please note this transcript is generated by AI - apologies for any mistakes! 

Pippa Goulden (00:43)
Ro Field and Cook is a PT and women's wellbeing expert helping time poor midlife women create sustainable breakthroughs with their health and wellbeing. Ro is on a mission to empower women with holistic health tools to take women from underperforming and overwhelmed to living their fullest lives. Ro runs a monthly membership, The She Collective, which is hosted inside its own app and She has done a brilliant job of getting known for what she does.

From an interview on Sophie Ellis Bexter's podcast to a huge six page feature in Top Sante magazine and numerous award wins and plenty more, we are going to find out exactly how she does it

Pippa Goulden (01:19)
So welcome Ro to PR Made Simple, how are you doing?

Ro (01:22)
Yeah, great. Excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

Pippa Goulden (01:25)
can't wait to deep dive into this with you, I'm so excited. Tell us first off, I've obviously given you a bit of an intro, but tell us in your own words about the She Collective, what you do and how you've evolved it since you started.

Ro (01:38)
Yeah, so it's essentially a health and wellbeing membership. We're based on an app, but I always feel that kind of reduces what we do because it's very much, a real community of amazing midlife women who are in that kind of struggle to juggle, but just really want to like...

have something for themselves and wants to have that spark, that energy, that confidence. But we do it in a fully holistic way. So it's the full circle of health. So it's not just fitness, it's nutrition, but it's also mindset and nervous system, all sorts. And it definitely didn't start that way. It was very much Zoom workouts in lockdown. And it's really evolved since then. And now we have an amazing community.

all online, but then lots of, you know, in-person events and things like that. So it's really evolving all the time, to be honest, and we're about to come up to five years now, which I can't believe.

Pippa Goulden (02:33)
⁓ congratulations

it's my business birthday two five years soon we obviously we obviously all had that pause and lockdown I thought no I'm gonna do something else now but I think what I'm what I love about what you've created actually is it's that it's not just online is it like it feels like it's

Ro (02:37)
is it? there we go. Yeah. Absolutely. ⁓

Mmm.

Pippa Goulden (02:51)
bigger than the sum of your parts almost, like you do these in-person events, it feels like, you know, your socials are a really important part of your community. I feel like you can be part of the She Collective and just benefit from you and what you're doing and putting out there in so many different ways.

Ro (03:00)
Yeah.

Well,

I think that's the direction at the moment, like on a really big level. Like it was really interesting last year, I almost stopped all events because you know, the truth is they are really draining on time and money of which we didn't have much of either. And it made me feel so sad. I was like, if I have to reduce my business to literally just being something which is just focusing on building up members and numbers and things like that, I just don't wanna do it.

And so I've done such a big U-turn on it and everything that I'm focusing on at the moment is community driven. And suddenly I feel like really alive and inspired and ready to go with it all again. And I think that there are so many things when we think about events, we think about complicated things. Like one of the things that we're literally gonna be doing and taking everywhere is a walk and a talk. That's literally it. We meet up somewhere, go for a walk, have a chat. It's a perfect thing to come along to.

by yourself, and then we end up at a pub for a drink, which is optional. So, you know, it doesn't have to be complicated, but I do feel that people crave that community and connection, and that's what we're so good at. So, lean into it, right?

Pippa Goulden (04:14)
Yeah,

absolutely. And it's something we're seeing more and more in terms of big brands are realizing that they need to harness that power of community. You can't just have a one way conversation with your customers. It needs to be a dialogue. And that's what I think small businesses like yours are actually so able to do much more easily. It's creating that community feel people.

Ro (04:24)
Yeah.

Mmm.

Pippa Goulden (04:34)
people feel like they are really a part of something and they want to kind of celebrate that and then they spread through word of mouth and yeah it just has benefits for everybody doesn't it?

Ro (04:38)
Yeah.

Yeah, it really does. It really does.

Pippa Goulden (04:47)
You've got a really strong mission with your business and it's obviously an incredibly competitive space. So how do you use that mission to get known for what you're doing? How do you get the word out there? How do you create cut through in that competitive space?

Ro (05:04)
I'm not gonna lie, this part has been incredibly hard and I've backtracked many a time because it does feel like our mission is swimming upstream completely, you know, in a world where, okay, so the women who that we're working with are typically really affected by diet culture, by the sort of, you know, naughties, nothing tastes as good as skinny kind of attitude and all of that. And there is such a big backlash at the moment, you know.

