Cheesecake Factory Method: Emily Reynolds on The Specialization Framework That Works

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Find the Cheesecake Like you can have the big menu if you want, But as long as people know, I can go to you and have cheesecake or I can go to you and have this expertise, like, people know that they can come to RPR because we specialize in rep management and lifestyle. Like, that is what we are really good at. If I said to you, i do every kind of PR under the sun, you wouldn't remember that you would be like, I met Emily, we matched our outfits. ¿But like, what did she specialize in? Like, I don't. You don't know what to tell your friend that has. You know, uses a buzzword. That's like rep management. It's like, oh, I know somebody. I talked to somebody that knows that is really passionate about it.

Step into the world of success with your brand amplified The ultimate podcast designed to unravel the intricacies of thriving businesses. I'm your host, Annika Jackson, and I'm on a mission to uncover the stories, strategies and secrets that have propelled entrepreneurs and business leaders to success. I have Emily Reynolds of our public relations on. And the first thing that we said to each other was we match today.

From head to toe.

I'm wearing these glasses which I only wear when I'm on Zoom or Riverside or, like, online stuff. Not in real life, but yeah, And I didn't put on my jewelry, but it's pretty close. We have art, we have headbands, we have the same color on. And I used to be a publicist, so it is a match made in heaven today. Emily, thank you so much for being here. And we are going to talk about PR, but your backstory really interests me. I also thought about being a social work, major, when I was going through school. And so I really want to explore some of the work that you were doing. And you just told me about that cascade that kind of took you from one thing to the next, to the next to the next. I am so intrigued by it. You were in the Americorps. I am a dual citizen with Thailand. So I noticed Thailand was on the list of countries that you focused on for some of your work. So I was like, again, really excited the name of your book. Really excited.

Wow. So, yeah, that's so funny. Just this morning, I was talking to a friend of mine, and we're like, we're moving to Thailand in twenty thirty one. And I was like, done, let's do it. And then I looked at my calendar, and I'm like, oh, wait, that's that. Let's look in five years. Okay, okay. But how amazing. And I, yeah, I love how in life you think you're going to do something. And then just one thing leads to another, that leads to another. And all of a sudden, you own a PR firm. Like that is always like, how am I here I wake up, and I'm like, oh, wow, I get to do this job that I love that. When I was like my six year old's age, I was like, wanting to be a roller skating waitress. So here we are, like it evolved from that. That was my first memory of like I want to be this when I grow up my best friend. And I wanted to be roller skating waitresses. And I do feel like I do it, like, metaphorically a lot. But, yeah, it's amazing and so cool to also meet a fellow PR pro that has like, evolved their career as well.

¿Yeah, And I think that's part of the fun of it, right? Because many of us think we're going to go down one path and then we end up going completely different ways. I actually ended up because I wasn't sure if I wanted to do business or social work. So I majored in public administration. So, oh, wow. You know neither one of those but kind of a mix and augmentation. So talk to us about that because you actually started writing your book when you were in grad school.

I did here. It is. Shameless plug. Yes. So my really good friend and I, we'd carpool Her name is Laura Finley. And she is. She's just so inspiring, like, social advocate for any population that is underserved. And we would just get on these, like, tangents about, like, honestly, change the world. And it kind of started as this idea. She had written some books, and she's Like, I have an in with a publisher. ¿And I was like, what if we did a book on, like, non traditional advocacy? Because at the time, I just remember feeling really out of place in social work school because I was like, I love fashion and I love fancy things sometimes. And I felt like, I had to be kind of more crunchy, to be, like, even my aesthetic to be kind of seen to be like a real life advocate. And that showed up for me. There was a meeting I had with the dean of students, and I was like, hey, there's no, like, women's center here. There's like, there were some things happening on the campus that I was going to grad school, and they were like, oh, we don't need a women's center. ¿Like, we why would we ever need a women's center? Like, we have a therapy center if anyone needs. I was like, well, let me explain that there's like a difference here. ¿And it just made me realize, like, do you have to look a certain way to be seen as an advocate, Or do you have to have a certain measure of clout or kind of backing behind your name? And so it just was this whole curiosity. And so the book was born from that curiosity. And we focused on feminism and, like, the waves of feminism and how at the time the current wave was being created. And it was like, kind of what we see today. It was before the metoo movement. It was like, now I feel like, if you feel like you want to be an advocate, like we've, we've created a space, and there are many opportunities to do that, whether it's writing or being a champion for some sort of cause. So it was. I feel like it was a success in that way.

