HSH 149: How to Prepare Your Story for the Press With Celinne DaCosta
HSH 149: How to Prepare Your Story for the Press With Celinne DaCosta
On this episode, we are talking to Celinne DaCosta about how you can prep your message for the masses. You have been thinking about being featured in major media or you just want to be featured in other podcasts, this episode is about how to get ready for that.
Opportunity and possibility are the intersections where you have got to be prepared. You have got to have the information and story for when the opportunity to be featured somewhere presents itself.
Celinne was born in the heart of Rome, Italy, to a Brazilian mother and an Italian father, She’s been a child of the world since she was introduced to it. Since leaving Italy, she’s gone from living in the quintessential suburban neighborhoods that American dreams are made of, to getting her communication degree at the University of Pennsylvania, to working as a brand strategist in corporate New York City. In 2016, she gave it all up to design her dream life.
How to Prepare Your Story for the Press With Celinne DaCosta
Show Notes:
[02:16] Celinne is a story architect. She works with entrepreneurs helping them tap into the truth of who they are and turn that into a powerful and authentic story that will transform them and the life of others.
[02:49] A lot of people make the mistake that they make is that they focus on that endpoint. That is one of the last steps to the work you need to be doing.
[04:16] Before you start pitching to media or putting yourself out there, you need to know what is your irresistible story.
[04:46] Unlock, Embody, Design, & Amplify Your Story
[06:07] Unlock is all about - Why are you not telling your story in the first place?
[07:18] There is this huge mountain of self-imposed limitations that you have to look at and actually get through before you feel confident.
[09:46] Write out your story and ask yourself what are the limiting beliefs that are actually embedded in this.
[11:37] To even start telling your story, you have to push the formulas, pitches, and media aside and say who am, what have I achieved, what do I want to achieve, what is preventing me from going where I want to go, and what’s helping me be where I am now.
[13:55] Phase two is embodying the irresistible story that you want to tell. This is where you need to know your bigger why. Why do I want to share my story in the first place?
[17:00] Your what is composed of who you really want to serve, how do you want to do that, and how do you want to transform their life.
[18:01] You need to be clear on what are your core values driving this because it is going to change the flavor of your story.
[19:07] The third step is to craft the story you need to share. Your story lacks soul, intention, direction, and if you haven’t gone through the first two steps.
[20:58] It is so important when you move into this design piece that you have those values sorted out.
[22:25] There is a way for you to structure your story in a way that is going to catch your audience’s attention and is actually going to flow.
[22:36] The three things you want to do in a story is relate and connect with your ideal audience, show them what’s possible through your message, business, and story, and show them why they should know, like, and trust you so you can lead them to a call to action.
[23:44] Stage four is amplification and now you are ready to send some really powerful pitches to the media. Relationship building far overshadows any pitch that you send.
[25:22] There is active pitching, relationship building, and actively showing up and sharing your story consistently on all your channels and you are going to attract people.
[27:10] If you’re doing the work to unlock and embody even if you design that great story it can never be amplified because that amplification you’re not equipped for yet.
[27:49] When you are clear on your why, your vision, and values, it doesn’t really matter what people say.
[28:36] Brand story is that narrative of facts and emotions that your brand evokes in people.
[31:31] Genuine, authentic, relationship building is another way you can get in front of people. It is a win-win because you’re sharing your message with the world and you have a new relationship as well.
[34:15] People can tell when you are copying and pasting a pitch. Spend time thinking about what value you can deliver to that specific audience honestly.
[35:38] When sending a pitch, get out of the place of what’s in it for me and rather what is in it for the audience of that person.
[36:28] A little bit of customization goes such a long way about making it not about you.
[40:15] When you come from this place of how can I help, how can I serve, it comes back to you.
[41:43] The moment you hit a new level of your business or your life you are always going to want to go back and revisit your story. Once you go through the process the first time, it is just maintenance.
[44:20] Build relationships and do all the inner work before you try to get featured.
[45:21] The first action step for you to do this week after relistening to this podcast episode is going to step one and ask yourself why you are not sharing your story.
[48:50] Hustle is spiritual and internal. It is not the external piece that people talk about online.
How to Prepare Your Story for the Press With Celinne DaCosta
Connect with Celinne DaCosta:
Links Mentioned on the Show From Zach:
How to Prepare Your Story for the Press With Celinne DaCosta
Full Transcript:
Zach Spuckler: This is the Heart, Soul & Hustle Podcast, episode number 149. On this episode, we are talking to Celinne Da Costa about how you can prep your message for the masses. You've thinking about getting featured in major media, or you just want to be featured in other podcasts, this episode is about how to get ready for that, so stay tuned.
Hey, there, you're listening to the Heart, Soul & Hustle Podcast. My name is Zach Spuckler, and on this show, we talk about how to go from passionate side hustler to full-time online business owner, with tips, tricks, and interviews to help you take it to the next level. Let's do it.
What, what, what is up, you guys? Welcome back to the Heart, Soul & Hustle Podcast. Now, I'm really excited because it's been a while since we've had a guest where we had some really clear outcomes that we were going to talk about. I was really excited because I was chatting with the guest we have today, and we were trying to figure out exactly what we wanted to talk about, and she said something that really stood out to me. She said, so many people want to get featured in Forbes or Business Insider, or Entrepreneur Magazine, but they're not even sure what they would say if the opportunity presented itself.
In my business, I'm all about opening my eyes to opportunity and possibility, but opportunity and possibility are this intersection where you've got to be prepared. You've got to have the information, and in this case, the story, ready for when the opportunity to even be featured somewhere presents itself. I don't want to spoil too, too much, but I just want to say, if you were like, I want to be on more podcasts, I want a guest blog. I want to be in major publications. You're probably not there yet, and that's okay, because my guest today, Celinne Da Costa is going to help you get your message ready for the masses.
