You are listening to The Design You Podcast with Tobi Fairley, episode number 288.
Welcome to The Design You Podcast. A show where interior designers and creatives learn to say no to busy and say yes to more health, wealth and joy, here’s your host, Tobi Fairley.
Hi, friends, how are you? I hope you are well. I am so good over here. We are just rocking and rolling with all kinds of things, getting ready for the holidays at Fairley Fancy, getting ready for the holidays at Tobi Fairley Inc. We have some fun things coming for you and just really already working on 2024 which is hard to imagine. So we’re in full planning mode and we’re going to have a lot of fun, other workshops and things coming for you because you’re loving our workshops.
And speaking of workshops, we’re in the middle of a workshop. I just taught part one of our three part Show Up On Social Media like a pro workshop. And you still have time to get in, you can take the other two parts live, you can watch everything by recording if you don’t have time to come live. It is there available for you if you want that, and you do, I promise you do. Head to tobifairley.com/getsocial and get signed up because you don’t want to miss these workshops. They’re so affordable. They’re so action packed. They really get people moving.
We had so much fun with the revenue stream one this summer, which you can still get access to that one as well. And yeah, you’re going to want to not miss the social media workshop because so many of you are not showing up in ways that you could be, to really grow your business. And this is really important right now because a lot of us have seen a downturn in our sales, we have seen the industry shifting again and we’re wondering what the heck to do.
And you all, social media is right there for you, waiting for you to leverage and you can do it as soon as right this minute unless you’re driving while you’re listening to this, don’t do it while you’re driving but pull over and make a reel. But social media is there for you and we’re going to teach you in this three part series how to show up, how to get out of your own way, how to do the tech, all the things. Okay, so there’s that.
Now, on a similar note, this week’s episode is an encore episode with my friend Lynya Floyd. Lynya is amazing, she is my go to media expert. And we just had her, I think, probably 10 days ago come teach for the second time in a row at our fall mastermind retreat for our Millionaire Mentorship group. She was also there in the spring, that’s how amazing she is.
And I thought it was a good time to bring this episode back out of the archives and let you hear it again because just like with social media, the regular media, the print media, magazines, newspapers, even podcasts are waiting for you to show up and share your expertise. And a lot of you are not leveraging that either. So in this mindset of leveraging the low hanging fruit, the things that are right in front of us like social media, I wanted to bring this episode back with Lynya so you could think about exactly what you can be doing to leverage the media right now.
So in this episode you’re going to learn things like why you think you have no control over working with the media, but that’s not actually true. We’re going to talk about how to put a megaphone to your message, which is so important, get the word out. And we’re going to talk even about how it’s kind of scary to be in the spotlight, it’s sort of scary to be seen as a thought leader but you absolutely are and can be one, and how it’s all about just showing up imperfectly.
And you know what? Every single one of those things apply to the social media workshop that I just taught as well and part two and three that are coming soon. So showing up, taking imperfect action, all the things. So get your pen and paper out, this is one of those that you want to take notes on, you want to get ready to see how you can show up because Lynya is amazing. And let me just tell you a bit about her, if you didn’t hear the episode before or you don’t know about Lynya.
She has over two decades of experience working in the media as an editor at top tier magazines like Glamor, Essence, Family Circle. She’s a freelance writer. Her articles have appeared everywhere from Money Magazine, Prevention, Cosmo. She has appeared herself on video in person on The Today Show, The Dr. Oz Show, The Doctors, Forbes, MPR, so many places. She’s even gotten people published in Oprah, in Forbes, in Fast Company, in Entrepreneur. She is a powerhouse.
So when I say listen to Lynya because she knows what she’s talking about, absolutely listen to Lynya, she knows what she’s talking about. So I’m going to be quiet and let you hear this great episode with Lynya Floyd, enjoy.
Tobi: Hey Lynya, welcome to The Design You Podcast. I am so glad you’re here. I’ve missed you, I love seeing your face. No one else can see your face, they can only hear you. But I get the joy of seeing your beautiful face. So welcome, welcome.
Lynya: Thank you so much for having me. I’m absolutely ecstatic, I’ve been looking forward to this all month.