Yeah. Well, and to your point, when I was taking social work classes, I often felt like, I don't have enough trauma in my life to be here, because a lot of it was trauma dumping and talking about why people are going to social work. And I was like, my mom was a social worker. My grandmother on my American side, was a social worker. This is just a legacy of, you know. It's one of the professions that we do in the family, like, education, entrepreneurship and social work. And so I didn't have all of that baggage coming in. And I have a more glass, half full mindset. Probably like yourself.

Correct.

So, and it does make it hard. And that's so. You went from grad school thinking you were going to be a social worker and save people that way to writing, co authoring this book. And then what propelled you into the career that you have and having your own PR agency and bringing us to now.

Oh, my goodness. Well, a huge life event happened during writing the book. I found out I was pregnant with my firstborn daughter, Li. And so in the book, it was like, I then shifted my focus and was like, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna be a mom. I hadn't graduated yet. I was recently married to her dad. And it was just this whole like, kind of, like, wow, this is. This is happening. And then I realized like, that is the greatest advocacy I personally could provide. The world is being the best version of mom that I could be. And that was a whole rabbit hole still is to this day. By the way, she's now seventeen.

My daughter is also seventeen.

So, oh, my gosh, we are seriously twins. Like, this is insane. This is so cool. Yeah. And I just remember like, writing and putting together stories and, like, researching feminism and the ways of feminism. I was like, I'm having a daughter. Like, I'm. I don't think I knew it was a. She was a daughter at the time. But I was like, I'm having a child. And then, like, found out I was a mom to a daughter. ¿And I was like, oh, my gosh, you know? ¿Like, I just remember sitting with her for hours and just being like, who am I like? ¿What am I gonna give you? Like, sure. Just presence. It just makes me even tear up. Was like, as, you know, as a mom. Like, there's just nothing like it. You can never describe it to anybody other than. Like, it's the most magical experience. Like. And I just remember thinking I even like, talked to her about it when she was like, a newborn, I was like, I want to be somebody you're proud of. Like, I want to walk into a room and be like, that's my mom. Like, she's so cool. Like she's got it. Like, I want to be like her in my own way. I want. I just wanted to be somebody she was proud of. And I just thought, wow, I don't know what that looks like. And I had recently graduated with my MSW. And I was really proud of that. But I also was like it just wasn't a total click. And so when I had Lila, I was just like, I can't ever leave you. I mean, like, there's no way you're going anywhere. And so I started writing and, like, continued to write. ¿And so the crazy things happened, like my yoga teacher was like, can you rewrite my website and my neighbors owned a framing business? ¿And they were like, can you help us? ¿Like, kind of with our public messaging? And all of a sudden, I was doing PR without realizing what I was doing. I was just really interested in these people and their stories. And it really came from writing the book and collecting stories that I realized I was like, interviewing and kind of articulating a form of journalism for myself. And so I just got really into that I loved being an extrovert that could talk to anybody. But then also, like, I don't know about you, but I find when I have conversations, I always think back at them and I want to go back and edit and like, fine tune and put things in there. Like, I'm writing something. And so I find the best form of communication for me is writing because I am somewhat of a scatterbrain. And I like, have lots of thoughts all the time. And so when I'm writing, it's like, oh, I can be that. And I can also piece it and then simmer it on it and then recreate something. And so I just really fell in love with that. And so that evolved into getting a job with the magazine, that evolved to getting a job as a marketing director when the magazine folded with a really well known chef in Texas that I just so admired. And he changed the course of my career. His name is Jason Dade. He's to this day like one of my favorite people. And he had many talks with me about like, you know you've. You've got what it takes to do this. And this is how you create a business. This is how you make a name for yourself. ¿And so before I knew it, I was working at a PR agency and then decided to jump into my own because I was like, hey, you know what? At this point, I just want to try it myself. And here we are.

Amazing. Okay. Not to pick you out, but I also used to work in magazines as well.

¿Where have you been all my life? Like, this is so crazy.

It really is.

It's so awesome. I don't think I kiss me. I've had this happen a few times and only It's like amazing. I'm so I have chills.

Yeah. Yeah.

This is.

