The Secrets that Filmmakers Know About Marketing That Most Business Owners Never Learn

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That Solo Life Episode 344: The Secrets that Filmmakers Know About Marketing That Most Business Owners Never Learn with Jake Isham Episode Summary Jake Isham describes himself as an accidental marketer. He went to film school, realized he wasn't going back for a grad degree, and spent his 20s learning to build a business the hard way. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Creative Minds, a creative agency rooted in filmmaking and storytelling that helps entrepreneurs build personal brands through video content, photography, and a signature podcast model that takes clients out of the studio and into the environments where they actually come alive. In this episode, Jake joins Karen and Michelle to talk about his journey and the hard-won lessons along the way. He breaks down how a filmmaker's lens changes the work he does for clients, why the Hero's Journey is a more useful brand-building framework than most marketing playbooks, how his on-location podcast model turns a client's hobby into a content engine, and the business development principle that he wishes someone had told him on day one: promote at a volume that feels impossible, measure the results six weeks later, and get 1% better every time. Episode Highlights * [01:43] The Accidental Marketer Origin Story: Jake went to film school, considered grad school for about a semester, and decided he'd already spent four years doing what he was about to spend two and a half more years doing. What followed was a decade of figuring it out, freelancing, building, and course-correcting, guided by a piece of advice from his father. * [07:35] The Filmmaker's Lens: Why the Hero's Journey Is the Real Brand Framework: When everyone claims to tell stories, the differentiator is understanding what storytelling actually means. Jake draws the line between sharing an anecdote and structuring a narrative. payoff. He uses Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey as a practical brand-building tool: who is your hero, who is your enemy, who are your allies, what are you standing for, what are you standing against. These are the questions that build a brand identity rather than a content calendar. * [10:24] Getting Clients Comfortable on Camera: Jake's superpower as a director is making people comfortable in front of a camera, and he leverages that in his work with clients. He describes a client whose first shoot took four hours with a teleprompter. Their most recent shoot took one hour, no teleprompter, off the top of his head, and produced more usable content than the first session ever did. The skill is not just technical but the accumulated experience of working with actors, directing scenes, and creating the conditions for someone to be fully themselves. * [12:30] The Signature Series Podcast Model: Rather than building another studio podcast, Jake developed a signature format: take the client's hobby or genuine interest and build a location-based show around it. A golf enthusiast on the course. A client at their place of worship. The host is in an environment that makes them feel natural and engaged, which changes everything about how they show up on camera. * [20:12] The Business Development Truth Nobody Tells Creative Entrepreneurs: When asked what he wishes someone had told him at the start, Jake doesn't hesitate: promote, promote, promote, promote. He describes watching a gym owner tell his mentor he had distributed 300 flyers. The mentor's response: I do 5,000 a day. The lesson is not that what you're doing is wrong. It is that you are almost certainly not doing it at anywhere near the volume required. Jake shared the experiment he used and the data that he relies on for business development success. * [23:04] The Six-Week Lag: How to Measure Business Development Without Losing Your Mind: Jake has identified a consistent pattern in his own practice in which promotion activity produces income results approximately six weeks later. The implication is practical and clarifying. Don't judge a business development effort in the first six weeks. Measure from week six to week twelve. * [26:52] The 1% Better Principle: Why You Don't Need to Leap to Progress: Jake co-hosts a filmmaking show called The Creative Lens. He shows his first episode as an example: his setup was visibly rough next to his co-host's polished rig. By episode eight or nine, the gap had closed — not through a single overhaul, but through consistent incremental improvement. One better backdrop. One better light. One more structured opening. He applies the same logic to business development: not 100 posts more, but one more post. Not a complete brand overhaul, but one sharper headline. Get 1% better. Then do it again. About Jake Isham Jake Isham is a filmmaker, photographer, and the owner and founder of Creative Minds, a creative agency focused on personal brand building through video content, photography, and signature podcast production. After film school and a brief flirtation with grad school, Jake spent his 20s learning how to build a business without a mentor and without a safety net — and has turned that hard-won experience into a practice that helps entrepreneurs show up authentically on camera and build content strategies that compound over time. He is also the co-host of The Creative Lens, a podcast about filmmaking, gear, and the business of visual storytelling. Jake is based in the Los Angeles area and works with entrepreneurs building personal brands at every stage. * Website: creativemindsofficial.com [https://creativemindsofficial.com] * Instagram: @JakeCreativeMarketing [https://instagram.com/jakecreativemarketing] * LinkedIn: Jake Isham [https://linkedin.com/in/jakeisham] Resources & Related Episodes * The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell: Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey [https://www.amazon.com/Hero-Thousand-Faces-Collected-Works/dp/1577315936] * That Solo Life, Episode 308: Branding, Bravery and Breaking Through with Melissa Vela-Williamson [https://www.thatsololife.com/branding-bravery-and-breaking-through-with-melissa-vela-williamson-episode-308/] * That Solo Life, Episode 296: The Big Idea with Jess Sato [https://www.thatsololife.com/the-big-idea-with-jess-sato/] * That Solo Life, Episode 319: Succeeding at Business Development in a Tough Year [https://www.thatsololife.com/succeeding-at-business-development-in-a-tough-year/] * Join the Solo PR Pro membership community: Solo PR Pro [https://soloprpro.com/join] Host & Show Info That Solo Life is a podcast created for public relations, communication, and marketing professionals who work as independent and small practitioners. Hosted by Karen Swim, APR, President of Solo PR Pro, and Michelle Kane, Principal of Voice Matters, the show delivers expert insights, encouragement, and practical advice for solo PR pros navigating today's dynamic professional landscape. Listen to all episodes and catch up on previous conversations at thatsololife.com. Did this episode inspire you? If you found value in this conversation, please take a moment to leave us a review [https://www.thatsololife.com/reviews/new/]. Your feedback helps us reach more solo pros just like you! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

