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

Pippa Goulden (00:43)
Carly Corrigal is a personal trainer and coach specializing in fitness for women in midlife, particularly those who feel like what used to work doesn't anymore. A former lawyer with a strong filter for facts, she's known for her straight talking, science-backed approach to training that ditches extremes and focuses on building strong, capable bodies for the long term. She's also the host of the Honestly Carly podcast where she explores what it really takes to feel good in your body, in your 40s and beyond. She's also one of my DIY PR members and app.

nailing her PR so we are going to deep dive into all things today and how she's done it but welcome Carly to PR Made Simple.

Carly (01:21)
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me on. It's a delight to be here.

Pippa Goulden (01:23)
⁓

it's I'm so excited to for you to share your experiences and what you've learnt but first off just tell us in your own words about your business what you do who you work with.

Carly (01:34)
So I am a personal trainer and coach. And as you've just said, I work with women in midlife. That is where I am. I'm 45 in six weeks time. So very much in the trenches myself. I work with people online mostly. I have a very small number of clients I still see in person, but the vast majority of my work is done online through a few different programs. And this is, as you've said, my second career. So I used to be a solicitor.

before I had children. So fitness is very much kind of a segue over. But yeah, it's my passion and it's where I want to be. know, law was never about that for me. But yeah, this is what I love doing.

Pippa Goulden (02:13)
And how have you found that transition from being, I imagine, you know, a very busy lawyer, but working for somebody else to running your own business, being the director of all things, marketing, finance, PR, as well as, you know, actually delivering for your clients?

Carly (02:29)
I I say it to my husband all the time, but I'd be completely unemployable now. I've been out of the working for the man for too long. It's a really good question actually. So I think for me, I love the fact that I get to be involved in all different things. That is the variety is really fantastic. And I get the control and the kind of directional ability to kind of take myself off in different ways, depending on what the business needs from me.

Pippa Goulden (02:33)
Hahaha

Carly (02:57)
I was really nervous about starting out on my own initially and to begin with when I first set up. So the reason I came into this as I did, I think I probably should have always done a job like this, but I was quite academic at school and I was the first person in my family to go to university. And it was very much like my teachers saying to me, you're bright enough to do something really big like study law. So anyone who's listening, who's done a law degree.

Usually what happens is there is an assumption when you do that kind of vocational qualification that you will end up either being a solicitor or a barrister. And I always loved the creative side of things. I was like a voracious reader as a kid and constantly making up and we didn't have podcasts then, but I was making up radio shows with my brother and writing stories. And then, you know, I did English language for an A level and I loved it, but I didn't have the confidence.

when I was a lawyer, when I was a trainee lawyer, to go for that kind of stand up in court and tell your story, which probably would have suited me better. The solicitor route felt safer. So it was kind of, you know, I'd rather be behind a desk doing all the stuff in the background than out there kind of spinning a story or defending a client or making up a case for them. So I think I probably picked the wrong arm of the law in that sense. And it really, doing a job like that.

there isn't a poetic license. You very much following a process, following a procedure, following the rules really. And I really missed that ability to kind of go out and be creative. I once worked for a trainee supervisor when I was a very junior lawyer who said to me, it's not your business to have an opinion on anything.

He was like, must never use the word surprised or astonished, or it's not your business to do that. Your business is to reply to the facts. And I think that was a penny drop moment for me. And I thought, maybe this isn't the right career. And I'd always loved fitness and then post-children, it wasn't gonna work for us sort of childcare wise for me to go back to the law full time. So I took a career break and I think.

Like many women of our generation, I experienced that kind of gender health gap after having children and my body did not come back together at all. I had all kinds of issues going on there, mental health issues and really almost as a way of healing myself, I decided to take a personal training course. So I thought if nothing else, I'll learn something for me during this career break that will mean I can kind of...

put that into practice and help myself move forwards. And it really sort of took off from there. Friends were saying to me, my God, I would pay you to come and help show me all this stuff. And they'd pick my brains on things. And that's kind of how it grew. But I started off sort of working for a local family club who ran buggy fitness classes in the local parks. That was me for a number of years. And then I got the sort of confidence to branch out on my own.

Pippa Goulden (05:37)
you've evolved who you work with? Because that's quite interesting, isn't it? Because you're very much focused on midlife women now. And that's, has that evolved for you? How did you end up there?