This is a start. And for those of you who are hearing this podcast and wondering why we seem so familiar with each other, it just like Emily said, we just got on. We're like, okay, there is a connection here. And we've been trying to make this podcast happen for a while, and both of us have had to cancel every once in a while. So it's the perfect time, of course, right now, for us to be meeting perfect time conversation and then also sharing your story, your journey and what you do and how you do it with others. Because we are. When we're recording this into the last part of the year, and it's a time when we reflect on everything and want to figure out what are our plans for our businesses, how do we move through the world. And it's really funny because a lot of people either they think they need PR, but they're not quite ready for it. So that's where your marketing brain, I'm sure, comes in, or people have especially I live outside of Los Angeles. So there are a lot of people who are smaller creators in the filmmaking industry. Maybe they've won some awards, but they're not big, big names. Part of it is because many of them don't realize that they have to advocate for themselves. They have to. They don't want to do interviews. They want to be behind the camera. But you have to have PR. You have to share your story. And so you talked a little bit about some of the clients you've worked with. ¿When you decided to go out on your own, who did you decide to work with Who did who stuck? ¿If that evolved? I have to tell you about something that's completely transformed my sleep Cozy Earth's luxurious bamboo bedding and pajamas. These are the same sheets that Oprah's featured on her favorite things list for seven consecutive years, and Kris Jenner calls them her nightly essential. The bamboo fabric is incredibly soft, naturally cooling, which is perfect for a hot sleeper like me. Here's the thing. I've arranged an exclusive forty one percent off discount just for my listeners, and this is, honestly the highest discount you'll find anywhere no better deal exists. This applies to your entire purchase as a thank you for tuning in. Just use my promo code at Cozyearth dot com discount Yva to get that forty one percent off full transparency. I do earn a commission when you use my code, but I genuinely wouldn't recommend something I don't believe in. Trust me. Once you try cozy earth, you'll understand why thousands of customers rave about them in their five star reviews. Check out the link in the show notes.

I mean so many things for what you just said first and foremost. I just want to say I do PR professionally. I also do it in my family. I also do it with my friends. Your reputation, how people perceive you, how your story, what you say and how it's translated, how you communicate. That is how you're relating to the public and PR. Whether you want to hire an agency or not, is part of all of our lives. Like how you're publicly representing yourself is, unless you're living as a monk on a in a cave somewhere and you're probably not listening to this podcast, but unless that's the case like everybody has PR to some capacity in your life. And so that's why I fell in love with this profession, because you have to be a really good writer. You've got to be a good communicator. You've got to be a networker. I have this list that I found on LinkedIn 11, and I send it often to my team. I'm like this is about twenty things and explaining it even to my business manager who is bookkeeping and accounting brain. ¿She's always like, you know, and what about this and how did you do that? I'm like this is so hard to explain what we do because it's so many different facets. And at the end of the day, you've just got to be really good with people because that's again. That saying of how people feel when you leave them is just more important than what you say. And so that's like something that I really look for. And people that work with me, people that we represent. ¿From that beginning of time, it was really that as well like who did I connect to? Where did I just like naturally, patron. Like my favorite coffee shops, my favorite bars, my favorite places to eat my fa. It often was a lot of food and beverage businesses because at the time I at fast forward my life, I had Lila. And then I became a single mom with two kids seven years after Lila was born. And so I was just kind of out my own in Texas. And I had some free time when my kids were with their dad. And I just explored and I just met people. And I just networked. And I remember sitting in my car when I started my business. I didn't really have a client list. I just jumped into it. ¿And I just was like, how do people even do sales? ¿Like, how do people even get clients? Like, this is a common question that we're all asked. How do I even. ¿You know, where do I even start? And I always go back to start with your own path. ¿Where do you have breakfast? ¿Where do you have lunch? ¿Where do you go to for coffee talk to people on the line? Oh, I like your shoes. ¿Oh, you know what's your name? I met crazy amount of incredible connections. I mean, from high profile celebrities to the most passionate hardworking entrepreneurs. ¿Just by that, just by my everyday path, not trying to be something I wasn't like, where do I personally like to go? And so now, as I train our business development team at my agency, like, go. Go where you guys like to go, hang out. And sure enough that's that converts into people wanting to work with us. And I think it's just so authentic. I don't know if every business works this way. But when you're an. When you're hired to be a human networker for other people, I mean, that's what you're doing, what you're hired for. And so that's how it really took off. Because people just kind of got wind, that I had these experiences, that I was a good writer, that I was a good communicator. And at the time I'm using I because I was mostly a freelancer that had a business name attached to me, which is pretty common in my industry for people that start businesses. And then I became a we and started hiring people and got an office. And now here we are, twenty plus staff members across the country, three locations. Super proud of everybody. I get chills by, like, just who we work with their talent. And yeah, it's. We've. We've had highs and lows like any business. But I always just say, like, if there's a low, there's a reason for it. Maybe we need to shift. Maybe we need to focus on a service that we expanded our services too much. Or maybe we just are meant to be working with some other people. And I always say like, when this is meant to. Just like, either close or kind of get passed off to someone else that will be how it was started. And I will know that That's the time.

