July 24, 2025 • 11 mins
PR might sound like it's just for celebrities and big brands, but guess what? Solopreneurs, this one’s for you. In this episode, we’re breaking down simple, doable PR strategies that can get you media coverage, even if you don’t have a press team, a bestselling product, or a household name (yet).
We’re talking about how to pitch like a pro, what journalists actually want, and why the best way to get featured might just start with your inbox and a clear, authentic story. We even shout out our favorite PR expert, Simone Sauter, who gave us amazing insights a few months back.
Oh, and did we mention? We just turned in the final pages of our Solopreneur Business For Dummies book! It’s officially out of our hands and available for pre-order. So yes, we're celebrating… and yes, we’re shamelessly plugging.
If you want to get press without stress, this episode is your new best friend.
Being a solopreneur is awesome but it’s not easy. It's hard to get noticed. Most business advice is for bigger companies, and you're all alone...until now. LifeStarr Intro gives you free education, community, and tools to build a thriving one-person business. So, if you are lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, or are having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even just lonely running a company of one, be sure to check out LifeStarr Intro!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carly Ries (00:00):
Think getting media attention is only for big brands
(00:02):
or internet famousentrepreneurs? Well, think
again. In this episode, we breakdown PR strategies specifically
for solopreneurs. Yes. Even ifyou've never pitched a story in
your life.
From how to craft a compellingpitch to why your outdated
website might be costing youpress, we share actionable tips
plus a few hard truths to helpyou land guest articles, media
(00:24):
features, and podcastinterviews. You're listening to
the Aspiring Solopreneur, thepodcast for those just taking
the bold step or even justthinking about taking that step
into the world of soloentrepreneurship. My name is
Carly Ries, and my cohost, JoeRando, and I are your guides to
navigating this crazy butawesome journey as a company of
(00:46):
one. We take pride in being partof LifeStarr, a digital hub
dedicated to all aspects ofsolopreneurship that has
empowered and educated countlesssolopreneurs looking to build a
business that resonates withtheir life's ambitions. We help
people work to live, not live towork.
And if you're looking for a getrich quick scheme, this is not
the show for you. So if you'reeager to gain valuable insights
(01:08):
from industry experts on runninga business the right way the
first time around or want tolearn from the missteps of
solopreneurs who've paved theway before you, then stick
around. We've got your backbecause flying solo in business
doesn't mean you're alone.
Okay. So, Joe, before we diveinto the topic for today, which
is PR strategies forsolopreneurs, which we haven't
(01:29):
really talked about that much.Do you like my shirt?
Joe Rando (01:32):
That's awesome. Yeah. That's a dummy. Right?
Carly Ries (01:35):
It is a dummy. And I am wearing our dummy shirt
because we just turned in thefinal pages of our book. The
time of this recording, it isout of our control at this
point.
Joe Rando (01:47):
It's done. As far as we're concerned, it's done.
Carly Ries (01:50):
It is done. So listeners, we're so excited
about this. If you are listeningto this before October 2025, go
click on the presale. We'llinclude the link in our show
notes, but our book is availablefor presale on Amazon and at
Barnes and Noble. And then it'sreleased to the wild October,
which is crazy.
But I had to do that shamelessplug because it's on the mind
(02:12):
and we're done.
Joe Rando (02:13):
Yeah. Well, that's nice. And you know, pre selling,
pre buying it helps us. So ifyou wanna do something to help
us and a five star review is toomuch of an ask, buying the book
early, if you're gonna buy itanyway, would really help us.
Thank you.
Carly Ries (02:28):
So shameless plug over. I wrote some of the
marketing sections in the book.
Joe Rando (02:34):
Yeah. Kinda all of them.
Carly Ries (02:36):
Yeah. I don't know why I said some, maybe I was
trying to throw you a little bitof a bone, but yeah, I wrote the
Marketing. You did all theharder stuff in my opinion.
Joe Rando (02:44):
The mathy stuff.
Carly Ries (02:45):
The mathy stuff. But I dabble in PR in it because PR
is kind of an intimidating thingfor solopreneurs. And I think
people think if you wanna getmedia attention, you need to be
a big deal. And you need to havea big story to tell. And that
simply isn't the case.
And we actually interviewedSimone Sauter, a few months ago.