Carly (05:39)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, so I think my business has grown with me. So initially it was all about that postpartum period and pregnancy. And I just wanted other women to not kind of suffer as I had and to feel the things that I'd felt in that moment. And exactly the same thing happened when I sort of hit my 40s and well, like 30s probably with hindsight and my body started changing and the conversations I was having with my girlfriends changed and it was all around the perimenopause and...

Oh my God, why can't I go out and run my usual 5K route without my knee wanting to cave in? There was so much chat, but no one at that point, and I'm going back five, six years ago, was talking about perimenopause and menopause really, and I felt quite ignorant around it. So I decided to do a training course on it just to skill up myself and my clients. And as I was on that training course,

it became very apparent that this was me. It wasn't something that was happening to women 10 years older than me. It was happening to me. And I just felt this calling, I suppose, that I just wanted to get that out there and to say, look, you you can have all these tools. You can be fit, healthy, strong. You can be a lifelong exerciser. You can be running marathons, but your hormones will shift. Your life will shift. And sometimes that means we need to make an adjustment to what we're doing. And that was really, I guess,

where it stemmed from and then slowly, guess, you know, when you're teaching a lot of postnatal mums, it's such a special time, but I think what makes, sometimes can make a really good coach for them is that you know where the local baby groups are, you know where the best places are to, you know, take your toddler to, you know, the best parks. And I just found I was moving further and further away from that as my family grew. And I thought, no, no, it's time to hand the reins over to somebody else for this part of my business. You know, I've got the knowledge there, but I,

you know, the peer-to-peer aspect of it, of working with women, cohort of women who were going through the same thing as me, it was just hugely appealing.

Pippa Goulden (07:39)
Yeah, and that's so interesting because I think a lot of people worry about niching and getting stuck and just being known for talking to one audience. But actually what you've shown is that you can evolve that anyway, can't you? I find people almost hold themselves back from doing the work to get known for what they do because they're a bit worried that it might change, but that doesn't matter.

Carly (08:00)
100 % it's never

for life and I think that adds a layer of authenticity because I think you know what we're learning now as women of our generation you know we were like you know told we could have it all and everything you know we could go after it but I think there's a danger that you then get stuck and you don't need to be stuck you know our children's generation know that they're probably not going to have a job for life and I think you can apply that to your own business as well and there's no reason why it can't grow but I would say

You just need to have patience because when I was pivoting that audience, you cannot expect, you know, I lost a lot of followers. I lost a lot of email subscribers and you can't take it personally. It's just that, you know, those are people that knew you then

Pippa Goulden (08:40)
And so do you think evolving your audience has actually helped you to become really clear on who you do want to work with? Because I think that comes across through everything you do.

Carly (08:48)
that's really good to hear, because that's what I'm trying to do. So thank you for that. Yes, and I think it has evolved. So initially I was like, I want to work with women who are in perimenopause or menopause. And I kind of put it out there. This is what I wanted to do. And this is going back a few couple of years ago. And then I have evolved that even further as I've gone through. I think initially I was afraid of sort of alienating people or, you know, making it not for them. But actually,

I can do my job so much better when I'm speaking to like one person in my head, the person that I want to work with. So I tend to work best when I'm dealing with somebody who has got experience of exercising in the past. They're maybe not a total newcomer, although absolutely, you know, we work with what we've got and there are people who are really up for it. And I'm not in the business of kind of coaxing people that exercise is a good idea. I'm like, I want to work with the people who already like.

I'm really active, but it's just not working for me. And I want to niche that down and really figure out what's going to sort of work best for my body now. So I think the more you get into it, the more you realize and you kind of go, you sort of question yourself and you're like, right, well, I like working with this person, but what could be even better? What would I eat like even more when I'm sort of dealing with my clients? And I've sort of evolved that over the last couple of years, I think.

Pippa Goulden (10:00)
Yeah. And I think that happens anyway, as you, as you're, get more confident in your business and you really, you know, you work with people and then you realize actually the people that you love working with are these types of people that I've definitely evolved. Like I, when I first started the PR set, I wanted it to be for everyone. And obviously, you you can't do that, but what I've realized that I want to do and who I want to work with is a people who are like ready to go and ready to like jump in because actually they're the ones that get the best results and they're the

Carly (10:24)
Exactly.