Yeah. Oh, gosh. So many things. ¿I think it wasn't just you going to things that you liked, right? The restaurants, the coffee houses, all of those things. But it was that you had a curiosity, like a genuine curiosity, and you brought that to them. Because I can see people also trying to go down that path and not having nearly the same result because their approach is not the same. Right. And I think that is probably a huge part of your initial success. ¿And did you look for those things when you started hiring team members? ¿Did you look for that same kind of quality?

Oh, I mean, to this day, I can vet things. It's funny. So I lived in San Antonio, Texas, at the time that I'm talking about. And worked in Austin because I had worked at an agency that was based in Austin. And so I had a lot of network there, and as well in San Antonio. So there's this place in San Antonio called The Pearl. If you ever get a chance to go. It's beautiful. There's this beautiful hotel, my favorite hotel in the whole world. Not a client, but it's called Hotel Emma. And it's. It's phenomenal. And I just remember thinking, if people don't know about The Pearl, I don't think we could work with you, because it was like the epicenter. It was like the Cool Place. It was the cool Kids. It just was like a vibe that I always just really aspire to. I lived near there. I lived right outside of the area, like it was just something. So even. Well, I told you I was a single mom at the time. And I was just kind of going on dates just. Not even trying to. But I remember being like, if a guy didn't know where the pro was. I'm not gonna go on a date with you if. If. If somebody wanted to work with me, you didn't know. And I kind of use that to this day in some of our locations. I'll. And it doesn't mean anything. It just. If I'm looking for people that are natural networkers, you kind of have to find like your epicenter of wherever you live like. And it doesn't matter if you're in the middle of nowhere in, like a really bustling urban epicenter like. Like in Nashville or Austin or LA or wherever like I feel like. There's just certain, like, buzzwords that. If. You know. You know. And so I kind of vet that to this day for people that are going to work with us because if you're not able to know like, you know, using my pearl example where that is or what that is. Like, your interests aren't in finding what's the spot where, like, things are buzzing so sure enough like the pearl. At the time was that, I was really into. It was only like an Aveda salon and like a little farmers market. And you should look it up now. It's bustling, incredible restaurants. It's beautiful. It's like, it's huge and it's so cool. And I doubt anybody that lives in San Antonio. Now doesn't know about it, but it was kind of one of those things like a trick of the trade. And it wasn't like I was judging anybody. It was just more of like, if we're starting there, then I think like, you know you're you don't have a natural networking or kind of know what happening. So there's certain things like, right now in Nashville, our offices in Wedgwood, Houston, which is again similar to the pearl. It's like a bustling area that's about to boom. And like, the Soho house is there, like, our office is there. There's like some things that are happening. So it's like, if somebody's kind of like, wait, where is that I'm like, OK, no judgment. It's just like you got to kind of know that that's like the happening place. So, I think that those are just like for me. I don't know what other people would say, but.

Yeah, but that's. I mean, you're finding places that are kind of hidden gems. It's before they blow up. So you have that ability to kind of future. Cast future.

Yes. Right.

And so you want your team to also be able to know trends before they're going to happen. Is what I'm hearing.

Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, you said that. You said my five minute tangent so well.

¿And what kind of clients have you continue to work with food and beverage? ¿But have you branched out since then? ¿Like, what is your ideal now?

