#123 How I Got Featured in Forbes (And How You Can Increase Visibility Too!)

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Welcome to the 360 leadership podcast, the top rated show for driven women in senior leadership with new episodes released every Wednesday. I’m your host, Lucy Gernon, a multi award winning executive coach for women leaders and the founder of 360. Leaders Club exclusive high level membership for career driven family orientated women just like you. I created the 360 leadership podcast to share practical tips, actionable step by step strategies, and inspiring stories to support you to unlock the power and belief within to accelerate your impact and potential. So you can build a life filled with success, balance and happiness. So are you ready to achieve 360 degree success? No more excuses. No more waiting. Your time is now.

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Today on the podcast, we are going to be talking all about increasing our visibility. And I’m going to be sharing my story about how I got featured in Forbes because it’s probably one of the top questions I’m asked how did you get in Forbes? And how did you do and how did you do and so today on the show, I thought it will be fun to share how I got my Forbes feature. But more importantly, I want to be able to share with you the five steps that I took to actually make this happen. So that you can apply that to increase your visibility and gain opportunities to I think the five steps actually when I sat down to write them, they’re really, really simple, but they’re just so powerful. So get ready, it’s going to be a great show. If you are new here, my name is Lucy garden, I am a multi award winning executive coach and founder of 360 leaders Club, which is a membership for corporate women in leadership focused on career acceleration, leadership development, mindset mastery and work life balance, because I know that women can have it all. And within 360. We make that happen. So let’s dive in to the show today. So I want to share a little backstory with you. First of all, I’m in business about three years now. And when I don’t know if you normally story, but basically I worked in the STEM industry for about 20 years, okay. And I always wanted to focus more on people and all that good stuff that I do now, I thought because I had a master’s degree in science that that’s my career forever. And that’s where I was going to stay. And then at 40 I quit the corporate world, and oh my god, that’s a whole other story you can hear in back in episode number one actually is where I share how you can get clear on what you want from your career in life, I think it’s called. If you go back to episode number one, you’ll probably hear a bit more of my story as to why. But I just remember when I quit, and I was changing careers from the scientific world, the corporate multinational world, to running my own business, being a an executive coach for women and leadership, a massive part of that shift is building credibility. And so I was like, right. From day one, I was like, I have to get in Forbes, like, literally day one brand new in the industry. And I was like, well, the only way for me to be really credible in my mind is that I gotta get in Forbes because then Illinois made it right. So that was like three years ago. And ever since then it’s been on my vision board. Now back in April. Last year, on episode number 67 of this podcast. It was actually on the fifth of April 2023, I recorded a podcast episode called the number one thing you must know when it comes to confidence. And I was sharing a huge mindset shift on confidence in this episode. So if you haven’t listened to it, go back and listen to episode 67 after this one. But on that episode, I actually proclaimed publicly that I wanted to get featured in Forbes. And I just want to read out what I said in that episode and why I did it. So I have the transcript here. And what I said on that episode was what prompted me to come on the podcast today was that I’m pushing myself out of my comfort zone to achieve something big on my vision board. I’m gonna proclaim or declare it right now on the podcast. I’ve never said it publicly. But my goal this year is to write an article for Forbes, or to be featured in Forbes magazine. I had it on my vision board last year, but I really didn’t have enough energy behind what I wanted. Because I had impostor syndrome. I didn’t really feel I was ready. So I had this vision but last year wasn’t the right time. I know this year is the right time. I’ve set an intention for myself to do it. Now this is scary AF for me to actually publicly say this. Because I want you to know the reason I’m saying it is that when you see me in Forbes, it didn’t just happen. I want you to know that I fight through my imposter syndrome right now and I’m fighting my

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You’re a critic with everything that I have telling me. I can’t telling me who do you think you are to write an article before for Forbes? Who do you think you are? X, Y, and Z, right.