Tobi: So, you do so many amazing things, you do a lot of different things actually. And you have a really interesting background. Why don’t you tell everybody first a little bit about some of those highlights? Who you are, what you do, so that they can have some context before we dig into this conversation about showing up in the media and getting in the spotlight.
So first tell us about you.
Lynya: Well, I started my career in the wonderful world of magazines. And I worked at incredible places like Glamour, and Essence, and Family Circle, and Seventeen, and it is everything that you could imagine it would be. Getting to go to Metropolitan Museum of Art galas and travel internationally, and interview celebrities, and all of that wonderfulness.
I’m focused on health, women’s health in particular. And what I found is that while it was absolutely incredible being able to literally reach millions of people with healthcare messages, what I really found I wanted to do was also be able to balance that out with some one on one work.
So it’s almost the opposite of what a lot of entrepreneurs are looking for. You know, they’re already doing the one on one, but they’re trying to reach the million. So in doing that I decided that I was going to get my degree, I was going to get certified to become a health coach.
So I went to Duke and I got certified to become a health and wellness coach nationally. And I fell into this world of coaches and people are coaching around a variety of different topics. And that is how I met the wonderful Selena Soo at a dinner party and learned all the amazing work that she was doing connecting entrepreneurs to the media.
And it absolutely blew my mind because I didn’t realize that there was this gap in information. I didn’t realize that there were incredibly gifted and talented coaches and experts and entrepreneurs out there who have all this amazing information to share, but they didn’t know how to approach the media, or they didn’t think that the media would even care.
They didn’t realize that people like me would go to meetings on a weekly basis where people are like, “What are your ideas? What are you working on?” And you’re scrambling to come up with these lists. And wouldn’t it be amazing if something just dropped into your inbox that was perfect and you could run with that.
And so once I made that connection and started working with Selena things really took off from there. And I ended up leaving the world of magazines, although I still do a lot of freelance writing for magazines.
But I spend the majority of my time now helping amazing entrepreneurs put that megaphone to their message so that people will be able to hear, not just the brilliant advice that they have to share, but also know that there are people out here who can support them in almost any realm of their life with what they are trying to accomplish, and know how to find those individuals and how they can work with those individuals.
So it’s been a really fun journey, a little bit of a zigzag journey. But I am so excited every single day by all of the incredible entrepreneurs that I get to connect with, whether they’re students or clients that I work with one on one, because everyone has an amazing message, multiple messages, multiple story ideas. But everyone has something amazing and special that they can share with the world, some amazing messaging. And I help pull that out of people. And it is truly a joy. I learn something new every single day.
Tobi: Oh, that’s so exciting. So the reason that you and I are friends is because I did work with you in that capacity about probably a year ago, maybe a year and a half ago. And you really helped me.
I had hired Selena and we were working on pitching me to Forbes and pitching me to Fast Company and all these places. And you and I did some really amazing strategy sessions to just really hone my message, come up with some new fresh ideas and messages, come up with things to pitch to magazines. So it was so fun, exactly what you’re talking about.
So I just kind of wanted to give a little bit of that story so people kind of understand what this could look like. And then also, before we move on, let’s just say yes, you definitely still do freelancing because you just had something in Oprah last week. Was it like Oprah, is it her magazine, is it the online? It’s kind of like her format has changed, right? It’s all new.
Lynya: Her format has changed. And so she has a quarterly publication now. But I absolutely like have– I went to the store and I was actually on–
Tobi: It’s in print, like you can actually see it with your eyes.
Lynya: I was waiting in line to check out and I was like, “That’s the one. That’s where it’s in.” And I bought it immediately.
Tobi: Yay! Yeah, it’s so exciting. So you can add to your resume that you were in Oprah, which I’m super jealous because like so many people, I’m such an Oprah fan. But I’m also a Lynya fan. So, amazing.
Lynya: Oh, thank you.
Tobi: Okay, so let’s get into this conversation today. We’re going to talk about a few things. We’re going to talk about what people’s fears really are of getting into the spotlight, kind of coming out of hiding. Because it’s so easy for us to just kind of stay in our craft. Yet we want people to know about us, we want to be discovered, we want to be published, we want to have all these clients, we want to make millions of dollars. Yet, we want to also simultaneously hide and be comfy and hope that those two things can magically exist, and they can’t.
