How do you develop the right messaging, get it in front of the right audience, with the right timing, for maximum impact? Join us to find out this and so much more on this edition of The Inside BS Show. Hey now, I'm Nikki G. This is The Inside BS Show. We are joining you live again from the Design District and Global Furniture Group space in Miami.

Beautiful space. We are now recording for our second time in a row here. I've got my co-host with me, Dave Lorenzo, the godfather of growth.

Dave, good morning. How are you? Hey now, Nikki G. I am absolutely fantastic. It was like you almost didn't know my name there for a minute.

You were like a big pause before co-host, this guy, Dave Lorenzo. All right, so let's get into what we came here to talk about today. Our guest today is Carla Cabrero.

She got her chops in probably the most difficult environment other than a prison. She handled communications for Miami International Airport, which is not only one of the busiest airports on earth, it's also in one of the most screwed up places on earth, Miami. So when you combine busy with screwed up, you get Miami International Airport.

So Carla, welcome to the show. Tell us first and foremost, why communications? How did you get into communications in the first place? That's kind of funny. And I've thought about this a lot of times and I tell people because I think it's so insane.

I'm very much an introvert. I'm very much a behind the scenes kind of girl. I love people and I love working with people, but I'm very much reserved and more to myself.

And I find that I very much pursue a challenge. I want to find ways to grow, to amplify, to be better, to be bigger, to be that 1% every single day, every single week, month, whatever it is. And I was a pre-med student for three years, actually.

Wow. Yeah. And I was working at the hospital.

I went to University of Florida, go Gators. Working at the hospital, 40 hours a week and a full-time student. And I was looking at the people around me and I didn't really think that they were as happy as I thought that they were going to be and fulfilled.

And I was like, man, maybe this isn't the path. So I made the decision to take an exploratory semester. I stayed back one summer in Gainesville, didn't come home to Miami and started looking to see what I could do.

And I went into a nursing exploratory. I think was like, uh, you know, humanities. And then there was PR.

I took an internal PR course and I thought we were actually looking at like the Exxon oil spill and like all of the effects of that. And something that I had, you know, grown up seeing, watching, but not understanding really the mechanics or like the whole strategy that went behind that response. And I was like, this is it.

I'm going to, I'm going to do it. This is a challenge. This is interesting.

I was always a very good writer and things like that. And so I was like, we're going for it. And we did.

And I got a master's after that. And here we are today. Okay.

So your first job out of school with your master's was, I actually had a bachelor's and I started working. So I did my master's while I was also working full time, but it was an agency job. So I was working at a, again, not, not something I pursued, just something that kind of like fell on my lap, a travel, um, a boutique agency.

So they did like hotels. He did destinations, visit Costa Rica, things like that. And it was so fun.

And it was so cool. And I was doing a lot of social media at the time. So we were doing all these like, you know, videos of like people in these tropical destinations, like mixing drinks on like time lapses of the sunset.

And people were like eating it up. And we were bringing like influencers and writers down to like the properties or the countries, Costa Rica. And we were, um, you know, sending them down like a waterfall repelling, and they were like writing about it.

And I was like, Oh my God, this is like so much fun. This is like, so cool. You know, I want to do this forever.

Um, and it was great. But then I got a call one day to go to a different agency. And that agency didn't only do travel PR didn't only do hospitality, they did law firms, they did financial institutions, we did banks, we did real estate.

So I really like diversified my like view into the whole thing, and really took a step back from the social media to do more like traditional media relations. So really also kind of like got my chops there, because I really had to like, realize and hone in on the fact that like, if you understand the principles of how PR works, and how a PR strategy can be made effective, you can apply that anywhere across the gamut and like be successful. So what made you decide to transition from that first firm to the second? Because let's face it, you were you're living the life of a college student right out of college, you're doing you know, the most exciting thing, what you should do is travel, you know, see the world do something really fun and interesting.

So what led you to make that decision to go to the second pursuit of expansion, social media was something that I essentially, you know, grew up with Facebook was a thing when I was in high school. So I could understand blogs. And I could understand all these platforms in ways that a lot of people in the industry maybe didn't because they weren't that immersed or weren't that familiar.

And I had the portfolio to prove it, you know, I had done a lot of like internships and national competitions and things like that in college to be able to really run this for a brand, you know, and pursuit of the expansion, right? I know I'm really good at social, I know I can do social with my eyes closed. But there's a whole world of like traditional and all these other kinds of communications that I've studied that maybe I haven't had a huge opportunity to like, practice in real life. And like, this is terrifying.

And like, oh my god, PR for a bank or PR for an attorney for like a Ponzi scheme, you know, I was like, what does that even like look like? You know, do I even have like the the understanding of the industry or of the subject matter to even speak about this intelligently, on behalf of like a partner at a firm on behalf of like, the person who runs the bank, you know, whoever it is. And I was like, you know what, I'm gonna figure it out, like, I'm gonna figure it out, because that's gonna be make me a better PR person, that's gonna give me more confidence, that's gonna open the door to like other opportunities. And so I just jumped.

And obviously, it was like, you know, more money, but I was like, I'm going for it. Like, I'm gonna figure it out. I'm gonna do this.

So what some of the work that you were doing at that stage, we had law firms, we had law firms that were involved with like SEC, you know, complaints and SEC filings, and all these things. And we were essentially helping them unravel Ponzi schemes. And like, I remember we used to get phone calls at like three o'clock and say, like, the court just unsealed all this stuff that we've been working on for like a year.

And like, here's 80 pages of legal documents that you literally now have to go through, understand, synthesize into like a press release. And we're doing like, you know, a press conference tomorrow, that kind of stuff. And I was like, Oh my god, like insane, insane.

Also a lot of fun stuff. Intercontinental Hotel Group was one of the clients that I represented at that firm. And so a lot of going into Argentina with a group of journalists and like doing all these amazing, you know, wine tours and all these other things.

So it was like, you know, very different every hour and every day was different. I worked for like financial institutions. So doing their filings on their like earnings, and you know, a lot more of like the square corporate kind of like drafting remarks for executives, you know, things like that.

But it was just so varied and so different. And I knew that I had the incredible opportunity to be such a sponge. And I worked under an incredible senior vice president at that firm who like really took me under her wing.

And like, you know, let me let me kind of run within, let me kind of learn and let me kind of try. She was like that incredible safety net. I was actually at lunch with her for like two hours last week, we still keep in touch.

But I knew I knew that I was in this position where, yes, there was a lot of work. And I was a person with the most varied portfolio at the agency at the time. But I knew that I could like harness all of that and turn it into growth and opportunity for myself.

And like, that's really what what constantly drives me even today. Carly, your passion is a force. There is a whole group of our audience out there right now that is rethinking their careers, hearing how exciting this space is, because it really shines through what you do.