And so it's been really difficult kind of in a world which does seem to be craving smaller is better and ⁓ minimizing kind of like, there's nothing wrong. I've always said this, we are not anti weight loss. That's not our mission at all, but it is just not reducing the journey or our worth.

to a number on scales and not reducing it to a simple metrics of you are successful in your journey. If you've lost weight, what about a journey where you've gained energy? What about a journey where you feel that spark? that was what it was for me is that I got my essentially my identity, my spark back beyond just being.

these hats that a business owner, a mum, whatever it was, became me again. And that's essentially what I want for women. But there have been times where it's been utterly exhausting. But then there have been moments where it's like it gets recognised and it feels really good. So when we won the Muddy Stilettos National Award and when Bath Life, we won the Wellbeing Award, those moments were so solidifying.

that people could see what we were trying to do. And it was really embarrassing, but on my Bath Life Award, I mean, like, I was so excited. I literally like ran up to the stage and everyone still, you know what's really embarrassing is I still get people go, ⁓ you're that girl from the awards. I was wearing this like hot pink Barbie dress. was like, grabbed the award off the guy who was giving them like literally, and I was like.

pulled it up in the air, was like, yes! And it was because it was that moment of somebody seeing our mission and that it's not just a membership, that it is a movement. And I talked about in my awards speech, which I was not meant to, but in the moment of emotion, I said that I want women to feel that they are able to take up space.

to step into their power and what that looks like is so different for every single woman. It's not about being the loudest in the room. It's not about being the brashest, but it's just about being able to feel that you matter, you know, and that your voice matters and whatever that voice is, whether it's an introverted voice or an extroverted voice, that's all worthy. And I just, yeah, I think in moments like that, then I'm like.

there's no turning back. cannot just try to fit in. I think I've made a few statements about that recently, like I'm done. I'm not trying to fit in anymore. We are different. I love that. And I love that's what makes us great, I believe. So yeah.

Pippa Goulden (08:16)
But I think that's what stands you out against your competitors and it makes you uniquely you is that you've really let in into who you are and your mission and what you're about. And I think when it's incredibly noisy and competitive, have you found actually the more you've aligned the business with you and who you are, the more that's when the success comes to you.

Ro (08:27)
Mmm.

Hmm.

Yes, I think so, but I think that takes you being in a resilient place. And I think what's been really hard is that I think that, it's not talked about enough how hard it can be to build a business, especially when, you know, last year, I went a full year where I wasn't taking a wage, that's brutal in itself, you know, in all the sacrifices that were coming for me to then be in a space where I was feeling vibrant enough and resilient enough to be like,

this is what we're about and have that energy to stand up and deliver the conversations that move the needle forward. That itself felt impossible. So this summer was literally a mission which was nothing to do with the business. It was just about getting my own spark back. And that's why I called our September challenge, Ignite, because it was initially igniting that spark, but then it's essentially building that fire. Because once you've built that fire,

then you feel in a place that yes, you can move your business forward. But I don't think it's talked about enough how moving your business forward from a place where you are feeling utterly broken and broke is just relentless.

Pippa Goulden (09:44)
hard, really hard,

but I think also what you do do really well is that you're very honest, like you're not shy of being vulnerable and saying you know it is tough out there, this is what's happening and almost putting a rally cry out and that's when people come to your, they come to support you because they can see what you're doing.

Ro (10:04)
Yeah, I actually don't I've spoken to as we just talked about Rebecca, I spoke to Rebecca Cracknell, my coach about this because I do feel like I have an absolute inability to bullshit online because I wish I could have a little bit more of a barrier. But like it feels so I give myself the ick if I'm like, look, it's all going so amazingly and I know that it's really not.

Because I think the other thing for me is that I've always felt that the person that this is best suited to is perhaps a woman who is self-employed, working from home, wants to fit in between Zoom calls, things like that. So therefore she's probably experiencing something similar. And so I think that that has been really important to me is knowing that the women that I have in my world, knowing that they are most likely women who are coming across the same encounters, whether it's even not in business, but in life, then that feels...

better to me to kind of go, you know what, I'm not finding this easy either. And I certainly haven't.

Pippa Goulden (11:01)
Yeah, so

the messages that you're putting out there are actually ones that are really identifiable to your audience, aren't they? And that's what connects you and it makes you human and it makes people interested in what you're doing and understanding that you're coming from it from the same place as they are.

