IAM562 – Brand Influencer Elevates Brands to Fulfill Their Dreams

Caroline Kalentzos is the CEO + Head Doll at POSH PR® and Brand Influencer at @thecarolinedoll on Instagram. She has been recognized as a social media expert by Forbes, is an international speaker, and has worked with clients like Tiffany & Co. and Saks Fifth Avenue. Caroline started POSH PR® to work with fashion, beauty, and lifestyle entrepreneurs to elevate their brands to create the life they had always dreamed of—just like she did when starting her company. Now, she’s running a full-service agency with services that range from Branding, PR, Social Media Management, and Content Creation.

• CEO Hack: Managing my calendar to maximize my time and avoid double-booking
• CEO Nugget: There's no such thing as competition when you build a brand
• CEO Defined:  Being the curator and builder of your dream life

Website: https://poshpr.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecarolinedoll
https://www.instagram.com/poshpr

https://www.thebossdoll.com

http://www.thecarolinedoll.com

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. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. Caroline, Doll of POSH PR®. Carolina is awesome to have you on the show.

Caroline Kalentzos 0:39

Thank you so much, excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

Yeah, no problem. Super excited to have you on and I wanted to read a little bit more about Caroline so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Caroline is the CEO and head doll at POSH PR and a brand influencer as Caroline doll on Instagram. She has been recognized as a social media expert by Forbes and is an international speaker and has worked with clients like Tiffany and Co, Saks Fifth Avenue. Caroline started posh PR to work with fashion, beauty, and lifestyle entrepreneurs to elevate their brands in order to create the life they had always dreamed of, just like she did when started her company.

Now she's running a full-service agency with services that range from branding, PR, social media management, and content creation. Caroline, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Caroline Kalentzos 1:27

I can't wait.

Gresham Harkless 1:28

Awesome. Let's do it. So to start everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. And what led you to get started with your business?

Caroline Kalentzos 1:35

Yes, okay. Absolutely. So it's funny because never thought I would ever be an entrepreneur. But when I started my company, about seven years ago, I was still in medical sales. I was a national sales manager for a smaller technology-oriented company, and I actually used to launch new drugs. And in that time, I always say that my God-given gift is selling, that's just what I do. So as a sales manager, of course, being a good salesperson was important. Launching new drugs is something that I never thought that I would really fall in love with a product launch. And so I will never forget the day I was at the pool on a pink flamingo pool float.

And I called my mom and I said, Mom, I am going to leave my six-figure medical sales job. And I'm going to start my own company, I'm going to wear two skirts, and I'm going to work with fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands. And I want to launch their brand. And she thought I was crazy.

People thought I was crazy. But I believe that when you marry your God-given gifts with what you're passionate about, you are unstoppable. And so that is how POSH PR was born in an effort to take, you know, my God, given gifts of, sales and PR and marketing, and understanding how to elevate a brand. And pair that with fashion, beauty lifestyle, and female entrepreneurs.

Gresham Harkless 3:01

Nice, I definitely appreciate that. And I appreciate it, breaking it down. Because I think so many times, we have to sometimes know,  what we're what our God-given gifts are. And we try to marry that. And a lot of times the world and a lot of people sometimes that are closest to us don't necessarily always agree. But a lot of times we have to take that step and take that leap. And then a lot of times good things start to happen from there.

Caroline Kalentzos 3:24

100%.

Gresham Harkless 3:26

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I know you touched on it a little bit. Can you take us through exactly, exactly how you work with clients do POSH PR, and some other things that you do?

Caroline Kalentzos 3:33

Yeah, of course, so, we are a full-service agency, from branding and PR enforcement specializing in partnerships with fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands worldwide. But it's funny because when I started POSH PR I was like, I don't need any employees. I'm going to do this by myself. And I'm like seven employees later, the full-service agency later, you cannot do all the things by yourself, our clients range from brands such as  Tiffany and Co. and Saks Fifth Avenue. And you mentioned earlier, but all the way to the female entrepreneur who will call me and say, Caroline, I want to launch a lipstick line. And we will take her from that concept to full creation.