I think We're. We're still known for food and beverage. And that my team, like, people that want to work at R. They're like really into. Like, that's their focus. That's their passion. But we work. We've worked with celebrities. We do a lot of rep management, which is like as my profession has evolved. That's how I've kind of continued to keep. My interest is just like constantly learning, finding a specialty. So that is like, really fun because you'll just meet these really cool people and they're like, hey, this is what happened. This is what people think happened. ¿How do I get that to be fixed? And I'm like, you've come to the right place, let's sit down and let's work on this. So, yeah, I've worked on some really cool projects personally. And now, as an agency, we have a team that works on N rep management. And just, it's just really fun. There's people that really love it. And then there's like the lifestyle team members and they're like, i don't want to touch that with a ten foot, foot pole. Like, i just, like, it's, i don't want to be stressed out by people that have this public image and this. They like to work with, like and opening and again, no judgment. They're really good at that. ¿And I've also learned to really help, facilitate that in, you know, greener publicists is like, what? ¿Where is that? Like, if you have, if you want to kind of specialize. So that's been really fun for me as a leader to be able to offer those things. So, yeah, it's. It's a wide variety given that like, the rep management isn't as long lasting. And your work in rep management, the best work is like clients that you can't really find on the Internet. And this is the exact opposite of the best work of lifestyle. Where like you're if you know some of the clients in the areas that we work in, you're like, oh, yeah, you work with them. That's so cool because you see them everywhere. So it's interesting because you're doing a different skill set, but it's still similar.

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And for delivery and rep management and crisis management are so interesting these days because, like you said, there are people in our industries that certainly try to keep their digital footprint minimal. But that can be really hard to do these days. And then if you have somebody who is somewhat high profile, I mean, we used to see them posting things on Twitter, X now maybe other platforms. But then we also have the whole group of people who like to post incendiary items on socials to get more recognition. ¿So what are some of the things people should consider if they're thinking about reputation management for themselves, their businesses, or a future publicist who's listening and needs to really know what that looks like these days?

I'll start with a future publicist. Give me a call. I'd love to add to our team. The other. If you're a business owner or starting a business, look up what reputation management is. It's really like who you think you are and who the public sees you to be. There is no possible way that you will know exactly who you think you are and how the public perceives you on your own. I would definitely get like a second set advisor kind of even hire a consultant because often, even for myself, you're two in the trenches. It's your vision. You can't really see your vision how other people see it. So I think it's really important to have just even if it's a friend or a consultant, I recommend if you have some budget for it just to kind of like, give you like an analysis or something like that because your goal and how you want to be perceived and what your actions and you could be spending. Like we've had this happen before. Like clients have spent like one hundred K a month on like advertising, social advertising, and their message is skewed to what they want their message to be. And we've done a rep management analysis and helped them kind of refine cut back and get better results because what they're wanting and what they're getting are two different things. ¿If you kind of have a stall and you're like, how do I get people? ¿How do people know about me? That's reputation management. ¿You want people that you want to have a buzz around you if you're kind of in that kind of situation like bottlenecked, and you're like, why is it my phone ringer? ¿Why am I not getting orders? I would put money on the fact that you probably have a reputation management issue. Here's why, because you are again what you're thinking you're giving and what you're clearly not receiving. So that's kind of the first like layer to it all is just kind of understanding that that's what it is. And then the like kind of next step to that would be really outlining like your true vision and your business goals. And then really putting that into the hands of somebody that could really help you like, create the pathway. A lot of marketers could help. There's specialists that like, I said like us that do this for people when you're more in a crisis. But there's really good rep management people that are just really good marketers and they're like, okay, great. Here's the audience that we want to attract. That's one of our favorite things to do when we're helping. Kind of create that pathway for clients. Is like, who are your client avatars, Who are your potential audience avatars. And how you speak to a group of moms versus college, students versus date night. People are gonna be really different. And if you're like, everybody's in my audience, you have a reputation management problem. That's not true. There's no such thing as a general public. You have specific businesses, have specific people that are interested in your business. So that's always fun. So I could spout out a lot of things I could tell you that you might have a reputation management problem, but the solving of it is really fascinating when you get with a, you know, a marketing team and you develop your strategy and then you start executing it and you see what works and also be looking out for what doesn't. Because often clients are like, i only want what works. You're really doing yourself a disservice because I find the Juicy Center is what doesn't work because you're often like, okay, here, listen. You thought this was your audience, but we did this campaign and these are the people that are super pumped about everything you're doing. And it's often really interesting. And I think there's just so much out there right now to help so many tools that really help with that. So, yeah, it's really exciting times. I actually really love that. And we use in our agency a lot of AI tools that help us with that. With competitor analysis, with kind of what AI is picking up, that is mixing and matching keywords, And I can get really technical, but it's really important to at least know what it is.

