The views, information, or opinions express during this podcast are solely those of the individuals involved and do not represent those of Intout, QuickBooks or any of its cornerstone brands or employees. This podcast does not constitute financial, legal, or other professional advice or services. No assurance is given that the info is comprehensive, accurate, or free of errors, and
the information presented is for general information purposes only. Into It QuickBooks does not have any responsibility for updating or revising any information presented. Listeners should verify statements before relying on them. QuickBooks Money is a standalone into It offering banking services provided by Green Dot Bank member FDIC. Hey everyone, I'm Austin Hankwitz and I'm Jennise Torres. Welcome to Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories, a podcast brought to
you by Intwet, QuickBooks and iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio. In each episode, Austin and I chat with small business owners as they share their stories about the ups and downs of owning a small business. Plus will learn from their experience about how you can help fortify and strengthen your own business. Austin, you and I are both very familiar with the rewards
of entrepreneurship. We talk a lot about profitability and creating brands and recognition, but one thing that ties it all together and can make or break your business is client success.
I'll never forget one of my earliest clients. She's actually my sorority sister, and so we've had a long standing relationship, and she is a DEI consultant, and she was building that on the side while working in DEI in corporate And I'll never forget when I got her Instagram DM in the middle of twenty twenty two saying that she had doubled her income and she was actually walking away from her corporate career and taking this full time. And she told me the origin story of her desire to
do this was she was battling autoimmune diseases. She really couldn't be in a corporate environment. It just wasn't conducive to her health. And she also wanted to have more time with her son, who is special needs. And so the real life reward of working with somebody and seeing them take this thing from an idea into an actual business and watching how it transforms their life like that, for me, is the most satisfying part of this entire journey.
Oh my gosh, I couldn't agree more. You know, from my perspective, I think what's really fun about client success is starting at zero, right that first meeting, where you say, Okay, here's where we want to go. Here are the specific things we need to achieve to get there, and if we do these things throughout this period of time, we could end up where we want to go and seeing
it compound on itself. You know, all the small little things you do to really make sure that they add up over time, you know, following those key performance indicators and making sure you're aligned on those moving forward, and the relationships really important. I think client success is one of the most to your point rewarding things to reflect upon as an entrepreneur and solopreneur. So on that note, let's meet our guest. Sydney Holmes is the definition of
a hustler. After majoring in journalism, she landed a job working in public relations at a high end real estate firm. This ignited her career in PR and put her on the path to become a trusted voice in media relations and brand building across multiple industries including real estate, fashion, and technology. In addition, to that she often spent her nights performing stand up, so it only made sense to combine her emotional intelligence and humor with her professional experience
and branch out into her own business. She's the founder of no IFSPR and continues to hone her comedy career and work as a freelance writer for multiple publications. Welcome to the show, Sydney.
Wow, what a nice intro. Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to be here. We're so excited to have you here. First off, let's start off with the name of your business. So no ifs PR is super fun? Did zude's confidence? How did you come up with that? When I was thinking about going freelance in general, I was like, what are the things that are missing from like the pr that have done with
brands like in House. So I was like, well, obviously your brand should be super clear and concise, no ifs ands or butts about it, and no ifsands are butts is a little too long, so we just went with no ifs. Unfortunately, I mean the URL looks like noifs instead of no ifs, so it's a little silly. It was kind of a snap decision that just sort of made sense in the moment.
Yeah, that's so funny.
I didn't even think about, you know, what the implications would be of that from like social media and URLs and all that.
It's funny.
Yeah.
All right, So you studied journalism and you got your start in PR, which are two fields that have some overlap. Right, So was working in PR on your radar from the beginning or was it something that you landed on and then found that you were enjoying it or even you were good at it.
Yeah.
So I majored in journalism at Texas Tech University. And actually what got me to New York in the first place was an internship at CBS Radio. So I was writing music news for CBS and I had three months there and I just wanted to stay in New York and so I was like, I need to get in the door somewhere. And I interviewed at this real estate company and they were like, we want you for marketing and ad buying, and I.