Ro (11:06)
Mmm.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (11:18)
And what are the key things that you do to attract people into the membership? How do people find you? Because I think you, to me, from like an outsider, I think you do the stuff that the textbook tells us to do and then you also do it in Roseway. And I think Roseway probably brings people in more than the textbook stuff. Is that right?

Ro (11:26)
Mm.

Mm.

I think what's really interesting is that again, I've been sucked into, okay, I need to do it this way so many times and it's never worked for me. It's literally never worked for me. When you start going chasing trending audios, B roll with looping things, all of those kinds of things, they take away what makes us different and in a world that is so saturated, health and wellbeing is saturated market, the moment you start doing stuff like that, then it just.

Yeah, absolutely. You're not standing out at all. And so actually, I think it is interesting. I'm definitely at a turning point where I'm like really rethinking what my socials are and stuff. And it's not about chasing numbers and things like that. It's really about connecting with what I know works. And what I know works is when exactly, when I do things in a way like when I bring out the characters and all the different things that I use to kind of that...

comedy relatability, but then also just actually talking to people. Like I've been scared of doing just a talking heads reel where I'm literally just talking to people about the things that I talk to my members about. And I've been scared to do that because it can be seen as dull, but it's not dull because actually you're giving value. But what are you giving value aren't you? that's.

Pippa Goulden (12:48)
Not when you do it! Yeah, absolutely.

Ro (12:53)
someone's following you to learn. I think that I've really, yeah, that's something I would definitely wanna lean into more is being just more us. yeah.

But then I think that the stuff that doesn't have instant payoff, but I find has a bigger impact is that PR piece. It is that, and that's the piece that I would say is the bit that we're now leaning into much more than just Instagram.

Pippa Goulden (13:08)
Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. And that's what leads me nicely into asking you the next question, which was you've done get known, which is my six week group sprint and you're in my DIY PR membership. How important has PR been to your business? And because obviously people think often think PR is just about getting press coverage, which you've got. You've done that. You do that really well. But you've also you do lots of other PR things within the business. And what do you find works for you and what do you lean into?

Ro (13:23)
Yeah.

Mmm. Yeah.

Yeah, mean, PR is incredibly important for my business. I think particularly when you're trying to build something that, like I was saying, isn't just about metrics, it's more on that side of trying to change the narrative around women. It's about trying to create something that is a bigger brand. want something that exactly like I was saying, that's something that people feel proud to be a part of.

that has a voice that feels like it's a movement. If you wanna do that, then PR is non-negotiable. And for me, exactly things like this, so getting on podcasts has been a great thing for me. It's leaning into what I enjoy, so it's having conversations with women. It's like the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation for an hour is just like amazing. I love that. And then, the awards has been, that has been a really important piece as well for credibility.

for morale, you know, you feel great when someone recognises you, it feels great. Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (14:35)
Yeah, it gives you that boost doesn't it, I think, that

people don't really see and I have got whole episode on awards because not all awards are created equally but the right ones that get you in front of your target audience or celebrate you locally can be so powerful for you, for the team, for your members, for people within, you know, your organisation, the people that are supporting you. It's like, yay! Yeah. Yeah.

Ro (14:44)
Mmm.

Yeah.

yeah, the people who are most excited with the members, definitely.

Yeah, no, think those are really important. Yeah, yeah.

Pippa Goulden (15:04)
And you have lots of layers to your story. I talk about boundaries quite a lot on here, because I'm a real key advocate of not talking about things that you don't want to, and nothing's worth it in terms of bit of PR for you. Can you tell us a bit about your story as much as you want to? And then how do you find those boundaries? How do you put those in place? How do you know where to go with them?

Ro (15:09)
Mm.

Mmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think it's been, this has definitely been a lesson learned the hard way because I felt that the founder's story was so important because I felt that so many women would relate. you know, I didn't come about exercise in a typical way. I think that was really important. And I'm not somebody who's always enjoyed exercise. And I really wanted to have a voice for those women who kind of felt shame about that.

You know, I didn't enjoy exercise at all. And I found that my breakthroughs happened with my own health and wellbeing at the lowest point in my life. You know, I was single parenting twins and Alfie was diagnosed with a neurological condition and he was given a very short time to live. And it was an incredibly, incredibly dark time in my life. And, you know, for me, my motive to start exercising was the same as usual, weight loss and aesthetics.

and what came from it was just so unexpected. It was this shift of just my sense of self and feeling that kind of, you know, always talk about that kind of Dorothy click of the heels as you're walking around the supermarket that you get when you're suddenly in your groove with your health and your wellbeing and you're putting back in and suddenly you've got more to give and then that ripple effect of what happened for my boys.