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So that was a little excerpt from what I said back in episode 67. And the reason I shared it is because I knew the Forbes feature would happen. And I could come back to you on the show, and share the full circle moment. So first of all, like, honestly, I was so thrilled when Forbes asked me to collaborate with them. And I had pitch them a few times with different articles. And it didn’t happen. And of course, I felt like an idiot. I was like, who am I to be featured in Forbes. But you know what? I know, I’m really good at what I do. And I knew that I had lots of experience and knowledge and frameworks and tools that I had taught to so many women over the last three years, that work, like they work, they’re really, really powerful. And when people come into my world, lots of positive things happen for them. So what maybe I leaned into, I suppose what I’m good at, as opposed to what I’m not good at, and that’s my invitation for you to is to focus on the things that you own, like own that your talents own, the things you’ve created, because if you don’t own that confidence in yourself, nobody is going to see that in you. Okay. So back to just quickly the story before I get on to the five things I did. I like two or three years ago, I had literally was on my quest for Forbes. And I was like, how would you even begin to get into the biggest publication in the world. I mean, like, you’re living in Carlow, a small town in Ireland, and you want to be in Forbes. So I joined their mailing list, I started pitching journalists, I had no clue how to do it. But I knew the reason I wanted to get into Forbes was obviously for the credibility and authority. But I knew and I know that I have a lot to share a lot of knowledge to share a lot of tools and tactics and mindset shifts that I’ve seen work over and over again, I wanted to share that message with more women because I care so deeply about supporting women to really unlock their potential and be the best they can be and achieve everything. But let’s not burn ourselves out or miss out on life in the process, because you don’t have to. So I had been talking to journalists, I was getting rejected. Irregardless feeling very despondent, but I didn’t let it affect me. And I just held the vision. I had it on my vision board, I decided I keep going. And then my friend who owns a PR agency told me about this Forbes journalist. And when I looked her up, I literally instantly knew she was going to be the one I just knew. She writes about women in leadership she wrote about women in the workplace. So she was willing to masterclass, so I invested to attend the masterclass and connect with her. So that’s my invitation for you is that if you want something in terms of even if it’s visibility, or if it’s a promotion, and work or new opportunity, the first step is really, you’ve got to get in front of these people and start building the relationship. So I joined her membership. And I told her on day one, that I really wanted to collaborate with her when the time was right, because she was a perfect fit for me. So I didn’t come out, it is added as Oh, my God, it’s Forbes, and I’m Oh my god, I can’t believe it. No, like, I knew I had a lot of value I could bring to her audience. So it came from like an aligned energy in an adult to adult way, as opposed to maybe where I would have been three years ago, I was coming at it from a different energetic standpoint. So I think that’s really important for you to remember is that you’re the energy you carry. I say this all the time. It’s everything. It’s absolutely everything. So I pitched this particular journalist about three times and I just kept the faith. And eventually she came back to me after one of my pitches, and she said, this is not the right fit for me now. But like based on everything I’ve learned about you and everything you’ve shared, I’m working on this particular piece on boundaries. And can women really reached the C suite while setting boundaries at work. And you were the first person who sprung to mind what your expertise and what you do, and I’d love for you to collaborate with me on this piece. So I was so excited because boundary setting is one of my favorite things to teach. It’s one of my favorite things to support people through because you know, you can have the tool like I’ve shared my dad method on the podcast a couple of times and you know, you can find my dad method for boundary setting everywhere, but it’s about having the accountability and actually helping with the mindset shifts required to set those boundaries is one of my superpowers. So I loved that was on that topic, and the article was published it got super super

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Be back. And I have now ticked that off my vision board. So there was five steps that I took to do this. And here’s the five steps that I invite you to take to so that you can achieve anything pretty much.

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Step number one is I got crystal clear on what I wanted. So I was very specific about the fact I wanted to be featured in Forbes in 2022. Now, it didn’t happen, actually, until 2024. The article was written last year in 2023, didn’t publish till the first week in January as for a second week in January, but it was 2023. When I went right, I’m putting my energy behind this, I’m putting my my energetic intention setting behind this Forbes feature. And it’s going on my vision board, and I’m gonna look at it every day, and I’m gonna make it happen. And I knew it was going to make it happen. So I got super specific and clear that I wanted to do and 2023. It was written in 23, and was published in 24. So again, that’s my invitation for you is you got to get super crystal clear specifically on what you want. The second step, then that I took was I set the powerful attention to achieve it, and I put it on my vision board. So you will hear me talk about this all the time. But it’s so powerful. When you set an intention with absolute certainty and conviction that you’re gonna do it. And you pop an image on a vision board, on in on your laptop on your screensaver, a physical corkboard, whatever it is for you get a picture that represents it. It’s what worked for me because what it does is it focuses you on

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your vision, a key, you know, you might set a goal, and then you forget it. So this is about intentionally setting the goal and keeping the vision.

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The third thing I did then was I built my credibility and authority. So I wasn’t ready to be featured in Forbes, the second I left corporate because I hadn’t built my credibility, I hadn’t won all of the awards. I hadn’t worked with some of the biggest companies in the world, I didn’t have hundreds of clients, I didn’t have all of those tools and frameworks and experience behind me. And as a result, I was always confident in my ability, because I know I care so deeply. And I will do whatever it takes whatever I can do to support people. But publicly I hadn’t built that credibility and authority. Okay, so it’s the same for you is if you want to get to the next level in work, or you want to pursue specific opportunity, it’s about getting clear on your personal brand, right, it’s about getting clear on your brand. It’s about positioning yourself as the authority as the obvious choice for this thing. And how I did it was obviously through obviously, we won loads of different awards, we were nominated for tons of different awards. I have tons of different client testimonials on my website. I whatever else I had the podcast, I helped me break, you know, saying you’re a podcast host helps to build credibility and authority as well. And all of those things. So I really focused on that. So how might you focus on building your credibility and your authority in your industry? Who do you need to get in front of? And what do they need to know, feel, see and understand, so that you’re the obvious choice for those next opportunities. Okay. The fourth step, then, is, and this is super important. So if you’re multitasking, come back to me.