The Hidden Messages for Solo PR Pros in the Muck Rack State of PR Report

Episode Summary Muck Rack's State of PR 2026 report surveyed 971 PR professionals. Only 18% were solos. The rest were mostly from agencies and in-house teams — which means that when the report says 66% of PR pros rate their stress above five out of ten, or that 55% worked more than 40 hours last week, those numbers were never really measuring a department of one. Karen and Michelle decided to build the solo column themselves. This episode takes three of the report's most significant findings and translates them through the solo lens: first, why the stress and workload data almost certainly understates what solos are experiencing; second, why the industry's move toward volume pitching at the exact moment journalists are demanding relevance is actually good news for solo practitioners who were never going to out-blast a team of account coordinators; and third, why the GEO ownership vacuum — 29% of organizations say no one owns it — is one of the clearest competitive opportunities solos have right now. Karen and Michelle also draw on Muck Rack's companion State of Journalism 2026 report throughout, giving the journalist perspective that makes the pitching data land harder. This is a data-driven, translation episode built for the practitioner the industry keeps forgetting to count. Episode Highlights * [00:03] The Opening Question That Frames Everything: Karen opens without a greeting: 'Quick question before we even say hello. Did you read Muck Rack's new State of PR report and feel like it was describing someone else's job?' Michelle's answer: she pored through it, noticed only 18% of respondents were solos, and across every chart — stress, hours, pitching, GEO — there was no solo column. The episode's mission: build that column themselves. * [02:17] The Report Was Not Built for You — and the Data Understates Your Load: Karen walks through the report's sample: 971 usable responses, 56% agencies, 18% solo. When the report says 66% rate their stress above five out of ten, or that 77% worked after hours at least once last week — those numbers come largely from people with a team absorbing some of the load: an account coordinator to pick up an email thread, an intern to build the coverage report, a colleague to cover a sick day. There is no chart in this report for running all of those roles simultaneously. * [03:43] What Freelance and Creative Industry Research Fills In: Because Muck Rack didn't ask solos specifically, Karen and Michelle pull parallel research from broader freelance and creative industry studies. The finding: the majority of freelancers report burnout symptoms, and a notable share describe energy depletion even when logging fewer hours than a traditional employee. The theory is that when you're responsible for delivery, sales, admin, and income security simultaneously, the load doesn't show up as more hours — it shows up as more weight per hour. Michelle: 'Boy, isn't that the truth.' * [05:53] Segment 2: Precision Over Volume — Why Solos Are Already Winning the Pitch Game: 49% of PR pros say they pitch more than 20 journalists per campaign. 24% pitch more than 50. Meanwhile, personalization is moving in the wrong direction: only 66% say they always or usually personalize pitches, down from 70% last year, and 73% of those who do personalize are only changing a few sentences. The trend line: pitch more people, customize less per person. And then the number that should stop everyone doing this cold. * [06:56] 88% of Journalists Immediately Delete Irrelevant Pitches: Karen and Michelle pulled Muck Rack's companion State of Journalism 2026 report directly. 