And that was a big journey and it wasn't linear. And it was one that again, like, you know, I had times where I stopped exercising or stopped having those healthier habits, but managed to get back because then again, I brought in this kind of thing of mindset and you know, I've been on my own journey. That's where the core four that we work with with exercise, nutrition, mindset and nervous system has all happened through things that have happened to me. So it would feel like completely crazy not to...

talk about that and to say to women, I'm not somebody who's naturally motivated because I want to remove that shame. So all of those things are really important. But at the same time, it's a story that is also filled with a huge amount of trauma. Alfie is, know, luckily incredibly, luckily still here and he's doing great, but he's...

incredibly disabled and that in itself, like my day to day life as a mum and juggling his needs and the business is really full on. But there were about two years there particularly, which were filled with intensive care and just trying to juggle it all and being on my own with it all. And it was incredibly traumatic. So there are parts of that that when I retell and I go into details,

that's really triggering for me. And so I found that actually I did tell the whole story when I went on Sophie Ellis Baxter's podcast and it took me about two days to because it really knocked it out of me. And so I kind of thought it's something that's important but it doesn't feel like it's something that you would do on repeat,

Pippa Goulden (18:25)
I think what you've done really well with it is you've put it out there, but you've not leant into it as the only thing about you. And I think you've got that balance from an outsider's perspective. Obviously, you know, inside you might feel differently, but from an outsider's perspective, I think it's there and people who've got to know you know your story, but you don't rely on it

Ro (18:33)
Mmm.

Mmm.

Pippa Goulden (18:48)
you don't lean on it every single time you're talking about you because there's so many different other elements to you and what you do talk about that it's one part of you but it doesn't define you and what you're doing.

Ro (18:55)
Yeah.

Yeah, and I wouldn't want to ever talk about it with a kind of thing of defiance of that it defines me now. And I think that that's really important. It's like, you know, I also think it's really important of saying like, I'm not perfect now. It's not like I went on this journey and everything got solved. It's like when people, when you hear about people's business journeys and they're like, now my life is so easy and I make all these, you know, the whole 10K month chat and all of that.

Pippa Goulden (19:03)
No.

Ro (19:24)
And you know that in a year, they'll probably be talking about how crap it was this time last year. And that's why I think it's really important to be really honest about parts of the journey and kind of go, yeah, it's part of me, but it's not me. Yeah, yeah.

Pippa Goulden (19:30)
Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely and I

think that's where you are brilliant. I mean I know I've spoken to you a few times I've been like, have you thought about doing this or this? And you're like, no actually that's not the right route because you want to put those boundaries up and I'll say, yeah obviously that's totally the right way to do it I mean you've got lots of layers to your story which

give you opportunities from a PR perspective but I think it's really interesting to see that you can do the PR without having to go...

Ro (19:57)
Mm.

Pippa Goulden (20:03)
to those places all the time, you can put those boundaries in place and that's what I really admire for what you've done. You don't need to build your business leaning into that stuff if you don't want to and I think it's really important because people often say I haven't got a story, I don't want to talk about XYZ, you absolutely categorically don't have to talk about anything in your life if you don't want to, there are lots of layers, you you do it all the time with how you're growing the Shee Collective, you can talk about that, that's really interesting to lots of people.

Ro (20:06)
Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (20:32)
you can just lean into that side of it if you want to. You don't have to go personal with it all, do you?

Ro (20:35)
Yeah.

Yeah, and I think it's who you're trusting your story with. I think that's really important is that, I'm not saying by any means it's the last time that I'll tell that story because I do believe that it can be really impactful and I've had people reach out after.

you know, I've told that story and then relate to part of it and it be powerful for them. So I wouldn't not go there again, but who you go there with, like for example, like say if, you know, I don't know if it was the times wanting to do a piece on it or whatever, or it was the Daily Mail, I know which one I'd be leaning into because I actually remember really well when the boys were tiny,

a friend of mine had a friend who worked for a friend of a friend kind of thing worked for the Daily Mail and they did a piece on the boys and it was about the fact that Alfie was diagnosed with this genetic condition and Charlie wasn't I didn't know what the take was going to be on it but

it all the money from the piece was going to an SMA charity. So that was my motive. And so it was a lot of money. And it was something that I could do for the SMA community, which is why I did it. And then when the piece came out, it was the Jean lottery. This was the headline, the Jean lottery, how one will live and one will die. And that news that that stands now out in the world forever. And when my kids went to secondary school, the first thing

that they all do when they go to secondary school is they Google each other's names. And that article came up and it broke my heart. And even though the article was okay, it was watching that be put out in the world and you cannot take it back. And I think that's what's really important is where you consider what you're willing to do. Because for me at that time, there was no PR in that. I mean, I wasn't even working. wasn't about that. It was like...