One hundred percent just thinking of a couple of cases. So when people go into PR or hire an agency, I should say their own business it can be really interesting to see what like you said, what works what doesn't work. But then also it can provide opportunities to see. I think this is one of the dichotomies of PR. Right. Some people expect it to be the problem solver. You're going to get so much business out of PR where, as publicists, often we also say, well, we're brand awareness. But Marcus shifted a little bit. I have a for instance, I also lived in Texas. I was in Houston and I love Houston.

It's one of my favorite cities. Yeah.

And I had a client there who was the Garden Girls. HDX. So they were a trio of women who did a lot of different kinds of gardens and raised beds and things. One of them decided to test PR by testing PR because she was so specific with what she did, it was really easy to get her into Martha Stewart living homes and gardens like all these huge publications immediately who are looking for expert advice on what you plant at certain seasons or different things that are really niche. But what they saw was they would get an uptick on their website and so they didn't even have to run ads. They could only rely on this because of the subject matter expertise and the placements we were able to get. But it also showed them opportunities where they could expand their business. You're only serving this biography. ¿Can you branch out more in Texas for people who are not in Texas? Do you want to look at doing some kind of subscription where you're sending out the things to plant seasonally all kinds of different products perhaps could come out of that. So that was a really interesting case study for me. That was showing me that. Yeah. There can be a direct correlation to getting some good PR and then immediately seeing your traffic and your, you know, inbox overflowing. But that doesn't always happen. Right, It doesn't always happen, but it's really amazing.

¿You hit on something? This is the title of my PR book. Is like how to Not be the Cheesecake Factory. I have to change it because I think they probably sue me, but I love the Cheesecake Factory. By the way for the record, it's one of my favorite places. Which is so funny because I love Mom and Pop Shops. But like the point isn't about the Cheesecake Factory. It's because the menu is so intense. It's like a book. But the thing that they can do, the reason they can have a book for a menu is because you know you can get as soon as you walk in, you see all of their cheesecake. They have fine tuned a niche while simultaneously having everything on the menu. Most places want to just have the cheesecake factory menu and forget about the niche. Like you said about your client. It's like they were able to focus on that one component. Like, here's my subject matter, expertise as a gardener. And I will tell you, nine times out of ten most businesses we work with initially are frightened about hiring a PR firm, hiring a rep management firm, the investment that goes into it, and then having to pick a tiny, little slice of the pie in their industry. And I'll tell you, the only way you can have success is finding that tiny, little slice of pie or your cheesecake. It's like, find the cheesecake. Like, you can have the big menu if you want. But as long as people know, I can go to you and have cheesecake, or I can go to you and have this expertise. Like, people know that they can come to RPR because we specialize in rep management and lifestyle. Like, that is what we are really good at. If I said to you, i do every kind of PR under the sun, you wouldn't remember that you would be like, i met Emily. We matched her outfits. ¿But like, what did she specialize in? Like, i don't. You don't know what to tell your friend that has, you know, uses a buzzword. That's like rep management. It's like, oh, I know somebody. I talked to somebody that knows that is really passionate about it. It's my career changed. My business went from zero to sixty. I wouldn't say zero, maybe ten to sixty, when I found a specialty. And not just like, oh, I need to find a specialty. But like, most of the people that are in an industry, the reason you're in the industry is because you're really passionate about a component of it. And like, I just think highlighting that and not trying to overdo your menu is really something to take home because otherwise you're not memorable. And you're not going to get the press or the results that you want. And again, it goes back to your reputation. People aren't going to connect with you. They're not going to have trust. We get so many calls from the rep management side of my agency that are like, people think I'm fake. People think my business is fake. ¿People think why? Because they aren't niched. They aren't representing what they do to the public in a way. That is a clear pathway. And when people don't see a clear pathway, they think you're lying. They think that you're not real. There's also people that we work with that are phenomenal. They have more awards and more accolades than you would even know. But they have too many. They have too many. And there's not a narrative around it. ¿So it's like, who are you like? ¿How do I trust you? That doesn't seem believable. And so it's really interesting because I think the more you are known for even something really simple, the more trust you have. And then you can expand. And then you can talk about your awards. And then you can talk about all the things that you do and all the businesses you have. But yeah, I think that's the hardest thing to do as well. Like to whittle something down one hundred percent. And it's what some of us call the scarcity mindset. And if you're really gripping on to, oh, gosh, if I. If I only hold on to this one little piece, I'm not going to have enough. That's scarcity and you're not going to. But if you can let it go and just focus on the piece, I guarantee your world will open up and your business will have the fruits of your labors. It really will. It's amazing to see when people start doing it.

