You dream of starting a PR firm. Of having clients who pay you thousands of dollars per month on retainer to get them in front of their ideal audiences. You envision the power lunches and cool swag and hanging at exciting events rubbing shoulders with influencers and celebrities. Oh, and did I mention the swag?

And it’s not just all that surface level stuff, you’re GENUINELY passionate about connecting people. In fact, you’re already known in your circles as a connector and you’re awesome at it. You’re just looking for a way to sustainably monetize this super power.

But that hasn’t been going so well.

Right now you’re struggling. You work WAY too many hours, and the lack of great client leads has pushed you to take on work that is less than ideal. And this less than perfect client roster has affected your pricing (yeah, you took some on at a much lower rate than you know you should have) and because they weren’t ideal, it’s affecting your results.  We’ve ALL been there!

And now you’re stressed and your confidence is being eroded, and since you have an amazing, unshakable work-ethic, you’re putting in even more elbow grease. But trying to pitch all these less-than-ideal clients takes up SO MUCH TIME. So you don’t have any time, effort or energy  left to go after new clients who ARE ideal.

And so you’re stuck.

Instead of 5-figure monthly retainers and flexible hours, you’ve got 50+ hour weeks, running at top speed and constantly feeling like you don’t have enough – not enough time, enough clients, enough cashflow or… enough of YOU to go around. This is not how you expected it to be.

And being in this state has created an ever expanding lack of clarity. You KNOW you need to make a change, but you simply can’t see what the path is.

It reminds me of my older son. When we received his autism spectrum diagnosis, it was this overwhelming feeling where I didn’t know what to do, who to call, or what the next steps were. It was scary because I hated that feeling of not knowing where to start.

There are actually some similarities to tackling that massive overwhelm that came with my son’s diagnosis, that there are with tackling an agency and running this business.

How to Start a PR Firm in 3 Easy Steps

The first thing I learned from doing EXACTLY what we’re talking about: i.e. launch a highly successful PR agency promoting billion dollar brands as clients on my own terms – despite the fact that I had zero formal training or contacts when I started, is this:

The JOB is different from the BUSINESS of PR

Maybe you’re really good at getting press and that’s the part that you love. That’s the job. The “doing of the things.” Problem is, no matter how amazing you are at the actual work, if you do not deeply understand the BUSINESS of running an agency, you will hit a ceiling and burn out very early on.

This knowledge is what allows me to run a highly profitable PR agency that handles globally recognized brands, but still allows me flexible hours, time with my kids and a lifestyle I love when so many others are burning out, barely making ends meet even though they’re brilliant at the actual work.

You can get training on how to get press, but nobody teaches the business side of things: what do you do, when do you do it, what are the steps to actually run a successful agency bringing in the dream clients that you want, and making really good money doing what you love.

Know Your Worth

Another critical problem I’ve noticed is that aspiring PR pros charge too little for their services. You don’t know what your services are worth and therefore they attract the wrong clients.

You sign clients with tiny budgets who don’t really understand the value of what you’re giving to them. The clients also want results yesterday, but they don’t want to pay you for them. Or they don’t pay on time. Or sometimes they don’t pay at all!

Crappy clients not only refuse to pay or pay late, but they actually make the job HARDER!! They  take so long to do the things you need them to do to make your campaign successful that you lose momentum.

You get in this place where you’re just taking on any or all clients that will work with you. They call you or email you at all hours of the day, and that’s not the way that it has to be. It does not have to be like this!

Does that sound familiar?

I used to be in that situation. I get it.

Now, I can say that I have built a business that serves me in a positive way, and gives me the life that I WANT. It does not infringe on my personal time, and it gives me the ability to attract my dream clients. But when I started, the only professional training I had was from law school. I practiced law for 4 years and then I started this business in a totally different field. I had zero contacts, zero experience and zero training. No matter where you are right now, it IS possible to run a profitable agency!

Do It On Your Own Terms

Here is the key to starting a business: Make a decision.

For me, my decision was that I was going to run a successful PR agency. That’s what I was going to do and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me. In particular, I wasn’t going to let the fear of failure stop me. I went all in on something that was my dream. I knew it would give me a life that I wanted — a better life than being an attorney and working in a law firm on billable hours.

Today, I work from home, I have multiple billion-dollar clients, and I have a business that generates more revenue than I ever dreamed to have.

The thing that I am most proud of in this whole journey is that I did it on my terms.

I have created a life where my family comes first, and that’s what I wanted my business to be. If anyone is telling you that you can’t have it all, it’s because they have not figured out how. They have not figured out the steps.

If you’re feeling like you can’t have a business like that, then this message is for you.

If you want to own an agency where you’re attracting your dream clients, and you’re making great money offering stellar services, listen up! I want to walk you through step-by-step for how you will get from where you are right now to where you want to be in your business.

It’s simple. It’s honestly really simple to go from struggling and not knowing what to do, to actually running a successful agency when you have a proven plan.

I’m 14 years into this, and I wake up every day loving my job. I love my clients, I love my business. I’m a present, checked-in mom for my kids, I have time for my family & myself, at the same time working with billion dollar brands that pay a great retainer. I’m doing it all on my terms.

You can do it too, and I can tell you how! If you’re interested in learning more about how to create this kind of business for yourself, reach out to me and we can make that happen.

Just make the decision to want what you want and give yourself permission to have it.

Click here and get on the phone with me and let’s talk about it. I can help you. You don’t have to burn out, underpaid and underappreciated, feeling like you’re not enough. I can walk you through the framework that has helped me and is helping other PR pros go from struggling to thriving.

Let’s make this a breakthrough year for you. It’s time to take action and make this change.