Was like, I don't know how to do that, but I guess I'm going to figure it out.
And then they called me back like twenty minutes later and they were like, just kidding, we want you for.
PR, and I was like, oh, that's easy, I know how to do that.
PR and journalism work very hand in hand and the best PR, I think, speaks to journalists and sort of back and forth. So for me, when I started doing PR, I had no idea what I was doing, but I was like, I'm actually very good at PR and relationship building, which is a lot of what PR is. So those are things that have really come natural to me sort of throughout my entire life totally.
So maybe for those people listening right now, can you educate us as to what the differences between PR and marketing?
Totally?
I will say they are very similar and they often speak to each other when they're done really well. So there's kind of two buckets of media. There's earned media and owned media. So owned media is something you pay for, like an AD or like your social media, right, you know exactly what it's going to say, you know exactly when it's going to run, you know exactly the visuals that are going to be used because you paid for
that media placement or that ad. Where I work is in earned media, So what that means is I work directly with reporters to say you're a client and you have a story that you want to get out. I pitched the idea of that story to the most relevant reporter. They accept the story, and then they interview you for that story. The trade off is you don't pay the reporter or anything. You don't pay the publication anything, but
you don't have any editorial control either. So my job is to act sort of as a liaison between you as my client and the reporter to make sure that the things that you say are relevant to the brand, convey you in the most positive light and are really clear and concise, and move sort of your brand forward.
That makes a ton of sense. Thanks for walking us through that.
Yeah, how long were you working in PR before you realize you could actually start your own company?
I was working in house and also at PR agencies for about six or seven years before I made the leap.
Okay, now let's talk a little bit about this comedy career too, because not only do you have, you know, this overlap of PR and journalism, but now you also are throwing in a stand up comedy career. How do you balance all of this and did you find any surprising overlaps between performing for an audience and like performing as someone working in pr totally.
I mean, we're all kind of performing all day long. But I think with comedy, when I moved to New York, I had the like stars in my eyes, right, like the why do you move to New York other than to like chase a dream?
Right?
And so I was doing stand up for a long time, and I just felt like I was never giving my like original dream sort of a fair shake, which is really hard to do the nine to five thing and then go do open mics at night, and so when not to bring the mood down. But my dad passed in twenty nineteen, and I was like, who cares, nothing matters, Let's go freelance. And that's kind of the motivator. I was like, let's just like give myself a real shot.
And so if I wouldn't have gone freelance, I wouldn't have been able to pursue half of the creative stuff that I've done over the last four years. I mean, it's been really incredible. It's been like an amazing journey.
I have this one woman show that I've put on and produced and funded myself, and you know, it's got like a residency in Manhattan and like things are like kind of happening and if they weren't when I was, I know, look, I mean it's no joke, no, it's It's been great to answer your question about performing on stage versus performing for people in like a boardroom or
something like that. I think the thing that I have found has been the most helpful is when you go on stage and you're performing stand up, that's all you.
Like, if you get a laugh, that's all yours. If you bomb, also all you.
So there's a really nice through line where like, if I go into a pitch, that's all me. If they didn't like it, that's also entirely all me. So there's a lot of autonomy in both. And then additionally, like you're kind of exposing yourself to people really not liking your vibe and like continuing to do it anyway. I think the freedom that comes with comedy is something that I've always wanted to translate into my regular life. Kind
of that like almost reckless, like abandoned. And I think entrepreneurship is just like another extension of that.
For me.
That's a brilliant take. And I think you know, when you talk about the fact that you do own all the results, both positive and negative. I mean, that is entrepreneurship, right, That's kind of one of the reasons why you have to develop a little bit of a thick skin, which I imagine you gotta do the same thing when you're a comedian.
Totally, it's the exact same thing.
People when they glamorize the entrepreneurship journey, they're like, Oh, it's going to be so easy, I'll get clients, I'll make all this money, it's going to be so fun. But they forget about is it's actually a strategy. There's key performance indicators, there's very specific things that go into success. So do you have a specific strategy for defining what client success looks like, specifically across different types of industries.