(03:10):
I'll include her link in theshow notes because she has great
recommendations forsolopreneurs. But my biggest
takeaways from her were that anysolopreneur can do it, as long
as you're authentic. You have astory to tell, and you niche
really, really far down on youraudience. Was that kind of the
same takeaways that you had fromher?
Joe Rando (03:31):
Yeah. you wanna definitely be focused on
outlets. I mean, part of whatelse she said was kinda know who
you're pitching your story to.Because, you go and pitch
something to somebody that itmakes no sense to, and you're
just wasting your time andtheirs. So really understanding
the particular publication thatyou're pitching and what they do
(03:52):
and what they don't do andcrafting your pitch around that
is really helpful as well.
And I think she made a verystrong point of that. So there's
definitely, you know, having avery niched message where you're
basically speaking to a specificaudience, having a compelling
story. If you have a goodpersonal story, if you have some
(04:14):
interesting statistics thatnobody else has, they love that.
Like, some you did some kind ofa survey or something and have
some information. People, youknow, these journalists love
that. But the fact is they'relooking for stuff. They gotta
crank out these whatevermagazine, you know, newsletter,
whatever it is that they'recranking out. They're desperate
(04:34):
for material.
You just gotta give themsomething that's, worth putting
out there.
Carly Ries (04:40):
I wanna piggyback off of that. You wanna give them
something that is easy for themto understand. So even in the
podcasting world, we getoutreach sometimes by people
that are like, hey, I wanna beon your show. And then they
write this really longparagraph. And then they're
like, for more information,check out this website, check
(05:00):
out my LinkedIn profile.
And I'm like, no. We get so manypodcast outreach emails every
week. The ones that I typicallyrespond to have a one pager
that's like, here's recommendedtopics, here's my quick bio,
here are my social media handlesand my email, and here are
suggested questions. Can I be onyour show? And I'm like, oh,
(05:21):
that's so easy.
I know what you're about.
Joe Rando (05:23):
Yeah. Short paragraphs and bullet points.
Carly Ries (05:26):
Yes. And so don't make it hard for the reporter,
whoever you're reaching out to,figure out what you do. Like, if
you have a compelling story,make sure you can tell it
concisely, which is sometimes ahard thing to do, but they're
never gonna get that informationunless you do it that way.
Joe Rando (05:42):
Yeah. Giving them ten minutes worth of reading
homework is about nine and ahalf minutes too long. Right?
Carly Ries (05:48):
Right. And I will also say, get on their radar. I
don't know why I'm treatingmyself like a media person, but
I guess we kind of are. We havea podcast. And I have people
that now I have relationshipswith who reach out to me and
they're like, hey, I recommendedJoe Rando for this show.
I think you'd also really likeCarly Ries. Here's some stuff.
(06:10):
And I'm like, well, you sent mereally good people before. I'm
gonna trust you. And so I'm alsogonna check out this Carly Ries
gal, see what she's all about.that's why it's so important to
niche down, because then you canfind media people in your space
that you can really developrelationships with. Whether it's
commenting back and forth onLinkedIn, or grabbing a cup of
(06:30):
coffee if it's a localpublication or whatever. Like
don't bug them, don't annoythem. Be generally helpful. when
I see those repetitive people inmy inbox, I'm like, oh, I know
this guy.
He's sent me so many greatpeople. He's on my radar. That's
probably gonna be an easy yes.
Joe Rando (06:49):
And I think off of that, I mean, one that we have
to make a distinction too.There are two different kinds of
things you can do in the PRworld, roughly speaking. And
this is very generalized, butjust simply break it down.
There's guest articles, whereyou're writing something for a
publication. your name is on it.
And then there's the articlesabout you or the interviews or
(07:09):
the articles written about youby a journalist. And it's much
easier to do the guest articles,especially in the early days,
build up your cred, and thentransition over to maybe the
interviews later as you've got abunch of stuff in your name and
maybe the publication orpublications get to know you.
But it's a lot easier to landthose I'm giving you material
(07:32):
kinds of PR relationships in theearly days, and especially for
solopreneurs because, you areprobably not famous. There's a
few famous solopreneurs, but notvery many. So most of us are
just kinda out there slogging.
And if you can give them somegood stuff, they'll pop they'll
publish it your names on it. Youcan link back to it. You can put
it in social media. You can doall kinds of stuff to help your
business.