With that being said, Celinne, welcome to the show.
Celinne Da Costa: Thank you. That was a beautiful introduction, and I'm super excited to be on and share some nuggets of wisdom today.
Zach Spuckler: Well, I am really excited to have you because I've seen you on the streets of the internet for a while, ooh, loving that life in Bali, and I'm really excited, why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are, your business, how you got to where you are now, the usual introduction that we always do.
Celinne Da Costa: Yes, of course. As you said, my name is Celinne. I'm a story architect. I work with entrepreneurs to help them really tap into the truth of who they are and turn that into a powerful, authentic, and shareable story that will transform them and the life of others. I work with people to really help them get that story out there. As you mentioned, one of the many ways that you can get your story out there in a bigger way is through publicity, although you can also do that through your programs, through the work that you do, through your social media.
There's so, so many ways to put your story out there, but a lot of people, the mistake that they make is that they focus on that end point, which is how can I get, as you said, how can I get to all of that publicity? Or how can I make that money that I want to make? How can I get more followers on Instagram? But that is one of the very last steps to the work that you actually need to be doing as a human being and as an entrepreneur to become a magnetic presence and to know yourself and your story so much that you can confidently put it out there into the world in a way that resonates with your ideal audience.
Zach Spuckler: I think this is so good because full transparency, we have been trying to do more media this year, and that's one of the things that got me really excited to get you on the show, because I know you partner with some awesome people who help with media. What I really would love to know is like, okay, so let's say I pick Business Insider. That's like a really big one in our space. I'm like, I'm ready to be in Business Insider. How do I even start to figure out what my story is? Because I think, at least for me, and maybe for a lot of people listening, we don't want to be that typical, like, oh, one day I was eating ramen and now I'm making millions, and the in-between is that I'm just like this magical unicorn, right?
How do we find the nuance of our story and what makes us unique so that we don't just blend in to this whole rags to riches paradigm that a lot of people are talking about?
Celinne Da Costa: Yeah. The top level answer, and I'll go deeper into this in a moment, but the top level answer is that, before you start pitching to media, before you start putting yourself out there in that capacity, you really need to understand, what is your bespoke irresistible story? Because that is how you actually understand how you're not going to blend that into all the other people who have very, very similar stories. Top level, you need to create your own bespoke, irresistible story. Now, how do you actually do that?
The framework that I teach my clients is a four-step process, and it goes like this, and I'll go deeper into these as well. Number one, unlock. Number two, embody. Number three, design, and number four, amplify. Now, before I go into the first three steps, which is what most entrepreneurs are missing, I want to bring attention that what we're talking about right now, that is amplify, which is you have gotten to the point where you have a story to share and you're ready just to pitch, to build relationships, to put yourself out there, to get that story in front of Business Insider.
That's actually at the end of the journey to creating your irresistible story. Now, if we are to rewind, rewind, rewind, rewind back from step three to one, if we look at step number one, it is actually understanding why it's unlock, and the key question I would present to your audience is why are you not telling your story in the first place? That's a really important question to ask, because if we look at step three, which is design, which is where you actually create the story, for you to create the story, you can literally hire the most brilliant copywriter brand strategist, whatever you want, to create a brand story for you to put out there and pitch the media.
But if you yourself lack the confidence or the desire, or have all these limiting beliefs around putting it out there, you're just not going to take action to put it out there in the first place. Unlock is all about, why are you not telling your story in the first place? First question you want to ask yourself, and the answer, it's going to be one of three things, which is you have some limiting beliefs around it. You have patterns that are keeping you locked from success. You have disempowering stories.
I say stories with a capital S, not your story is capital S, your story, and then you have all these little stories about why you can't have success. I'll give you an example to illustrate this. You have a belief that your story is not worth telling, and you're like, "Oh, I want to get on Business Insider. I want to get on a podcast, but oh, I don't really have a story." Okay, that's a limiting belief right there. I don't have a story that's worth telling.
Another one is I don't like ... I actually don't know what parts of my story I should be telling, or people are not going to respond well to my story. That's another limiting belief. Another one that's really popular is my story is too boring. I don't think anyone would be interested in my story, or I feel that I am really afraid that if I do put myself out there, people are going to reject me. If I do talk about this part, this vulnerable part of my story, people are going to judge me, or what will insert relative friend X think about me?
There's this huge just mountain of self-imposed limitations that you have to look at and actually get through before you get to the place where you're like, cool. I feel really confident. I feel really good pitching to this podcast and pitching to Business Insider or Forbes, or whatever. That's the number one thing that people ignore, and that prevents people from putting themselves out there in a bigger way, because that is the most uncomfortable thing to look at out of everything that I'm going to be talking about today.
It's the most uncomfortable, it's the one that people are like, I don't want to deal with that. Let me just focus all my energy on hiring a publicity strategist, pitching, spending hours and hours, collect cold reaching people, because they'd rather do that than reinvest those hours and just figuring out why they're not telling their story in the first place.
Zach Spuckler: I think that's really important. One of the things that stands out for me, I honestly, I didn't know if I was going to share this, but I actually posted on my Facebook that I was going to share how I was able to generate a couple million dollars over six years, and I deleted that post. One of the reasons that I did that was because I was like, ah, I don't feel like that's enough. Or compared to my peers, it's not there. This story is too tried and true, or played out, and it's like, nobody cares.
I think this is really incredible to analyze and have a very real situation to look at for me, at least, because it's like, where are we doing this in our business, in our life, where we go to do something and then we say, oh, but I'm not going to share that? Or whether it's a Facebook post or an Instagram post, but especially as you're trying to put yourself out there, you got to realize that it is going require you to push past some of the things that you think to be true into things that aren't true, so to speak.