88% of journalists say they immediately delete a pitch that is irrelevant to their coverage — the single biggest reason pitches get trashed, ahead of being overly promotional at 71% and looking like a mass email at 50%. And 70% say the number one thing a pitch should demonstrate is clear relevance to their beat — ahead of interview access, data, and everything else. 43% say relevant pitches are seldom or never what they actually receive. A journalist quoted in the open-ended responses: 'Don't pitch widely, pitch selectively and then widen as needed.' * [09:42] The Solo Reframe: Your Constraint Is Actually Your Strategy: Karen's line: you were never going to out-blast a team with a subscription database and three account coordinators. You cannot pitch 50 people with real personalization by yourself. But the data shows that is exactly the wrong strategy anyway. The industry is trading relevance for reach at the moment journalists are punishing that trade. What solos assumed was a disadvantage turns out to be pointing them at the right approach by default. It's not that you need a bigger list — you need a sharper one. 15 real relationships outperform 50 cold contacts. * [11:53] The GEO Ownership Vacuum Is a Solo Opportunity: 73% of PR pros say GEO is at least somewhat important to their strategy. But 29% — the single largest group — say no one owns it at their organization. Another 13% are not sure who does. PR and comms claim it only 24% of the time. SEO or content teams claim it 15% of the time. The rest is scattered across marketing leadership and dedicated AI teams. For solos: there is no committee, no turf war, no meeting to schedule to decide whose job it is. That decision was already made. * [16:34] The GEO Tactics Already in Reach: The tactics the report lists for building AI visibility are all single-person tasks: 55% are securing coverage in high-authority publications, half are creating authoritative or data-driven content, half are optimizing for search, and 44% are structuring content with clear answers and FAQ formats so AI tools can extract it easily. None of these require cross-functional sign-off. Michelle's observation: if you start now informally, you may not be behind at all — you may be ahead of larger organizations still arguing about who owns this. * [18:33] Three Takeaways for Solo Practitioners: First: trust your own stress and workload data more than what this report says — it was never measuring a department of one. Second: shrink your pitch list and go deeper, letting this data give you permission to stop trying to out-volume agencies with ten times your headcount. Third: claim GEO now, informally, before anyone tells you it's yours to claim — pick one tactic and start. Resources & Additional Information * Muck Rack — State of PR 2026 Report: muckrack.com/state-of-pr [https://muckrack.com/state-of-pr] * Muck Rack — State of Journalism 2026 Report: muckrack.com/state-of-journalism [https://muckrack.com/state-of-journalism] * Solo PR Pro membership community: soloprpro.com [https://soloprpro.com] * That Solo Life podcast website: thatsololife.com [https://thatsololife.com] Note on sourcing: all statistics referenced in this episode are drawn from Muck Rack's State of PR 2026 and State of Journalism 2026 reports. Links to both reports are above. Freelance burnout data is from broader creative industry research cited in the episode — verify against primary sources before external publication. Host & Show Info That Solo Life is a podcast created for public relations, communication, and marketing professionals who work as independent or small-agency practitioners. Hosted by Karen Swim, APR, President of Solo PR Pro, and Michelle Kane, Principal of Voice Matters, the show delivers expert insights, encouragement, and practical advice for solo PR pros navigating today's dynamic professional landscape. Listen to all episodes and catch up on previous conversations at thatsololife.com. Did this episode inspire you? If you found value in this conversation, please take a moment to leave us a review [https://www.thatsololife.com/reviews/new/]. Your feedback helps us reach more solo pros just like you! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