So we’re going to talk about that today. We’re going to talk about how to really start putting that megaphone to your message. But I think first let’s start with your story. Because you were sharing with me that you had all these same fears when you went from being the interviewer and the writer, to putting yourself into the spotlight and pitching yourself, for example, to Oprah or other places where it’s all about you.
So can you talk to us a little bit about that kind of evolution, those fears and what that looked like?
Lynya: I have a tremendous amount of sympathy for people who are afraid of the spotlight because I was somebody who was constantly chasing people down for interviews. I wanted to get people on the phone, I wanted to get them into stories. However, I was also someone who was very afraid of being in the spotlight.
And I distinctly remember sitting in my office, I could see the door to my office out of the corner of my eye. And at least once a week, our PR person would be standing in that doorway and she’d say, “Lynya, can you do this interview? Lynya, can you do this segment?”
And I would frantically try to come up with excuses for not being able to do it. You know, “Oh, I’m so busy this weekend.” “Oh, we’re working on a huge story, there’s no way that I can squeeze that in.” Because I was terrified of being within the media.
I didn’t want to get in front of a microphone and say the wrong thing. I didn’t want to get on television and totally freeze up. I didn’t want to say something that might embarrass the publication that I was working for. I thought of every single reason not to do it. And a lot of it just have to do with the fact that you don’t know what you don’t know.
And I had no idea what was happening behind the scenes. That’s a lot of why people don’t put themselves out to be in the media. They don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know what’s happening behind that mysterious curtain, behind the cover of those amazing glossy magazines. They don’t know that there are people, editors, segment producers, segment bookers, who are sitting there thinking, “What’s our next story going to be? I wish it would just land in my lap.”
So for me, it wasn’t until I had the opportunity to work with a media coach that I really opened up and found out this isn’t scary, first of all. Or, you know, you’ll get your jitters but this isn’t terrifying. And it actually could be a lot of fun.
And that shift only happened when I was able to get the tools that I needed to present myself as best as possible when I got those interview opportunities. And just like the little things, and it seems like little things now, but knowing what to say when you don’t know what to say. Or knowing how to handle a question that you wish no one had asked you, all of those little things can be so empowering when you know how to navigate those difficult situations, when you know how to put your best foot forward.
And so these days, I absolutely love being on television. It’s one of my favorite things to do, but it only came after I get that education. It only came after I sat down with somebody who was an expert and said, “Hey, here’s what you do. Let’s rehearse it a couple times. Go.”
Tobi: Yeah.
Lynya: It makes a tremendous difference.
Tobi: And people don’t really understand that you have a good bit of control when you’re pitching yourself or being pitched about what topics you’re going to talk about so that you actually can be prepared for those moments, right?
Lynya: Yes, I think, honestly, most people think they have no control when it comes to the media. They think they have no control, if someone asks you a question, you have to answer it. You have no control over what actually ends up in print. You have no control over what you’re going to be talking about on camera or on microphone. And that’s just not true.
And that’s one of the things that I work on with my clients a lot is figuring out those places where you can assert that control. And when we have more control, we feel more confident about stepping into that spotlight. So just knowing those places where you can take back some of your power can make you feel more confident and powerful and encouraged to step into that media spotlight.
Tobi: Amazing. So one of the things that comes up that we haven’t talked about, I don’t think, previously that I’d love to talk about now is I hear so many people that I’m talking to, people I coach that I want them to show up more, I want them to get comfortable in this whole kind of being visible, come out of hiding. And I would say almost every one of those people says something in the realm of, “Well, I don’t like the way I look,” or “I don’t like the way I sound.”
And there’s a lot of like personal like self-judgment about their appearance or there’s a whole lot of– Which, of course, I can work on with them as a life coach to get in kind of their mindset. But what comes to mind when you think about people worried about that?
Is it that they do need to work on kind of their thinking, which they can totally do with the coach? Or is it that also, there’s so many different types of media that you can show up in different ways? Do people just have to get comfortable being on video and TV too? Or can they pitch themselves for podcasts or magazine articles or other things that kind of fit more in their wheelhouse? What do you think about this?
