Stop talking, start listening; 8 minutes with Wealth without Borders on PR for business owners.

Welcome to another edition of Wealth Without Borders podcast, and today I'm delighted to have with me Jim James. Welcome to the show, Jim.

Howard, thank you so much for inviting me on your fabulous podcast. It's really my pleasure, and I always ask this, Jim, whereabouts are you in the world and what's the Well, I'm in what I call the TARDIS in a place called Bath in Somerset in the west of England, and you might hear the pitter-patter of the raindrops on the roof.

Ah, well, Bath is a beautiful city. I love it very much. Here we're in our glorious autumnal season in Shanghai, which I know you know very well. So for those of you who don't know Jim, he's an international entrepreneur And he founded the East West Public Relations Group in Singapore in 1995, so a wealth of experience. And Jim's going to be speaking to us about Speak PR, and the podcast title on this occasion is Public Relations for Business Owners. So are you ready to rock?

I am ready to rock. Let's go for it, Howard.

And I, as you probably know, I do have a little clock here which I'll start, and I'll do my best to give you the time remaining between each question. Okay, so here we go, 8 minutes to go. Question number 1, who is your ideal client, Jim?

Our ideal client for SpeakPR are any business owners or organization leaders who've got value locked up in their organization, and they're just looking for low-cost and effective ways to share that with their stakeholders.

Fantastic. 7 minutes 40 to go. Question number 2, what's the problem that you solve?

I help clients get noticed, really. Howard and I have been doing that since '95. So companies have got 3 different audience groups. They've got their internal and they've got their external and they've got their partners. They need different messages for each group and I really help them to communicate and engage with those people and change them from being sort of ignorant about the company and the brand to becoming evangelists for the company and the brand.

Fantastic, evangelists are what we need. 7 minutes and 5 seconds to go. Question number 3, what are the typical symptoms that people experience with this problem?

The number one problem that business owners face when it comes to public relations is knowing which part of their business to communicate. They're often so wrapped up in the product or the service and the financial and the HR and all the issues that one has as an entrepreneur, that distilling the core value of the company, the one problem that it solves for its customers, is extremely hard because they think it solves lots and lots of problems. So the, the number one problem really is getting them to focus and have one message, and that's really the one thing that we can help them with.

Fantastic. Well, you focused and distilled your message beautifully there, Jim. 6 minutes 14 to go. Question number 4: What are the common mistakes that people make when they're trying to solve this problem themselves?

Well, the problem that entrepreneurs face when they are trying to solve communications issues themselves is a bit like a person trying to self-diagnose and not going to a doctor or a consultant. They're not able to reflect in an objective way, but also they're not able to listen to themselves objectively. So the common mistakes people do or people make is to say lots of things which are unfocused, or at the other extreme, say nothing at all. So what we find is a continuum really, and they're really an extension of their personality types, Howard. So what we really try and do is to help them to get some focus and to distill the one key message that they want to share.

Right, I can see how that would be a massive problem trying to stand outside of oneself. 5 minutes 10 seconds to go. Question number 5, what's one valuable free action that people checking out the podcast today can implement today that will help them solve some but not all of that problem?

Okay, here's my little tip. Take your phone and take 1 minute, time yourself, and record your proposition as if you were speaking to an audience. 1 minute and then play it back to yourself. And if you can, write it down and read it to yourself. Just take 1 minute and see if you can do it. And that's the exercise.

Well, a fantastic exercise in discipline there. You've got 4 minutes and 16 seconds left, Jim. Question number 6: what's one valuable free resource that you can direct people to that will further help them with that problem?

Well, what we've created at SpeakPR, Howard, is a toolset which has got a message home, a story planner, and a technology applications directory which enables them to focus the message, to plan the message, and then to amplify that message using technology. So the speakpr.co website really, I would say, is the destination for business owners who are wrestling with this problem.

Fantastic. They sound like wonderful resources. And we will post that link into the podcast. Question number 7, you've got 3 minutes and 30 remaining. What concept or book or program or talk has been most impactful in your personal experience?

Well, I think, Howard, there are so many, but the one that's really guided me for the last decade has been the Vern Harnish Rockefeller Habits. And in that, he talks about the importance of data and priorities and of rhythm. And if you have these 3 elements for any part of your business, then it really helps you to focus and decide not just what to do but what not to do. And a key part of any business is deciding what not to do so you can focus on the core messages. So the Rockefeller Habits and the Scaling Up.

Fantastic. You've got a luxurious 2 minutes and 40 remaining to answer question number 8. What's the one question I should have asked you that you feel will give great value to people checking out the podcast? And what's the answer to that question?

Well, I think the one topic that comes up repeatedly for me with business owners is what they should stop doing. So the question that you haven't asked me, Howard, is what would you advise people to stop doing? And the, the answer to that from a public relations point of view is often they should stop talking and start listening. And we all know the old idiom of first of all seek to understand and then to be understood and then to find a middle way. And in public relations, which is all about communications, this is really a central tenet of the work to be done. So the question you could have asked is what should people stop doing? And I'd say they probably need to stop talking for a moment and listen first and then understand what their audience is really needing from them and only then to proceed with sharing their message.

Fantastic. We've got an extra minute, so I think I can just speak to that and say that one of the big learnings for me this year has been to talk more to my clients, prospective clients, and really understand what they want rather than what I think they need. And so messaging becomes relevant in language that they can relate to.

And the hard thing with that, Howard, is to remain relevant to your own mission but, you know, meeting their requirements. And this is where, again, it comes back to deciding who the key clients are going to be and deciding who you can't serve properly. So Speak PR is all about helping people to focus on what they can do and helping them to communicate that effectively and at scale using technology. But the key is to focus and to have confidence that what you've got to offer is of value to somebody.

Fantastic. Well, Jim, that was certainly of value to many people checking out this podcast. We've got a whole 26 seconds Left for me just to say, I'm slightly jealous of you being in Bath. Those of you who don't know the city, it goes back beautifully to Roman and Georgian times, and it's a wonderful bit of oldie-worldie England. I'm in not-so-oldie-worldie Shanghai, but thanks to Zoom and technology, we're able to connect once more, Jim.

Howard, thank you so much for having me. And the Wealth Without Borders is such a fabulous program. So wishing you all the best for that. Thank you for including me on your podcast.

Thank you. And for those of you who don't know Jim's podcast, it's also stellar, I would say. I aspire to that kind of level of performance.

You're too kind.

Take care now, Jim.

Thank you, Howard, so much.

Many thanks for checking out Wealth Without Borders podcast. I'd love you to head over to iTunes, subscribe, and leave us a review. And if you'd be kind enough to do that, I would really appreciate it. And then if you want to know more about what I do, check out wealthwithoutborders.net.