And you're making some of this sound quite sexy. SEC filings, you're reviewing. None of that is enjoyable.

It's like gossip, though. It's like a lawyer's work. At that point, you're doing the lawyer's work, having to, you know, and we have to like review mass amounts of information, synthesize that, distill it into just the takeaway points.

And the fact you're able to do that is incredible. I mean, so this is challenging. It's not just easy work.

It's it may be very interesting, but this is challenging work you're describing. Absolutely. And I think like even to this day, again, it's one of the things that keeps me like in love with this industry and with the work that I do.

It's like I can take on a new client today and they're in an industry that I know nothing of. They're going through like funding and investing and all this stuff. And I have to myself do so much learning on my own to get up to speed, to be able to give them the service and the strategy and the advice that they deserve, that I really think like for someone like me, like that's it could be very frustrating and a huge turnoff for some people.

But for me, it's like, oh, my God, I'm in a whole new world. Right. Again, I know my job.

I know my work. I know how my industry works. But now I have to understand you and your business and your industry basically almost want to be you when I'm drafting remarks and when I'm doing things on your behalf.

But I'm not. And it gives me like a lot of flexibility in that sense and a lot of like, I think, endless opportunity. Absolutely.

I mean, you guys become a lifelong learner. Yeah. When you have to learn other industries and businesses.

And if you're someone who thrives off of that, it's such a great role for you. Yeah. Part of the reason that you have to have a good understanding or you have to have a good capability to dig into things is because you have to match message with audience with the right delivery vehicle.

Right. Talk to us. Talk to the folks who are listening about crafting a message from the perspective of the receiver.

And let's let me let's get into it this way. What percentage of your clients come to you and they say, Carla, here's my message. And you got to go.

That's your message. Right. Explain what I'm talking about.

Yeah. I think that, you know, a lot of times people want to talk or want to say or want to like be show up where they think that they're reading the way that they think that they want to speak the way that they think that they want to communicate. And sometimes that works.

Right. If you're talking as yourself as a thought leader, some of that works. But it's so important to really understand, like, first and foremost, who is your audience? Right.

Who are you trying to reach with this message? And is it a colleague? Is it, you know, industry? Is it trade? Is it a consumer? Like, who are you trying to reach? And then like, number one, where are they? Right. And where they are is going to determine then how you're going to talk to them. And so the message in the key message may be the same no matter where you are.

Right. Your message will be the same. And your, you know, your proposition is probably the same, but you really need to tweak that and cater it depending on what audience you're talking to, where they're showing up.

You're not going to talk on LinkedIn the same way that you do on your Instagram or the same way that you do on a blog or the same way that maybe you do on TV. And I work with my attorneys a lot on this, right? They want to get on TV and they want to explain things that they're talking to an average consumer sitting at home on the couch, you know, in like legalese and in like very practical and like, and it's really not how that works. You need to really change the way that you're messaging the exact same thing that you're talking about, whether it's a prenup, a divorce, finances, whatever the case is.

But you need to talk to somebody who doesn't understand a lot of these terms and doesn't understand your day-to-day and what you do. So catering that message to what is going to resonate or how it's going to resonate with the audience that you need to actually have an impact on is crucial. So what's the best way to grab them by the collar and say, your message has to originate around the kitchen table.

Your message has to start with what's going on in the mind of the client. Give us an example of how you do that. Give us an example from one of your clients, how you connect with your client and you say to your client, I know you think your message is this, but this is what the person who you're trying to reach is thinking.

You know what I do sometimes I just pull up what their competitors are saying or how they're talking or where they're showing up. And I'm saying, this is just, yes, this is your message and this is where you want to go. But if you think X brands, X competitor is effective and you want to, you know, you don't always want to, but sometimes you want to emulate what they're doing, or you want to show up in the same spaces as your competitor, look at what they're saying, look at where they're doing it and it's working for them, right? You think that they're doing well, so we need to emulate some of that.

Maybe we need to take a step back from like, you know, the legalese or we need to take a step back from like wanting to be so luxury and alienating this whole entire audience that you think is not your audience, but that could potentially be your audience. So I think one of the best ways is just show them what the other people are doing. Yeah.

Excellent example, pointing out the competitors. It's something that Dave and I have mentioned to clients to take a look at. Always.

Let's do this. Give us an example how you help somebody change the messaging, what they were trying to do with it and the way you helped them change it so we can really help our audience understand what we're talking about here. I work with a nonprofit and we were doing a segment on Give Miami Day and they wanted to, basically the segment on TV was just intended to inform people of their nonprofit and what they were doing, right? But, you know, this person had a preconceived notion of like all these things that I need to say about the organization and how we work and what we do and we help this percent and that percent to the point where like the message of like what it is that they do was not going to get across.

And when you're on broadcast, which is another thing, you've got maybe a three to five minute segment, right? Where you have to go through the whole entire interview in three to five minutes, not just like one question and you need to speak in sound bites, right? So I said, listen, the top line goal here is for people to be familiar with this organization, right? And I said, what you need to do is they need to understand what you do, why you do it and what problem you solve and why they should donate. We've got four things to talk about, right? That's all we're going to talk about in this interview. We're not going to talk about like all this other additional research and all these other things, because at the end of the day, number one, the average consumer is not really going to like, you know, it's going to go over their head.

And number two, they're going to want to know, pulling at the heartstrings, what huge problem it is that you're going to solve and why you're going to like change the landscape of like Miami-Dade County through this incredible work. They need to know why the work you do matters, what the work is that you do and how they can help. Like, that's it.

Beyond that, they're not going to capture any of that. And we did do that. We were media training for, I think like two hours, the Friday before the segment, it was a Monday taping and we went through it.

We went through it and I took her backwards and forwards and I asked her the questions back and forth and you know, she did really good on the segment and it ended up being like a five minute segment. We got a ton of features and things like that, but it's a lot of just coaching them and saying like, if you were sitting in front of the TV, I also tell them sometimes, I had somebody come up to me like, I want coverage, but like, it's on this real estate project, but they were a realtor and they like, didn't want to go through the developer. And I said, what articles are you out there reading that feature only a realtor specific to a real estate development and don't talk about the developer? None.

Like there is no media coverage around that, right? So I really have them watch back tapes and watch of themselves, have them repeat their answers and have them look and see like what others look like and who they want to emulate so that they can really learn what that actually sounds like, which is always, even for me, very different from what you think it should sound like, you know? So you said something at the outset that's really important that I want to make sure we stress to people. And when I said, why did you get into, you know, what is Stratcom? And you said, well, I was a good writer. I want to make sure that we stress to people that for everything we're talking about, the foundation is right.

