Yeah. So I just started uh in that uh because I've I'm not really sure again. Like I live in a smaller community. I'm outside of Akron, Ohio, so it's not like small. Yeah. Um, it just again, I feel like it's hard to find these type of things. So I had started my own little like community on there, but then you have people who don't want to participate. And I think participation can be a struggle, whether that's in person or virtually. So how do you I mean, do you have to do much work to get them to participate, or are they just like openly participating when they come?

SPEAKER_01 12:35

So that's the thing. I do no programming. So literally they just come in and they just talk to each other. Like we don't, we don't do anything because I did try to have like a volunteer staff or something, and no one was engaging, no one was helping, and I was like, I'm not fucking doing this, I'm just not trying. So it's really hard to get people to participate. I also had people saying, like, oh yeah, we want to do some more outside programming, we want to do some more outside events. I found that either no one will come or um or no one will RSVP or the numbers are smaller, and people will still come if I do it, but it's a lot smaller. So having my happy hour at the same place once a month, every time, people know it. They know though they know what to expect, they know where to park, they know how to get up to the building. That helps a lot more than trying to ask anything of anyone. And it's it's no one's fault. We're all so freaking busy, and especially female founders, you know, they have families and we have a lot of clients, we have a lot of things going on. So the simpler the better, I think.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Yeah, consistency definitely helps, like you said, and in keeping it the way that you have. And it is definitely hard to find that little window of time for us to step away from being the founders that we are and doing those things, but it's also so very important because that that goes to your self-care, self-love, and your mental health. And we also then can struggle with the guilt of doing that, the guilt of taking the time away. But it's also important to realize how vitally important it is to then surround yourself with a community of people to continue to uplift you the way that you're building that to be.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Yeah, and and one thing I will say is if you're building anything like this, you will get unsolicited advice from people. I without a doubt, get one to two emails every month when I send out an announcement about the event of people giving me unsolicited advice. You should do this, you should do that. Why aren't you doing this? Why aren't you partnering with this company? And it's like, okay, sorry, do you not listen to what I say every single time at these happy hours that I like to do it the same place every time. I like to do X, Y, and Z. I don't ever want to charge, you know, all these things. And it's always people that have never been to the event. Every single time. It's somebody that has never even been. They join the Facebook group or they message me and they say, Can I get on the email list so I can learn more? And it's always someone that's never been.

unknown 15:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

And it oh, it boys my boils my freaking blood. And I probably like should not just like call people out, but I will. Like every time I'm like, You've never even been. You've never been.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

I think it's holding people accountable. And yeah, you know, it's I live by I live by a quote that opinions are like assholes, everybody has one. Yep. I mean, yep. Just stop. Yeah. People are crazy. I don't get it. I know.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Yeah. I one person said, Hey, I know I've never been to your event, but I really think it would be cool if you did a pitch competition and every woman comes in and they pitch some new ideas. And I responded, I would rather die than attend something like that. Yeah. I would never get up there. That's my biggest fucking fear in life. Are you joking for me to get up there and tell you about my business and have someone shoot me down and tell me everything I'm doing wrong? I would rather crawl in a hole and die. I don't want to put somebody else through that. And also, like, if they are doing a pitch competition, which I think there's a time and a place for them, are y'all gonna invest in their businesses? Like, do you have money? Because I don't. Like, what do you want from this? That sounds like a totally different thing than what you're doing. Yeah, it's literally called Raleigh Female Founder Happy Hour.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

So we're coming in and we're just making friends.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Yeah, not pitch founders. Yeah. No. Wow. So if somebody's listening right now and they're struggling with I think like a lot of founders do when they're first starting, and PR can feel overwhelming to them, what do you advise them to do first before they take a leap in exploring the world of PR?

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yeah. So the first thing I always I always tell people is just make sure your brand is consistent. Because you could get on Good Morning America tomorrow, but if somebody comes to your website and all the photos are completely different than on your social or the name of the company is different, you're gonna confuse people. So make sure everything is consistent. One example I like to use is, you know, something might say Melinda Jackson Public Relations LLC, and then another thing just says Melinda Jackson Public Relations, and then another thing says MJPR. You know, you have to be consistent across the board. So I will just always do Melinda Jackson Public Relations, and then after it's been mentioned, whatever, then we'll we'll abbreviate it to MJPR. But make sure your branding just across the board and your messaging is consistent. Then once all of that is in place and good, then you can start reaching out.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

And how do people start doing that? Because there are some, I will say there's some things to cost people. So I myself, as a digital marketing agency, I do not specialize in PR. I have worked in agencies where we had PR in-house. I, you know, I have people that support me when I do need PR for my agency, but I know that there's also those who go looking for freelancers who get taken advantage of.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Especially when you fall victim to those who are like overseas and aren't delivering or they're just using AI and it's cookie cutter stuff. So, how do you tell them to go about if they're if they can't afford somebody like you, what steps should they take?