Pippa Goulden (10:28)
ones that you know the ones that are going for it I almost see them like stepping on they're on a ledge and they want to like jump off and fly and I'm there just the person behind them like pushing them pushing them off and and let's talk about your PR because you have been doing your own PR for a while now and you've got some amazing results I'm like yay go Kylie she's got another one let's deep dive into that a bit more so what made you decide to do PR in the first place?

Carly (10:29)
I see.

Love it.

⁓ you

Well, I think it was you Pippa. No, joking aside. So I think going back to what I said earlier, I've always loved writing and I've always loved, wouldn't say presenting maybe, but I enjoy that part of it. That's part of what I do in my job. I teach classes and I'm online and I'm presenting, suppose. So I love that aspect of it. That's not something, I suppose I'm lucky that that doesn't phase me. In fact, I think probably if you'd asked,

Pippa Goulden (10:54)
Good answer!

Carly (11:19)
kind of 12 year old me what I wanted to be. It would have been a writer. So the sort of print media stuff was always like, I'd love to have something in print. I'd love to have something in a magazine. But I actually heard you on someone else, another coach's podcast. And I was like, I love the sound of this because I just needed that, that boost, that kind of direction and a bit of a framework, which is exactly what, you know, when I joined DIY PR, exactly what that does. And then I binged your podcast and I was like, right, we're in. So I think.

That's what made me want to do it. And also just this genuine, general frustration I think many of us have with social media. It's just, mean, I love, I've got a lovely community, I guess, small little community on Instagram that I really love interacting with. And I do like coming up with ideas for posts. So I wouldn't say I hate, I'm not somebody who hates social media, but it is enormously frustrating because you often think things will land and then they don't, they fall flat and.

then you're trying to unpick it and thinking, well, why did this do well and this didn't? And often the data that you end up with, it's just like, well, I can't make any sense of this whatsoever. And it's just because the platform meta has just moved the goalposts or there's something going on and it's just exhausting. And I wanted something more permanent, more that can just sit there, you know, like print media, like getting involved in that kind of thing, expert comments. It's like a real, it is the authority piece. It's like,

You know, I can talk really well about this stuff if you give me more than seven seconds in a reel. Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (12:41)
Yeah, totally. It's the depth, isn't it? And I think as an

expert...

Like obviously you can do the seven second reels, but it doesn't show the breadth of your expertise. And what I'm seeing so much now is that Instagram has become a place for a lot of us where we actually nurture our audience and we get to know them and we have chats in the DMs and you know, the same people are supporting you and championing you, but it's not working in the same way as it used to to kind of bring new people in and to show that you know what you're talking about in that way. you know, things have changed so much. People are looking for experts.

Carly (12:58)
Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (13:15)
who do know what they're talking about and that's where PR really helps from that perspective. And I know when you've had like specific pieces of press coverage, you've been really happy with them because they have shown, they've linked to your messaging, haven't they? And they've allowed you to then deep dive into that in all various different parts of your marketing. Can you talk about that in a bit more detail?

Carly (13:31)
Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

So I like to think of them as a bit of a springboard. And actually, it's, do you know what? It makes content creation so much easier because if you've got, I've got, I'm recording a podcast for my podcast next week and it's totally based around a piece that I helped contribute to on Liz's wellbeing because it's such a juicy one. So you're like, oh, actually, if I get involved with this, that's such a good topic. So you'll, you know, you'll work with a journalist and they'll include some of your comments and then you've then got stuff you can share to your stories and then you can expand on little bits of it.

Pippa Goulden (13:40)
Yeah.

Carly (14:04)
in your posts and you can put it in your emails and you can do your own podcast on it. And it's kind of like you can go in all these different tangents. And it's really exciting and it actually like lights up that creative part of my brain. When I'm stuck for ideas, I'm like, that's really interesting. And it's made me more, guess, because you just naturally become more engaged in reading other people's articles and reading what's going around. So actually I'm probably more...

engaged and alert to what people are talking about in articles that haven't included me. So I'm able to sort of talk to my audience and say, I saw this piece in wherever, and isn't that interesting? Or are you finding this? So once you get into that sort of vein of thinking, that world, it really kind of sparks that creativity that you just don't get when you're down a Blymmin scroll hole, just looking and, know, it's just, it's the depth, as you say, such a difference.