Yeah, it really is. And it could be hard to find that. Which is why having a sounding board, having somebody can help you is really important. Because that also can be a shift. I mean, I've had this experience where in Houston, I was more known for. I loved collecting local art. I wore all the local fashion designers. I emceed fashion shows. I emceed galas. I mc charity events. I was on all the boards. ¿I started my own charities, right? So I was known for that world. And then moving back to LA as a single moment. And I did have a business in Houston. ¿But I also had to navigate like, who am I now? ¿What's my identity? ¿Like for work because my reputation there got me clients from Houston, but not necessarily like at first wasn't getting me work here until I started working with a firm, Right? And then started I was doing all the PR for their clients and their clients for people that then refer people to me. So then I could start my own agency. But I for that I was more specific in terms of what I. But then still figuring out. ¿Okay, what does that look like online? ¿How do I manage that part of your reputation really important? And that brings me to crisis management. A lot of times people leave that they don't plan for a crisis because obviously, you want everything to always be perfect, but you just don't know what's going to come up. And it might not even be something you did. It could be an employee. It could be a client. It could be any number of things. It could be a supply chain issue. Whatever the case may be. ¿Why should we think about how to mitigate crises and have a plan for it from the beginning of our businesses? ¿And how do we figure out what those might be that we need to have a plan for?

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Oh, man. The planning for a crises is the hardest part of all. Of all of everything, you just said, Because most people are like, I don't need to plan for that. We worked with a really well known International candle company for many years, and they refused not going to name drop. They refused to really come up with an agreed upon plan, their stakeholders, everything. And they were just like, oh, no, we're good. We're good. We're good. I'm like, guys, you have fire in your. In people's houses. Little fires.

Yeah.

Like, we need to be mindful of this people, and it was interesting. I mean, I personally think that. Like, without that, without just assuming the worst. And here I am a glass overflowing human. Like, I am not a half empty at all, and so I get it. It's really hard to just go there. It's like when I had kids and had to write a will. I'm like, this is so uncomfortable. I hate to assume this, but let's just do it for a second. And now I never have to think about it again. ¿That's exactly the way I think of a crises plan or making some sort of plan for like, what happens if you have a really angry internal situation? You know, you could have a thriving business and you have an angry employee. ¿What do you do? ¿What are your steps? ¿What happens? ¿What if they go rogue? What if they start, You know, this happens to clients of ours. ¿What if they start making, you know, one star reviews that aren't authentic And all these things like, what do you do? ¿Who do you call? ¿How do you manage it? From super small to a lot of things that we do are often reviews, review based crises because we work with still a lot of food and beverage clients. And so, you know, often you'll kind of see something, kind of come up. And it's like, we have systems in place. You know, I saw this happen. They said, this happened. They said, you know, this server did this like, oh, my gosh, we're having trouble with that person. Thank you so much. Get in touch with them. Like we have a really well oiled machine with a lot of a lot of our clients that just even the word crisis freaks them out. So we often put everything. I'm always like training my team put it all under reputation management, which it really is. But at the same time, like, I still like, okay, we're going to talk about this. You're going to get uncomfortable for a second. But let's be proactive because I will tell you it's more expensive, it's incredibly more expensive and bigger headache to have a crises that you didn't plan for than to plan for it. Now have it never happen. Have to not think about it again for a while unless it comes up and then you have it all done. And you know what you saved yourself, your team and your business so much heartache, headache and financial ache because it's we get a lot of calls with people that, you know, the ship is sinking and it's like you need our entire staff twenty four seven to dig you out of this and kind of come up with all this. It's a lot. It's. It's a lot for us. It's a lot. It's just a lot. I mean, it's time, energy, stress, and we're really good at it. We'll get you there. But it would have been a lot better. And oftentimes those people become long term clients because they're like, okay, we learned a really hard lesson. It's just it so. Yeah, I would just say the ABCs of this. ¿You could even type in your favorite AI tool and kind of say, hey, what? Give me some tips on a crisis plan for my business. I'm not saying that's the best kind of, like suggesting you do that for a lawyer. But if you have like, zero budget and you're just kind of starting out, at least to give you like, here's who to call, here's what to do. And at least give you something to work with. And then you, I would suggest fine tuning that to really, like, be like a realistic something for you. And if you are able to again, just getting in touch with somebody who's a consultant to even give you, hey, listen, I evaluated your business. Here's your top five threats. Here's internal three external and something that could just a unforeseen circumstance that you have nothing to do with but it could impact your business and have them come up with those plans for you and just have them on call like it doesn't need to be a retainer based situation or even cost you an arminal egg. Obviously, if you're a, really, you know, well oiled machine, your business is thriving and you don't have somebody on your staff or a consultant. I'd highly recommend that. I'd highly recommend putting a budget aside because it's just so worth it. It's in every kind of business like Small Mom and Pops. We've worked with to super high profile celebrities and everybody has stuff happen, and it's often unexpected.