How often do your clients just gloss over that? Because my experience is the clients are not, they're not, they're like, I'm not going to write. I want to get on TV. I want to, you know, get me on TikTok.

I, you know, let me, let me, let me teach me how to do good videos so that I can create, you know, three minutes on TikTok that's going to really connect with people and go viral. But they don't realize that if you can write a message in three paragraphs that really moves people, if you can write a message in two and a half paragraphs that makes people cry, then you can do a video that's going to, that's going to connect with people. You can do a speech, tell a story in the beginning of a speech that's going to connect with people.

Explain how you break through that barrier with these knucklehead clients who are like, I don't want to, I don't want to write. I just want to, I just want to go on YouTube. I would say, are you going to go on YouTube and just like improvise the whole entire thing? Like that makes absolutely no sense.

You at the very least need an outline, right? What points are you going to hit? What key messages do you want to hit throughout? I also personally would never advise anybody to do a three minute TikTok video. I think our attention spans are so much shorter. And I think one of the huge things that I help my clients with, especially like in the thought leadership space and like, you know, executive positioning and things like that.

It's like, when I get to write about you and your accomplishments, I look at you from a completely different lens than you do. Right. And I think that a lot of times they're like, wow, this makes me sound really good.

And it's like, well, there's no fluff there. It's all exactly what you've done. We've just messaged it in a way that's much more impactful, right? That really like drives that, that key message in the bottom line for you.

And that creates a brand for you. And so I think like that for me is really exciting. And that's the reason why a lot of people like tap me.

But also I think that we have to also tell our clients like attention spans are shorter and shorter and shorter every single day. And that's not just your audiences. And it doesn't matter if that's, you know, on LinkedIn, it doesn't matter if it's on broadcast or on radio and in print, whatever, we need to teach them to like speak in sound bites.

And that's not something that's very natural to a lot of people. And so we need to train them to think like that, to write like that. Even when I pitch the media, I try to keep my pitches to 250 words or less.

And so what you have to do is you have to be a very good writer to squeeze all of the meaning and all of the things that you want to squeeze into there in 250 words or less without losing any of like what's going to convince them to write the story, to, you know, do the segment to whatever the case is. So I think the writing is like, honestly, I would say super crucial, only second to relationships. It's the foundation.

It's the foundation of it. This is why we do these exercises where we have other people introduce you when we hold when we do our events, because I'm going to find out what's really important for everybody to know about you. And when I introduce you, I'm going to do a better job introducing you then you're going to do introducing yourself because you live with yourself every day.

That's exactly right. So Carla, walk us through the process of how this looks like from the client's perspective, right? They meet you, I want you to really talk about how you work with them, like reviewing the writing and how long you take to train them, just generally speaking, because I know it can vary depending upon each client. A lot of times I do a lot of the writing for my clients.

And really, the truth is, and I can't knock them for this. A lot of the people that I work with are too busy to do it themselves. And it's part of the reason why they bring me on aside from the fact that obviously, I have the connections and the strategy and the PR plan, right? So regardless, I have a client, I onboard with them, I very clearly identify what their goals are, right? And I want to make sure that their goals are realistic to like a timeline, you know, so that we're not making like a PR resolution, we're making like an actual PR goal, right? With KPIs, with deliverables, with a plan, I give them a month to month, this month, you're going to get this, and this is what's going to happen.

And as a result, I'm going to deliver x, y, z, right? And that changes month to month based off of whether we're going after podcasts, whether we're going after broadcast, whether we're going off of just like desk sides with media, and we get boots to the ground. And if that means drafting nine out of 10 times, I will draft a first copy for my clients. A lot of times I'll jump on a call if possible and say, hey, I'm working on this, here are the questions, give me some like quick answers, because they don't have the time to sit down and write it, they don't want to do it, give me some quick answers, I will PR your answers, right? I will make them sound good, I will send them to you, you will give me whatever feedback, you will edit them for your voice, whatever the case is, and then we'll send it back.

Same thing with like whenever I have an opportunity for an op-ed, right? I'll talk to the client, hey, we want to place this op-ed, here's the idea, here's a timeliness, whatever, I will pitch that to a certain publication, a certain column, then I'll get the green light. And then I'll say, okay, now we can write it, right? Because we know that it's not just going to be like, you know, going off into the air, it's not going to land anywhere. We'll go ahead and again, sometimes I will draft that for them, sometimes I'll get on the phone and they'll tell me the points that they want to do.

But a lot of it is collaborative, it has to be because if not, then it's not authentic going back to what you were saying. And you know, at the end of the day, you hired me because you want to be a thought leader. And as much as I want to be a lifelong learner, and as much as I want to, you know, understand everything that you're doing and be able to speak to media intelligently about what you're working on or what your expertise is, I am not you.

So let's take one step back. And I want to make sure that people understand that you're first of all, if you're listening out there, I'm going to say it's a Carla doesn't have to don't don't write a press release. It's it's it's useless.

Here's the thing, you're going to do an outline for your segment, or you're going to do an outline for your article, or you're going to do an outline for your quick hit idea. And then you're going to take the outline to a professional like Carla and Carla is going to go, well, this is great. If it was 1990, we need to really update this and make it relevant to today.

So Carla will punch it up. And then she will pitch it to see if it has the opportunity, I would say legs, but I don't want to use industry jargon, see, see if it has the opportunity to get on the air or become an article or become a segment. And then if it does, because Carla is pitching it to a producer, she's pitching it to an editor, she's pitching it to somebody who's writing a story.

If that person is interested, then you can flesh out what I would call the nut graph, which is the paragraph that is the lead paragraph, which is the summary of the entire article with a hook at the at the at the outset. And if they bite on that, then you can write your full article, then you can rough out your full segment. But that is like 30 steps down the road.

You're, you're not, you're not writing an article unless you're writing for industry trade publications that accept everything. And there are some of those out there, but you're not writing, writing anything fully. You're giving Carla an outline and then Carla is going to punch it up so that it's acceptable to the media because she knows how they want stuff packaged.

Or I have the relationships so that I can, I, it happens, you know, uh, toward the end of, of 24, where I pitched a segment on TV for a chef and they were like, you know, this isn't as relatable to our audience, but you know, what would be still around the holiday theme and whatnot, this, this and that. And I went back to the client and I said, okay, well, you know, they're not really buying that, but how about this? And like, here's how we can make it work for you and how we can get an ROI out of it for you. And we got them on that second segment, which was nothing like we pitched.

And again, that's like the value of working with a publicist, I have the relationship and I can honestly pick up the phone and be like, this is what we really are thinking, but like, is this going to work? Is this not going to work? No, this isn't going to work, but here is what might, here's what is, here's what I can work with you on. And I think that that's super important as well. And I'm actually going to give you another maybe hot take on what it was that you just said about writing for the trade publications.