Celinne Da Costa: Yeah. To even reframe that, think about, and this is the part that we're going to get into in step two in just a moment, think about, had you left that post up, how many people would have been like, wow, this is so inspiring? If he could do it, I can do it as well. Right? There's that other side of the coin, but because our focus is on, oh, what will people say? Or feel self-conscious, or whatever that is, the limiting belief that's kicking in, that's going to essentially consume a lot of your time and energy.
This manifests that unlock peace, manifested, number one, to make it actionable for your audience is okay. Literally answering that question. Why are you not telling your story in the first place? Writing it out on a piece of paper, looking at it with your eyeballs and then asking, your followup question is, what are the limiting beliefs that are actually embedded in this? It could be one of the ones that I mentioned, it could be another, but what are the limitations that I ... What is it that I believe about why I'm not sharing my story?
This obviously requires introspection and being honest with yourself. Then what you want to do is look at, what are the patterns and what are the stories you're telling around the limiting beliefs? I'll give you an example. If the limiting belief is, I feel like people are going to judge me, or I'm really afraid that I'm going to get judged for sharing myself in this way, in this capacity, then the pattern could be, you spend hours and hours writing posts, and then you spend even more hours trying to figure out, how and where to post them, and being a perfectionist, and editing the hell out of your posts.
Then you post it, and then you agonize about it being online for like a day or two, and you're frustrated and you have anxiety, or you delete it. Then you basically ghost yourself. You ghost your own business and don't post for a while. Then you rinse and you repeat, and you rinse and you repeat. That's a pattern that is being caused by that limiting belief. Then, on top of that, you have the story that you add, that basically really anchors in that pattern, which is, oh, well, I was really bullied when I was young, and people didn't love me because of this reason, and my parents did this.
They usually attach a story to that pattern, and there you go. Now you have a big mountain that keeps you from getting to the other side, which is media, sharing your message with people, monetizing and all the things you ever wanted on the other side of all this bullshit you're telling yourself, basically.
Zach Spuckler: That's really good. I love that, what a lot of people don't think about is that part of telling your story is introspection. There isn't just this one through line. There is no, I know everyone says like there's formulas or there's this, and yes, there's processes and things you can do. The big takeaway, at least for me at this point is, to even start telling your story, you have to push the formulas and the pitches and the media to the side for a second, and say, who am I? What do I want to achieve? What have I achieved? What's preventing me from being where I want to go, and what's helping me be where I am now?
Celinne Da Costa: Yes, you summarized it beautifully. That's the first piece. Now, when you have done that, and by the way, I just want to disclaimer that this work isn't you being in therapy for the next three years, and you have to wait until then for you to get the Forbes piece. That's not it at all. Because actually, the moment you become, and I teach a process in my work. I do teach a subconscious reprogramming process where you can move through these limited self-imposed limitations very quickly once you're actually becoming super aware of what they are.
You have the tools and techniques in your tool belt for you to move it through your body, and you can actually move through it. I have clients move through some certain beliefs in weeks or months. Obviously I can't say, it's a four week process, because it's up to you, but it's not a thing where you're like, oh, shit, I have all these limitations, self-Imposed limitations that I'm now journaling about, and which means that I can't get my TEDx for another three years until I work through this. No, no, no, no, not at all.
Once you know how to move through it, you can move quite quickly. I say quickly, but also at your own pace, you know what I mean? Yeah, you have that. Now you move into phase two. Phase two is embody. It's really to that question that I was saying, hey, Zach, what if we reframe this into how many people will be inspired? Before I explain phase two, I want to mention that I'm a Forbes contributor. I've been writing for Forbes for the past five years. In addition to me being featured in places like Forbes, Business Insider, Entrepreneur, and a lot of really amazing podcasts, I'm pitched to endlessly.
I've seen both sides of the coin. In phase three, which is actually creating your story, I've had people pitch me the most beautiful, well crafted, where I'm just looking at this pitch and I'm like, wow, this is beautifully crafted. It's clearly thought out. It's super strategic. It's got all the pieces that it needs on paper, but dot, dot, dot, it doesn't feel right. It's not resonating with me. I don't feel it. That is where phase two comes in, which is embodying the irresistible story that you want to tell.
This is where you need to know your bigger why. Now you've cleared all the junk that's getting in your way and you have a clean slate, and now you want to ask yourself the question, why do I want to share my story in the first place? Because I'm going to tell you that. If the reason why you want to share your story with the world is because you want to get on board so that you can have a logo on your website, need I say more? Can you hear what's wrong with that? It's all about you.
Again, if you haven't done the stuff around in phase one, unlock, what I'm going to ... This is very, very common entrepreneurs, is that because they have the imposter syndrome and these limitations, and these limiting beliefs that were installed in them as children around them not being worthy, around them needing to work hard for their parents' love. All these things that naturally drive us into entrepreneurship, the dark side of why a lot of people go into entrepreneurship.
Then a lot of people are actually driven by this gaping hole of needing to be seen. The way they try to fill that hole is through publicity, social media, showing off online, which is essentially the dark side of the online space, which is, look at me, look at me, look at everything I've done. Everybody, look at how amazing I am, which is really just trying to fill that unresolved void of mom, dad, look at me, I'm worthy.
I don't mean to be savage here, but that's really what's going on. If you're operating from that space, then you wanting to get media is just going to come from this void, like never ending gaping hole that is never going to be filled no matter how many logos you have on your website. So, how do we not do that? And actually be able to attract media to us in a way that's really fulfilling, and when we do send a pitch, the person that's on the other side is like, wow, I want to interview this person. It's the embodiment. It's why do you want to tell the story in the first place? What is the bigger why?