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I didn’t take rejection personally. You can’t take rejection, personally. forbs weren’t rejecting me, because I’m a bad person, or because I’m not good enough. It was because it wasn’t the right time. The language I use probably wasn’t aligned with what they would have had expected. It did not mean that I didn’t have the intellect or the knowledge or the like adding thing. It just meant it wasn’t the right time. And so that’s my invitation for you is that sometimes when we take rejection personally, oh my God, what an energy sucker, right? It sucks your energy, it is not moving you forward, it’s keeping you stuck. So you’ve got to make a choice to shift your mindset around rejection. And again, that’s why working with a coach like me, it can be super, super powerful because it was through the power of working with my coaches, that I’m I’m totally cool with rejection now. And actually, the more you get rejected, you just bounce back every single time you bounce back.

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And then the fifth step, and the final step in this process is I held the vision and kept going until it happened. So going back to step number one and two, where you get clear on what you want and number two set powerful intention to achieve it and pop it on your vision board. You need to hold the vision and you need to be so certain that it’s going to happen and you just keep going until it does. Okay he does

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keeps on going until it does.

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So that’s the five steps. That’s how I got featured in Forbes. I also should mention sidenote, I obviously built relationships that should be in there too. I obviously built a relationship with that person. And I nurtured her. And I made sure that I was calm and added from a place of me adding value to her as opposed to her helping me. And so building relationships is also it’s kind of a given in this process. Okay, you’ve got to have a relationship with people that you’re trying to, I suppose get in front of, okay, are you trying to get the opportunities from so just to summarize the five steps before we wrap up, step one, get clear on what you want. Step two, set a powerful intention to achieve it. Step three, build your credibility and authority. Step four, don’t take rejection personally. And step five, hold the vision and keep going until it happens. So if you enjoyed this episode of the show, there’s a couple of other episodes that I think you will absolutely love. So Episode 67, you’ve got to go and listen to that one, I was so scared, and I would send that I was going on Forbes, which is the number one thing you must know when it comes to confidence. And the mindset shift I’m sharing in that episode will be super powerful for you. The other episode I invite you to listen to is Episode 33, which is how to build your personal brand and raise your profile at work. So go in definitely, definitely listen to those two, I think they will be really, really good. So that’s it for another episode of the show. And I was just thinking, actually, like I was sharing, I share lots of little tidbits like this stories like this on my Instagram very regularly, I just pop on for the charts at lunchtime on my stories. So if you’re on Instagram, and you’re not follow me, follow me, just Lucy garden, if you go to instagram.com forward slash Lucy garden, you’ll find my profile there. And if you are follow me on Instagram, I don’t know if you guys know this, but the algorithm is an asshole sometimes. And it only shows me posts like 5% of my followers. So if you are following me literally go to my profile right now whip out your phone, head over to my profile, and you’ll see a little notification bell that you can actually pop me into your favorites, I think it’s if you click on the following button that you’re already following me, you’ll see a drop down and I think it says Add to Favorites there. Be sure that you add me to your favorites, because then you my stories will always pop up first for you, and you will see my post as well. And plus, you’d really be helping me out too, because we put a lot of work into our Instagram content. And it gets a bit difficult sometimes when we don’t get the reach or the engagement. And you guys can help out with that too. And then you’re gonna get to we’re gonna get to be besties on socials too. And finally, in a more professional tone, and I have an email community I call the 360 leadership community where we send out regular newsletters to our subscribers with free exclusive content. So you’ll see lots of different leadership tools, mindset tools, I share confidence tips, I’ll share lots of like, deep content on those newsletters. It’s exclusively for our email subscribers, as well as some little pictures behind the scenes of 360 liters globe. I’m behind my life too. So if you’re not on my email list, head over to Lucy garden.com forward slash newsletter, I would love to join you I don’t do spammy emails, you’ll only receive emails like promotional emails in times of promotion, which is probably about four times a year. So just stick with me and those times if you’re not interested in what we’re actually promoting to you. But other than that, you won’t be getting loads of emails from me because I hate emails, but unfortunately, it is the way that we communicate. So that is it for this week’s episode of the show. Just to recap, Forbes did not just happen. I put myself out there, I made it happen took the rejection. And I want you to learn from that too. You are frickin amazing and what you do, you can achieve absolutely anything. So what’s one action you’re going to take for yourself right now after this show while you’re feeling inspired, that would move the needle? Go and do it. I’ll talk to you next time. Bye for now.