How to Scale Your Business with Heather DeSantis

This is the Momentum podcast.

If you're an entrepreneur, leveraging the media in your business can be one of the fastest methods for growing your brand and your tribe. In this episode of the Momentum podcast, we're joined by a special guest, Heather de Santos, CEO of Publicity for Good, in this special presentation that Heather gave at a recent Charfen summit. She details her method for building a media presence and how her business has changed as a result of working within the Charfen kadence, Heather shares about how publicity can work in your favor to grow the impact of your brand quickly, how implementing process, structure and routine into your business can allow you to make your greatest contribution. And now the power of communication within your team can align them around a unified purpose so that you can build a world changing empire.

I'm Alex Charfen, and this is the momentum podcast made for empire builders, game changers, trailblazers, shop takers, record breakers, world makers and creators of all kinds, those among us who can't turn it off and don't know why anyone would want to. We challenge complacency, destroy apathy, and we are obsessed with creating momentum so we can roll over bureaucracy and make our greatest contribution. Sure, we pay attention to their rules, but only so that we can bend them, break them, then rewrite them around our own will. We don't accept our destiny. We define it. We don't understand defeat because you only lose if you stop. And we don't know how. While the rest of the world strives for average and clings desperately to the status quo, we are the minority, the few who are willing to hallucinate. There could be a better future. And instead of just daydreaming of what could be, we endure the vulnerability and exposure it takes to make it real.

We are the evolutionary hunters, clearly the most important people in the world, because entrepreneurs are the only source of consistent, positive human evolution and we always will be.

So how to scale your business with publicity and media features, that's going to be a tiny bit of it. But what I'm going to tell you is going to allow you today to get in the media. So really, really what matters is when you get in the media, you'll be able to add to your Instagram profile where you've been featured. You'll be able to integrate it into your marketing. Gone are the days where you have to create all your own content. Now you have people you have advocates in the media who are talking about you, who are talking about how you're making a difference and how your business is transforming lives. That's what's amazing about publicity, is now you are getting in front of their audiences and you don't have to stress with borrowing and Instagram following, doing fancy webinars or really anything. And the most exciting thing is local media is where you should start because every local market will have on local entrepreneurs as a way to promote you. And there's no cost. Real quick, being in the media will help you be seen as an expert, you honestly gain recognition from your clients and peers. Any time I see any of our clients in the media, all of their clients will share their publicity to their audience because they are so proud of their coach or business. That's a cheerleader effect. And that's what is so amazing. You're able to share your story on a national and international level. You are able to increase your visibility. You're able to grow your email list. If you're focused on SEO and your social blueprint. Imagine when people Google your business, your company and your name. They are seeing you as an expert because you've been seen and the media publicity also supercharges your SEO. It helps you with high quality back links. And most importantly, you're able to add to your website Synon. But I think what's even more powerful is that I find and this happened to me is that I was building my business at the time. I've been a publicist for 10 years, but I was building my business from my mom's basement, getting people in the media. And I felt so disconnected to my why and my story and why even started.

And when I started getting in the media, I felt a shift. People are asking me about my story. And I just had a whole transformation because I was able to be in the light and I was able to be an expert and talk about the issues that really matter to me. So if you feel stuck and your business or you don't feel connected because all of your time is spent in the tactical or behind the scenes, publicity I'm finding is the fastest way to scale your business, reach new audiences, increase your credibility, but also feel so emotionally connected to your business and your Y and your mission that you truly have a transformation because you're stepping into a level of like a bigger sense of authority. I've also you can absolutely increase your revenue, you can increase your prices by getting in the media any time you do a launch or you are launching something new, you need to integrate. You are a publicity into your launching. If you have an email list of customers, you can absolutely share your publicity to your email list and use it to nurture people that you would love to work with because they see you as an expert. And again, you know, I ask you, if you're looking at hiring Business A or B, would you choose the company that's verified and validated and is an expert and they're an advocate for what they're doing and they're in the media? Or would you work with someone who's not in the media? I know I personally would rather work with an advocate. So those are the benefits. And I want you to sit in that for like 30 seconds, because now I'm going to be giving you the rich formula and the rich formula I created. And it's going to give you the tools for you to be able to reflect on yourself and really figure out what's your story for the media. So you're able to start getting some publicity immediately or tomorrow. But I do highly encourage you if you are using your Charfen planner right now or you have a notebook, too, at the top of the paper, right. Rich r i c h formula, the rich formula. And I'm going to be giving that to you today so that you're really able to map out the process. And when you do your planning in the morning, you can start thinking about your media story and who you are. All right, so let's get into the formula. So the most important thing is the are reflecting on who you are as a person and an entrepreneur. We forget so often why we started, why we're an entrepreneur and what our mission is, because, as I said before, we get so focused on the numbers and the delivery and scaling that we really forget our ethos story. So you need to write down on your piece of paper, why are you an entrepreneur? And also looking back to where you are now to being born. What are those key things that have happened, those key milestones or really shitty struggles that made you want to be an entrepreneur?