Forget your business, forget your media list that you want to pitch to. Forget it all. If I strip you naked, metaphorically speaking, and you have nothing, why do you want to share? Why do you want to help others? That why, a lot of times, will have something to do with your business, but it will be much bigger than that. Examples is why, like, I want to be a role model for the next generation and for my children. I want to be playful in life. I want to enjoy. I want life to be a fun game. I want to rediscover what it really means to be human.
These are all really powerful whys that essentially you need to connect to in order for you to be able to wake up in the morning and being your zone of genius and be motivated even when obstacles hit. That's the first piece, is that bigger why. The second piece is the what, which I refer to as your vision. Cool, now you know what that bigger why is, where do you want to take people? That's where you bring in your business, which is, in my case, I want to help people tap into their truth and share their story so they can experience fulfillment and success on the inside and then also on the outside.
That's why I do what I do and the direction that I want to take people in. Your what is going to be composed of asking yourself, okay, who is it that you really want to serve? Who's your ideal audience, and how do you want to transform their life, and how do you want to do that? Which the answer is going to be like, well, through the work and the programs and the things that you're offering in your business. Cool, so now you know what direction you want to take people in, and then you want to get clear on your values.
The core values behind what you're doing. I'll give you an example. If I have a business, and let's say I have a business and I'm going to give it two different sets of values. On one side, my values are fun, family, spirituality. Now, let's say I take the same exact business and instead my core values are courage, adventure, and connection. Can you feel in your body, Zach, how the same exact business having his set of values A versus set of values B are two different businesses?
Zach Spuckler: Yep.
Celinne Da Costa: That's why you need to be clear on what your values are, your core values driving this, because it's going to change the flavor of your story. As a result, it's going to change who you pitch. It's going to change how you pitched them. In this phase, in the embody face, now, you know why you're sharing that bigger why. You know what it is that you're actually doing, which means now you know how to craft your story because you have direction for your story, and you know the values behind it. When you're pitching people, if you're connected to your why and your vision and your values, they're going to be able to feel that you essentially have a story that you generally want to share, and it's not just about you, you, you, but this is the part where it's like, hey, this is what I want to share with your audience.
This is how I want to help the people who are going to be reading your article. Because even when people are pitching me for Forbes, that's what I resonate with. I don't care how nice the story is. It's about, what is it that you want to be doing with the story? Why is this going to get them Forbes? It's going to get on Forbes, and then what? Then what's going to happen? What's the bigger mission behind that?
Once you figure that out, now you enter design, which is you literally craft the story you need to share. Can you see how now, in step three, if you skip one and two, how step three is just a nicely copywritten story that maybe has some strategy behind it, but it completely lacks soul, intention, and direction if you haven't gone through one and two.
Zach Spuckler: Yeah, that's really good. I think it's worth noting that just even, whether you want to pitch to media or not, having values in your business, makes it easier to do all kinds of things, to make decisions, to hire team, to set the vision for the company. It's like having values personally and professionally is never going to hurt you and it's always going to serve you. There's a million activities out there about finding your values, discovering your values, or planning your values, or, creating your values, but I think there's so much power in having values.
At Heart, Soul & Hustle, we do have core values. We share them with our leadership team, and as we hire people, we bring people into our core values, and that is how we operate, and that is how we think. When we're serving our audience, we like to ask, are we following the core values? That makes life and business a lot easier because it's a lot less gray, even though it almost feels like it's more gray.
Celinne Da Costa: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I'm really glad you're shedding light on this, because these are the nuances that people don't think or talk about, which is, have you ever had an experience where you hired, let's say a copywriter, or you hired a strategist for something, and then you're just like, this person is really good at what they do, but they just don't get it, they don't get what I'm doing? Now you wasted time and money and you didn't get what you wanted.
The reason why embody, the number two part that I just talked about is so important, because when you move into design, you can do this two ways. You can do this, you're all of what I'm saying yourself, but what if you say, okay, now I'm ready to hire a copywriter to actually create, or help me, or a brand strategist or someone to actually help me craft the story, or a publicity strategist, to help me start pitching media.
You want to know everything you learned in number two is actually going to determine who you say yes to, who you hire, and who you don't hire. It will help you very clearly communicate, hey, publicity strategist or copywriter, here's actually what I'm trying to do with a story. Here's the direction I'm going. Help me create something that aligns with this, so that you're not wasting your time, energy, or banging your head against the wall, trying to pitch people and not getting any sort of response.
Whether you do this yourself or you have a team to support you with it, it's so important when you move into this design piece that you have those values sorted out. When it comes to the design piece, well, this is the part where you literally say, okay, now you know what's holding you back and you're ready to overcome that. You know why it's so important for you to be sharing. You're fricking motivated by now, because you're like, I have to share my story. I have to, because people are going to hear this and they're going to ...
The message or the business that I have is going to impact people, so now you freaking know it's a priority, and you know that in your body, so it's like, what is the story? How is it that you want to structure the story? That's something that I teach my clients. There's an actual structure that is used in Hollywood, and by Shakespeare, like it's the heroes journey. There is a way for you to structure your story in a way that's going to instantly capture your audience's attention and is actually going to flow, to the point where you're showing it.
The three things you really want to be doing in a story is you want to relate and connect to your ideal audience. You want to show them what's possible through your message, your business, your story, and then you want to show them why they should trust you. They should know, like, and trust you so that you can lead them to a call to action. The design piece is really where you create your own bespoke, irresistible story.
By this point, what you create, if you've done one and two, will be unlike anyone else, because nobody can copy. Nobody can copy and paste your why, your vision, your values in that exact order as it means to you. It's just not replicable. There's only one of you. When you're able to create that story, then you're like, yes, this is my story, and now I'm hiring the right people to support me sharing it. I'm using the story, not as about like, look at me, look at my story, look how amazing I am. Look how cool I am, but rather, this is a story that I have to share that sheds light on my business.
