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

Pippa Goulden (00:43)
Hello and welcome back to another episode of PR Made Simple. Right, today we are focusing on the specific things that I think are stopping you from hitting send and we're going to be talking about how to get through those and get over those because I see this time and time again with the people that I work with and I also have experienced it firsthand myself. So we're gonna be looking at those things that are going to get you moving on this work because

Sitting there thinking about it is not doing anyone any good, is it? It's total waste of time. It doesn't actually move our business forward. It gets us in a spin and it stops us from doing the things that are actually gonna drive us, build us, grow us, scale us, all of the amazing things and doing the things that bring us joy because I promise you on the other side of this fear and all this stuff that's stopping you from hitting send is...

stuff that is going to bring you joy and happiness and excitement into your business. So I want us to be imagining of 2026 show reel, Insta post where you're doing your highlights and in there are the speaking opportunities, the press coverage, those juicy things that really help to build your credibility, your authority, to build trust with your target audience, to get you in front of new people. Okay.

So you know what you should be doing, don't you? You should be pitching yourself for that podcast or reaching out to that journalist or putting yourself forward for that speaking opportunity. You've probably written the emails, you've rewritten them, you've edited them 17 million times and they're still sitting in your draft. So today I'm gonna talk about the three things that are stopping you hitting send and more importantly, what you can do about it and how to push through that because this is the thing, right?

other people are getting those opportunities, the ones that you want for your business, and they're not braver than you. They're not more qualified. They're not more ready. They are just hitting send. So let's deep dive into what's stopping you. The first thing is this imposter syndrome. We all face it. I've worked with six, seven figure business owners.

who experience this time and time again. So normalize the fact that everyone feels this at some point about certain things. That voice in your head saying, who am I to pitch for this? I'm not qualified enough, I haven't achieved enough, I'm not big enough yet, I'll wait until. What if they laugh at me? Who do I think I am?

And here's what I want you to know, is that everyone feels like this. Everyone I've worked with at some point feels like this. It doesn't just go away the bigger you get and the better you get. In fact, I think often it can be more present in, you know, as your profile gets bigger and as you get the bigger opportunities. So if we know though, that this isn't going to go away,

that you'll never be ready enough, you'll never be ready for doing this work. The key thing to actually making it go away is taking the action in spite of it. And so what I want you to do is to try really hard to push through it, reframe it, that feeling of who am I, what am I doing? Why don't you flip that on its head to who am I not to share this? You have expertise, you have the experience.

you have something valuable to say. The people that you help with your business, they need to hear from you. So turn it away from yourself and focus on the fact that there are people out there who need to hear your expertise, who need to know about your business for whatever reason it is. There are journalists there that actually you're helping them to do their job. There are podcast hosts that you're helping them to fill slots on their podcast.

There are people managing stages who want to hear from you because you have valuable experience. Make this less about you and more about the people who benefit from you and the work you do and send that fucking email, okay? Feel that imposter syndrome, feel those fears and send them anyway and give yourself a challenge. This week, I am going to send one email that will make me feel uncomfortable. Do it.

Feel uncomfortable and then see that actually it really wasn't as bad on the other side as you've been making out it is. And also, what is the worst that will happen? Nothing. That's the worst that can happen. They say no. Does it really matter? I get nos all the time. It really doesn't matter. It's normally because it's just not right for the other person's business. It's nothing to do with you. It's not to do with whether they like you. This is not a popularity contest, okay? So do that this week.

When listening to this, choose one email that you're gonna do that's gonna make you feel uncomfortable and just send that email. The second thing that stops you hitting send is perfectionism. And I see this with a lot of the women that I work with. The pitch isn't good enough yet. Let me just tweak it one more time. I need to make it perfect before I send it. I work with one one-to-one accelerator client who before we worked together said her emails were taking her an hour to draft.

You don't want to be spending an hour, she doesn't do that by the way anymore, you don't want to be spending an hour on your pitch emails, nobody has it that much time. But here's the brutal truth, there is no perfect pitch. You can spend three hours crafting the most beautiful, eloquent, perfectly structured pitch and it might not land. You can spend 20 minutes, 10 minutes, five minutes on a good enough pitch and actually send it and actually get the results that you're looking for.

which one's going to get you the opportunity? The email that you spent three hours thinking about and not got around to sending or the messy email that's taken you 10, 15 minutes and you've actually pressed send. I've sent pictures with typos, they got me yeses. I've sent pictures that weren't perfectly polished, that opened doors. I've gone back to look at pictures that I've sent and I've redrafted them and re-sent them because they weren't right in the first place. But the initial pitch, it doesn't have to be perfect, it has to be sent.