I would say now probably more than ever because people create subreddits about everything. People are going to share lore on TikTok and blow up something, whether or not the company took care of it by the time that they do take care of it and get their site out. It's probably all over some social media platform and getting bad reviews because a server, like you said, a server treated somebody a certain way. And now the entire reputation of the restaurant is down.

I mean, we've had stuff happen where there was like nothing to do with any of our clients. There was a shooting outside in the street corner. Nothing to do with any of our clients. ¿Right? Like, that's an unforeseen. ¿What if this happened? Circumstance. But then they had to testify and then they were a part of a legal action and their name was involved in its public record and like how. So, how that is navigated and the misinformation people do not read anymore. So keep that in mind like we're skimming everything. The skim. I love you. They're skimming everything. And so like, keep that in mind. So even if you're in the mix with something, it could really impact your business because even this name involved with this crazy circumstance that happened in Houston, Texas. Wouldn't you Wouldn't think you would. You would be associated, But sure enough you are because you just. You can't help it. Like, things happen where, you know, there's also like floods and different. You know, in Nashville, you had some clients that there was a bombing, you know, like it's just who is planning for that. You know who's planning for that. And then how you interact, what you post on social media, your next steps, like the timing of that if you're too late, if you're not soon enough, all these kinds of things impact how people perceive you. Oh, my gosh, they're so you'll see this all the time. So tone deaf or oh, my gosh, I can't believe we're seeing this now with this horrific the flood with the camp, the mystic we're seeing like people kind of being tone deaf and how they're, you know, this has been months and months later. But it's like you've got to be careful because in seconds, and this is coming from a glass overflowing person, in seconds things happen and it's. It's. It can go. I have seen businesses tank in seconds on X because of one comment. I mean, that's just the world we live in whether you like it or not. Oh, I hate cancel culture. Da da da doesn't matter. That's just where we're at things happen that quickly because we're such, we're so quick to get information and skim.

¿All right? So we're gonna do something a little unusual. We're gonna do a part two.

Oh, wow, there are.

We didn't even get into so many other questions I have for you about having multiple offices. What that you know, managing being a single mom with starting this PR firm that's now in multiple locations. Why is it still important to have that footprint You alluded to AI, and I always love speaking about that, so AI. ¿But then also I want to talk about what can people do nowadays? ¿What do they need to think about when they're looking to hire a firm or want to start getting dipping their toe? ¿Plus, what are the trends you're seeing? So these are all topics we're gonna keep so y' all will see us come back for a part two at a later date. Because, Emily, I'm just enjoying this conversation. I feel like I wish we were in the same room so we could be sitting here with our.

¿Oh, my gosh, you see me? Drink. Three drinks. By the way, in this hour, I.

Just have a huge one over here. But thank you to everybody who's watching this episode or listening to it. Thank you, Emily Reynolds. And Of course your LinkedIn and your book as well as R. The letter R PR firm dot com will be linked in our show notes and we will schedule time to come back and do a part two and give more great advice and things to think about to the audience.

Love that. Thank you so much. This has been so fun.

Seriously, I agree. And I hope everybody in the audience, I think you probably have had as much fun or almost as much fun as we've had. So just with a conversation and thinking through what you need to think about with marketing, PR, reputation management and everything else in between. Thanks for listening or watching to this episode of your brand and amplified. Don't forget to leave us a rating or review on your favorite podcast listening platform. And if you want to learn more, check us out at yourbrandamplified Dot Com.