It completely relates to my ideal audiences' pain points and desires, and it drives them to take action for themselves. Now, you have that story. Now we move into stage four, which is amplification, and now you're ready to send some really powerful pitches to the media. It's not just that because pitches is one of the many, many things that you can do to get featured on those podcasts, and those magazines. Another thing is, and I'll share a couple strategies, huge, huge, huge one, that far overshadows any pitch I've ever sent, is relationship building.
The features, if I were to count down every podcast I've been on, every feature I've gotten, I would say a large, like 80% is coming from relationship building and connecting, and 20% from pitching. Another thing to note before I go deeper into that is that, for example, you mentioned Business Insider at the beginning of this episode. I got featured in Business Insider, and I actually had the editor approach me and ask me if they could feature me on Business Insider, because they had been following me on Instagram for a few months, and they had been reading my stories, and then, because every day I would drop, and I would share my story based on this framework that I'm teaching you.
Everyday showing up, sharing myself, sharing myself, and one day I said something that was around actually financially, going back to your Facebook post as well, just sharing, hey, here's how much money I've made, which essentially far overshadowed what I used to make in a year in my corporate job in New York City. She's like, "I was just so inspired by this, and I'd love to write about this on Business Insider. Can we do that?" And I was like, yeah. It's not just about that active, let me pitch everyone that I can.
There's that active pitching, there's relationship building, and there's also showing up, sharing your story consistently across all your channels, and knowing that you are going to attract people who are going to be essentially contacts that you can either pitch to in the future, connect with, and we'll be wanting to feature you or have as a guest on their masterclass, on their podcast. I've had a lot of invitations come to me as well as a result of sharing my irresistible story in using this framework.
Zach Spuckler: I think that's so key. I think the one thing that you said that I really want people to think about, and one thing that we've started doing for our business is being more present and candid on social media. It's interesting, I pulled up my Instagram while we were talking, because I've been doing, every day for 30 days, I'm doing a 30 day real challenge. I find that this stuff where I'm sharing, like how I really feel, or what I really think or where my values fit in with the industry that I'm in, those are the ones that are doing the best.
It's because that's the stuff where I think sometimes we get caught up because we're like, well, I don't want to take a stand and offend, or I don't want to take a stand and upset, or I don't want to take a stand and have somebody take it personally. It's a little laid out, but we've all heard the saying like, stand for something or fall for anything. Right? I think what you're saying really falls in alignment with that, is like, just be sharing your story with the platform that you already have, and it really makes me think of people who say like, I wish I had a hundred thousand followers, and it's like, but are you ready for what that comes with?
Are you ready for the negative comments and the backlash and the people who are going to call you fake? That stuff happens when you get media features, and if you're not doing the work to unlock and embody, even if you design that great story, it can never be amplified, because that amplification, you're just not equipped for it yet.
Celinne Da Costa: Wow. Oh my God, I'm like, I wanted to write that down like I should use that in the future. Thanks for writing my captions, Zach.
Zach Spuckler: You're welcome.
Celinne Da Costa: You're so getting it. I can feel like you're getting this on embody level, because you're so right. Also, when you're saying you have to take a stand for something, a lot of people are afraid to stand for what they really stand for because they haven't worked through that unlock piece. But the thing is, when you're clear on your why, and you're clear on your vision, and you're clear on your values, it doesn't freaking matter what people say, because that embody piece far overshadows and so much bigger than anything that could come up in unlock.
It's really important to understand that, when you feel wobbly in your embody piece, you're going to feel wobbly putting something out and standing for it, and that's the part where I'm like, oh, I don't know what people think about me, but when you're so sure, and it's in your body where you're like, this is what I'm meant to be here doing, this is what I'm here doing, it doesn't freaking matter the sort of heat that you're getting, because it's pebbles compared to the impact that you're creating.
In terms of what you're saying around showing ... By the way, I've been watching [inaudible], and I love them. You're absolutely right, which is people share. They want to hear like what you do. When we even talk about brand story, brand story is that narrative of facts and emotions that your brand evokes in people. So, you're giving them facts, which is cool like Facebook marketing, I'm getting tidbits here and there, they're super helpful, but it's really like, why should I trust you?
How do you make me feel? Because at the end of the day, when I'm thinking about who to hire, a huge part of that component is going to be how that person makes me feel. The emotions are about that. Also, to speak to that, I actually thought of this, the amplification piece and the putting yourself out there over and over and over again, I actually would love to even share how I'm on this podcast in the first place, which is literally the example of that, which is, I remember I've been following you.
I actually sent a pitch or like about a year plus ago. I've been following you ever since, because I just ... I loved your podcast and I thought you were interesting. I think you went on a bit of a hiatus on social media. When you came back, I just remember, I forgot what you said, Zach, but you were super vulnerable and super raw. I was like, wow. I used to think this was like ... You were doing with a cool podcast, and now you're really like a human being with struggles and overcoming those struggles, and then coming out on the other side and being like, hey, I'm actually back on social media.
I remember you got on my radar because of that, and you were posting, and I was really liking what you were creating. I remember you posted about your candle business. I'm like, oh my God, I need those candles. By the way, I still want them. I'm waiting for somebody from America so I don't have to pay ridiculous import tax fees, but I was just so genuinely interested in your crystal candles. I remember just commenting, and you were like, DM me, and I'm like, Zach, I need your crystal candles. Give me your crystal candles.