Pippa Goulden (14:52)
Yeah, and I think we have

it the wrong way around because often we go to create the content first and actually if you're led by your positioning and the key things you want to get known for and the core things that you have within your business, then the content creation is a byproduct of that. It's so much easier, isn't it, than going to Instagram every day going, what should I talk about today? But actually, if you know all of that already, you've kind of got your plans laid out for you in terms of, you know, and linking it all together as well so that it

Carly (15:19)
Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (15:22)
kind of makes sense so when people see you at various different touch points you know it's all linked it's not really random things that you know you're going off on one thing here and off on another thing there.

Carly (15:30)
Yeah.

Yeah, that makes such a difference. And at the beginning, didn't know it was gonna happen. It's been a really nice side effect. I didn't know it was gonna do that for me, but it has. It's really nice to kind of get into those more sort of meaty discussions and start to really explore things in a bit more depth because you just don't, know, modern life, we're quick. People just decide whether they like you or not in a couple of seconds. And it's just...

Pippa Goulden (15:49)
Yeah.

Carly (15:55)
that and also what I've noticed when I'm looking back and it's always difficult to track leads and talking, know, I hate talking about leads because I love all my clients and I don't like thinking of them in that way. But when I look at people who've come to work with me and I always have a question when they start, where did you find me? And for my sort of, I have a kind of buy and do it yourself program for the core. And that's still.

sort of gets lots of people in from Instagram. It's that, cause it's that quick. It's a six week program. You bite, do it in your own time. But my media programs, increasingly people are finding me through podcast and they're finding me through internet search. And when I've gone back to them and said, that's interesting. It is all those links back to you on the internet search. means, you know, when you're asking chat GPT, you know, for personal trainers for women over 40 or, you know, it's coming back.

or they're reading a piece in a newspaper and they're like, who is this woman? Let me Google her. So it's really interesting how that swings over and that's really satisfying because I love doing it, but actually kind of getting the business bedrock built on it is even better.

Pippa Goulden (16:47)
Yeah.

Yeah, and I think when you're an expert

in something, having that authority, like you've got a really strong authority ecosystem, as I call it. So you've got your internal authority, things like your podcast and your website, your blog, you know, all of that kind of stuff. But then you're doing the external authority pieces too. And they work together so well from an amplification perspective, because, you know, when people find you, so they might hear about you, they might see you on Instagram, they might read about you. When they then search you, they're seeing all those

different places that you're appearing and that is just building trust and it's doing that piece of your credibility which in a very crowded marketplace is something that's really going to help you stand out isn't it?

Carly (17:38)
Thank you, that's really kind of you to say, but I agree with you and I know you've talked about on this podcast about the trust recession and I do think particularly in the fitness space, it is absolutely rife at the moment. I saw a piece on the BBC this morning, BBC Sport about this exact thing and the advent of AI in social media with fake fitness accounts, promising transformations and people are just, we're so pressed, we're time poor, we are cash poor and people want...

the solutions, they want the shortcut all the time and I totally get that, which is where AI and people wanting to make a quick buck are kind of getting there in and people are getting their fingers burned. And I think particularly the cohort that I work with who are, they're educated, intelligent women in midlife, they've been there and bought the t-shirt. So they're very, very discerning and they're often quite cynical. And if they can see that you have this backdrop of pieces that you've been working on, people referring to you as an expert.

they're like, actually, you know, she is to be taken seriously. We do get, you know, this kind of synergy and they can also go back and see who you are, kind of work out the type of person that you are, what your views are, if they're able to do that from multiple sources. So it's really, I think it's more useful now than it's ever been probably.

Pippa Goulden (18:50)
Yeah,

I agree. I feel like this is like PR's time. Finally, we're like coming into it. I do think the combination of the AI, the trust recession, people wanting debt, people being burned, all of that stuff, it's meaning that actually this work is a kind of, it's a fundamental part of your, it should be a fundamental part of your business growth strategy now, rather than a nice to have. And I think for so many years, PR often was a nice to have. And I just, don't think it can be that anymore, especially if you're wanting to position

Carly (18:54)
Yes, 100 %

Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (19:20)
yourself as the go-to in your industry. And also, people want to buy from people, don't they? And especially with what you do in fitness and wellbeing, they get to know you. Like your podcast, I bet people say to you, I binged your podcast and they sign up quickly because they've got to know you and understand your approach.