Lynya: So many great questions, Tobi, you’re phenomenal. First things first, we are all our own worst critics.
Tobi: Yeah.
Lynya: There’s nobody who’s going to tear us down any better than we do in our own head. And that’s a script that we all need to rewrite. Because I don’t think anybody listening to this podcast right now is somebody who is watching television and tearing down the person who’s being interviewed or making fun of the person who’s being the guest on a podcast or anything like that.
We are just not that critical for other people. But we are really critical when it comes to ourselves. And we happen to know what all of our little weak points are so they’re much easier to criticize. But the average person is not thinking that the average person is listening, watching, reading you for inspiration and for information.
And they don’t care what your dress looks like, or what your makeup looks like, or whether you went into the gym this morning, or any of those things. They care about the information that you are sharing with them so that they can create some type of change in their life. No matter what it has to do with. Whether it’s their business, whether it’s how they relate to their family members, whether it is their own personal health.
So you really have to focus so much more on the messaging. So much more on what you have to say, rather than that negative voice in your head and what you might be thinking about what people might be thinking about you.
Tobi: I love that. I was telling somebody that I was coaching literally just yesterday, and she was saying that. I said, “Why are you not showing up?” Because she had gotten published. And I said, “Well, that’s great. But you can’t just get published and then assume it’s going to have hordes of clients rushing to you.”
I’m like, “What are you going to do to leverage this?” Because she had written about something to do with, it’s kind of in the health kind of arena but in interior design. So it’s called biophilia, where you use plants and bringing the outdoors in, and it’s about health and wellness. And so I said, “How are you going to leverage that?” And she said, “What do you mean?”
And I’m like, “Well, are you going to go on Facebook Live for the next four weeks in a row and teach people about this. And talk about your article, and send people there, and really connect the dots for people?” And she’s like, “Oh my gosh, no, I would never do that.” And I’m like, “Well, why not?”
And so we got into this, and she told me all the things wrong with her, her voice, how she looks. And I said, “I don’t know about you, but I’ve never not hired a person because I was like, well, they’re really a genius. And what they’re saying is so spot on, it’s like they’re in my head.
But if only their hair were thicker, and they had had on makeup, and they had lost 20 pounds, and their voice didn’t have that high pitch. If only none of that were true, then I would for sure hire them because I know that can help me. But absolutely, because of that I’m not.” And she was like, “Oh my God, you’re so right.”
But I think that’s what you’re saying. They’re like, “Can you help me? Can you serve me? Can you help me? Can you help me solve my problem?” So I love exactly what you’re saying. It’s just so spot on. Okay, so good.
Well, let’s start talking about then because people are getting clear on that, getting over themselves, stop the judgment, get ready to get out there. Let’s talk about really what it’s worth to yourself, to your business, to really put that megaphone to your message, as you say. Let’s talk about that.
Lynya: Yes, and it’s twofold, right? It’s not just getting that media win. But it is also telling people, publicizing, leveraging that media win as well. That is how we stop fishing in our own ponds of just the people who are coming to look at our blogs or people who follow us on social media. And we get to actually swim in the ocean. And we get to expand the number of people who are coming into contact with us and our messaging and the ways that we can support them.
And that is how you get those additional clients. That’s how you get to a place where you can increase how much you’re charging your clients now that you have these incredible credibility markers when it comes to appearing in the media. That’s how you get to be seen as a thought leader in your industry. By appearing in lots of different places.
Talking about your key expert topics, people will continue to associate you with those topics, and it will kind of like move on in perpetuity.
One of the things the little insider secrets that I like sharing with people is that a lot of the times when journalists are working on stories, they’re not starting from scratch. They’re saying, “Well, what did somebody else report on this? And who are some of the people that they interviewed for this?” And if you find someone incredible, just because they were interviewed by somebody else doesn’t mean that you won’t go back to them again.
So appearing in the media enables you to put a spotlight on yourself, not just in terms of clients, or potential clients, but also in terms of other people in the media. It creates this kind of snowball effect, where ultimately the media will be reaching out to you for interviews and segments instead of you constantly pitching yourself to the media.
And it just enables you to spread your messaging. You become that thought leader. You are able to talk to more people, you are able to have a really incredible impact because you’re spreading that message so far and wide.