Just having like a genuine conversation around, what have you been doing? I was so interested in you at that point, because of that vulnerable, the vulnerable posts, and then I remember mentioning, hey, I actually had reached out to you a year ago, pitching, and then you were like, hey, well actually, do you want to come on the podcast? I remember, it wasn't even on my radar to ask you that. I just was really obsessed with your candles. Then you did that and I was like, wait a minute. Yes, I would actually love to do that.
I wanted to share this story because I think it's a beautiful way to illustrate how there's an active way to do this, which is let's make a list and let's pitch to this list, and there's ways that it's absolutely possible as long as you're doing that unlock, embody, and design piece in your pitching in a way that's really strategic and intelligent. Yes, there is a way for you to grab your reader's attention. To one extent, it is a numbers game, where it's like, you pitch 50 people, and then statistically speaking, some are bound to get back to you, but you can absolutely increase that.
The chance is that people will read your email and respond by doing the framework that I said. On top of that, don't forget that, that's one of a few different ways that you can really get in front of people. The other is that relationship building, that genuine, authentic relationship building, which arguably I have seen and witnessed, both with my column as well as being featured on other people, is just the most powerful way to truly get in publicity in a way where you're sharing your message, you're building relationship with whoever's helping you share your message.
It's a win-win because you're sharing a message with the world and now you have a new relationship as well.
Zach Spuckler: Yeah, I think that's so good, and I'd love to just tack on. The second piece of that is like, when you do pitch yourself and you do put yourself out there, you're not just going to get yeses every single time. That doesn't mean that you can't maintain a relationship. I think that sometimes we're so quick to be seeking the win that we forget that there's a person on the other side. When we're telling our story, what I find is that sometimes my reels flop, sometimes they don't, but the ones that really connect are when I'm sharing something of value that serves the person from a place of my values.
That's what's really connecting with people. People connect with people, and even if you're pitching to Entrepreneur Magazine, Oprah Mag, like I don't care what you're pitching to. You're pitching to a person, and that person has their own values and beliefs. If that person says no to you and you go, well, I'm writing them off forever. That's your loss, not theirs. I just really want to impress upon that, that like I could have said no, and then we could have fallen off each other's radar, but instead, you stayed connected and staying connected doesn't have to be like checking in every three days and saying, things have changed, I'm a different person now.
It's just keeping that person on your radar, keeping your opportunities open. When we connected, it wasn't even about the podcast. It was about the candles that I sell. It had nothing to do with it, but it opened up a relationship where something could blossom. That's my big takeaway from that. It's like, don't shut down at every no, and don't think every no is a no forever, and don't think that every no ... The flip side of that coin is don't think that every no is a no, not now, and just come back in three months with another pitch. Start building relationships with people because that is where the introductions happen. It's where the interviews happen. It's where the connection happens. At the end of the day, we're humans having a human experience, and that's what we want as connection.
Celinne Da Costa: Yeah. What you're saying is so true and so powerful, and to bring us back into it, how can this be also actionable? It's that, when you're sending that pitch or you're building that relationship, so I'll speak specifically to the pitch, because like I said, I've received so many and I've sent so many. I've been on both sides of the coin, is that I can tell when you're copying and pasting a really beautifully copywritten pitch. I can tell. It's all BS. That's why that embody piece, that's why that embody piece is there.
Because it's like, cool, you designed a really cool story or a really cool pitch. You are not embodying it. The ways that it's like, okay, cool. Like, well, how do I ... because I do understand that. It's not efficient if you're pitching 50 people for you to just write 50 bespoke pitches. There are pieces that you can copy and paste like, hey, here's a little bit about my background, and here's about what I do. But what I do spend time doing is thinking about what is the value that I want to deliver to that audience, honestly?
I don't actually do mass pitches anymore. I used to do them about a year ago. Now it's not as really necessary because it's very organic. Again, part of the long end game of creating your irresistible story is to get to the point where you don't have to be sending pitches all the time, because now you have a relationship network, and you have a story that you're consistently putting out there through your website, through your email list.
The opportunities, like I've gotten to point out, for example, where I do have podcasts frequently booked in, but I'm not pitching them, because it's just like a, hey, you want to do this, or you want to get invited on this? But again, let's rewind for people who are just starting and you're sending that pitch. Think about what's, not like, just get out of the place of what's in it for me, which is I'm going to get featured on this and then I'm going to get these many followers, and I'm going to get this kind of recognition, but rather, what's in it for the audience of that person?
You could even go to make it more efficient, like batshit, saying like, here's like lifestyle podcasts, here's business podcasts, here's women's health, or whatever it may be. What is that one thing that I really want to offer to the woman's health group? Then you can have a standardized pitch with that, but still take the time, especially maybe ... Someone like Forbes or Business Insider won't care as much, but if it's like a person that has a podcast and they're likely reading or their assistant is reading it, take the time to drop in, and line and say, hey, I really enjoyed, if you actually listened to it, this podcast episode, because why, and just adding a little bit of customization goes such a long way, and making it not about you.
Because then the person reads it and is like, cool, this is a really powerful pitch, and I actually really want to share this with my audience because I want to give them that value, and this person gives a shit about me. I'm really then compelled to form relationships. I've actually had some really powerful friendships that have resulted from people who pitched me in that way.
Zach Spuckler: I just think there's so much power, and the big takeaway from me is like, it is about relationships. It's about relationships. That is where my pitches have come from, and building relationships and serving other people's audience. I was able to be on Amy Porterfield's Podcast, which is pretty prolific in the online course space, twice, and one, when I had only been in business for just about a year and a half. The reason I was on that show multiple times, and there's a point to this, I promise.
But the first one was because I shared with her how I used her program and how I wanted to use her platform to share that her program worked with her audience, because one of my values is solutions driven, right? I'm solutions oriented, and I wanted her to see that what she had created could serve her audience, and I wanted to elevate her brand with my message. It was this amazing synergistic opportunity for both of us. That builds a relationship with Amy, where I was invited back again a couple years later, and that podcast, where I talked about challenges, which is one of the core elements of my business, still drives traffic today.