Carly (19:35)
Yeah.

Yeah, it is definitely that and I think a number of conversations and you must get this as well where people come to you and they're fresh and they say, I feel like I know you already or this is going to sound really weird, but I feel like we've had the conversation and really amusingly my sister-in-law, who we don't see each other as often as we like, but she is now after a long time of me trying to persuade her to do my strength classes is now doing my strength classes. And she like sent me a message out of the blue. She's like,

Pippa Goulden (19:48)
Yeah.

Carly (20:04)
Right, I feel like we've been chatting for weeks about this, but I'm gonna do straight, she just can't listen to all my podcasts. So I'm like, well, if family members are doing it, then you know, other people are, but it's so true. And it's layering up as much as you can. You just, think, particularly in industries like mine, you've got to get multiple kind of, I don't know, it's building relationships with other people as well. It's not just about getting your name in print. know, I love having guests on my podcast because I wanna bring my people.

the best quality advice that I can get. And it's that constant building that network that I sort of see it as much broader than just like, when I, you know, someone said, Carly Carragall said this in a newspaper article, it's so much deeper.

Pippa Goulden (20:44)
Yeah, and I think you're

really good at layering your PR, aren't you? So it's not just the press and it's not just the podcast, you're kind of, doing lots of different things and that's where it works really well as that kind of ecosystem for you.

Carly (20:56)
Yeah, it's really enjoyable though. I think I just enjoy it that way. There's a bit of a strategy there because you've got me to create one, but I just really enjoy that variety as well.

Pippa Goulden (21:06)
Yeah

and it's so nice to see people enjoying it as well because it can feel really scary can't it especially if you haven't done it before so what would be your advice to people who are thinking ⁓ I think I'd like to do it but I'm just not sure.

Carly (21:09)
yeah.

I and it's advice that you've given, I know, but I think it's find what lights you up. as I said, I think I always had lots of secret aspirations to be a journalist or a writer or something of that ilk, but that might not be for certain people. They might not enjoy that. They might just like going and showing up in person and maybe not in front of people, but doing networking in a non-cringy kind of way. you know, there's something for everybody. And I think, like you said, broaden out.

what you think of as being PR and find the things that light you up. But also, I think you've got to be prepared to put yourself out there. I think you have to, you you talk about big girl pants and you really do and you have to take a deep breath. And I'm not saying, you know, there haven't been times when, so I helped contribute to a piece which was actually turned out to be all about me on intermittent fasting, which is a very kind of.

controversial topic in the wellness space and I gave a personal story so rather than it being about my business and my business approach, it was about me. And I knew that there'd be people who disagree with it but it was my angle from my personal experience and you know the journalist wrote it, who I worked with wrote it beautifully. But I just made a pact with myself I'm not going to read the comments.

And I think that's it, you just have to be a grown up about it. And I was like, I know there'll be people going, she's an idiot, she doesn't know what she's talking about. It worked for me. And I thought, well, that's fine. That's your view. And you are absolutely entitled to that. But I'm not gonna read that. And that's not because I'm arrogant or I don't want to engage with people and I'm trying to create an echo chamber. But you have to have a level of self protection. And you have to have, I don't know, not a thick skin, because I am not a thick skin person. I am probably hypersensitive.

But you just have to remember that if you're putting yourself out there and you want it to be successful and you want to be known, that is going to necessarily come with a little bit of disagreement and kickback from time to time.

Pippa Goulden (23:03)
Yeah, but also that's, that's, think that's really important. If you want to really build something and get known for something, you will have to stick your head above the parapet a bit. And it's really easy to go along with what everyone else says because, you know, trends and whatever. But if you fundamentally in your core know that you're very strong core, Carly, but if you know in your core that it's not.

Carly (23:13)
Hopefully.