And we didn’t talk about this earlier. But it does bear mentioning, when we think about all the different types of outlets in which people can appear. Selena has this amazing framework, it’s called the Publicity Pyramid. So it’s just kind of different levels of publicity. So at the bottom of the pyramid, that’s you and your online presence. And then from there, you go to guest blog posts, and then from there, you go to podcasts. And then you move up to magazines, and then up to television, and stages.
And as you go up the publicity pyramid, the audience gets broader and broader. And the competition also gets tougher and tougher. So we encourage people to start at the bottom of that publicity pyramid and work their way up. But every single type of publicity has benefits to it. And I encourage people to try every single level the publicity pyramid.
I never thought I would be somebody who was comfortable on television until I had that media coaching and got out there and did it. But it all worked out. It worked out really great. I love being on television. So even if you’re sitting there thinking, “I could never do that. I’m listening to Lynya talk about this and I just know I could never do that,” I don’t believe you. Or I don’t believe that voice in your head.
So yes, I encourage people to work their way up. And just remember, you are probably capable of so much more than you actually believe you can do. It just takes a little bit of education to nudge yourself out there. And then you can start focusing on return on investment.
You know, am I seeing that uptick on my website after I was on that local TV show? Or am I seeing an increase in the number of people who are downloading my lead magnet after I appeared on that podcast? You can follow all that and see where your best ROI is. And then you want to live in that space where you’re seeing the largest results.
Tobi: Yeah, I totally agree. I also worked with a media coach, probably 20 years ago. Someone who had actually been a local, he had been like president of a local TV station for years. And then he went out to be a consultant. And just that, I mean, we just did some video, and we just practiced. And he gave me the tape, and we had a good time and we laughed and just got me really comfortable being on camera.
And so people always want to say, “Well, you’re just comfortable,” or “You just are good on stage,” or “You can talk to people.” And I’m like, “But I wasn’t until I started doing it.” And they’re like, “Oh, you’re just a good teacher,” or whatever. And I’m like, “Yeah, but I wasn’t until I started doing it.”
I had to prepare and practice and it was harder in the beginning. And I would take a lot of time to write notes, and speeches, and bullets and all that. And I don’t have to do that anymore, but it’s because I’ve been doing it for 20 years, like you. We all start somewhere. We all have to start at that beginning spot, right?
Lynya: Yes. And it’s really tempting to see people on television, and like you said, you think they’re a natural, they never have to work at this. That they weren’t up late last night, preparing all of their bullet points. That they didn’t do 20 jumping jacks before getting on stage.
Tobi: That they didn’t throw up before they walked on camera. I mean, and I think if you don’t still get kind of nervous, you’re not human. I still get the butterflies. And especially depending on how big the audience is or the opportunity, it doesn’t mean they don’t arise. I just have practice managing my mind around that, because I’ve been doing it for a long time as well.
Lynya: Exactly, and we don’t let it stop us from taking advantage of amazing opportunities.
Tobi: Exactly. So can we talk a little bit, I know you’re going to talk about the top mistakes in a minute, but can we talk a little bit about how to help people think about crafting their message or what to talk about? Because that’s one of the other things that I hear a lot.
So I hear people, and I coach people on helping with their branding and kind of their core messaging some as well. But I think people have a hard time believing that they have something to say. You know what I mean?
And when I ask them like what lights you up? Or what excites you? What makes you mad? They want to just go to like the typical industry bullet points, you know, like for interior design, “Well, I really love color,” or “I’m really good with detail.” And I’m like, “And so is everybody else, but there’s more to it than that.” I know you have a point of view.
And I think people have a hard time accessing that. Or maybe they know what it is, but they’re afraid to verbalize it. They’re afraid that someone will think it’s dumb, or stupid, or not important. So can you talk a little bit about maybe a couple of tips that people can use to start thinking about how to have that handful of core messages at the beginning that they’re going to start pitching to podcasts or talking to other people about?
I think once you get over stopping the self-judgment about your appearance, then you have to stop the self-judgment about your content.
So how do we get there?
Lynya: So that’s actually tied to one of the mistakes that I was going to talk about people tend to make.
Tobi: Okay, perfect.