Yeah.
So, I think oftentimes clients can get wrapped up in the amount of times that they're mentioned in the media, right, And I often try and tell my clients PR is not going to be at least in my opinion. This might be a controversial opinion, but PR is often not a revenue bringer.
It's a brand builder.
So when we're looking at PR hits for example, of course, if we're not in the media I'm not doing my job. However, I have a rubric that I use for all of my clients that kind of analyzes how effective a press placement can be. Right, anybody can get pressed, but the idea is it takes into account share a voice, which is huge. Are we just randomly mentioned or are we featured? Are we in the headline or are we just part of a wrap up? Is there a link back to
our site? What medium was this? Is this print? Is it digital? Is it TV? Is it podcasts? And then the last one that we track is tone. So is it a negative article, is it a positive article? Is it inclusive of other folks that we want to be associated with? Or you know, are we mentioned in something that maybe not be so favorable. So those are some things that we track that not only show guess we're in the media, but how a media placement can be effective and beneficial for a client.
That makes a ton of sense. And I'm sure a lot of time and energy and focus went into building that rubric, and I'm sure your clients appreciate you walking them through that. Now, let's talk about the clients who maybe they've been with you for a little bit, they've turned the corner here, and they're really trending in the right direction. How do you maintain those relationships where they want to continue using you as their p R expert of choice.
I have found that people really enjoy working with somebody who is genuine. I think that that's true across the board. So I've always known that I'm funny, and i have never tried to hide the fact that I'm kind of a silly goose.
In my meetings.
All of my clients are pretty well aware of the kind of personality that I have, and it's always created relationships that I also want to continue. I think with going freelance and kind of owning your own business, the thing that is super impactful is that you can kind of choose who you want to work with. And if I've created this relationship with a client where I am like totally stoic and there's you know, nothing going on behind the eyes and I'm just like giving you your
KPIs like, that's not really who I am. And so one thing that I found was really helpful was just like being super genuine, being open, being kind of vulnerable, and just saying like, look, you know, I'm not gonna lie to a client and say, like everything's going great and then the results don't have anything to show for it. I will explain to you exactly what's going on and like why maybe something isn't necessarily going super well, and
like the path forward, right. I think being upfront with clients and kind of bringing more of yourself than just like this professional, buttoned up version of yourself is something that has been sort of my saving grace over the last four years.
Of my business.
Okay, so you mentioned the fact that you, as a solopreneur, you're super happy with kind of being this one woman show. But I imagine that as your clients succeed, that gets you a little more attention and that leads to more clients. So how do you juggle having multiple clients.
I have to keep myself super honest with my time. I use a timetracker to keep myself honest, because I am the kind of person that will go down the rabbit hole for like six and a half hours for like one of my smallest clients. In terms of balancing all my clients, I think the thing that has been really helpful to is I have a weekly call with every single client, and that's always helpful in terms of
like visualizing my workload. So most of it has to do with kind of balancing my time, and candidly, it's something that I struggle with very often. I'm not the kind of person that like schedules my day.
You're not getting up at four am and running fifteen miles because that's what everybody on Twitter says you're supposed to be doing to be successful entrepreneurs.
And then cold plunge and daily journaling in and a green juice, green juice.
If I did that, none of you would ever see me again.
It means she's officially lost it. She's gone off the rails completely.
I so humanly reject struggle culture, hustle culture, Like there is definitely a struggle at a hustle to being an entrepreneur. But I just feel like this narrative around entrepreneurialism that it's like the hardest thing you'll ever do, and it's like, yeah, for some people it is, but for some people it's like it's just an alternative way to work that better kind of suits your life and your priorities and the
things that you care about. Yeah, So I think that that impedes a lot of people from joining the fold and a lot of people who would be.
Really good at it.
Coming up after the break.
If you're not bragging online, you gotta be. And it's so foreign to me. It feels really gross to do sometimes, but it doesn't feel gross in my bank account.