If you are writing for a trade publication that will publish anything that anyone writes without really any editorial overview, what really is the value of the stuff on there, you know? And are you really getting an ROI out of that? Is that really where you want to be showing up? Do people really regard that as like a publication that has, you know, the best thought leadership? Like what is, what value are you getting out of being, showing up there? So that's something else worth evaluating, you know, not just the fact that you got published, but like, what is this doing for me and who am I actually reaching and what value is coming out of that? I will say to the credit of like the journalists and the news teams and the editors and things like that. I mean, we've all seen what's happened to media over the last few years. And, you know, honestly, I don't think it's going to stop, right? There's less people, more beats.

There's entire beats that have like disappeared, you know, certain outlets that used to do like a calendar of events of like what to do this week. And like, that's gone. And the, you know, current events reporter is like nowhere to be found and like not existent, you know, newsrooms have definitely changed in landscape.

And definitely one of the, of the great value ads of having a public or being a good publicist is that you literally are as much of a client to, I think your client, I'm sorry, as much of a partner to your client as you are to the media and to the journalists, right? And they want to understand that you are a trustworthy source, that you are going to get them what you told them that you're going to get, whether it's an interview, a graphic photography, whatever, by the deadline that you said you were going to get it. You know, I actually just had, as I was walking in here, somebody emailed me, a producer saying, hey, my five o'clock for tomorrow just fell through. Can you like, you know, I had the, I had you lined up for later down the year, but can you like come in and help me now? Which I'm happy to do if I can save the day.

But I also think that, you know, those conditions have sometimes made it so that, you know, fact-checking isn't the same way that it used to be. I was just going to say, there's no fact-checking. Well, no, there are publications, New York Times, every time I get something in New York Times, you can bet somebody's going to write you and fact-check it.

The facts, I don't see the story. I don't get control over the narrative, but these are the facts. Let me know if this is accurate.

Yes, fine. So there will still be publications that are going to hold themselves to a very high standard. And there will be publications that won't, you know, a few publications specifically in the hospitality industry last year have taken to what are the most underrated or over the most overrated, you know, restaurants in Miami-Dade, you know, like, I don't necessarily know that's journalism and, and their sources, like an Instagram poll that we did, you know, like, is that really journalism? Is that legit? Does it create controversy? Does it generate clicks? Does it generate anger, conversation, excitement, whatever? Yeah.

But you know, there will always be something for someone. And I mean, if we want to get even into like a, not to get into, but to just point out the whole Blake Lively and Jason Baldoni, you know, PR now, there was a smear campaign allegedly, and there's all these lawsuits flying back and forth. And like, quote unquote, bad PR is like in the middle of it, right? Supposedly, there's somebody who, you know, involved was willing to do all this like dirty work and dirty kind of PR that a lot of people in the industry don't agree with or don't want it to be representative of the work that we do.

But it's definitely a line of work within the industry that exists. And that is apparently very well paid and alive and well. I mean, how do you navigate some of this? Like some of these, like, especially when you're dealing with, let's, let's say publication sources, for example, you know, some of them are just kind of taking anything, or maybe it's not in line with some of these other sources that you know, are very particular about fact checking and their reputation, but you need some of those sources.

Because that's where, for example, some of your clients need to, it's like, how do you balance them? Listen, I think that you, again, relationships matter, right? Having, having a contact that you can trust and that trust you or that says, Hey, I'm working on this story. Like, what is the commentary? What is the truth? What is the interview, right? I think like, just having the relationships is like the first half of the battle. And then second, like advising your client, like this is a reality, right? This is the truth.

This is what it is. I advise my clients that you can take an interview and you can give an interview and you can, you know, if there's something that's factually incorrect, we can fight that day and then have them, you know, replace it, change it, whatever the case is. But if what they're saying is factually correct, and you just don't like how it sounds, that's not a fight that you're going to fight because you're number one, not going to win.

And number two, I'm not going to get in the middle of that because what's the point? What's in it for you and what's in it for them? Like, you know, everybody, nobody wins in that situation. But I do think just like knowing the landscape, knowing who is who, knowing what is what, and then being able to advise your client on like, Hey, this is the pro, this is the con, this is what we're going to do. And like, this is the potential outcome you on board.

Yeah. All right, let's go. You're not on board.

Great. We'll pass. We'll move on to something else.

We are, I think, again, it's like that expertise and that really having that knowledge and that understanding to them, be able to say, this is the possibility that you've mentioned relationships in the industry several times. So I know that you've worked hard to build those relationships for those who may be entering into this field, or they're a little bit newer. What advice can you provide about being able to develop those relationships? A good way to go about that.

I would have never in my first like five years of like PR reached out to a journalist and be like, let's do coffee. Like, let's do lunch. Like, I want to meet you on a personal level.

I thought that I was like a bother, right? I thought I was like, I need to give you like a scoop. I need to give you a great pitch. I need to give you a great story idea.

And like, that's how I'm going to earn my respect from you. Or that's how I'm going to build my relationship with you, which is still very valid and still a huge guiding star for me and everything that I do. But I still think that like they're people, they're real people.

And a lot of the people that I have the best relationships with and that I can like pick up on the phone, I like follow on Instagram and I know about their dog and I know about their mom and they know about my dog and they know about my sister and they know where I was on the weekend. And so like, we're people, we're like real people. And I think that especially like being younger and I think working with like people and clients that I felt were like so high profile and like partners and like SEC, I was like, you know, I'm just like the little fly on the wall and I'm just going to like soak it all in and like do what I have to do and do great work.

But like, they were people and I was a person and I think like I just saw myself as like their publicist and their problem solver. So I think like a lot of those relationships could have been so much better or could have carried on so much longer than like just the time that I was there as their publicist. And they didn't for that reason, because I would have never asked them for a coffee, I would have never said, Hey, let's do dinner, let's do lunch.

Like, you know, I always thought that I had to get in front of them with like something work wise and something good. And like, I wish I would have known that sooner. I mean, my network would have been like incredible.

So to that end, let's talk about visibility, credibility and differentiation, right? So if you want to get somebody visibility, what's what are the first few steps that you would take? So I come to you and I say, Listen, Carla, I've been really successful in Omaha with with this concept of helping business owners, I want to now break into the Miami market, nobody here knows me. What's a what's a strategy for generating some visibility in a new market? I first want to know like, you know, who are you? What's your background? What is your credibility that you bring to the table to be able to offer this service? So what problems you solve, right? Let's put together some sort of like a bio or profile. Let's make sure your website looks good.