Lynya: Because it’s so essential to come up with a list of two, maybe three expert topics. The three things that you want to be known for. The three things that you want to be seen as an expert in your field when it comes to those topics.
And what very often happens to people, and I know because I’m on one on one calls with them, is they have a laundry list of things that they want out there, “I’m an expert in 10 different things. I want to talk about all these things.” And it’s overwhelming for the average listener. It’s overwhelming for the media to try to absorb.
No one’s going to think of you and think of 10 different things. They’re going to think of you and think of one, two, maybe three topics that you are the go-to person for. So you have to come up with those three topics and then you have to make sure that all of your messaging comes from those three topics.
Now, I say all of your messaging, there is some wiggle room, right? Because sometimes we just get passionate about something and want to talk about it, absolutely. But you want to spend the majority of your time in those three expert topics. And a lot of people don’t. And then their publicity doesn’t match up with their messaging. The publicity doesn’t match up with the thing that they want to be known for.
So that’s a really important distinction to make.
Tobi: Yes.
Lynya: Here are my three topics, like write them down. And then as you come up with your ideas, you are kicking things off of that list that do not tie into those three topics.
Now, how do I actually come up with the ideas? That’s a huge issue that a lot of people that I work with struggle with. The actual story idea generation, because we never think that we’re interesting. We never believe that our expertise is actually expertise. It’s like, doesn’t everybody already know this?
It was the same thing with me, I was like, “Doesn’t everybody already know how to reach out to the media? Doesn’t everybody already know that we’re hungry for these ideas? Doesn’t everybody know that we want to find new, fresh voices? We don’t want to go to the same people over and over again.”
So with that, I encourage people to do a couple of things. I think the easiest thing to do is to lean into those questions that people are always asking you about your area of expertise. That is a great place to start with story idea generation, giving people those solutions around those common questions.
The other thing that I encourage people to do is, this is one of my absolute favorite things, it is called changing the conversation. So look at what people are talking about when it comes to your area of expertise. Think about what they’ve missed when it comes to that topic. And then home in on what that is.
And I think everybody listening to that, something will come up for them. They’ll think about the area that they’re an expert in and they’re like, “Yes, I’m constantly seeing all these stories about X, Y, and Z, but people really need to be talking about A, B, C.” There is your new topic.
Tobi: I love that so much. And like you, I love to do that because I think differently than a lot of people about a lot of things. Especially things in the design industry where I coach people on how to charge and how to do things. And it’s a little polarizing sometimes to step out and change the conversation, but it also is very fascinating to people. It’s really interesting, it’s fresh.
I always have people say, “You talk about things 5 or 10 years before I hear other people talk about it.” Or “You’re always making me think differently about something.” And I think it’s that exact practice that you’re talking about that has me showing up and being honest about a different point of view or perspective. That is so good.
Lynya: Absolutely. Yeah, and journalists love it. They don’t want to report the same story over and over again. They are looking for the fresh perspective. They are looking for you to turn things on a dime. They’re looking for something that people will be eager to click on because they have not heard it, or seen it, or read it yet. So it absolutely works to your advantage when it comes to talking to the media.
Tobi: Yeah, I love it. And back to your point about picking 1 to 3 topics, I can see why that’s so hard. It’s the same conversation, or similar, same concept when I try to help people really narrow a target audience or a niche strategy or an ideal client. And there’s this fear, like they don’t want to and people think, “If I just pick that one area, or if I just pick those three topics for my media I’m missing out on all the rest of the world.”
And it’s so interesting to me because what they don’t understand is they’re actually missing really building that brand that they’re looking for because they’re confusing the audience, right? And they’re confusing the media, they’re confusing themselves because they’re talking about so many different things.
Lynya: Yes, you cannot be an expert in a million different things. You want to own a space. You want people associating you with two or three really key topics so that they know that you are the go-to person when it comes to those.
Tobi: Yeah, it’s so good. Yeah, think just about you or even about Selena, we know she’s the go-to person if you want to get media coverage, get published, get the big kind of spots that everybody’s hoping to be in, she’s your go-to girl. And I can only imagine if she had like seven other things that she was talking about. None of us would even know who she was or what she did. It really focuses your impact. That’s so good.