Pippa Goulden (22:22)
Yeah.

Ro (22:29)
okay, we'll give, know, 10,000 pounds to a charity. Okay, my God, amazing. Like, this is what I can do to help the community. But now that lives there and you can't take it back, yeah.

Pippa Goulden (22:39)
Yeah, yeah,

I'm sorry that you had to learn that lesson the hard way but I guess it's now helped shape what you do do and how you do put yourself out there and you know you're doing it in such a brilliant way. When you're looking at the PR you've done for the business has anything surprised you about your PR? What have you done that you've gone you know?

Ro (22:47)
Yeah.

that's an interesting one to think about with being surprised. think if you're bold, you never know who might say yes. I mean, the Sofia Lasbeksa thing was huge for me, but actually she DM'd me, which was awesome. I was like, okay, cool. Like, that's amazing. She approached me, which is so cool.

Pippa Goulden (23:15)
she approached you for it which I think yeah but the learning from that is that you've made yourself discoverable

because you are putting yourself out there you're not hiding behind your brand you know she's connected with you whether it's through socials or she's heard someone tell her about your story whatever way she found out about you she did and that's why

Ro (23:29)
Yeah.

But actually, and I think where I went wrong with that was when I actually did the podcast with her, I was in such a bad place with the business that I then had no energy or capacity to then use that momentum to go and approach others. So I don't think it will matter too much. That is what we're doing now is that actually,

These people run in whole circles where a lot of people will go on multiple people who run podcasts of similar topics or whatever. And I think it's running with the momentum that I think is really important sometimes. I wasn't in a place to do it, but we're really going for it now in terms of really that outreach is so important. Nothing happens unless you're reaching out. So yes, yeah.

Pippa Goulden (24:23)
You've got to send the fucking email, haven't you?

Ro (24:25)
Yeah,

and that's what we're learning. And I think that that is where I think now I have the capacity because I have somebody who can help me do that. It doesn't need to be that it's all on you. I think that's what really intimidated me before was that I was like, okay, if I'm doing my own PR, need to do every single element of this. But maybe it's my voice, but somebody else doing the outreach. With all these things, I think we put ourselves into boxes too much and there's...

Yeah, different solutions for everybody.

Pippa Goulden (24:54)
and I think that's what's...

you when you are doing it for your own business rather than you know getting somebody to do it for you you have to find a way to make it work for you because taking the action is what gets the results right and if no one's taking any action there's no results coming in it's all about being proactive rather than sitting waiting for things to kind of land in your lap although they do as we know with Sophia Lusbexter but that's because you are putting yourself out there in different ways but yeah I think if finding the way that you can make it work within your business whatever way that

Ro (25:06)
Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

Pippa Goulden (25:24)
is is is the key to it there's no you know I'm not gonna sit there say well you have to do it yourself otherwise it doesn't count you know no one's giving you brownie points it's a bit like childbirth isn't it no one's giving you brownie points just because you've done it all yourself whatever way it works for you if you've got support in your business and you have somebody there who actually can help you with that absolutely I think so long as they understand your what you're doing and the why behind it you know which absolutely you will be

Ro (25:25)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

100%, yeah. And actually that's been really interesting because going into this process of having help within my business, which is something that I knew that I needed to do, because it was essentially like trying to run a restaurant and do front of house, back of house, all the admin, all the accounts, everything. You can't build something that is gonna be franchisable or nationwide on your own like that. And so I needed that resource behind me.

Pippa Goulden (25:52)
getting that across.