If you want to lead people to Instagram, to Facebook, to you know, LinkedIn, again, depending on who your audience is, who you want to reach business owners, I assume. And then it's like, what's your message? What do you want to talk about? What is it again, that is there something happening right now, you know, that you can actually speak to like, hey, this is going on in the media right now. This law just changed this just went into it.

Here's how it's going to affect you as a business owner. Here's how you need to capitalize on this. Here's how you need to prepare.

So we identify what those like opportunities are for you in the media based off of what you want to speak to, and what expertise you can provide. And then we identify what targets we can go to who's actually going to cover this, who is talking about this, who is covering this. So I do a whole competitor analysis.

So not just your competitors, but also like the topics, right? Who is talking about these topics? Where are they writing about them? Where are they doing segments on them, and then trying to figure out how we can position you in there. I want to ask you if this still works, because I don't know, I haven't done it in a long time. So I used to offer myself up as somebody who would provide information on background.

So you're writing, you're writing a story on you're writing a story on how to how to buy a business or you're writing a story on a business being bought, and you want to be educated, like your SEC story, right? You want to learn the inside scoop about how these transactions get done. So you call me up and you're like, hey, Dave, listen, I have a client who's interested in pitching this to the media. The reporter needs to be educated.

And you would connect me with a reporter and I would educate the reporter on, you know, what they need to ask, right? Does that still work? Absolutely. And I'll do that even when there isn't a hot. So we call those maybe like dust sides or when there's not a hot topic happening.

Hey, I know you've covered X, I have an expert on this happy to have, you know, just a quick intro, if you ever need background, if you ever need, you know, somebody to explain why this matters or give you a bigger understanding of either the industry or this this one topic. But yes, absolutely. The one thing that I would say is like, you know, we used to do a lot of like off the record, like this is just on background.

This is like off the record. I nowadays, I'm very careful with that. And I advise my clients that even if they say that they're off the record, because bloggers are on the record, they're not on.

And, you know, again, some people have great morals and great ethics. And those are the people that I aim to work with and like that I want to align with. But there's somebody who's like, well, you said it and I'm writing it.

And like you said, you realize you were talking to a reporter. I've gotten that. Well, no, even with reporters, I have people that the reporter will say the reporter will say you realized you were talking to.

That's why that's why. So anything you say can and will potentially be written. But yes, you know, the NAR settlement was huge in twenty twenty four.

My sister's a real estate attorney. And so I literally went to everybody and every real estate publication that you can think of because it had numerous steps. Right.

First, I was like, OK, the lawsuit was filed. Then there was like a settlement that they proposed and they like fix the settlement. Then the settlement went to effect.

Then it was like, OK, well, the settlement went to effect. But like now what's the actual effect? How is this affecting the industry consumers? And so at every point in that transaction, I would like send out a blast and be like, hey, no, you covered this last time. Know that this has changed since.

If you need an expert to talk to you about how this is affecting the industry in Miami, it's a hot market from, you know, she could connect you with like realtor. She could connect you with homebuyers. Got a ton of hits on CNBC because I would also keep going back to the same people that we talk to say, hey, there's been a development.

She can explain all of this to you. She can tell you why it matters. And so, yes, that is an incredible strategy, even when and this is why I love it, because I think people sometimes think that, oh, I have to have news.

I have to have a press release. I have to have an SEC filing. I have to have this crazy breakthrough case.

And it's like, no, you can serve as a thought leader as somebody who knows your industry, who knows your stuff, who knows the trends, who is seeing it from like, you know, the big macro level and can then tell people what to expect or how to prepare. You don't have to have breaking news to have a publicist. You don't have to have a big deal to have a publicist because people don't realize that these these producers, they're going into a pitch meeting at three o'clock and they have to have something to pitch.

And if they don't have an idea and you're calling and you're saying this is going on in this industry, you just gave that producer an idea for their pitch meeting. That's not going to get picked up. But they may they they will think to themselves, this is a selfless person who's willing to give me ideas all the time.

If I'm stuck for a real estate idea in the future, I can call Carla. She's going to give me a real estate idea because she works with people in real estate. You help them build their bench.

And I can't tell you how many times this the same the same CNBC person has passed my name around CNBC. Hey, I know that, you know, you talked with so and so and you help them with this on the NAR settlement. I'm looking for somebody to talk about like insurance claims.

And like, I know you're in Florida, I know that's a hot market. Can you or your sister who's in real estate, help us connect? And we do we make an intro again, selfless, nothing out of me, I don't represent anybody insurance. But next time that person is going to think of me and they're going to come to me and they're going to hopefully throw me a bone somewhere down the line, because they're going to remember that I helped that I picked up the phone that I did what I told them I was going to do that I got them their story, you know, absolutely.

So I want to shift a little bit, Carla, but you had mentioned this a few times. So I wanted to make sure to pick up on it. So you mentioned the ROI to your clients.

So I want you to talk to us about how do you really help your clients understand like what the return is on the investment they put into your service? Yes, it varies client to client, and it varies month to month. Okay, the return investment one month, I mean, depending on your retainer, and again, what our breakdown is going to be and everything, it could be like, hey, the deliverable is going to be a PR plan, you're going to get a PR plan. And like, hopefully, I'm going to be the one to execute it.

But if not, then you have a PR plan that you can run with if you think that you can run with it. A deliverable can be copied for your website, it could be blog content, it could be a bio for you, it could be an award nomination for you, right? The deliverable depends on the ROI depends. Now granted, if we get a hit on broadcast, I pay for, you know, certain systems that can tell me what the cost of this in ad value would be, right.

So if I wanted to buy that same amount of time, airtime segment, a spread in a magazine, a spot in a newspaper, here's the ad value equivalent, which, you know, is a dying term and a dying way to measure, but it is a way to measure return on investment, right. So I do use that as a tool for my reporting, but increase in traffic, increase in follows, increase in engagement, all of those things are ways that we report the ROI and the effects, the result of the work that it is that we do. It's few and far between people who would hire a publicist specifically to spray and pray, I think now it's more part of an integrated marketing communications campaign, right? So if I'm doing PR, I'm doing PR with a specific purpose.

I need to take this month worth of hits, this month worth of articles, and I need to package it up and use it because I'm going to go pitch Pfizer to get this work. So I need to be on, you know, CNBC talking about, you know, the bio market. And then I need to be on Bloomberg talking about pharmaceuticals.

And then I need to be quoted in the Wall Street Journal making comments specifically on the enterprise value of an up and coming drug portfolio. And I'm going to take those three things, package them together. And when I go pitch to Pfizer, my two slides for credibility are going to show this package of stuff.

