IAM515- Podcast Hosts Focused on Navigating Your Career in PR

Pressing On in Public Relations is a new podcast focused on navigating your career in PR. Through our business adventures, Liselle DeGrave, owner of DeGrave Communications, Inc., and Rachel McGuire, owner of RMG Communications, show you an unscripted and authentic look at running successful public relations agencies.

In October, their first podcast episode aired on “collab-etition,” how to collaborate with the competition.

• CEO Hack: (1) Having an abundant mindset (2) Saying no to say yes
• CEO Nugget: Finding a mentor no matter where you are in your career
• CEO Defined: Caring for your people and projects you work on

Website: http://www.degravepr.com

Instagram: @PRessingOnInPR

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE

Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have two very special guests on the show today I have Liselle DeGrave and Rachel McGuire, a pressing on in public relations podcast.

Great to have you guys on the show.

Liselle DeGrave 0:42

Gresham, thanks.

Rachel McGuire 0:43

Thank you for having us. So nice to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:45

Yeah, super excited to have you guys both on. What I want to do is just read a little bit more about both of you so people can hear about all the awesome things that you guys are working on.

In the pressing on and public relations is a new podcast focused on navigating your career and PR through their business adventures. Liselle DeGrave the owner of Grave Communications Incorporated and Rachel McGuire, the owner of RMG Communications show you an unscripted and authentic look at running successful public relations agencies. In October the first podcast episode aired on “collab-etition,” how to collaborate with a competition? Hope. Great to have you guys both on the show.

Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Liselle DeGrave 1:24

We're ready.

Gresham Harkless 1:26

Let's do it. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your guys's ceo stories and what led you guys to kind of start your business and start your podcast.

Rachel McGuire 1:34

Well, this is Rachel and I'll go first. And both of us have unique stories on how we got here that are different, but we do the same kind of work now. I spent 15 years working in government public relations and wound up at a firm that serves 1 million customers out in Southern California. But I always really knew there was something more that I was meant to do when I wanted to have a little more flexibility with my life and design a business that I was proud of.

And late last year, I went out on my own and formed RMG Communications. And it's great. We've already had one award winner under our belt for our great work. That just happened last week. And it was actually in “collab-etition,” with Liselle firm DeGRave that we went in with the client and did some great, exciting work for them. And so my business continues to flourish and grow. But I'm just in a different place right now than Liselle. She already has about 15 years as a business owner under her belt. And she's been great at offering me advice and expertise on how to grow and scale my business.

Liselle DeGrave 2:39

And my journey is a little bit different. I started my business degree in communications when I was in college and had no idea what I was doing and had no PR experience. I was a PR student in college. But I always knew that I wanted to run my own business. And so I started it. Originally it was more of a side hustle. And I went I worked in corporate America. I worked for a large agency, and I've worked in government. And, that's where I met Rachel, I was working part-time while I was also running my own business, till I got to the point where I didn't need to work there anymore. I was able to sustain myself running my business and kind of letting go of what most would think of as a safer, safer job. But that's where I met Rachel.

And right off the bat, we just hit it off. When Rachel went out on her own about a year ago, I realized that this could be versus seeing this as somebody that might threaten my business saw it as an excellent opportunity. Because we know that we work well together, we're friends, and we have to set the guidelines right up front before we work on a project together. But I feel like it is an absolute blessing that Rachel is out on her own. And even though we have the same network enjoy the same type of work, and take on the same types of projects, it is you can compete or not compete with the competition, you can choose to work together and we'd like to call that “collab-etition,”

Gresham Harkless 4:07

Yeah, absolutely. Why, you know, appreciate that. And I think you always, you know, become you know, whatever your environment is. And I think one of the I think the seven habits of highly effective people is being able to kind of sharpen the saw. And there's no better way to do that. And somebody you connect with well, you collaborate Titian well with it. So if I said that correctly if I use that correctly, but I think it's just so important to be and be able to kind of both, you know, continue to get better to be able to work together and be able to be better, you know, experts at what it is that you do.

Liselle DeGrave 4:35

Absolutely. I agree. And oftentimes when you're working in a smaller shop, you feel you feel isolated, you can feel like you're alone, have somebody we're texting each other throughout the day, hey, why aren't we doing this this way? Or have you thought about doing this or I know this sounds crazy. And it's it's great to have somebody to be able to bounce off ideas, especially when you're similar. A lot of times Rachel sends me an email or text messages at night, and I text her the same thing back. Well, but I think to that point we also balanced ourselves out well with still have different business strengths than I do. So as much as we're alive, which also lends to working well together, we also have enough that's different that we can come together and form more strengths of what what we have deficiencies at.