I mean, I literally got an Instagram message yesterday from someone saying, "Oh, I heard you on Amy's Podcast." Just for reference, Amy is on episode ... She just did episode 300 and something like 12 or 15. This was episode number 144, guys. Yeah, I'm trying to find which one she's on, but I can't click around fast enough. Just assume it's 312. This was episode number 144, almost like half a lifetime of the Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast to go, and yet, I still get ... She's on 366, found it.
Literally, more than half of a lifetime ago, and yet I get business from that. The takeaway is not, oh my God, I needed to be on Amy show because it gets me so much traffic. The takeaway is if you're going to approach somebody, tell them how it serves them and their audience, because that builds a relationship where people do bring you back and do want to talk to you, and do you want to share with you, and do you want to share their platform? I've got a good friend who I had on my show and I was like, come be on my show, and we just have fun.
Guys, when you're doing this right, it's not work, it's fun. I don't mean that in like the have fun, do what you love and you'll never work in your life. Guys, I work. Suffice it to say, when I'm pitching, it's work. But when you build these synergistic relationships, it's actually fun. You enjoy talking. This interview, I'm enjoying this. This isn't work for me because it's a relationship that has been built and fostered, and will continue to be fostered, and will continue to serve both my audience, and hopefully your audience.
Celinne Da Costa: That's super relevant. I was giggling to myself because you're using Amy, and as an example, and I actually did a Forbes article on Amy, and we did a live together. Actually, I have the same thing, where I still have people, because I wanted to reach out and get her message out as well, she's got a great message. I wrote a Forbes article on her, and we did a live on Facebook explaining it. To this day, I'm still getting people reaching out to me because they know I worked with her. They're like, hey, I'm still getting clients, I'm still getting leads from that. Even though when I actually did it, it was just to help her have a platform to share her message on.
I have podcasts, like you were saying, about years ago, I was on Manifestation Babe a year ago. I worked with Kathrin as well. To this day, I still get people coming in, and so it [inaudible] when you come at it from this place of, how can I serve? How can I help elevate this person and get their voice out there in a bigger way? And you actually do that, it comes back to you. It does come back to you. Really being clear on what is the intention. I think, one of the key takeaways as well that you've touched on is just, it's not about you, it's about the bigger message. It's about the impact that you can make together with this person.
The thing is that if you're not doing what I talked about in unlock, you're going to have a really hard time connecting with this person if you're like, my story is not worth telling, or like, oh, I'm afraid they're going to judge me. They're not going to think I'm enough. If you're just basically stuck on that step one, it's going to be really hard for you to create these connections that you and I are talking about. Another thing that I want to note is that, what I'm talking about today, this framework, it's not a linear process that you just do that one time three years ago, and then it's done.
Your story is a living, breathing document. I call it a document, even though it's not actually physically anywhere, your story is living and breathing. I've had clients just starting their business in a six figure level, seven, eight, nine figure level, who are ... We still need to go back and go back to unlock. We still need to go through this process, because what ends up happening is the person you were five years ago, or three ... If you're like, "Oh, I worked on my brand story like three years ago. I'm good."
Well, you've grown I hope in the past three years. You have facing new challenges, new levels of your business, the moment you hit a new level of your business or your personal life or your relationships, you're always going to want to go back and revisit these four steps that I'm mentioning, because your story that you're pitching to the media three years ago, I know that to be true for sure, for me, that what I was pitching three years ago is not what I'm talking about today. It feeds what I'm talking about today, but what I share in my podcast today has significantly evolved from a few years ago.
That is because I'm consistently, with my clients and with myself, it doesn't matter what level of business you're at. You have to consistently ... It's more like a circle. It's a cycle. The good news is that the first time you do this work and you're looking at these steps, you might be like, oh my God, how the hell do I do this? That's why I have group programs and courses teaching this? How do you actually literally do this? But the good news is that, once you go through that process, one time, two times, that it's just like house maintenance, like upkeeping of just like let's update the software.
Let's just go back, revisit. What are some things that I still believe about my imposter syndrome? What are some ways that I'm still allowing myself to be held back? The more you step into that full, authentic expression of your story, the good news is you'll be able to hit certain levels where you're like, oh my God, I'm sharing my story with my a hundred thousand plus followers, and I'm getting a lot of haters. Now I can handle it. I have space to like ... I actually am able to handle instead of crying about it for a week.
Now the next challenge is, how do I take this story and present it to investors for funding? Then it's like, oh no, I have all these limiting beliefs that I'm not worthy, or they're going to ... I'm not enough, and though you were having that belief at a much lower level a couple of years ago. Does that make sense? The beliefs are still ... They could still be lingering, but the challenges and the problems you're having are getting better, and better, and better. You're still growing in yourself and in your business, and you're actually able to get a grip on how to solve those.
Yeah, there are some things that we have around ourselves, beliefs, limiting beliefs that take years to heal some time. But that doesn't mean we'd have to just be at standstill waiting for that thing to heal, because part of the healing and part of the overcoming of everything I mentioned in unlock and embodying is literally, like the embodiment piece is literally taking the action over and over again, to overcome this so that you can hit that next level in your business.
Zach Spuckler: I think this is so good. I love this conversation. I want to start to wrap up here by asking a couple of big questions. I think the big takeaway for me at least is like, build relationships, do the inner work, and do all of that before you start trying to get featured. That's really where the intent, the vision, the values are really going to serve people either say yes or no to the opportunity to work with you. What would you say is something that people who are listening to this show could do this week to start getting traction with their message?