Okay, so before we wrap up, what other mistakes? What are some of the biggies that people need to be kind of aware of?
Lynya: Yes, so definitely being afraid to step into the spotlight to begin with. And what I really encourage people to do when it comes to this, is take imperfect action. Do not presume that your first time on a podcast is going to be flawless. Do not hold yourself back from sending a pitch out to a local television station because you think that you’re just not ready yet.
We have to take that imperfect action, that is how you figure out what you don’t know. That is how you figure out what you need to work on. That is how you start. I talk about it like it’s a muscle, you have to start flexing that muscle. You’re not going to lift 300 pounds the first day. You’re going to start small and build from there. But you have to build that muscle so that you can get comfortable in that media spotlight.
So holding yourself back from the spotlight, holding yourself back from pitching yourself, that is a huge, huge mistake that people make. If there’s one thing that I can encourage people to do, dip your toes into that water so you can start getting comfortable in that water.
Tobi: Yeah, so good. Yeah. Okay, perfect. Okay, is there anything else? So hone our message to one to three things. Just start practicing dipping your toe in, taking advantage of any of those opportunities. And it’s always good to take the smaller opportunities. I always think early on it’s kind of like, well, if you’re going to really be terrible, be terrible when fewer people are listening.
Lynya: That is so funny that you say that, Tobi. So I sang in a capella groups in high school and in college. And the music director always said if you’re going to sing the wrong notes, sing it loud right here.
Tobi: Yes.
Lynya: Sing it loud here so that we know and we can fix it so when we get on stage, we get on the big stage we knock it out of the park. We’ve got to have that practice time, we’ve got to have that practice time before we get those incredible opportunities.
Because I have seen people on major national television stations go on for interviews and totally blow it because they haven’t had the proper practice, they haven’t had the proper training. And I’m just clutching the pearls for them. I’m like, “Oh my God, you didn’t even say the name of your book,” or “Oh my God, you didn’t answer the question that the journalist asked you.” How did this happen? Well, it happened because you didn’t have any training.
Tobi: Yeah, well, and the other thing I hear a lot of people say is, well, I only have fill in the blank number, “I only have 300 people that follow me on social media.” I only have 1,000, I only have 1200, I have 4,000, whatever. And they think it’s small and so they’re like, “Well, why would I do that now if I have such a small audience listening?”
And so for a number of reasons, A, when you create the content more people start following. But B, I think the number one reason is what you’re talking about right here. It’s like that’s the perfect time. By the time you build it up to where a lot of people are listening, you’ll already be really good. But it’s so funny, the brain wants to tell us like I should wait until I have an audience before I “waste time” doing this. And it’s the exact opposite, right?
Lynya: Absolutely. And those people do have an audience. So let’s value them and let’s give them great content while they’re here with us in the beginning. Let’s not just wait until we get those huge numbers.
Tobi: Right, because 300 people, for most of us, if we were really effective with those people, would be more clients than we could even serve. Like even if we got 10% of that that’s 30 new people that we would be working with. And we so discount and decide these numbers are small. And we don’t want to show up, which is so fascinating.
Lynya: One last mistake, and we touched on it a little bit, but I really do want to drive it home is people don’t leverage the publicity that they get. They get bashful after the fact or they get busy after the fact.
And one of the things that I drive home with all the students that I work with in Impacting Millions and Impact Accelerator, I tell them the three best times to promote your publicity are before, during, and after. You’ve got to do it all the time.
Tobi: Perfect.
Lynya: You need to absolutely tell people something exciting is going to happen, when it drops you let them know, “Hey, this is out today.” And after the fact you can tell them. Publicity doesn’t have an expiration date. A lot of people think that it does. But you can tell people on the anniversary, a month later.
If you’ve forgotten and you just haven’t gotten around to it, get back to it. If something happens in the media that’s related to what you were talking about, remind people that you were in this story talking about that topic or that you were on a podcast talking about it.
And do it through all levels of your social media. So often I will talk to clients and they’ll say, “Well, I put it on Facebook and Instagram. What else should I do?” There are so many different places that you can promote your media appearances and you absolutely need to do it so it gets as many eyeballs on it as possible.