Pippa Goulden (23:25)
what is right and aligned with you then actually talking about that is it's so powerful like I've done the same thing with kind of this whole visibility authority piece like everyone's talking about visibility and I'm there going no it's not enough like being seen going on insta stories having nice photos is yeah absolutely do that but unless you actually then build on it and show that you know what you're talking about then it's it's kind of just gonna get you're gonna get lost in a sea of everyone else trying to be visible as well and I've had

to really go, like there's been times when I'm like, god, I should just talk about visibility, it's so much easier. But actually, I know that it's not what works. And it'll be the same for you. Like you know in your heart of hearts that this is what is right for you to talk about. And therefore, actually that then creates opportunities for you because you're not saying what everyone else is saying. And from a PR perspective, that is really important.

Carly (24:17)
Yeah, totally. And I think you're right. It's only natural that you get pulled off in these different directions and you think, ⁓ maybe I'm wrong, or maybe I should be saying this, or maybe I should tone down what I'm saying. But I think you have to back yourself. And I think, as you said, you have to put your head above the parapet. And if you really believe that you're ready to kind of put yourself out there, you've just got to do it. And if you're constantly...

watering yourself down or it doesn't mean you have, like I say, it doesn't mean you have to be arrogant or dismissive of other people or not enter into discussions or just be like, it's my way or the highway. You the best kind of panels, I think, are always the ones when you watch them and people are having that intelligent, respectful discussion. That's really important. But you have to know that that is just part and parcel of what you're doing. If you're going to put yourself out there as an expert, you've got to be, to back yourself.

But you can be prepared to say, I might be wrong. And I'm constantly, I must admit, you know, there isn't a huge amount of research in the area that I do, it's building all the time. But that means I get to evolve and I'm perfectly happy to put my hand up and say, well, the approach that I had two years ago is different to the approach that I have now. And that's also fine. You can be, you know, learning on the job. You can be saying, well, this is what we think at the moment, but that might move forwards and still be credible, I think.

Pippa Goulden (25:34)
Yeah,

absolutely. I think it's so important as well, isn't it? To show that we are vulnerable. don't have all the answers, but this is our approach I do think you just have to sometimes put on your big girl pants and go for it. And what would you say, because I know a lot of people in like...

Carly (25:40)
Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (25:48)
the fitness and wellbeing space, think, it's so saturated, there's no space for me. What would you say to that?

Carly (25:55)
No, it's not.

I think it's just creating a big, it's that classic thing, it creates a bigger pie for everybody. I think it's brilliant. I really think that the, what I see, you the businesses that really stand out to me when I'm chatting to people and other experts are the ones that are layering up all of this stuff and having those deeper conversations and really kind of sticking to their guns. There's a lot of bland fitness content out there. There's a lot of generic stuff. There's a lot of...

Pippa Goulden (26:00)
Yeah, exactly.

Carly (26:21)
I don't know, it looks flimsy and that's not where I want to position what I'm doing. I want it to be chunky and rich and full of all the good stuff. So I think if you've got an idea or a niche that you want to explore, then do it because it's not forever anyway. If you try it it doesn't work out, then you pivot, you change. You know, it's not the end of the world. I definitely don't think it's saturated. think there's always space and there's always people who you'll talk to who need your need.

your work and what you're doing for sure.

Pippa Goulden (26:49)
Yeah I think that's excellent advice and so what would you

say what would be your tips for getting started with your PR then? Tick! Done!

Carly (26:56)
I work with Pippa. Done, the end. End the podcast here. No, definitely.

think having you to kind of be the sounding board to lead me through it has been invaluable. But I think you can do a lot, like you say, you can do a lot of it yourself. You don't need to have a little black book of contacts. I certainly didn't, didn't know anybody, but I just looked at what I could talk about.

Pippa Goulden (27:14)
No.

Carly (27:19)
what would I feel comfortable talking about? What's sat with my business? And I think that's really important is getting the right opportunities. Like there's loads of random fitness stuff, the opportunities that you could have to talk, you know, to talk about pretty much anything, but I'm fairly discerning about what I'll talk about. Or I might say, I don't think this is for me. If someone were to approach me, I'd say, I don't actually think this is for me, but maybe this is the person you want to chat to.

And I always try and bring things back to me. So if I'm working with a journalist, I mean, it's me, me, me, but you've got to bear in mind that it is part of furthering your business. So I always try and, you know, throw in the lines and say, my approach is blah, or I think this, or what we are seeing is X. So you're not just creating that, well, I could have gone to AI and got this response. So I think like, be you, you don't have to be perfect with it. You absolutely don't have to know everything about everything.