We'll be right back with Mine the Business. Welcome back to Mind the Business, small business success stories from iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio and into it quick Books. Now, as a solopreneur, we know there's a ton of moving parts in our business, whether that is tracking your client's needs, deadlines, making sure you're getting paid for the work that you do, and invoicing.
So can you give us some insight into maybe some systems or processes that you use to maintain and keep track of everything that's going on when it comes to, you know, managing multiple clients.
Yeah, the invoicing thing is really interesting, right because I have a hard time being like, hey, this invoice is late.
Where is this?
So every week I have a calendar reminder to go into my invoicing platform and make sure that all of my invoices are on time. I also put a little clause in my contract that says for every week that an invoice is late, x percentage will be added to the invoice, and let me tell you that has been very effective in getting my invoices on time.
I think that's one of the reasons why QuickBooks decided to create QuickBooks Money, because tracking invoices is the bane of most entrepreneurs existence, right, So that makes it easier for you to get paid and not have to worry about the whole point of why you're doing this, which is getting money in your account.
I'll also add to you, know what I think this is really powerful about QuickBooks Money is the different ways you can collect payment. Right. I've worked with clients sometimes where they're like, yoh, yeah, we only accept wires. It's like, I don't want to pay why right? Yeah? Really, quick books Money you can collect payment anyway you want. I love that part of the product. So let's talk about marketing your business finding new clients. Do you use success
stories as a way to market your business? Can you detail how maybe successful clients might equal success for you as a PR expert in a budding business.
Totally?
Yeah, I'm bragging online all the time, which is really foreign to me. Both with comedy and also this, I felt like I couldn't call myself a comedian until it was the only way that I made money, right. It's kind of similar to the hustle culture thing where I felt like I had to clear this bar in order to be considered like a real creative. And one day I was like, there's somebody out there who hasn't written in years calling themselves a writer. So I'm out here
with clients sort of the same thing. I used to never use LinkedIn, And then once I started my business and I started posting successful stories, I think like repetition is really key. If I'm in somebody's feed all the time, they'll think of me when they're looking for a PR person. And then also I'm part of a PR slack group. I worked with a guy like years and years and years ago who his wife launched a company and he wanted to reach out to me to do PR for him.
Like the primary way that I reach people most of the time is through word of mouth, and then the second would be LinkedIn. But yeah, if you're not bragging online, what are you doing? You gotta be And it's so foreign to me. It feels really gross to do sometimes, but it doesn't feel gross.
My bank account.
So you know what, that's the patriarchy talking. By the way, let's just put that out.
I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.
It's like, oh, I don't want to brag about my accomplishments, and it's like why.
I did that? You know, let's double click on that, because totally to brag about an accomplishment, it must also mean that that client was facing a challenge, right, So maybe can you walk us through a time that maybe a client was facing a setback or a challenge that you helped them navigate and overcome to a success.
Yeah.
I have this one client that I loved that I still work with on a project basis. They're called Netti. They're a pickleball company based in Cincinnati. And so the guy that I mentioned who's wife started the company.
It was Nettie. And my goal was just to like get.
Them in every consumery like Refinery twenty nine, Bustle, Cosmo, whatever, like all of those women's interest publications and also television, and for the first few months just went like absolutely gangbusters.
We were in everything. We were on the Drew Barrymore Show, like we were everywhere.
And now Nettie is available at Dick Sporting Goods, They're available at sexwith Avenue, And I like to think that I had like a little bit of something to do with that, because anytime anyone talked to the CEO of Nettie, they would always be like, your pr is amazing. You guys are literally everywhere. And that's one of my prouder
ones because I really loved the CEO. I love working with her, and she was a solopreneur too, and the difference between her and me, and the thing that I kind of admire much more about her than the work that I do, is that like she had a product. She was like trying to sell people this product packing boxes in her house, and I'm selling ideas which like don't have shipping. So I have just been very impressed with her, and I like to think that I was helpful along the way totally.
What's your favorite creative sort of focus.