That's the right way to use PR. The wrong way to use PR is for your ego press, right? Dave Lorenzo wrote an op-ed that nobody's ever going to read on a subject that nobody cares about that was published on Saturday when nobody reads the Herald. And in some obscure website that nobody's ever going to go to, you know? So I think that, that, and I do think, you know, as an industry, we need a lot more of that thinking, the strategic, the, okay, but who are we actually reaching? What is the actual value? Why are we doing it this way? I think the whole spray and pray thing is like dead.

I do think that there's a lot of people who do it. I just don't think it yields the results that, you know, people think that it does. And then you do get maybe a lot of hits on these obscure websites that like, don't even reach your audience that are like in another language.

Like that's not helping anybody, you know? But to your point, I also think that, you know, if you have PR and you have clips and you have hits and you're not putting those on a website, you're not putting those on a social media platform. You're not using them in an e-blast. Your PR is like almost a waste, right? Because you need to then take it and harness all of this good stuff that you're getting.

You don't have some clients that I get hits for, and then they don't even put them on Instagram stories. And I'm like, I got a whole bunch of behind the scenes content for them at the shoot, and they're not posting it. It's like, you know, nobody's going to find out about this.

Yeah, granted the viewers who watch it on broadcast or whatever, but like you need to repurpose that and then make it your own and make it even bigger and make it even better so that you actually then get to be able to use it in different ways. And to your point of like bringing it to the Pfizer meeting, I've worked with a client who came on, wanted to raise their share of voice against competitors. It was a Rembrandt.

They did, they were able to. We were able to provide like a year over year of like where they were versus their competitors and where they ended up as a result of our services. And then they were able to use that in their pitch meeting with Publix and get on the shelves.

So it's like, it's things like that, right? But it's not just the value of the PR itself. And I think, you know, we as an industry have a long way to go on like measurement ROI, because a lot of people look at it at very different, you know, in very different ways. And there are very different things that you can measure as a result of something.

So it is really tricky. And it is really hard to like have one end-all be-all solution as to how you get an ROI or what that is. But you need to use the PR for other things.

It needs to have other lives aside from just ending up in a magazine or getting an award that like sits on your shelf or having a speaking opportunity at a conference. I used to take executives to conferences for Forbes and things like that. And I used to then line up interviews with the media at the conference.

So they would fly in, they would do their speaking gig, but then they would have interviews before or after with Barron's, with, you know, whoever, we would get a hit on Forbes, who would, you know, be obviously in front of like the closed group that was at the conference. And then they would have other things to show for it. Like there's ways to maximize your impact that you definitely need to harness because otherwise... So let's go back to the place where we initially started, but we didn't get to... Everything's all fucked up.

I can't even imagine managing things in that airport. It is crazy. If you haven't been to Miami International Airport, check it out.

It is absolutely crazy. Tell us, tell us just what it was like to be in that role. Let's start there.

All right. I gotta, I gotta paint a picture for you. So I was leaving this, this other agency that we were just talking about where I was doing all this, you know, SEC stuff and attorney stuff and like writing all these remarks for people.

You know, I, my sister actually sent me a link. The Miami Data Aviation Department was hiring. I was like, I don't even know what that is.

Granted, it's the airport. The Miami Data Aviation Department runs the airport because the airport is a public, you know, publicly run and operated. So anyway, I do the application.

It goes into, you know, what I assume is like the trash can when you submit on those forms. I didn't know anybody. And I got a call and I went in for an interview and I made it past the first panel interview to my surprise.

Granted, I'm in like my mid twenties. I had just graduated with my master's, which was part of the reason why I was like testing the job market. Cause I was like, this is a great time for me to make like a really big jump now that I have this like, you know, huge credential, which is literally the only reason why I did it.

I was like, I know with a master's I can like get more money and get more opportunities. I'm like, that's why I'm doing this. Well, lo and behold, I get the job and me and my mid twenties, I'm like, yeah, I'm going to be like launching airlines.

I'm like, you know, and I walk in the first day and they send me to like a training to get my badge because my office was in the actual airport. And you know, the first video that comes up is, you know, about, you know, a suitcase on a car and like, you know, explosives and things like that. And I'm like, my God, like I literally had never considered that this was part of what I was dealing with, you know, potentially.

So crisis was a huge part of that. I think three, four months into the job, we had hurricane Irma. It was September of 2017.

I think it was the biggest hurricane that had hit here other than Andrew, obviously, but like in my lifetime and people were evacuating like crazy. The airport was a mad house. And like, that was, you know, so it was, it was crazy.

It was crazy because I thought that it was going to be more of this, like, you know, light PR and like remarks for the executives. And it was, it was a lot of that, but it was a lot of like, Hey, we have an aircraft issue and like, there's a safety issue. And like, how are you going to respond? And like, what systems do we have in place to respond, to be effective, to potentially save lives, to inform the public? I mean, it was, I had no idea what I was signing up for when I took that job.

So let me dig into that just a little bit. So hurricane Irma hits, people are parked in the airport, planes aren't flying, or they're waiting, trying to figure out when they're getting off the ground. What are you doing at that point in time? What, what type of messaging are you doing and where is it going? So one of the things that we used to do is like work really closely with the social team and start kind of like developing messages even before anything happens.

So that was like part of like the huge, you know, takeaway for anyone who's dealing with crisis. Like if you're learning how to manage a crisis during the crisis, you're too late, like, like you messed up, you needed a game plan, right? So we would have certain things drafted for certain scenarios that God forbid, you know, knock on wood, we would never have to use, but in the moment of like a hurricane is coming, we had some like, at least a shell of like what we needed to say what we needed to talk about. But there were like media advisories that we were putting out every two to three hours.

And they were reporting on like flights are canceled. But you know, the FAA is going to stop flying planes when the air hits 40, 40 miles per hour sustained, which we think is going to be tomorrow at noon and American Airlines has canceled 52 flights and this other airlines has done. So it was like a lot of number one, just unifying the messaging and making sure that like everybody was saying the same thing and that we would always tell media like, okay, the next advisory is at noon, right? So they would know when to expect and they would stop calling every like two minutes in between.

And then we could do the work, right? With the work was I had cameras downstairs at the airport that were shooting, talking to, you know, different people who were flying. I was a spokesperson. So I was also doing in front of a camera, which I had never done until that point.

And I didn't know that that was part of my job when I took the job, but I was also then preparing these same talking points, right? What is the latest? What is the most updated? I used to do the interviews in English and Spanish and I used to like run up and down the airport, you know, to one guy and then the other guy and then the other person, we used to have international crews fly in. Okay, we had international crews that used to fly in from like Germany and all these places. And they used to hunger down at the airport.

And they used to call me at two in the morning. And they used to be like, we're going live now like come do the interview. Like we want to talk to you.

We want to understand what's happening. We had to educate people on how they weren't allowed to come to park at the airport because they used to park at the airport because it was higher ground. Yeah.