20 de jul de 202618 min

Why Senior PR Pros Should Focus on Development Not Decline

That Solo Life Episode 347: Why Senior PR Pros Should Focus on Development Not Decline Episode Summary Are you in the later stages of your Solo PR career? Today’s episode of That Solo Life is one of the most grounded, research-backed, and genuinely useful conversations the show has had about what it means to be a late-career practitioner in an AI-dominated landscape — and why the narrative telling experienced pros they're behind the curve is not only wrong, it's the exact opposite of what the evidence shows. Karen and Michelle walk through the real data on AI adoption, two peer-reviewed studies that directly challenge the 'experience is a liability' myth, a practical three-bucket framework for deciding what to ignore, what to adopt, and what to anchor, four mindset shifts for the final stretch, and three action items that can be done this week. The tone throughout is not inspirational poster energy. It's honest, warm, and built for practitioners who are genuinely tired and need a practical path forward, not another list of tools to chase. Episode Highlights * [00:25] The Opening Sentence That Names What Everyone Is Feeling: Michelle opens with what she calls 'a statement a lot of our listeners have either said out loud or are saying to themselves': she's five years from wrapping up her career, and she just doesn't have it in her to learn one more new tool. Karen doesn't argue. She validates it — and then reframes it. The feeling isn't laziness or fear. It's the cumulative weight of four or five complete technology revolutions inside a single career. * [01:59] The Real Weight of Experience: Four Technology Revolutions in One Career: Karen lists what experienced PR pros have already navigated in a single career: typewriters to desktop publishing, fax machines to email, print media to social, and now AI. The question she frames for the rest of the episode: the real question isn't 'can I learn this?' — you've already proven you can, repeatedly. The question is how much of this do you actually need to learn, and how do you protect your energy for what matters most. * [03:16] The Data on the AI Usage Gap — and What It Actually Means: Karen cites National Bureau of Economic Research data: AI tool usage at work is about 34% for workers under 40, and about 17% for workers 50 and up. That gap is real. But the research also shows it's not about ability — it's about confidence and on-ramps. Nobody handed experienced practitioners a clear 'start here' door. The industry is selling urgency, not discernment. And discernment is exactly what experience builds. * [04:41] Busting the Myth: Experience Is Not a Liability in an AI World: The myth Karen and Michelle want to kill: that going further along in your career means you're slower, behind, and less valuable in an AI world. The counter-argument is research-backed. As AI makes production work cheaper, what becomes scarce and valuable is judgment — knowing what's worth doing, what's true, and what will land with a reporter versus blow up in a client's face. Karen's line: you cannot prompt your way to 30 years of pattern recognition. * [05:51] Two Studies That Prove Experience Is an Advantage, Not a Liability: Karen cites two unexpected findings. A University of Mannheim study of BMW plant workers found productivity actually increased with age, right up to retirement — because veterans knew which problems were expensive and headed them off before they occurred. A North Carolina State study of software developers found that older programmers knew a wider range of topics, answered questions better, and in some cases were more adept with newer systems. The researcher's theory: if you're fluent in old technology, you understand new technology better because you know what problem it's solving. * [09:48] The Three-Bucket Framework: Ignore, Adopt, Anchor: The practical core of the episode. Ignore: the platform of the month (if it's durable, it'll still be there in a year), tool maximalism (one capable AI assistant covers the overwhelming majority of actual work), becoming a technologist (fluency, not engineering), and anything you're only doing out of fear. Adopt: baseline AI fluency using one