Gresham Harkless 5:21

Yeah, absolutely. And I think anytime you kind of, you know, want to work together work on different projects. And even as you guys, you know, kind of talk about and sounds like you're talking about as well, too, is just improving yourselves as public relations professionals as well, too, you want to be able to do that. So, and I know obviously, one of those things that you guys have been able to work on together is the podcast, I wanted to hear a little bit more about the podcast, things that you're covering, of course about, you know, your first episode and all the awesome things we can find on the show.

Rachel McGuire 5:45

Yes, so we launched our first episode in October of 2019. That focused on specifically the competition and how to work together with other agencies and giving other people tips on how to leverage and scale their business by partnering with others. But um, we're also trying to just do an overall public relations podcast with different tips, tricks to help to help those PR folks, whether they're in an agency, whether they're working still in-house somewhere, to give them that information and those tools and tips they need to help grow their careers.

Liselle DeGrave 6:21

And we want the podcast to be raw and authentic. There's a lot of public relations that may sound glamorous, and it doesn't mean that it always is. Our first episode on “collab-etition,”, I think was it was great, because people kept asking us, okay, wait, what am I hiring? What sells agency? Am I hiring Rachel's agency? So we kind of go into some of that detail on how we decide what project might go under which agency. Our November podcast is going to be on how to start your own business. And as we mentioned before, Rachel and I have two very different stories of how we got to where we are today.

But that is probably the number one question that we get asked, Rachel left a really what would most consider a safe, safe job with benefits. Government retirement, and now she's on her own. And she's thriving. And so people are, I think a lot of people want that as well. And they want to know how it can be possible. We think it is.

Rachel McGuire 7:18

It is possible. And I think that's going to be the exciting part about that show and just exploring how you know, sometimes you do have to sacrifice and sometimes there are things that you're grateful for I know Liselle has a family and her husband, and has those benefits and has kind of a stable paycheque through her husband, but I don't I'm a single cat mom. And I've had to scale back. And I started doing that in 2016, I kind of woke up and I realized that I had everything I never wanted. And I was fighting to keep it I had that MC home, I had the big mortgage, I had the fun car, the great job, and the traveling. And I just woke up one day and was really like, what am I doing this, this is not what I signed up for. And I thought achieving all those things, I would feel excited and I would have made it.

But in looking back, I just realized that I was so out of alignment with what I wanted to do following my passions and following what would bring me joy, that I wasn't happy. And I didn't feel fulfilled no matter how much I was making no matter how perfect my house was or how perfect my life looked. So I've had to scale back a little to start up again. And I'm already a profitable business. But you know, my situation is just a little different. So together, though I think it kind of is going to show that balance of no matter where you're coming from, you can make it work.

Liselle DeGrave 8:36

Yeah. And the funny thing is, Rachel and I are almost the same age. And we were just getting we're getting close to that 40-year mark. And when she was still working in the house, we would joke when we're 40 we're gonna go out on our own, we're gonna go out on our own. And, you know, it may not look exactly like we had originally thought, but we're kind of already doing it. And this podcast is sort of, I say the culmination of that. It's a fun project. A lot of times when you work, we do a lot of work with government and public agencies. And it's not sometimes you're dealing with boards and counsel, and you're limited on the level of creativity that you're able to project and that, for me, that's really, that is constraining and I have a hard time with that.

So I love this podcast, because we've set up our website, and we get to record it regularly. We're out shooting photos, we're sharing valuable information, which is something we're both passionate about. We love mentorship we love. Our December December podcast is going to be on I'm calling we're calling it Confessions of an Intern a PR intern because we have some pretty bad self-exposing stories of some gifts that we did as interns but there's always something to learn from that and we're tying that in with Tips and Tricks for somebody that's starting their career. I don't think it's just public relations, but really any industry and so there's we want to use the podcast as a way to be able to share what PR what PR is about and navigate your career in public relations.