So, taking her big dream and her big idea and really helping her bring that to life. And that is, from building your logo and all for graphic design, executing your branding shoot to get that visual content needed for all her digital marketing, building and coding her website, social media marketing, and really, all the things in between all the way to building brand authority through media features. So all the things, all the things launching brands.

Gresham Harkless 4:45

Nice. I definitely appreciate that because I think so many times, entrepreneurs inventors, and business owners have a certain vision. Well, yeah, they have a vision I guess for what they want to create, why they want to create it but a lot of times they don't know how to move beyond that and to be able to have experts like yourself that they're able to lead on and understand that you've been able to do this for so long and then it and looked at it, from the way you were doing the pharmaceutical sales as well to you have that experience to be able to help them to be able to do that.

Caroline Kalentzos 5:13

Yes, no, it's incredible. And I always tell my clients, if you come to me, and you are passionate about what your big dream is, it will be successful, because I know we can build a beautiful brand, but I can't get you out of bed. So if you're not passionate about the work that we're doing here, you know, passion is really what should be driving you. So I can relate to that completely.

Gresham Harkless 5:35

Yeah, it makes so much sense. And you can teach a lot of things you can read a lot of business books and, and do a lot of courses and things like that. But you cannot really teach passion. So the important part is that you're passionate about what it is that you're creating. You're doing.

Caroline Kalentzos 5:47

Exactly right.

Gresham Harkless 5:48

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So you might have already touched on this, but I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And it could be for you personally or for your business. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Caroline Kalentzos 5:58

I love that. So I was thinking a lot about this question. And I had probably 10 different answers. But then I really took a step back and realized this POSH PR secret sauce is that we truly become your business best friend. And I say that, with a full heart because my clients over the years have become my best friends. And, I built this brand to serve other brands, I love to work with clients that I love to work with a team that I love, and they become our extended family. And of course, as a full-service agency, doing all the things for a brand to launch, we pretty much always have a doll for that.

So, anything a business owner might need, from social media and branding and website design and brand partnerships. We have someone at POSH PR who can become your business best friend and walk you through anything that you would need for your business and your launch.

Gresham Harkless 6:55

Yeah, it makes so much sense. And just like in life, you mean going through, sometimes difficult times, sometimes a great time you want to be able to call in and be able to tell your best friend. So to have that in businesses, definitely, you know, something that everybody should want to have at their fingertips.

Caroline Kalentzos 7:10

Yes, I love that.

Gresham Harkless 7:11

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app a book or a habit that you have. What's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Caroline Kalentzos 7:24

Okay, so great question and you're probably going to laugh at me. But I use my calendar app on my phone, nothing crazy. I'm literally on my calendar constantly. I feel like that has completely changed. My productivity has changed the way I operate in terms of time management, with so much going on, from meetings and travel and speaking engagements, and being able to juggle everything. But the real hack is this. And it's a secret that I am now sharing with you that's really not that big of a secret. But if we are booking a client meeting, for example.

And let's say I sent one of my clients, Tiffany & Co. and I said, Hey, Kate, I would love to chat with you. How does three o'clock tomorrow, work for your schedule, I'm gonna put a TBD on my calendar for three o'clock tomorrow. In case any of my seven other employees happened to be booking an appointment for me at the same time, they will not double-book Caroline that has been my number one business hack of not being double-booked and managing my calendar in order to maximize my time and be able to fit in all of my clients and all of the things into our crazy busy weeks, as efficiently as possible.

Gresham Harkless 8:43

Nice, I appreciate that. I definitely am laughing at that. But probably not for the same reasons. As I have said do you want to meet at three o'clock tomorrow? And then I turned to my calendar. I'm actually booked with somebody else. Right after I say that. So I know how difficult that can be. So that is a phenomenal hack to make sure to block it out just so that nobody else can take it.