Carly Ries (07:53):
And in terms of helping your business, really
focusing on your personal brandand your company's brand can go
a long way with actuallysecuring those spots. Because
let's say they're like, oh,yeah, I'm really interested in
this story that you pitched me.I'm gonna look at your website.
If your website has a four zerofour error or is very outdated,
(08:14):
doesn't follow best practices,could have been created in 2010,
I mean, that speaks volumes toreporters, and they don't wanna
send quaffect your way
Joe Rando (08:25):
It's important to tell a story. Right? I mean, if
you're telling them a story in apitch and you're basically
sending a pitch email here, andinterestingly, in the subject
line, it should say pitch colon.Right? You wanna say pitch colon
and then something that's gonnagrab their attention that makes
them excited to want to learnmore about this particular
(08:45):
story.
But if you tell them a storyabout, solopreneurs and the
growing number of solopreneursin The United States, and then
they go to your website and seethat you're a website developer,
for dentists, they're gonna belike, what? Who? You really need
(09:09):
to be congruent between whatyou're pitching, what you're
talking about, and what you do,and what you show to the world.
Carly Ries (09:14):
Yeah. Absolutely. The other thing I would say is,
and like I said, solopreneurscan absolutely get media
attention. It is helpful if youhave a little bit of experience
under your belt as asolopreneur. Just for a little
bit more street cred, like ifyou just launched your website
yesterday and you're pitching aperson and you just started your
business a week ago, like don'tbe discouraged if you're not
(09:38):
getting the attention that youwant right away.
You do have to kinda put in thereps. And then once you have a
little bit of street cred, onceyou have the client list, the
customers built, then I thinkit's okay to start reaching out.
Because the little guys reallycan get that media attention as
long as they addressedeverything else that Joe and I
discussed so far. Anything else?
Joe Rando (09:56):
I think that cuts the obvious stuff. Use your network.
If you know somebody that knowsthe reporter that you're
reaching out to, and you shouldkinda try to identify the right
reporter, the right journalist,the right editor, whoever it is
that you're reaching out to. Ifyou know somebody that knows
them and they can put in a goodword for you, it's never a
terrible thing.
Carly Ries (10:16):
Yes. Absolutely. Well, that is all we have for
today. As always, pleasesubscribe to our podcast. Leave
that five star review, and sharethis episode with a friend.
It would mean the world to us.And we will see you next time on
the Aspiring Solopreneur. Youmay be going solo in business,
but that doesn't mean you'realone. In fact, millions of
(10:37):
people are in your shoes,running a one person business
and figuring it out as they go.So why not connect with them and
learn from each other'ssuccesses and failures?
At LifeStarr, we're creating aone person business community
where you can go to meet and getadvice from other solopreneurs.
Be sure to join in on theconversations at
community.lifestarr.com.
Think getting media attention is only for big brands
(00:02):
or internet famousentrepreneurs? Well, think
again. In this episode, we breakdown PR strategies specifically
for solopreneurs. Yes. Even ifyou've never pitched a story in
your life.
From how to craft a compellingpitch to why your outdated
website might be costing youpress, we share actionable tips
plus a few hard truths to helpyou land guest articles, media
(00:24):
features, and podcastinterviews. You're listening to
the Aspiring Solopreneur, thepodcast for those just taking
the bold step or even justthinking about taking that step
into the world of soloentrepreneurship. My name is
Carly Ries, and my cohost, JoeRando, and I are your guides to
navigating this crazy butawesome journey as a company of
(00:46):
one. We take pride in being partof LifeStarr, a digital hub
dedicated to all aspects ofsolopreneurship that has
empowered and educated countlesssolopreneurs looking to build a
business that resonates withtheir life's ambitions. We help
people work to live, not live towork.
And if you're looking for a getrich quick scheme, this is not
the show for you. So if you'reeager to gain valuable insights
(01:08):
from industry experts on runninga business the right way the
first time around or want tolearn from the missteps of
solopreneurs who've paved theway before you, then stick
around. We've got your backbecause flying solo in business
doesn't mean you're alone.
Okay. So, Joe, before we diveinto the topic for today, which
is PR strategies forsolopreneurs, which we haven't
(01:29):
really talked about that much.Do you like my shirt?
Joe Rando (01:32):
That's awesome. Yeah. That's a dummy. Right?
Carly Ries (01:35):
It is a dummy. And I am wearing our dummy shirt
because we just turned in thefinal pages of our book. The
time of this recording, it isout of our control at this
point.