SPEAKER_01 18:05

I do not gatekeep PR. I think it's unethical to do so. Like, I think I minimize what I do sometimes and I just say, I just send emails, but I mean I've been doing it long enough. A lot of it's intuitive to me at this point. But you can do PR for yourself. Um, you don't have to go on Fiverr and find someone that is gonna charge you $15 and promising you that they're gonna get you on X, Y, and Z. You probably get ads for them. I get ads for them. Somebody's running an ad right now that says, like, I will get you featured in USA Today for $39. Okay, that's not fucking real. A typical PR retainer costs $3,000 or more a month. That's industry standard. That is not me making up some bullshit. That is industry standard because those fees go into all the databases that we use, research, whatever else, sometimes wires for press releases. But anyway, PR does cost money. So the less money it is, the more of a scam it probably is. All of that being said, PR does not have to be complicated. Start small. Start with your local media. You know, if you are in Ohio, go to your local newspaper and just say, hey, I'm Melinda. I have this thing. I would love to try to chat with you about it or do an interview with you. It's just a quick email, just the who, what, when, where, why. That's all it has to be. And then just go from there. Start small and snowball it up from there. So first start with your local media and your immediate area, then go a little bit more regional, then go statewide. Then you can go even more regional and then national. But yeah, I mean, it's really not hard. As long as you have everything that they need, which is the who you are, what you do, why it's topical, and then any assets, so high resolution pictures or additional information, that's really all they need. You want to do the job for them, or you want it to be a very easy yes or a very easy no.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Great advice, especially for I think some leaders think that it's also like a quick fix, like it's just a quick little, oh my gosh. And I I know when I hear that, so I know for me in digital marketing, when a lot of clients want leads, right? And and they think that, well, if we don't see something in 60 to 90 days, then it's not working and we should stop. That's just not how marketing works. That's not how PR works either. And so that gets really frustrating for me to try to get people to understand it's a commitment, it's about consistency. I can't say that enough.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Yeah. And I lose clients all the time because they truly do not understand when I tell them, you are not gonna get leads from this. You are gonna get visibility. I will lead the horse to water. You have to make that sale, you have to make that thing happen. I can't make it happen for you. But it's consistency, it's always showing up. You know, when I was in college, the stat was like, you know, somebody has to see something like five to seven times before they buy in. Now I think it's more like 30 or 40 because of social media. You know, you think on TikTok you see something for like a week at the time, and then maybe you're gonna buy it, or you're gonna add for it too, and then maybe you see an article and it's in a roundup and you're like, okay, I'm gonna invest in it now. It's not like it used to be. So it has to be consistent. Your PR has to be consistent. I I can get you press in the first month, but you it's not gonna be a game changer for you necessarily. And I could get you on Good Morning America, but that doesn't mean you're gonna sell out. Like it's just not.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Yeah. Immeasurability is a really tough thing for people to understand too when you're looking at the awareness and the visibility aspect of PR. And that's where I see the struggle and the disconnect for them. Like you said, we're seeing an average of 6,000 ads a day. I think that's the last statistic that I saw, which is mind-boggling because we don't even realize that we're exposed to that many ads a day. So then when you think about the retention of your brand over time and the measurability, so do you tell your clients when they're looking at their brand authority and that that visibility finally resonating?

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Yeah. Um, do you mean like what's kind of the ROI or Yeah. So for my clients, I'm just like, we we measure it with how many mentions you get, how many social followers you get, if you get web traffic. But ROI is really hard to track for PR because it is. It's so esoteric. It's just out there, you know? And we and we can track, you know, the authority of a website or a podcast, but it's just it's just so much harder for me to say, yes, this means it's gonna be a a customer for you, or this means it is gonna get you a speaking gig or whatever else. So I I just kind of tell clients like for us, success is gonna look different every time.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Right. I think just setting the standard and the expectations beforehand is helpful too. But I think everybody should also understand how vitally important it is that if you want your founder labeled to last and you want your brand to last, that you have to have some aspect of that. And well, before we wrap up, speaking of PR, where can people learn more about you to connect with you?

SPEAKER_01 23:05

I'm all over the internet. It's just Melinda Jackson PR. So MelindajacksonPR.com.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Thank you so much again for being here today because it's been a really fun conversation and and we're so aligned in life and business. So it's it's nice to chat with you. Yeah, you too. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Thank you for listening to Media Rebel Unplugged. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe or share it with someone who needs it, and we'll see you next time.