Ro (26:19)
But having Victoria who's just on her third week now, the fact that she's a member, has been a member for a couple of years, deeply believes in what we're doing and can have, her voice is very similar to mine about women's health and wellbeing. I think that's really important. I'm not sure that I would be trusting my PR with some company that is outsourcing things

Pippa Goulden (26:42)
and I think if you outsourced your PR to certain PRs out there, they would be really pushing you to lean in to your story and I know that that's not what you want to do and I think that's why

Ro (26:52)
Mmm. Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (26:56)
doing it yourself actually gives you the power doesn't it to control what you're doing, when you're doing it, who you're doing it with and I think you know there would there would don't get me wrong there'll be people out there who get it totally right but I think it would be quite easy to get it wrong for you and I think doing it internally is definitely for you the right way to do it.

Ro (26:59)
I agree, yeah.

I

actually get approached lot about that, know, PR companies writing to me saying that, you know, they've seen my story that it's so PR-able, that's not really, you know, and yeah, but that's the wrong approach for me. That's not right actually. I think leaning into actually my passion for women's health and wellbeing, which is so genuine.

Pippa Goulden (27:16)
Mmm.

Yeah, yeah, because it absolutely is,

Yeah.

Ro (27:35)
that's where I feel I really thrive and that's why getting in the room for me is so important. Like I'm excited to see what will happen within the next six months because I was incredibly, vulnerable and honest and said, you know, I'm at a point now where I have to draw a line at some point in terms of whether it's a viable business because it's a viable business if it was just me, but it's not because I'm drowning when it's like that. So if I'm paying two of us, I've now got to be at a point where I scale.

But I want that scaling to come from a point where I feel like if I'm going down, I'm going down swinging. So I am literally, like my mission for the next six months is just to be anywhere and everywhere. And if I do it that way and it still doesn't work, I know that I have absolutely done it in a way that feels so aligned to my mission. But if I do it in a way that is focusing just on funnels and paid ads and all of that.

No, it doesn't interest me.

Pippa Goulden (28:32)
No, I can, I totally see that with you. And I think you have the ability to attract people into your world. And that's what, yeah, you're leaning into that and you're bringing them in and you're doing it in all sorts of fun and interesting ways. And that basically sums up the She Collective, doesn't it? So, you know, yeah.

Ro (28:49)
Yeah, I wanna have some fun with it. I just wanna

have some fun again. Like, I think that's the thing.

Pippa Goulden (28:52)
I think I've done the

same. I was chatting to my mastermind and was chatting to Sophie who leads it and I was saying I feel like Q2 kind of into Q3 I got really formulaic and I was doing what I should do and I know that it works for lots of businesses but I also kind of need to remember to have the fun with it and the joy because I know when I lean into the joy that's what brings people into my world because they can see that I'm enjoying it and I'm having fun with it and I think we just are all a little bit in dangerous business.

Ro (28:58)
Yeah.

Mm.

Absolutely.

Pippa Goulden (29:22)
owners of doing what we should do and yes that works for some people but if you forget your why and you know while you're doing this in the first place you may as well get a bloody job!

Ro (29:31)
Well, exactly, exactly. I think that's the point is that when you get to that point, there is so much crap that comes with running a business. There's so much heaviness, there's no switch off. So if you're not having those really great bits, then you know, and I think what I have really started to understand as well is I'm a big fan of, ⁓ do you listen to Emma Greed at all?

Pippa Goulden (29:51)
yes, yeah, yeah.

Ro (29:52)
Yeah,

she's really got such a good business head on her, but what she says is that she has this rule of thirds. So you can expect things to be really great in your business a third of the time, feel amazing, aligned, fun, really good, really, really shit third of the time, and a third of the time, just okay. And when I kind of lean on that and understand that, then it makes me feel less alienated because again,

just like the health and wellbeing world where it felt like everybody was finding it easy, why am I not? I've quite often found that within the business world, there's so many people talking about how they've scaled their business and it's going great and all of that. And it's like, God, well, what about these people like me who are stuck in the messy middle bit and who after five years, my mindset does still get shaky. That's when I, know, yeah, it's difficult. Smoke and mirrors.

Pippa Goulden (30:40)
Yeah, just remember Smoke and Mirrors having worked in PR for a very long time. Not everything that people put out there is

actually what's going on behind the scenes. But yeah, so what would be your advice when it comes back to your PR about for people who kind of want to start but don't know where to start? What would be your advice for them?

Ro (30:49)
Yeah.

So I would say try again, a bit like with health and wellbeing, don't presume that you can do it totally by yourself. As in I have found it's been at a perfect level for me is having your membership and your advice and things is that, don't be scared to ask for that little bit of support. I really do think that having that bit of support is good because...