So how to push through this, I'd give yourself a time limit. You can have 30 minutes max to write the pitch and then I want you to send it. No more edits, no more tweaking, just press send. Done is better than perfect, always. And the third main factor that I see that's stopping you hitting send is the fear of rejection. What if they say no? What if they ignore me? What if they think I'm not good enough?

Yes, you might get rejected. Yes, you might get ignored. That happens a lot in this business, I'm afraid. Yes, you might get a no. But what I want you to think about is what if they say yes? What if one pitch email leads to a podcast interview that brings you your next client, your next three clients? What if that pitch gets you featured in a publication that opens doors that you didn't even know existed? You know, I have a DIY PR member

who got interviewed by The Telegraph for her business. It was read about by the producers of BBC Morning Live and she ended up going on BBC television to talk about her business. That would not have happened if she hadn't sent that initial pitch to The Telegraph journalist at the beginning. That is the magic of doing this work. You sometimes, often don't know where it's taking you, but it's not gonna take you anywhere unless you're sending those emails.

You know what if that speaking opportunity completely changes the trajectory of your business which is exactly what happened to me with TopDraw. One email I put off for three and a half years. It was ridiculous. I talked myself out of it. I thought they'll find me. I'm connected with them on LinkedIn. They'll work out that I'm the right person to stand on their stage. And I put on my big girl pants and I pitched that email and two weeks later I was on the phone with them.

And a few months later, I was on that stage delivering a talk that has helped change the trajectory of my business. It has helped me to grow the business in ways that I didn't really think were possible before I sent that email. And it wasn't necessarily that speaking opportunity per se, although I do think it helped, but it was the momentum shift. It was the shift in my approach to the business, in the things that I was putting myself forward, in the energy that I was putting out there. All of those things have helped.

change the business, help me scale the business in ways that a year and a half ago I didn't really think were possible. And so how to push through this, if rejection is the thing that you think's holding you back, let's shift your focus from the fear of rejection to the cost of not trying. What opportunities are you missing by not sending that email? And this is especially relevant at the moment when social media is a slog and it's hard work and not that many people are seeing.

your content in the same way as they used to. So you need to be finding more routes to reach new audiences. What opportunities are you missing by not sending that email? And then I want you to really think about what's the worst thing that will happen if you send it. They say no. Like I've said, you are in exactly the same place that you are now, but what's the best thing that can happen? Everything changes. Send the fucking email people. Let's get going with it.

And this is what I've learned from working with hundreds of female founders, that the things that's stopping you from hitting send, it's not that you're not ready, because you absolutely are. It's not that you're not qualified. It's not that you need to wait a bit longer or be a bit bigger or a bit more of something. This is all fear dressed up as logic. Your brain is trying to hold you back from doing this work because it is scared.

And the only way through it is action. Messy, imperfect, slightly uncomfortable action. It doesn't matter if you get it wrong, okay? So this is what I want you to do. I want you to think about that one pitch you've been putting off, that one email sitting in your drafts, that one opportunity that you've been waiting to feel ready for, that you're hoping that they'll find you because they're not going to find you. You need to put yourself in front of them. And I want you to send it today, not tomorrow.

not when you've perfected it, not when you felt braver today. Get that email sent, feel the imposter syndrome, ignore the perfectionism, accept the possibility of rejection and hit send anyway. Okay, you up for the challenge? And if you actually want support doing this, if you want accountability strategy, someone keeping you on track, someone giving you a kick up the bum,

then doors to get known, my six week group sprint close this Friday, the 6th of February, last chance to jump in. It may well be happening again in October, November, but that is going to be too late for you really, if you want to be doing this work in 2026. You have six weeks where we work through exactly this, getting clear on what to pitch, building your strategy, writing your pitches, and most importantly, sending them with me keeping you accountable every step of the way.

So like I said, doors closed Friday the 6th of Feb at six o'clock. All the links for everything are in the show notes, but whether you come and join us in Get Known or not, send that email. Stop waiting, start doing. Right, I'm off to go and press send on some emails. I'll see you again soon for another episode of PR Made Simple.