So, again, write down, why are you an entrepreneur? And the second piece is to say Listowel monumental and struggles that you went through, because those are key anchors that you can talk about in the media. Now, for me, I was adopted when I was three days old. My dad and uncle were entrepreneurs. They were so successful with real estate and they passed away. My dad died on Christmas, my senior year of high school, and building a business and leaving a legacy when both your uncle and dad die. That was the only thing that I knew to do. So I knew I had to be an entrepreneur. And then I became really good at publicity and I was working for someone else. I was a slave and that was my moment. So all those key things and even being a Girl Scout until I was 18 and selling the most amount of Girl Scout cookies, that's my story. That's my hero's journey. Those are key things that I talk about in the media. Now, as you evolve, your story changes. So when I first started doing media, it was about nonprofits. Then I was Miss Ohio and I did some media for Miss Ohio. Then last year, covid happened and Austin, my fiance and I at the time were living full time. We still are in an Airstream during covid and I'm like, I'm a publicist. I want some publicity. So last year during covid, I pitched the angle, building a six figure business from an Airstream during the pandemic. And literally because of that story and anchor, we were on Fox News, we were on Business Insider three times and it pivot's. But your core story is who you are and you're a media story will evolve over time. The last thing for the R component of the rich formula is to write down what are the three to four topics that you're an expert at and really ensure that you start taking time to be the expert to read the news and set up Apple news. Because the biggest issue or problem that I see for anyone doing business is they say they're an expert matter, they're a leader. There are authority, but they don't know what's going on in the industry or world. And that's horrible because you need to have a pulse of the industry and the world at all times so you can really share your personal opinion. All right. So now is the I it's the investigate. And this is where you reflect and you look at everything you wrote down for the hour and you need to bridge the gap between who you are as a person and what's going on in the world right now. Because what matters to the media is your news angle and what's trending. OK, that's important because you need to bridge the gap between who you are, your struggles and your three to four topics and then bridge the gap to now to being what's going on in the world. And how can you provide insight? Example, it's covid. We're not connecting with people as much. People need jobs. How can you bridge the gap between your struggles and your expert topics to what's going on in the media?

Now, this is some tips and things to help you go through it, but you can go to Google and you can type in topics that's relevant to your business. You can go through the news section on Google and type in business entrepreneur health coach mindset to get ideas for stories. And then you could also search for competitors. You can look on Google and you can see what competitors are doing and you can pitch similar stories. And then other things just see is connecting with the media on Instagram and social. You can search for media, you can search podcasts and those things because social media has an echo format. So if you want to get on a podcast, you can search on Instagram and the search function and type podcast and get some connections there. And then lastly. Helping hunt, it's all about service, is all about reciprocity, and it's really figuring out what's going on in the market and how you really can provide insight and value to the media. So that's the formula I'm happy to share with you all. But again, if you follow this framework of my rich formula that I use for all of our clients, you definitely will be able to get in the area. Now, DNA, one question for you is that when I prepared this originally in what I submitted, it was just to share a couple of slides about how I transformed for the Cadence program. But I saw that the promo image was for PR. So do I have permission to go over three minutes just to show how we've transformed from the cadence?

You do. But I want to highlight something that you've done here so many times. So when you're talking about the rich formula and I want you all to pay attention to what she did, because one thing that Alex talks about is branding your method. And so when you're when you're really clear on your method and you can brand your method, then what you're selling is your method and it's not tied up. And you being the one who has to deliver it, it's just like the Charfen process, right? It's a it's the process. It's the framework. And so the way that you did that is exactly what you should be doing. And also, when we get into talking about the five core functions, whether or not she realized that you all she gave you a bunch of nuggets when we look at the five core functions and will dove into that when we get there with Nicole.

But absolutely. Please go ahead.

All right, so this is a little bit about publicity for good and Charfen in the full transformation. All right, so I joined Charfen and twenty eighteen with a run rate of below three hundred thousand dollars, we were only contractors and the majority of our team members were in the Philippines. Now, we met Austin personally in Austin. My my boyfriend, Austin at the time was with me.

And to be transparent, I did not have the money, the investment or the capital to invest in Charfen at the time I had found a bad leader that coach me. At the time, I think we were bringing in like twenty thousand dollars a month and they were charging me fifteen thousand a month for services and it was just icky. And Austin, my boyfriend at the time, believed in the Charfen program so much that he actually invested and paid for me to do Charfen every single month. So that's really where we started out. We joined Charfen in twenty eighteen, a run rate below three hundred thousand only contractors. And now I am so grateful and excited that now last year, even during an covid was our first year hitting a million dollars. And this year we are already at a run rate of one point three million. We put Profit-Sharing in place. We have moved contractors to employees and we are about now looking at team members full time thirty, which is incredible.

