Sabrina Stocker Shares PR Secrets Every Founder Needs

0:00One of my biggest screw-it-just-do-its was going, you know what, I'm only going to earn£40 an hour, and I quit. And I stopped coaching tennis overnight, basically. I was sitting, running a new start-up PR company in my local coffee shop, and I thought, well, hey, if I'm working here, I could work anywhere. Being a little bit impulsive and spontaneous as I am, within a month, I'd sold my car, stopped my rent, sold everything, and then moved to Egypt.

0:27Alex Chisnall:Sabrina Stocker, she went from The Apprentice to building multiple six-figure businesses all by following her curiosity. Being able to have those three different freedoms, time freedom, location freedom and financial freedom. That is my stability. If that goes away, that's when I feel that I'm most insecure and I don't know what's going on. Advice for somebody who is listening to this podcast and they want to achieve those three things. Where do we start? I think the first would be financial freedom. Welcome to this special bite-sized episode of Screw It, Just Do It from our back catalogue of over 550 past episodes.

1:03Alex Chisnall:If you like what you hear, don't forget to follow the show and grab your free two-day pass to the Festival of Entrepreneurs this October. Just head to festivalofentrepreneurs.co.uk to claim yours and don't forget to dive into the back catalogue. Want to surround yourself with 5 ,000 to 10 ,000 entrepreneurs who've already decided to screw it and just do it? The Festival of Entrepreneurs is happening October the 8th and 9th at the NEC Birmingham, and I'm giving away free two-day pass to my listeners. 200 plus speakers, 90 plus sessions, billion pound entrepreneurs sharing their real stories, not theory, but the actual strategies they use to scale.

1:38Alex Chisnall:Head to festivalofentrepreneurs.co.uk right now and claim your free pass, because the best networking happens when you're in the room with people who've already decided to screw it and just did it. from having your own business in the UK, essentially losing it all in a very short period of time because you couldn't put on any tennis events, to selling everything, moving abroad, and setting up and running a business or number of businesses remotely. Talk me through that. I guess growing up, I always wanted to start a business. The only taste of business I really knew actually was from The Apprentice, funnily enough.

2:16and my parents were always my parents were teachers so you can imagine this like excitable I want to try everything and crazy girl growing up and both parents being teachers when I was 19 my friends were working in Waitrose and Sainsbury's and similar and I was earning 40 pounds an hour so this is quite a few years ago coaching tennis and I was fully booked and I remember this is one day and I was yeah I was definitely about 18 19 and I was just sitting just counting about five, six K in my bedroom from a couple of months of work. And my dad walks in and I was earning far more than he was at that time.

2:53And he goes, Sabrina, what's all this money?

2:56Alex Chisnall:What have you robbed? And I was like, oh, it's, you know, it's from tennis coaching. And he goes, you need to put that into a bank. You need to save up for a car deposit. Now, obviously, I didn't listen to him because it was my dad. And I was living like an absolute queen. And I guess one of my biggest screw it just do it was going you know what I'm only gonna earn 40 pounds an hour and I quit and I stopped coaching tennis overnight basically started the tennis events company and got that going and I guess it was that big mindset of when I was growing up 40 pounds an hour was a lot of money to earn and to think at that age that's the maximum I'm going to earn in this job probably and to quit was was quite a big step for me and I guess the second biggest screw it just do it moment was when I was sitting running a new startup PR company in my local coffee shop and I thought well hey if I'm working here I could work anywhere so being a little bit impulsive and spontaneous as I am within a month I'd sold my car which was like a beautiful AMG blacked out Mercedes.

4:02I loved it so much. Loved it so much. Stopped my rent, sold everything. And I moved to Egypt. And I guess it's those spontaneous, impulsive moments that my friends think why I'm a little bit crazy. I grew up with a very humble, you know, a very humble upbringing. And because it was playing in the tennis world, I was growing up and I was seeing a lot of families who had a significant amount of wealth. And I thought, my parents work hard, and they have a stable job, and they've done the route that they were told to do. And there's no way they could save up and afford that lifestyle. So it's not that I'm not working hard.

4:40It's that I'm working hard at the wrong thing. And what could be the right thing that could create a different kind of life for me.