So they thought that it was safer. And then we didn't have parking spots for the actual people who were trying to evacuate. We had to tell people that if they you know, didn't weren't able to evacuate, sorry, weren't able to catch a flight that we had to take them there were county buses that would take them to shelters, but the airport was not a shelter.

You know, a lot of homeless people used to also show up. I mean, it was was a lot. And granted, they do a really good job.

Kudos to that team. And kudos, you know, to anyone who works in crisis of like doing the best that they can. But it's a lot of moving parts.

It's a lot of people. It's a lot of panic, right? Because everybody at the time was freaking out. They thought nobody was gonna survive this this hurricane from how it had gone in, you know, Texas that people were on their roofs and things like that.

So it's also being like the calm in the insanity of the storm. And being like, guys, it's gonna be okay. Like this is what we're gonna do.

And having like that resolve and being that like that that person when everybody's kind of like running around with their heads cut off, you know, it's incredible. And at that age, I mean, let's write you're in your 20s. You're the person saying I thought it was insane.

I mean, granted, I had an airport, you know, director and a communications director. So there was a team but I like I can't tell you how many times in my career I've thought to myself, I cannot believe that they are trusting me with this. I'm putting this executive on this Forbes stage like no, like, how did I end up here? You know, which is cool.

It's so cool. And it keeps me again, like really interested in really engaging gone places and done things in this industry. And because of this career that I would have never in a million years dreams.

And I love that about it. But there's a lot of times where I'm like, Oh my god, like I'm the adult in the room like I can't like this is insane. What a learning experience.

And you just it elevated your career so much. And you wouldn't have probably stepped into a lot of these roles. Certainly not this one had you known in advance.

This is what it's going. I think I think I would have still done it. Because again, it was like that for me, it was like that pursuit of expansion, that opportunity, that growth, that something entirely different, that other facet of like working in the public sector.

And I was, you know, working drafting stuff for the mayor drafting stuff for the commission, you know, so I think I would have but I just I think I would have been much more mentally prepared. Whereas like I walked in and I was like, Oh my god, but the biggest learning is like, listen, I am often the youngest person in the room. And like, I think that a lot of times I questioned my own abilities.

And you say like this elevated your career so much. I didn't even think of that at the time, right? That's not what I was focused on. I didn't think it was that big of a deal.

I was just doing my job. And I was just trying to be the best at my job. And like, you know, trying to be not teacher's pet, but you know, trying to get earn everybody's respect, trying to deliver trying to come up with these great ideas that we could execute that would elevate us and the team and the airport and all these things.

And I just think like having that grit of like, I don't know, but I'm going to figure it out. And I'm going to ask the questions when I don't know the answer, but then I'm gonna you know, go get it done. You know, I'm not going to be dead weight, but I'm going to be honest about what I know what I don't know and ask what I don't know and learn what I need to learn is the best advice that I could give anyone who's like really looking for that growth and not like next jump and that next opportunity that's really going to challenge them.

Alright, so that's a perfect segue into your next jump, your next growth for your career. So you're embarking on your own entrepreneurial journey. Now, let's talk about that.

What are your expectations? What are you? What are you most excited about? And what scares you the most about starting your own firm and going on your own without the support of an agency behind you? I joke with a lot of people that it's just me and my mortgage, right? I don't have a husband, you know, I don't have kids, I don't have anything. So in a way, that's also perfect, right? Because I have like less things to worry about as far as like providing financially and whatnot. So I guess I'm less risk averse because of those things.

But you know, it's a huge, I think, decision for me to just say, you know what, I'm leaving a VP role where I make a pretty good salary, where I have benefits, we're having an incredible team that I'm, you know, and say, oh, and incredible clients, by the way, luxury brands and be like, you know what, I want more, like I want more. I think a lot of people have felt that it's like a selfish move that, you know, that, you know, why aren't you happy enough? Like you have so much like, you know, the job has given you so much, the clients have given you so much the team is, and I believe that. But I also think like, there's more out there for me, right? There's more I in the most humble way possible, like I am willing to work harder than a lot of people.

I'm willing to like put myself in difficult situations more than you know, most people might be be into. And I have a twin sister who did it herself two years ago, and has gotten incredible results. And like, I played a huge role in like, almost bullying her into leaving a partnership at a law firm and launching her own firm at a relatively young age, you know, and now she's kind of turned around and be like, so where, what are you doing? Like, why are you still kind of like an employee? And why are you still doing it somebody else's way? And why are you not building it? I'm an immigrant, my parents came from Cuba when I was four years old.

And I think, you know, there's a lot of like that immigrant hustle mentality in us, that a lot was poured into us a lot was given to us, my parents did leave a lot behind, and did give up a lot of things as we were coming up as immigrants in this country to pour into us. And I also feel like a huge responsibility to make it really big to pour back into them. And I want to do it, you know, I think throughout this, this whole conversation, we've talked about, oh, I have some opinions on like, good PR and bad PR, and who I want to work with, and who I want to help, and what I want to do.

And like, I also want to have that power to say, this is the client roster that I believe in, and that I want to build and the people that I want to see win, and that I want to win alongside. So yeah, we're going for it. We're going for it.

So you mentioned that, first of all, entrepreneurship is not for everyone. It isn't. And something you mentioned, like, I've been hearing this, and I don't like it.

So I'm going to point it out. I don't like the entrepreneur shaming. So for those who are comfortable on a corporate role, there's a little bit of shaming towards entrepreneurs, those who just, they want to build something better.

And that's what you're describing is, I've done this, and I want to build something better in my way. And there's no shame in that. And it's incredibly hard work to get there.

So I want to point that out, because it's, look, corporate jobs are for certain people, and so is entrepreneurship. And you have, you certainly have the drive, and you've lived in the crisis world. And frankly, it sounds a lot like entrepreneurship.

Am I right, Dave? Working in crisis control for the Miami International Airport, sounds kind of like our job sometimes as entrepreneurs. So let me get back to that with you is, you know, what do you envision it will be like on your day to day as an entrepreneur? I have to tell you that having been in it for a very short amount of time, and not having, you know, this business that's as big as I hope one day it's going to be, it's a lot of hard work. And I have so much more respect and admiration and like, just hats off for anyone who's an entrepreneur doing anything, right? Because you are the receptionist, you are the accountant, you are the marketing person, you are, you know, you're everybody.

And at some point, yes, you scale and you start, you know, delegating, but even hiring is hard. And, you know, managing people, which is something that I did is hard. And, you know, so you wear a lot of hats.