Celinne Da Costa: I would say I've been seeding in little action steps all throughout this episode. I'll give the first, first step, but I would say, before that first step, listen to this episode, if you were in your car, or washing dishes, but listen to it really carefully with a notebook next to you. Because throughout the whole episode, like in those four phases, I was dropping in questions for you to ask and action steps for you to take in each of those phases.
Now, I don't want to overwhelm you by saying, okay, do all those four phases, but if you sit down and you literally say like, unlock, embody, design and amplification, see what is it that you learned in each one so that you're aware of where your own work needs to be. Now, the first thing, the action stuff for you to do this week, after listening to this podcast episode, and taking these notes and making sure you're grabbing these questions so that you can journal on them, is go to step one, which is unlock, and ask yourself, why am I not sharing my story?
Now, I don't want you to just be like, oh, I don't know. I'm scared, whatever. I want you to actually literally, on your calendar, sit down, set an hour aside, 30 to 60 minutes aside, and brain dump this. Brain dump this like, why is it that you're not putting your story out there? Because you know where you want to end up, which is I want to make this level of income. Whatever your business goals are or your personal goals, make sure you're aware of them, and why am I not sharing my story? Why am I not putting myself out there? Do a brain dump on a piece of paper of all the reasons why, and look at that brain dump and actually ask yourself, what are the limiting beliefs that live inside of this? Pull them out, which would be, well, my story is not worthy, or I believe my story is not worthy. I'm afraid of what this person will think. Actually, lift out those limiting beliefs so that you are aware of them, and start watching this week, how these beliefs are keeping you from cresting posts, are keeping you from sharing yourself, are keeping you from creating that pitch.
The first thing of breaking through that is just having that extreme awareness. Once you're aware of that, and you're actually being aware of the ways that this is happening, then you move into step two, which is embody, and that's where you want to ask yourself, why do I want to share this in the first place? This is obviously a high level step that I'm sharing, Zach, because of course, this is like, no, this is literally months of work that I do with private clients.
Zach Spuckler: Yeah, no, this is amazing.
Celinne Da Costa: But the first actionable step is just asking yourself that question and knowing with your eyeballs, look at a piece of paper and know, recognize what those limiting beliefs are, because you recognizing what's keeping you back is what's going to help you create the actions and make the decisions to not let those beliefs that are not going to have those beliefs getting in your way.
Zach Spuckler: I love that. Now, as we wrap up, we have one final question that we like to ask all our guests, which is, what does hustle mean to you?
Celinne Da Costa: That's a really powerful question. I'll start by saying what it doesn't mean to me, which is what has been interpreted in the external world. The, oh, I got to work like 12 hour days. I got to work, work, work, hustle, hustle, hustle, all the time, everywhere all the time. The way that hustle is being interpreted in the external world, I find to be quite toxic to people. However, the way that I see, and there's a term that my friend has coined that I find so powerful, which is the spiritual hustle. For me, hustle is internal, which is that never ending hunger for me to grow myself, for me to ... I don't rest when it comes to being able to be truthful to myself, and looking at my limiting beliefs, my limitations, the way that I project my shit on other people, which we all do it at a certain extent.
For me, the hustle is being radically responsible with the person that I am, and everything that's going on inside of me, and making sure I'm consistently, like the unlock face, consistently cleaning out the shit that doesn't serve me, and consistently seeking out the things that will involve me. To me, hustle is spiritual and is internal. It's not the external part piece that a lot of people talk about online.
Zach Spuckler: So good. So good. Well, before we say goodbye, and thank you so much for being here, where can people find out more about you? Where can they connect with you? If they love your message, how can they work with you? Tell us all the things, and then we will call it a show.
Celinne Da Costa: Amazing. I've made it very easy for you all to find me. The one thing you need to remember is to spell my name right, which I'm going to spell out because that's where most people go wrong. My website is celinnedacosta.com, C-E-L-I-N-N-E-D-A-C-O-S-T-A.com. My name has one L and two Ns. On social media, I live mostly on Instagram. If you're curious about what I talked about today and how it actually looks like online, make sure that you follow me on Instagram @celinnedacosta. I also have Facebook, Facebook group, everything you can find through @celinnedacosta.
How you can work with me. Of course, you can work with me privately if this isn't the four-step process that I talked about. Creating your irresistible story is something that I take people on all levels across. Now, I understand that, that might not be accessible to everyone, so I am relaunching my group program called Master Your Story in the next couple of months. The best thing you can do right now to get into my role, to start learning this stuff, to start preparing and educating yourself, is I have a free guide that I'd love to offer, so you can get started, which is called three secrets to a magnetic brand story.
You can bring in your ideal audience and also increase your income. You can get that in the show notes, as well as in the bio and Instagram. Definitely grab that free guide. Get on my email list and I will keep you updated on everything and anything around this so you can start doing this work now.
Zach Spuckler: That's so great. Well, Celinne, thank you so, so much for being on the show. It's been an absolute pleasure having you.
Celinne Da Costa: Thank you for having me. This was really fun. It definitely did not feel like work.
Zach Spuckler: Awesome. Well, you guys, that is the show. If you got lots of value, make sure to do us a favor, take a quick screenshot of this episode and tag us on Instagram stories. We would love, love, love to hear what you thought of the show. If you'd like a recap, we'll have a full transcript of the show available at heartsoulhustle.com\149. Again, that's heartsoulhustle.com\149. We'll have the entire show there to play. We'll have a quick recap of everything that we covered with timestamps, and as always, we'll have an entire transcript of the show waiting for you. I hope you got lots of value here today, and until next time, keep hustling.
Thanks for listening to the Heart, Soul & hustle Podcast. For more great stuff, be sure to visit heartsoulhustle.com.