tool for real tasks, and understanding how audiences are now finding information through AI rather than clicking through to websites. Anchor: the things you don't age out of — judgment, relationships, trust built over decades, storytelling, strategy, and ethics. * [15:30] Anchor: The Things You Don't Age Out Of: Karen's framing for the anchor bucket: as the tools get cheaper, your judgment gets more valuable. This includes knowing what not to publish, when to tell a client to stay quiet, and how to catch the AI-generated thing that is confidently, completely wrong. Michelle: that last one is becoming a job all in itself. Karen's reframe for the whole framework: the new tools handle the first draft. You handle the final judgment. That's not a demotion. That's the senior seat. You've earned the editor's chair. * [16:33] Four Mindset Shifts for the Final Stretch: Development not decline — treat this stage as its own stage with its own strengths, not as a countdown. Curiosity over mastery — you don't have to be the best at the new thing, just conversant enough that you're never in a meeting where a term comes up and you have no idea what it means. Pick one tool and go deep — depth in one beats a panic attack across many. Partner, don't martyr — bring in a younger pro or a specialist for execution-heavy tasks; you bring the strategy and judgment, they bring the hands-on tooling. Everybody wins. * [21:04] Legacy: The Mindset Piece That Reframes Everything: The fourth mindset shift is the one that hits differently: legacy. The mentoring, the coaching, the teaching, the writing — these are not the consolation prize of winding down. They are how your judgment keeps compounding and outlives your client roster. At this stage, the experience is the product. And that's exactly what the Solo PR Pro community is built around — a private, safe place to ask the questions you don't want to ask out loud in front of a client or prospect. * [22:07] Three Action Items — Small Ones: Karen closes with three specific, this-week actions. Pick one AI assistant and use it for one real task — not a course, not a certification, just one task. Take your 'supposed to learn' list and run it through the three-bucket framework — cross out everything in the ignore column and watch the list get lighter. Have one conversation about partnering — find one execution-heavy thing you keep avoiding and find a person to delegate it to, not to learn it. Resources & Additional Information * National Bureau of Economic Research: Workplace Adoption of Generative AI [https://www.nber.org/digest/202412/workplace-adoption-generative-ai?page=1&perPage=50] * Oxford Academic: Work, Aging and Retirement [https://academic.oup.com/workar] late-career development mindset study * Science Direct - Productivity and Age: Evidence from work teams at the assembly line [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212828X15000304] * Muck Rack: The State of AI in PR [https://muckrack.com/resources/research/state-of-ai-in-pr](2026, 2025) [https://muckrack.com/blog/2025/01/16/state-of-ai-in-pr-2025/] * North Carolina State University: Older is Wiser [https://news.ncsu.edu/2013/04/wms-murphyhill-age-2013/] * Solo PR Pro membership community: soloprpro.com [https://soloprpro.com] * That Solo Life podcast website: thatsololife.com [https://thatsololife.com] Host & Show Info That Solo Life is a podcast created for public relations, communication, and marketing professionals who work as independent and small practitioners. Hosted by Karen Swim, APR, President of Solo PR Pro, and Michelle Kane, Principal of Voice Matters, the show delivers expert insights, encouragement, and practical advice for solo PR pros navigating today's dynamic professional landscape. Listen to all episodes and catch up on previous conversations at thatsololife.com. Did this episode inspire you? If you found value in this conversation, please take a moment to leave us a review [https://www.thatsololife.com/reviews/new/]. Your feedback helps us reach more solo pros just like you! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

13 de jul de 202624 min

The Secrets that Filmmakers Know About Marketing That Most Business Owners Never Learn

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