Joe Rando (01:47):
It's done. As far as we're concerned, it's done.
Carly Ries (01:50):
It is done. So listeners, we're so excited
about this. If you are listeningto this before October 2025, go
click on the presale. We'llinclude the link in our show
notes, but our book is availablefor presale on Amazon and at
Barnes and Noble. And then it'sreleased to the wild October,
which is crazy.
But I had to do that shamelessplug because it's on the mind
(02:12):
and we're done.
Joe Rando (02:13):
Yeah. Well, that's nice. And you know, pre selling,
pre buying it helps us. So ifyou wanna do something to help
us and a five star review is toomuch of an ask, buying the book
early, if you're gonna buy itanyway, would really help us.
Thank you.
Carly Ries (02:28):
So shameless plug over. I wrote some of the
marketing sections in the book.
Joe Rando (02:34):
Yeah. Kinda all of them.
Carly Ries (02:36):
Yeah. I don't know why I said some, maybe I was
trying to throw you a little bitof a bone, but yeah, I wrote the
Marketing. You did all theharder stuff in my opinion.
Joe Rando (02:44):
The mathy stuff.
Carly Ries (02:45):
The mathy stuff. But I dabble in PR in it because PR
is kind of an intimidating thingfor solopreneurs. And I think
people think if you wanna getmedia attention, you need to be
a big deal. And you need to havea big story to tell. And that
simply isn't the case.
And we actually interviewedSimone Sauter, a few months ago.
(03:10):
I'll include her link in theshow notes because she has great
recommendations forsolopreneurs. But my biggest
takeaways from her were that anysolopreneur can do it, as long
as you're authentic. You have astory to tell, and you niche
really, really far down on youraudience. Was that kind of the
same takeaways that you had fromher?
Joe Rando (03:31):
Yeah. you wanna definitely be focused on
outlets. I mean, part of whatelse she said was kinda know who
you're pitching your story to.Because, you go and pitch
something to somebody that itmakes no sense to, and you're
just wasting your time andtheirs. So really understanding
the particular publication thatyou're pitching and what they do
(03:52):
and what they don't do andcrafting your pitch around that
is really helpful as well.
And I think she made a verystrong point of that. So there's
definitely, you know, having avery niched message where you're
basically speaking to a specificaudience, having a compelling
story. If you have a goodpersonal story, if you have some
(04:14):
interesting statistics thatnobody else has, they love that.
Like, some you did some kind ofa survey or something and have
some information. People, youknow, these journalists love
that. But the fact is they'relooking for stuff. They gotta
crank out these whatevermagazine, you know, newsletter,
whatever it is that they'recranking out. They're desperate
(04:34):
for material.
You just gotta give themsomething that's, worth putting
out there.
Carly Ries (04:40):
I wanna piggyback off of that. You wanna give them
something that is easy for themto understand. So even in the
podcasting world, we getoutreach sometimes by people
that are like, hey, I wanna beon your show. And then they
write this really longparagraph. And then they're
like, for more information,check out this website, check
(05:00):
out my LinkedIn profile.
And I'm like, no. We get so manypodcast outreach emails every
week. The ones that I typicallyrespond to have a one pager
that's like, here's recommendedtopics, here's my quick bio,
here are my social media handlesand my email, and here are
suggested questions. Can I be onyour show? And I'm like, oh,
(05:21):
that's so easy.
I know what you're about.
Joe Rando (05:23):
Yeah. Short paragraphs and bullet points.
Carly Ries (05:26):
Yes. And so don't make it hard for the reporter,
whoever you're reaching out to,figure out what you do. Like, if
you have a compelling story,make sure you can tell it
concisely, which is sometimes ahard thing to do, but they're
never gonna get that informationunless you do it that way.
Joe Rando (05:42):
Yeah. Giving them ten minutes worth of reading
homework is about nine and ahalf minutes too long. Right?
Carly Ries (05:48):
Right. And I will also say, get on their radar. I
don't know why I'm treatingmyself like a media person, but
I guess we kind of are. We havea podcast. And I have people
that now I have relationshipswith who reach out to me and
they're like, hey, I recommendedJoe Rando for this show.
I think you'd also really likeCarly Ries. Here's some stuff.