4:47Alex Chisnall:If you're enjoying this conversation and thinking, I need to be around more people like this, then I've got the perfect solution for you. The Festival of Entrepreneurs is where 5 ,000 to 10 ,000 ambitious entrepreneurs come together to learn from the people who've actually done it. It's on October the 8th and 9th at the NEC in Birmingham, and I'm giving my listeners free two-day passes. Real entrepreneurs, real stories, real strategies, exactly like what you're hearing right now, but live and in person. Go to festivalofentrepreneurs.co.uk and get your free two-day pass before they're gone. what's your advice to anybody who's listening and they're in that space now who's procrastinating maybe they're feeling a little bit fearful i think for me it was a lot easier than some people in their situations i was single i didn't have a mortgage to pay my business was online by that point um i didn't really have any responsibilities i don't have kids that's obviously a big game changer yeah for me it's about freedom so have you got in what you're doing time freedom have you got financial freedom and have you got that ability to work from anywhere so location freedom and no matter where you are how much freedom can you bring into your life and what freedom is going to allow you to explore and choose those possibilities at that point in time when you know when you made that decision in your head were you thinking or have you thought you know what was the worst thing that could have happened to me or did that not even into the...

6:13It did not occur.

6:14Alex Chisnall:It did not occur. I just thought, like, I thought the worst thing that could happen to me was that I kept going to my local coffee shop and working from there rather than working from somewhere else. And for me, that was more scary than actually going away. Let's finish up. Do you crave stability, structure, or are they long gone? Time freedom, location freedom, and financial freedom. That is my stability. if that goes away that's when I feel that I'm most insecure and I don't know what's going on my definition would be that I have control over those three different things because then I have control over my choices whereas the idea and I don't mean to offend anyone who does generally find this happy but the idea of having a a mortgage to pay and a stable job of a nine to five is absolutely my worst fear will that change when i want to have kids yes it probably will because that's a whole new board game but as a female who i currently am um my idea of stability is having those three different types of freedom so let's repeat those three different types of so time freedom financial freedom location freedom yeah okay do we have all of them at the moment we do which is which is exciting and it's it's taken a lot of work to get there but also a lot of education and learning myself of why did I not have that before and how do I have that and how do I keep it advice for somebody who is listening to this podcast and they want to achieve those three things where do we start I think the first would be financial freedom because financial freedom means that, see, money doesn't excite me.

7:57But there's two things there. One, because I have been there before is a fear of not having money. And the fear of not having money is a huge stress, not only to yourself, but also to your mindset, to everything. If you don't have money, you can't make any choices, you are having to do everything that you have to do just to pay the bills. The flip side of that is the choices, which is the more optimistic side of things. Hey, if I can go to dinner and I can pay for everyone to have dinner and I don't even need to look at the bill yeah if I said that to myself you know five years ago everyone would be literally my friends would go down that bill and we would be tightening up like the 32 pences and the 64 pences you ordered the extra bread roll we did that's how you know how our mindset wasn't as how tight we were our money scarcity mindset someone had a diet coke or you had a big or paying a pound extra that mindset to be able to now pick up the bill is a huge amount of success to me and to feel like that.

8:56The fact that I can treat my mom and bring her to Mexico and put her in nice accommodation so she can have a nice holiday while I'm out there, that to me is an absolute privilege of showing the work that I've done. Financial freedom allows you to make those funds. Now, do you need to quit your job? No. Of course you don't. But could you start a side hustle in the evening? Could you learn what kind of different businesses there are? And once you start that side hustle, is that something you want to continue? Or you can just juggle both at the same time. Then I'd probably say it comes down to location freedom.

9:28So now that you've started your time side hustle, can you do that from working in your bedroom or from a cafe? Can you, if you can do that from a cafe in a local town, can you do that from a local cafe in Spain, right? So then moving into having your own side hustle, or having your inside business into where you can work from. The time freedom really comes down to being able to system and optimize what you're currently doing and earning enough to learn how to create those systems. So now in my agency, and I could cry of happiness, I click a button and everything takes place, and I hire someone just to maintain and to ensure that system's running.

10:06And that's where you get the time freedom coming in, in a simplistic form of three different steps.

10:11Alex Chisnall:That conversation just proves something. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So here's my challenge. Upgrade your network. The Festival of Entrepreneurs is happening October the 8th and 9th, and I'm giving my listeners free two-day passes to get in the room with 5 ,000 to 10 ,000 entrepreneurs who are actually building something. This is where the risk-takers, the game-changers, and the people who've decided to screw it and just do it come for inspiration, education, and connection. Don't just listen to their success stories. go meet the people living them. Grab your free pass now because the biggest risk isn't taking a chance, it's missing the opportunity entirely.

10:50Alex Chisnall:I hope you enjoyed that bite-sized episode with Sabrina Stocker. A few things I want to cover here. First off, master of reinvention. Sabrina's been in everything from tennis to tech to TV. What I took from that is how valuable it is to stay flexible and stay open to change. PR and visibility, so she made a great point about using media and brand building strategically. not just for ego, but to drive the opportunity. Start now, improve later. Sabrina's whole journey is a big nudge to stop overthinking and just get started. Funny enough, screw it, just do it. All done is better than perfect.