Caroline Kalentzos 9:03

Exactly right.

Gresham Harkless 9:05

Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this could be like a word of wisdom or piece of advice can be around PR or branding. But what's a word of wisdom or piece of advice that you can give to us?

Caroline Kalentzos 9:17

So something that I actually said, years ago, I was speaking at a conference, I think in Nashville, and I said, if you stay true to yourself, you have no competition. And I said that years ago and it just gave me goosebumps just now saying it again because it's even true seven years later. If you build your brand around trying to be like your competition or defining your competition, I mean, who cares about them, I don't care what they're doing, do you right? And if you stay true to yourself, you cannot serve your clients better than you. Your ideal client is your ideal client because you are serving them not because of what your competition offers. It's you. And I believe that there is no such thing as competition when you build a brand, that's true to you.

Gresham Harkless 10:08

Absolutely. I think that's a great word of wisdom. And I think so many times, you're always looking, you know, kind of like with your blind with the blinds open and trying to look out to see what everybody's doing. But a lot of the work that we need to do is internal. And look at who we are and how we can best showcase  who we are, what we stand for, and what our companies and our brands stand for as well.

Caroline Kalentzos 10:27

Exactly right. 100%. I'm on the same page.

Gresham Harkless 10:31

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So Caroline, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Caroline Kalentzos 10:43

Well, it's funny, I laugh at this question because if my mom were to give you the answer, she would say, well, Caroline, you were CEO, when you were three years old, or four years old, when you come home from school, with your dress pocket skulls with quarters, because you were selling your crayons to the other kids at school. It's funny, because I never thought that I was an entrepreneur, but apparently, it wasn't a mystery. So to me, at the time, that was my dream life, right, selling my crayons free school, for whatever reason was my dream life.

So now building my dream life and dream brand is so important to me—but even more so to my clients. So even true when I was three years old to right now, being a CEO means elevating her brand, so she can live the life, she's always dreamed of living, and really being the curator of your dream life.

Gresham Harkless 11:36

Nice, I definitely appreciate that. And I think it puts everything in perspective of why you're doing the things that you're doing. I think so many times get caught into the I guess the day-to-day task of what it is that we do that we sometimes forget why exactly, we do what we do. So I appreciate that definition because it brings everything to light. And I appreciate that I appreciate your time, even more Carolina, what I wanted to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

Caroline Kalentzos 12:12

Yes. Okay. So the one thing that I can think of, I recently launched an ebook, for anyone looking to launch a lifestyle brand that might need help with how to do so. And for someone that's like me who basically wants something done yesterday, it's helping you build a brand and 25 days. So that is so exciting, for clients that aren't able to work with us, on a full-scale level, I know it's an investment to build a brand, but we decided to be able to touch more brands and more, entrepreneurs. This ebook is a quick fix for someone looking for a step-by-step guide to launching a brand in 25 days. And that can be found on the bosuball.com.

And I'm so excited for that official new launch. And I really just want to say, one last little, I guess, just piece of advice. Just really not taking no for an answer, and always finding a creative way to work towards your result. And that's something that I built my brand based upon that, when I started my company seven years ago, what we do now didn't really exist. And so, being the pioneer of something new is scary. And, I always look back and say, okay, well, if you aren't where you want to be now, start changing where you are now. And so my advice is just to keep, running full force towards your dreams.

Gresham Harkless 13:36

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much. We will have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can get a copy of that, that resource that you that you've mentioned as well, too. And I thank you again for that reminder because I think so many times that the most successful people think success is a straight line. But often it isn't we have to think creatively about how to get exactly where we want to be. And sometimes it's very often it's not a straight line at all. So we have to make sure that we do that and we don't take no for an answer to make sure that that happens.

Caroline Kalentzos 14:03

Yes, absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 14:06

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, appreciate you again, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Caroline Kalentzos 14:10

Oh, thanks you too. Gresh bye.

OUTRO 14:13

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at IAMCEO.COM. 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.CEO GEAR.CO. This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening

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