(06:10):
And I'm like, well, you sent mereally good people before. I'm
gonna trust you. And so I'm alsogonna check out this Carly Ries
gal, see what she's all about.that's why it's so important to
niche down, because then you canfind media people in your space
that you can really developrelationships with. Whether it's
commenting back and forth onLinkedIn, or grabbing a cup of
(06:30):
coffee if it's a localpublication or whatever. Like
don't bug them, don't annoythem. Be generally helpful. when
I see those repetitive people inmy inbox, I'm like, oh, I know
this guy.
He's sent me so many greatpeople. He's on my radar. That's
probably gonna be an easy yes.
Joe Rando (06:49):
And I think off of that, I mean, one that we have
to make a distinction too.There are two different kinds of
things you can do in the PRworld, roughly speaking. And
this is very generalized, butjust simply break it down.
There's guest articles, whereyou're writing something for a
publication. your name is on it.
And then there's the articlesabout you or the interviews or
(07:09):
the articles written about youby a journalist. And it's much
easier to do the guest articles,especially in the early days,
build up your cred, and thentransition over to maybe the
interviews later as you've got abunch of stuff in your name and
maybe the publication orpublications get to know you.
But it's a lot easier to landthose I'm giving you material
(07:32):
kinds of PR relationships in theearly days, and especially for
solopreneurs because, you areprobably not famous. There's a
few famous solopreneurs, but notvery many. So most of us are
just kinda out there slogging.
And if you can give them somegood stuff, they'll pop they'll
publish it your names on it. Youcan link back to it. You can put
it in social media. You can doall kinds of stuff to help your
business.
Carly Ries (07:53):
And in terms of helping your business, really
focusing on your personal brandand your company's brand can go
a long way with actuallysecuring those spots. Because
let's say they're like, oh,yeah, I'm really interested in
this story that you pitched me.I'm gonna look at your website.
If your website has a four zerofour error or is very outdated,
(08:14):
doesn't follow best practices,could have been created in 2010,
I mean, that speaks volumes toreporters, and they don't wanna
send quaffect your way
Joe Rando (08:25):
It's important to tell a story. Right? I mean, if
you're telling them a story in apitch and you're basically
sending a pitch email here, andinterestingly, in the subject
line, it should say pitch colon.Right? You wanna say pitch colon
and then something that's gonnagrab their attention that makes
them excited to want to learnmore about this particular
(08:45):
story.
But if you tell them a storyabout, solopreneurs and the
growing number of solopreneursin The United States, and then
they go to your website and seethat you're a website developer,
for dentists, they're gonna belike, what? Who? You really need
(09:09):
to be congruent between whatyou're pitching, what you're
talking about, and what you do,and what you show to the world.
Carly Ries (09:14):
Yeah. Absolutely. The other thing I would say is,
and like I said, solopreneurscan absolutely get media
attention. It is helpful if youhave a little bit of experience
under your belt as asolopreneur. Just for a little
bit more street cred, like ifyou just launched your website
yesterday and you're pitching aperson and you just started your
business a week ago, like don'tbe discouraged if you're not
(09:38):
getting the attention that youwant right away.
You do have to kinda put in thereps. And then once you have a
little bit of street cred, onceyou have the client list, the
customers built, then I thinkit's okay to start reaching out.
Because the little guys reallycan get that media attention as
long as they addressedeverything else that Joe and I
discussed so far. Anything else?
Joe Rando (09:56):
I think that cuts the obvious stuff. Use your network.
If you know somebody that knowsthe reporter that you're
reaching out to, and you shouldkinda try to identify the right
reporter, the right journalist,the right editor, whoever it is
that you're reaching out to. Ifyou know somebody that knows
them and they can put in a goodword for you, it's never a
terrible thing.
Carly Ries (10:16):
Yes. Absolutely. Well, that is all we have for
today. As always, pleasesubscribe to our podcast. Leave
that five star review, and sharethis episode with a friend.
It would mean the world to us.And we will see you next time on
the Aspiring Solopreneur. Youmay be going solo in business,
but that doesn't mean you'realone. In fact, millions of
(10:37):
people are in your shoes,running a one person business
and figuring it out as they go.So why not connect with them and
learn from each other'ssuccesses and failures?
At LifeStarr, we're creating aone person business community
where you can go to meet and getadvice from other solopreneurs.
Be sure to join in on theconversations at
community.lifestarr.com.
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