Before, just so you understand, like I've been doing PR for 10 years, I did work for an ad agency now because of the cadence of literally my now husband and I are able to live and work full time from an Airstream. I remember when I worked for an ad agency, I was like, one day when I own my own company, I'm just going to be able to wear yoga pants and jeans and flannels all the time. So I you have that now and I'm just so grateful. There is our air show, if you ever want to talk about living and running a business full time with your husband and an RV. I'm happy to talk about that. That's my passion again. Like this. Charfen, Cadey.

It's like this with me. I had to show up every single day and I just get to be myself. Now I have the framework and the tools to fully be me. Now this is what gets really excited. I'm super pumped about so already it starts with a daily huddle and every morning at PFG we read our client centric mission. We reiterate our critical numbers, our financial and client weekly goals. We review our 30 day goals to the process of weekly commitments. We go over critical issues where I was uncomfortable. We're extremely transparent and we're a family.

We're obsessed with our team. We have now about 10 full time members in the Philippines. And in the fall, we're actually going over there like we're so close as a team for us. We do. Who got caught being awesome? We do team member highlight of the day. And during that time, our team member will give them praise or tell them awesome things. And what we've started doing is some of our team members don't want to be highlighted. So our team members will actually do quick power points to share about their life along who is one of our amazing publicity assistants. We found out that she used to be in pageants. She is the Guardian and she is roosters. So team members, guests just get a little time to share about their life. And whoever is the team Shot of the Day gets to choose a song of the day. So music is a huge part of our of our huddle. And you can see at the bottom exactly what we're sharing with our team. We have a client centric mission. We show the numbers on the graph of at least getting 80 percent of weekly commitments. And again, there's transparency with clients, clients on retainer and all those things.

And our client centric mission is our passion is serving a purpose driven brands to grow their impact and our providing high level strategy, messaging and visibility and until they become leaders and their space. And again, we're all on video. We cannot you can see our team is very diverse, but people get to come as their messy, loving self, like whatever they're doing with life, we deal together. And that's pretty incredible. Now, we are friggin obsessed with our Charfen planners, so we just want another 12 for office and we integrate our staff and planners, we integrate it into our table. And again, everything that we're learning from the process, we integrate to our team.

We take self care really seriously. And actually one of our 30 day goals, because we're scaling so fast and we have new team members, is self care. So this year, so far, one of our team members is in charge of self care. So you can see here she's sharing water tips. Nutrition tips today actually is walking Wednesday to people post channels of them walking. We do breathing as a team. And then we also invited Shane, who is a breathing coach with Charfen to our team to do a breathing exercise. And they told us that it was the best thing ever, which is awesome. And then we also on one of our clients is a manifestation coach. So we're going to do that as well as a team. But self care is extremely serious and we talk about all those things all the time and also full, transparently parents to all. Austin, who is the president of our company and myself, we're going to be starting to do therapy. So we're super excited for that.

And then I would say things that I would say shifts big shifts is now we have departments and from departments we've been really able to scale with department heads.

And our operator, Katherine, who is here, the majority of her time, is watching the Charfen process, learning the Charfen process and helping Austin. And we are really and still it. And then something I also love as Katherine Austin and myself are. Operator, have a call every morning at nine 40 hour limit before huddle to really support each other.

Vet if we need to get everything on the table so we can show up as our best selves for the team.

And then I don't really think there is anything else to say other than we transform the company. We have systems in place. I can build this amazing business and scale it with my husband, which has been incredible. He was super resistant and when we saw Charfen at an event like, you know, sometimes if couples are able to do it, why not have two people pushing on the same rock instead of being scattered? It's been the best thing ever and we're just getting started. So that's everything. The last thing I would share is this is my ask. I am in the process of right now doing Avatar. Clarity is in the Charfen process where, gosh, I need to interview one hundred people to then really get clarity or marketing. So if you're a purpose driven brand or company, I would love to do an Avatar clarity interview with you. It helps me on my Charfen process and it's just twenty minutes. So that would mean the world to me. Catherine, if you can put the link in the chat to book a call, I'm just here to serve and I hope you guys got value from what I shared today.

Hey there, this is Eddie Kurk with Alex Charfen team, thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Momentum podcast. Listen, if you're ready to take the next step, if you're ready to understand the systems and processes and frameworks that we teach entrepreneurs to grow and scale their business with confidence, we're ready to help you. If you go to billionaire Koch Dotcom right now, you can get on a call with a member of our coaching team and find out which one of our coaching programs best fit the needs of your business. Right now, we know that when you are clear on where you're going and you're excited about the outcome, you will put the accelerator pedal to the floor and you won't let up. Let us help you get into momentum, grow and scale your business and make the impact that you've always known.

You should go to billionaire Koch Dotcom right now to get started. We'll see you there.