Gresham Harkless 10:08

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I was going to ask you guys for what I call a CEO hack. And that might be it right there. Because I was, you know, thinking it as you guys were talking about that a fluent mindset, or having that the abundant mindset is a better word of understanding that there's more than enough to go around Do you feel like that is maybe a habit or CEO hack could be like an apple book or a habit, but do you think that's a habit that helps you, you know, run your business and approach even your podcast and everything you're doing?

Rachel McGuire 10:36

I think so. And I think another thing we both are into is neuro hacking and listening to how you can reset your mind from a lot of those places where you're coming from that lack mindset into that of abundance. And, and it's nothing that you would describe as woo-woo. But it's seeing those manifestation techniques that have been proven by science, to help retrain your brain to think successfully. And that's I think, we're, I never have a worry that there's not going to be work coming or that someone's going to get the client that I wanted, well, that might happen. I also know there's enough, enough is going around, and there's going to be probably something bigger and better around the corner.

Liselle DeGrave 11:16

I agree, you do need to have that abundance mindset. I know a lot of people struggle with the idea of scarcity. And if I don't get this client, my business isn't going to grow. And you end up taking on projects that you regret, you don't enjoy them. They're wrong, right from the beginning, you don't trust your gut instinct. And you have to remind yourself that saying no to one thing opens you up to be able to say yes to something else. And that yes, maybe something that you would have never dreamt could even be possible to say no is saying yes.

Gresham Harkless 11:49

I appreciate you guys for reminding us of that. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. And this could be like a word of wisdom something PR-related, that you guys might touch on in your podcast. But what is something that we can take and learn as entrepreneurs and business owners to be more successful,

Rachel McGuire 12:06

I would have to say, for me, it's finding a mentor, no matter where you are in your career, you always want to have people in your circle who are at that next phase or a few stages ahead. And and be able to tap into that and have them there to provide that open honest feedback on how you're doing or be able to have a conversation with them. And get those nuggets that are going to help you move to the next level.

Gresham Harkless 12:32

I appreciate that in those nuggets. Now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different, quote and quote, CEOs on this show.

So Liselle and Rachel, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Liselle DeGrave 12:45

I'm not sure what Gresh is, but for me, one of the reasons that I started my business was to be able to control my schedule and the flexibility of time. So as a CEO, I value the time that I spend with my family, the time that I'm invested in my projects. That's that's what it's all about for me.

But as a CEO, I also have a responsibility to care for the people that are on my team. That's a big responsibility to care for your people, to care for the projects that you work on, people are investing money in your business, and that's a that's a big undertaking.

Rachel McGuire 13:25

I would agree with what Liselle said. I think for both of us, also just being able to do good with our businesses and be able to give back, one of the things we're both looking at doing on our own is setting up nonprofits next year, to continue to help and to continue to help others thrive. I think for both of us, it's pretty special to see that you can start your own business and then also help support others in small businesses, whether it's your employees or contractors.

That's something really special and something we're both proud of too.

Liselle DeGrave 14:00

And as a CEO of a thriving business. I know a lot of times when people are getting started in business they have they feel guilty, or they feel bad about asking for, you know, you're not asking for money, you're trading a service or a product in exchange for money. But people have a hard time with that. But I always like to be remembered. And so I always like to be reminded that if you aren't making, I like to remind people that if you aren't making money, you can't give money. And I think as a CEO that also ties back into the flexibility of time. If I don't have time available, which I can create that time being a CEO, I can't give that time so I can't serve other organizations. I can't work at the food pantry on a Monday if I'm in a nine-to-five job. So to me as a CEO of my company. That's something that I value.

Gresham Harkless 14:54

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And that kind of sometimes we forget why we do exactly what we do. But as you talked about the nonprofits being to give back and to be and have that freedom to do that is, you know, something that's important. So I you know, appreciate those definitions. Appreciate those perspectives. And I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you wanted to let our readers and listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get a hold of you and subscribe to the podcast, of course.

Rachel McGuire 15:20

Yes. So thank you so much for having us on. We've enjoyed our time together. And for your listeners, if they're interested in learning more about us, they can check us out by pressing podcast.com or follow us on Instagram by pressing NPR.

Liselle DeGrave 15:35

Our podcast is available anywhere you can hear podcasts Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, and many more.

Gresham Harkless 15:44

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much. And we will have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. And of course, subscribe to the podcast but I appreciate you appreciate your time. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 15:56

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless.

Thank you for listening.

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