I love creating relationships with reporters, That's probably my favorite. I love going out to coffee and meeting and like actually understanding kind of what these people are covering. I started contributing to a couple different publications at the beginning of last year, and I started getting pitches and they were so random and weird and like irrelevant, and it's not even my full time job. I don't get a ton of pitches, and those pitches annoy the hell out
of me. And I never want to be that kind of pr person that's just like pitching you irrelevant nonsense. So I really enjoy meeting up and understand like what actually interests them, because these niches that are being carved out now are so crazy and so specific that I want to make sure that if I'm pitching you that it's something that you're not going to be annoyed by and that I don't get my email blocked. I always got like most talkative in every class that I had.
I always thought like, oh, if I.
Could just like make talking into my job, that I would be like absolutely set.
And I kind of have done that.
So I'm thrilled you've done a great job of it, for sure.
Thank you.
I'm so glad you mentioned the pain of terrible pitches, because as a podcaster, you know, I love getting pitches where it's clearly just a copy and paste totally and the name's not even right. And that's why I think what you mentioned about forming those relationships and having like a concrete network is so important, and it's one of those parts of the entrepreneurial journey that I think a lot of people don't necessarily know the value of.
Totally Sydney.
I know when people listen to this episode, they're going to be so excited to find out more about you and how they can work with you. So, for folks that are interested in working with no ifs pr where can we find you?
So no ifs dot co is where you can find me. That's NIFS dot co. Also, if you want to just email me, it's Sydney like Australia, syd n e y at no IFS dot co. I'm very very online, so please feel free to reach out at any given time.
I'm available, and we definitely want to support your comedy career as well. So where can we find out more about your one woman show and check it out? If folks are in NYC.
That is such a nice question, Thank you. Yeah.
So I wrote a show called The Year my Dad Died Twice great title, if I do say so myself. If you're in New York, you can follow me on Instagram at the Year my Dad Died twice. It has a residency for the next few months at the Tank, so you're more than welcome to find tickets there, but the easiest way is to follow on Instagram and We've got all the links to all the tickets and I'm shamelessly promoting over there too, so please please feel free to come on over and see the show. It's a
delightful way to spend one singular hour. So yeah, it's pretty quick and it's pretty funny, amazing. I want to thank you for being here, thank you for sharing all of your best tips, and for being an inspiration for folks out here who want to have a multifaceted life and may use entrepreneurship to get there. I would highly recommend it. Thank you guys so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
Thanks Tonnick.
Austin. I had such a blast talking to Sydney. For me, the thing that stood out was what I think is one of the main reasons why a lot of us who are on the solopreneurship journey even start this. It's
the ability to define success differently. It's the ability to set on our own rules, create our own path, and Sydney is doing stand up comedy and leveraging her skill set in her career with pr and it just it really reminds me of why we do what we do, just having the ability to create this life that doesn't necessarily follow any rules. But you know, for me, it's just really inspiring to see folks that have that story.
What about you, Austin, what was your favorite takeaway from our conversation with Sydney.
You know, Sidney very much is the definition of a hustler right how we introduced her. I think there are two main call outs I want to share that really
resonated with me. The first one being don't be afraid to brag on yourself, especially if you're always in that pitching phase if you have to pitch people on a product or service, like look at your success right, look at those very big wins, and say, listen, this person had this specific challenge and we were able to help them navigate that and overcome it by doing ABC XYZ.
You know she mentioned she has this awesome KPI rubric she refers back to, I mean, there are so many things she does right from a continual bragging pitching perspective there and the other thing what she might have glossed over too quickly. Was that slack channel? Right, She's got a community that she's a part of. She's always you know, networking and talking with other PR professionals and I'm sure sharing what she's learned, talked about little bit of mentorship. Right.
So I think she's doing everything right and I think those two things are imperative for solopreneurs listening right now. Don't be afraid to talk about your biggest wins and also don't be afraid to lean on your community.
Yeah, those biggest wins are going to be the thing that attracts more clients that then brings you more success. So it definitely feeds into itself. Well, that's it for today's episode. You can find me on social media at Jocierto dinto podcast and.
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