Pippa Goulden (27:45)
Yeah, totally.

Carly (28:06)
You've just got to back yourself. I think just back yourself and get out there really. There's so many different opportunities. It's so exciting.

Pippa Goulden (28:11)
Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, and I think that's something that I think that's why your PR is working for you because when people come to me and they say they've tried PR, it hasn't worked. It's usually one of two things. One, they haven't given it enough time and you know, they've sent a few pitches, not have given up. And the second one is that they've got some PR press coverage in random publications about random things. And they're like, it doesn't do anything for me. And it won't. But actually what you do it really strategically, although you might not realize, but you know, you're really, like you said, discerning.

Carly (28:42)
You

Pippa Goulden (28:44)
about the conversations that you're having, the things that you'll talk about, that you'll contribute to. And that means it's really aligned with the rest of your messaging throughout your business. And that's when it works, when it's strategic that you can then amplify it through everything else you're doing. yeah, I think, you know, and actually what I've seen with you, you've done that thing which...

You've kind of done the pitching, you've put yourself out there, but there's a tipping point when you've built that momentum and then people start coming to you for things and you actually get journalists approaching you now, don't you, to contribute.

Carly (29:13)
Yeah,

yeah, which is really nice. And I still pinch myself for that when I get those emails. It's always so nice. But yeah, exactly. And I think what helps them probably anyone who's worked in a professional services background like me will be really, will know exactly what I mean. But when you, you know, if you work in something like law, you are in like the ultimate service industry. So you're very responsive. You're very on task. If someone asks for something by Tuesday morning, you are doing it by Tuesday morning. So

I kind of pride myself and I'm like this with my clients as well. you know, I will 100 % be there. I am not flaky. I am on it. And I think particularly working with journalists, it's so helpful. You know, they've got their deadline. They want to hear back from you. They want something that's not riddled with spelling mistakes and goes off the questions that you've asked, you've been asked and they want it on time. So I think I've made a real effort and it comes naturally to me because that's kind of where I've worked previously. And I think

That's really important as well, I think, if you can build those relationships. And, you know, if you're working in a niche, what's wonderful is the people that you, you know, you might originally respond to a media request on, they're really engaged and interested in your topic area. So naturally, you're going to have that back and forth. You know, when they sort of speak to you, you're going to say, oh my God, this is such an interesting thing. Thank you for asking me to comment on this. And they'll be interested back. And so they're just people, like you said before, you know, they're just people like everyone else.

And it's really fun and enjoyable building those creative relationships as well. And hopefully they then see you as like a really solid source that they can come to and they know that, ⁓ they know Carly will reply always and she'll give you something back that you can use.

Pippa Goulden (30:49)
Yeah, I think that's the way to do it. yeah, being a trusted source as an expert is really key and it just means that, yeah, they'll come back to you. And it also means that when you then have new ideas, you've got those people to pitch to because you know, you kind of understand how they work, what publications they're writing for. So, you know...

People often think that those journalists' are exclusive to PRs. They are absolutely not. And actually, a lot of the journalists love being able to go direct to experts because it just cuts out a middleman. And, you know, well done, you, for building those relationships up because, you know, it's a key part of this work and it's brilliant. So tick for that one. And have you learnt anything about yourself doing your own PR?

Carly (31:26)
thank you.

I've learned, it's helped me get back in touch with that creative side that I think was always there and was just completely squashed in my days as a solicitor, which I loved. I love having a little bit of poetic license to really talk about things I want to talk about and that's been really nice. And I think I'm, I am braver than I think, because I am sensitive, but I have been able to put myself out there. And the more you do it, it's like a snowball rolling down the hill, isn't it?

you just kind of feel like, well I've done this, so I must be able to do this and do this. And I've learned that I can take rejection better than I thought, because some, you know, I mean, more often than not, you won't even get a no, you'll get silence, coasting, nothing, nothing. And you, you know, you learn to be okay with that. So I think, yeah, it's built my confidence rather than knocked it, which is really lovely.

Pippa Goulden (32:09)
Yeah, no reply.