And I think that, you know, when you're an employee in corporate America, you can say, I'm on PTO. And like, you do have a team behind you that can kind of pick it up. But like, when you're on your own and you're an entrepreneur, yeah, you're on vacation in Europe, but like, you're still taking phone calls, answering emails and making sure things aren't like catching fire.

So you can't walk away from a business like you can when you're in corporate America. And, you know, I think that part of the reason why I wanted to go on my own is like, you know, I want more freedom. And I want to be like, you know, less of a less of a slave to my business.

I mean, the truth is you are, especially in the beginning, you are a slave. And I work even longer hours, I think than I ever did, you know, as an employee, as an agency, even during a crisis, you know, and it's great, because you're betting on yourself, right? And you're building it for yourself. And you hope that one day down the line, you are going to be the sole one reaping the benefits, and the benefits are going to be limitless, as opposed to being in corporate America, which by the way, I always said, even to my sister, I was like, I'm never leaving corporate America, I got a great salary, I got great benefits, I'm just going to keep raising the ladder.

But the truth is that there's a cap, you know, they're capped out at some point, you're maxed out, whether it's in within your role within your company within whatever it is, right. So you have to be okay with moving at whatever speed, those other factors are determining, or you can just say, I'm going to set my own speed, you know, and so it's incredibly hard, I again, no matter the size of the business, or what the business is in, like, I have so much respect for anyone who bets on themselves, and bets on their vision and bets on their own skill set and their own grit and their own determination and does it, but man, it's hard. And I'm not, I'm not even, I'm not even like, you know, I'm just starting out, I'm just like a baby in this, but I have so much more respect than I can ever imagine for anyone who really does it.

All right. So if people want to get a hold of you, what's the best way for them to reach out to you? Yeah, LinkedIn is great. Email is great.

Have a website up and running soon working on that part of the marketing thing. But yeah, I'd love to chat, you know, I'm happy to do like a quick consult, kind of get ideas that you're bouncing off of me that, hey, is this feasible? Can we PR this? I really do have a passion I found out as much as I love working for like, you know, the big organizations and the big crisis. And as much as I want to keep doing that, I have a sweet spot for the solopreneur who like doesn't think that they can land CNBC, who doesn't think that they can be quoted in the AP.

And those are things I've already done. So I have a huge passion for being like, actually, there's something here, even though you don't think that you're enough of an expert, or you don't think that you have enough of news. So would love to hear from them as well and see how we can potentially help.

All right, we're going to put Carla's contact info down in the show notes. We'll put her LinkedIn down in the show notes as well before we let you go. I need you to tell us a really good twin story.

So for those of you who are listening, those of you who are watching, I am going to tell you that I we had a holiday party at my house and Carla and her sister Claudia were there. And I was stone sober, not one drink, and I walk up to who I thought was Carla and started a whole conversation and got not five minutes, but 10 minutes into the conversation without realizing that I was talking to Claudia, I was not talking to Carla. So I need to hear from you a twin story that makes me feel better about that whole thing.

Yeah, I was actually in LA, San Diego, I think it was pre pandemic for a conference, I was putting an executive on a on a big stage. And so I was there in the hotel going up and down the elevators trying to, you know, run my thing before before the show. And this man is like looking at me weird in the elevator.

And I'm usually not the type to like, really pay attention. But like, he was like, kind of staring me down. And I was like, okay, something is off here.

Like, you know, did I like not do my hair? Like what's happening? And he's like, Are you not gonna say hi? It's just him and I in the elevator. And I'm like, Oh, this is like really uncomfortable. And I don't know.

I said, Hi, and I like put on my hand and like go to like, shake his hands. And he goes, You're Claudia, right? And I was like, I know exactly what's happening here. I'm like, I see.

I was like, No, actually, I'm Carla. I'm her identical twin sister. But I knew it was a real estate, you know, related conference.

And so this man knew Claudia. And I think he was like a little bit of apparently very well. He was a little bit offended that I was kind of like ignoring him and pretending that I didn't know him.

But that same exact weekend, Claudia is in New York. Granted, we both live in Miami. Claudia is in New York.

She's at dinner with a friend from middle school. And they're just like talking and she's filling him in on like what she's doing and what I'm doing. And the girl next to her is like, I'm so sorry, but I have to jump in.

I follow your sister on Instagram. I know who she is. And Claudia is like, what? And like the girl pulls up my Instagram, and it's like a friend of mine, you know, third degree, whatever, New York.

So that kind of stuff happens all the time. And Claudia jokes because like, I'm usually like a little, you know, again, I'm like an introvert, you know, I try to be friendly, but I just have the RBF and all that. And I've learned to like, be like really friendly and like uppity to strangers.

Because I there's always that possibility. And it happens all the time that they think I'm Claudia, and then they think Claudia is being rude to them. And then I get some sort of call or text from Claudia like, you saw Zonzo.

I'm like, I don't even know who Zonzo is. Like, I'm so confused. But yes, Claudia is a lot better at it than me, which is why you got 10 minutes into the conversation.

Well, and she also talking about I was talking about the day that you and I were together and you left to go to an event. And I and I walk up to her and I'm like, So how was the event on Thursday? And she goes, Oh my god, it was fantastic. We had a firm.

We did this. We did this. We did this.

And we did karaoke. I'm like, you are kidding me. You did karaoke and you didn't call me.

She's like, I had no idea you were interested. I'm like, how do you not have any idea that I sing once a month with you? How do you not know that I'm interested? She's like, well, let me tell you, there were great prizes. And she just kept going on and on.

She didn't even pick up on the fact. It was serendipity. Like you asked about the right thing.

Because if you would have asked about anything else, it would have like given it away. But the fact that you were asking about the event, she had the event on Thursday, it is one of her temple annual events that a ton of people go to. So she's like, yeah, the event was great.

Like she had all the ammo to like continue the conversation. So yeah, I got you got twins. You got twins.

All right, folks. So if you want to get ahold of Carla or Claudia, I'm going to put Carla's contact info down in the show notes, you can reach out to Carla and she will help you with your PR issues. He's available now to work with you.

There's nobody out there who's too small. You catch her now because a year from now, she's not going to be able to take you solopreneurs anymore. Her business is going to take off.

So this would be the time to reach out to her. All of her contact info is down in the show notes. We are here every single week and I want to make sure that we thank our sponsor Global Furniture.

We are in their beautiful showroom in the Miami Design District. So thank you to Global Furniture. We're going to put their contact information down in the show notes.

If you need furniture for your office, not for your home, if you need furniture for your office, give Global a look. You can find a distributor near you. We're going to put their website down there where you can click on Global's website and find a distributor near you.

You can hear the sound of my voice. There is a Global Furniture showroom in a city near you. My name is Dave Lorenzo.

I am the godfather of growth and she is and we'll see you back here again for another interview next week on Wednesday. Take care.