Tobi: Amazing. So good. Well, this has been such a wealth, I mean, like just this free podcast, so much amazing stuff. But that’s just the tiniest, tiniest piece of what’s in your brain, what’s in Selena’s brain, what’s in the programs that you work in. And I know that y’all are about to open up one of your programs probably around the time this podcast goes live.
So tell everybody that. Because if they’re like, “I hear her, I need a media coach. I need these people helping me hone my message.” Let’s talk about that. So what’s the program? And what do they need to know about it?
Lynya: So right now what we’re promoting is our once a year event, it is called Impacting Millions Live. It is three whole days where we take you behind the scenes of Selena’s multi-seven figure business. And we talk about everything that supports the growth of that business, including publicity.
So there’s going to be a ton that you can learn around publicity. But also a ton that you can learn about how to promote, how to promote your business, what promotions you should offer for your business, what partnerships you can work with to link arms with other people to get more eyeballs on your business.
And it’s going to be so exciting. There’s going to be so much information. We’re doing prizes, we are doing guest speakers, we have everything, there’s going to be networking opportunities. Like we have everything that you could possibly want from a virtual event. If you are a visionary entrepreneur, or if you are an expert who really wants to take your business to the next level, this is the place where you need to be.
So Impacting Millions Live is the event that we have coming up. And if I might also, for those of you who can’t join us or who are listening to this after the fact, I would love to be able to give you some support when it comes to those tricky story ideas that we talked about before.
So we’ve got this amazing media calendar that takes you through all 12 months of the year, it has more than 175 different story ideas, dates, story hooks that will get the media extraordinarily interested in you and your expert topics.
Tobi: Amazing. Well, we’ll link to that. We’ll link to that in the show notes and we’ll share that on social media so everybody can find it. And if they’ve missed that somehow, or they can’t figure that out, is it on Selena’s website too? Or do they need the specific link we have to get access to that?
Lynya: So you can find out more about the event on social media actually. And you can just go to Selena_Soo, so S-E-L-E-N-A underscore S-O-O. You can also find it on my Instagram as well, I’m just @lynyafloyd. And for the calendar, you can find that at impactingmillions.com/calendar.
Tobi: Awesome. Okay, well, this was amazing. You have me all fired up again. I’ll say, you know, you do get busy at work and so it’s easy to stop being quite as aggressive sometimes, or like there are seasons of it. But I’m ready for a new season. So you have me all excited again. I’m going to go back and look at the calendar again myself. I have the calendar. The calendar is amazing.
But yeah, you just inspired me. And I know you inspired all of our listeners. So thank you so much for being here. Such a joy, such a delight.
Lynya: My absolute pleasure. I loved being able to chat with your brilliant audience today. And I’m so excited for the potential of them taking action.
Tobi: So good. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay, friends. There you have it. All the things you can be doing right now to put a megaphone to your message to get out in the world, to show up as that thought leader that I know you are, to tell people about your business, to get the press that’s gonna help you get the clients to have the business that you want. Everything you need to know right there to get started with Lynya.
And if you want to then amplify that message with your social media, don’t forget to sign up for our 3-part workshop called Show Up on Social Media Like a Pro. It’s very similar in the mindsets you have to have, but we’re gonna teach you the techniques, the skills, the tech, all the things. And you can do that by going to tobyfairley.com/getsocial and get signed up. I can’t wait to see you really soon in session number 2 of our 3 part series, if you’re listening to this live or even if you show up after we’ve recorded the whole thing, still grab the workshop.
It is amazing. You can always DM me on Instagram and say, hey, I’ve got your workshop and I have a question. We are here for you. We’re gonna support you. We can’t wait to see you really soon. So tobyfairley.com/getsocial. Okay, friends. See you next week with another great episode of The Design You Podcast.
Thank you for listening to The Design You Podcast. And if you’re ready to elevate your social media presence and supercharge your interior design business, then sign up for my brand new live three part training called Show Up on Social Media Like a Pro. In this workshop series I will guide you through the strategies and tactics to shine on social media platforms so you can say goodbye to uncertainty and hello to confidence as you learn to engage, inspire and connect with your audience like never before. Don’t miss this golden opportunity to level up your social media gain and take your design business to the next level. Head to tobifairley.com/getsocial to sign up today.