Good, yeah, and I see that so much with the founders that I work with. It's like you kind of start off really nervous and like worried about what people are going to think. And then I call it the Peacock Feather Effect when you get a little bit back from someone and then it's like, okay, this is working. it just has an incremental effect. And the things that you would put yourself forward for now would probably be things that two years ago you would have been like, no, I couldn't do that. It's amazing how it has that impact on the momentum, doesn't it?

Carly (32:32)
You

100%.

Yeah, exactly. And you you might look around at other people in your industry and think, oh, but you know, but she's doing that. And so there's already somebody doing it. There's always room for somebody else. And you're so unique. You're you, right? At the end of the day, I think, you know, I might be saying the same things as somebody else, but I'm still me. And as you said, people buy and engage with people. And actually, you know, I won't be everyone's cup of tea and that is cool. You know, it's, that's just life. But actually if I'm myself.

then I haven't really lost anything, because I'm not showing up pretending to be someone that I'm not, I'm just me. ⁓ yeah.

Pippa Goulden (33:21)
Yeah, and that's exhausting trying to be someone you're not. You

just can't sustain it. And that's what I always say to people is, know, be you. It might be like the CEO version of you or the big pants version of you. But, you know, so long as you're still you at your core, then that's the most important thing, isn't it? And so what's next for you? What does the rest of the year have in store for you?

Carly (33:32)
Yeah.

Okay, so I am currently writing a few little pitches for things that I want to talk about. So going back to kind of taking the bull by the horns. So just kind of figuring out how I want to pitch the pitch. So that's quite exciting. And I want to do a more in-person stuff. Obviously, well, my business is online, but I still love meeting people in person. So I want to try and...

engage with the outside world a little more. So hopefully some more of that. And yeah, just building on everything else, building my podcast and keeping an eye on what's going on and trying to make sure I'm part of that conversation really.

Pippa Goulden (34:17)
Yeah,

amazing and tell people how how can they work with you and where can they find you?

Carly (34:22)
So you can find me mostly on Instagram and I'm at Carly Corrigal there. But I have a website which is clcfitness.co.uk. And to work with me, I have a few different programs, but my main ones are I have a fitness membership, which you do in your own time and it's all tailored to midlife women. And then I have a chunkier program, which is kind of the full shebang as I like to say. So it's looking at nutrition, sleep, stress, like everything that works.

And it's just all about getting us to feel incredible in midlife because I don't subscribe to the myth that we can just, it's so-so, just getting by. We can absolutely feel fantastic. The best is yet to come, as I often say.

Pippa Goulden (34:58)
⁓ amazing, thank you so

much for sharing all your insight and well done you. Go and check out Carly's website because she's got all her press on there, you'll see all the amazing things she's been doing there. But yeah, thank you so much for coming on PR Made Simple.

Carly (35:12)
Thank you so much for having me. Bye.

Pippa Goulden (35:14)
Bye.

Pippa Goulden (35:17)
I love that chat with Carly. I hope it has shown you how you can get started with your own PR. And I think what was so insightful was actually what Carly can see it doing for her business. This isn't just about getting your picture in a glossy magazine. It's about building trust with your audience, about reaching new people, about creating that credibility that's going to really help them move through that consumer journey more quickly. And it's about creating ideas.

content ideas, all of that stuff, it really helps you through so many different areas of your business. And what I love seeing is that it's actually working for Carly as a core growth strategy for her business. So if you want a piece of the PR pie, there are a few different ways that you can work with me in my DIY PR membership like Carly.

available monthly or annually and the code POD50 will get you 50 % off your first month in there. You can work one-to-one in my accelerator with me for three or six months and that is where we really deep dive into your business. You have me on call to help you with strategy, with finding the right opportunities, with helping you with your pitches, basically everything you need to get going.

And hot off the press, I have just announced a brand new way of working with me, which is my CEO day, which is where we do all of this in person. So it's one full day working with me to nail your PR strategy, get over those mindset gremlins, get you going, get those pictures written, get your PR list, your media list, all the right targets for you and get you going. You're going to be sending that fucking email guys. And it includes 30 days of support afterwards as well. So you've got that accountability and the momentum to carry on.

All the information is on the prset.com or you can find me at Pippa the PR Set on Instagram or Pippa Gordon on LinkedIn. Slide into my DMs if you've got any questions or you can book a discovery call with me if you want to chat through which one is right for you. But I will see you again very soon for another episode of PR Made Simple.