It's a bit like starting with a completely blank sheet. Otherwise, you just don't know where to start. And really experiment because I didn't realize that PR was those things like the podcast, doing events, things like that, until you pointed it out. And actually they are some of my most successful PR actions that I take, absolutely. And so...

Yeah, I think it's Not thinking of it as just in terms of, you know, newspaper clippings or TV, but the more you lean into the stuff you enjoy, the more you're like, that's when the momentum builds. I really believe that.

Pippa Goulden (31:52)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah

and I would also add to that and say sometimes you don't know what you're going to enjoy so the things that you might be incredibly scared of doing and think god I could never stand on a stage and do that and then you do it and you're like god I want more that's great.

Ro (32:03)
Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think learning how to talk about your business is really important. I remember so well going to Nikki's first event and being asked about my business and just saying, I'm a PT. And Rebecca was standing next to me, she was like, are you joking? Is that your answer? You're a PT. And I think that that's really important is actually don't reduce yourself.

to a title, it's what is actually when you're talking to people about your business, actually what are those bits that are really interesting? What's your core mission? What's your why? Like that's what people are interested in. They're not interested in your title or your like qualifications.

Pippa Goulden (32:53)
No, I love that so much. think it's really important to be able to tell people what you do confidently and believe in what you do. Like that belief in what you do is fundamental to doing any of this stuff because you have to be able to advocate for yourself and sell it, sell yourself, know, sell yourself to the people that are listening because if you can't do that, no one's going to do it for you.

Ro (33:06)
Yeah.

Yeah.

I couldn't agree more. I think that is just a skill in life is being able to advocate for yourself and for your business. Because like you say, no one else is gonna do it for you. And in those moments where you're having real connection, that's what people will connect to. And I've definitely found that networking, getting in the room with people that's PR in itself, because you are the best.

voice for your business and no one can get that across better than when you're having a conversation with somebody.

Pippa Goulden (33:45)
Yeah, God, this is so great. I love all of this. Brilliant advice. Tell us what are three things that you love about your business?

Ro (33:51)
I love my community more than anything. They have supported me so, so much. We only have one rule in the She Collective and that's don't be a dick. there's something about the women that come into our world. They are just decent, lovely, kind-hearted people. And I'm very, very grateful for them. I love...

what it gives me with my family situation, you know, having all of the appointments, all of the complexities of having a disabled child, I couldn't work for somebody and I'm incredibly grateful and most days when I have to do my gratitude list that's on there is about my work's flexibility. I'm incredibly grateful for that. And I am incredibly grateful for the fact that it is absolutely feeling like

we are being true to the heart and soul. I love that it's led by heart and soul. So often when I let the head come in too much, it just really destroys it for me. so I love that, like I said, if I'm going down, I'm going down swinging, but I'm not gonna let it happen. I'm really on a mission here, so yeah.

Pippa Goulden (34:58)
I have every faith that you will make this work because...

Ro (34:59)
Thank you.

Pippa Goulden (35:01)
There is no

stopping Ro when she's got a bit between her teeth. Yeah, and I just, love watching what you're doing. It's, you know, it's inspiring. Like everyone should go and follow Ro on socials and, have a look at the She Collective as well, because it's an amazing community of women, you know, what you're doing for these women out there and the ripple effect that that has on everyone else is so important. So well done you. And thank you for coming on PR Makeup.

Ro (35:22)
Hmm.

Thank you.

Pippa Goulden (35:28)
bottom telling us all about all

Ro (35:29)
I've loved it.

Pippa Goulden (35:30)
your brilliant things you've been doing it's really inspiring so yeah watch this space world where I was coming for you see you soon bye

Ro (35:36)
Thank you. See you soon.

Pippa Goulden (35:42)
I hope that Ro has inspired you to do your own PR and shown you that magic that happens when you do put yourself out there and get known for what you do, but also shown you that you can do it with boundaries, that you don't have to reveal everything about yourself, that you can be clever and strategic about how and when and where you tell your story.

you do want to take more action and get going with your PR then come and find out more at theprset.com. Don't forget you can use the code pod50 to get 50 % off my DIY PR membership which Ro is a member of and she's also done...

get known sprint which will be back in the spring and I also have my one-to-one accelerator as well so follow me at Pippa the PR set or find me at Pippa Goulden on LinkedIn and I will see you again very soon for another episode of PR Made Simple.