Paying to speak? Not on my watch.

In this Pullin' Punches mini-episode, Katrina Owens shares her unfiltered take on the rise of pay-to-speak opportunities—and why they’re often the biggest red flag for personal brand entrepreneurs.

As a top PR and personal branding expert (who’s spoken on countless stages, both free and paid), Katrina is pulling back the curtain on:

• Why paying to speak can actively hurt your brand reputation
• How to spot the difference between a strategic speaker sponsorship vs. a shady speaker fee
• What high-quality events actually look like (and why you should hold out for them)
• The ROI of creating your own room—and how to start one without a huge budget
• Why speaking for free isn’t the problem… but paying to be there is

If you’ve ever been tempted by a “speaker opportunity” that requires your credit card first, this is your green light to say no—and a blueprint for what to do instead.

Follow Katrina for more personal brand insights:
→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katrinaowenspr/
→ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owenskatrina/
→ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@katrinaowenspr
→ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katrinaowenspr
→ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@koyourbrand
→ Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koyourbrand/

This week on KO Your Brand, we’re doing something totally new: our first-ever guest episode—and it’s a good one.

Meet Heather Jude, Knockout Directive’s behind-the-scenes creative powerhouse and the founder/designer behind Jude Canada, a custom eventwear brand for bold, powerful women. Just two weeks ago, Heather pulled off a completely sold-out fashion show in Vancouver—combining red carpet-worthy looks, immersive experience design, and even a surprise choreographed dance.

In this raw, funny, and inspiring conversation, Heather and Katrina unpack what it really takes to bring a bold personal brand vision to life—including:

• The mindset work Heather did to silence imposter syndrome and stay in her zone of genius
• How she filled the room without knowing who would come
• Why creative control matters—and what happens when you finally trust your own vision
• The post-event ripple effect: media interviews, creative clarity, and client momentum
• Behind-the-scenes secrets from the event (yes, even last-minute printing drama)

Plus, Heather shares her best advice for anyone sitting on a big idea that feels “too much” or “too bold.”

This episode is packed with personal brand gold for designers, entrepreneurs, creatives—and anyone who needs a reminder that your dreams are worth betting on.

Follow Katrina for more personal brand insights:
→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katrinaowenspr/
→ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owenskatrina/
→ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@katrinaowenspr
→ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katrinaowenspr
→ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@koyourbrand
→ Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koyourbrand/

Follow Heather to see her designs & learn more about her work:
→ Follow Heather on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heather.styles/
→ Follow Jude Canada on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/judecanada/

In this week’s Pulling Punches micro-episode, top Personal Branding & PR Expert Katrina Owens shares a behind-the-scenes look at how she’s using AI (specifically ChatGPT) to streamline content creation and build omnipresence across Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn, and her podcast email list.

But this isn’t another generic “AI for content” chat.

Katrina breaks down exactly how she trained ChatGPT to understand her unique brand voice—and how you can do the same to save time, stay consistent, and sound like you (not like a robot).

Inside the episode:

• The mindset shift that helped her stop resisting AI and start leveraging it.
• How she uses podcast transcripts to write SEO titles, show notes, and weekly emails (without sounding “AI-generated”).
• A simple way to turn one Instagram caption into three additional platform-ready posts.
• How AI helped her finally start showing up consistently on Threads, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts.
• Why brand clarity must come before AI—and what happens when you skip that step.

This episode is short, actionable, and packed with tips for anyone trying to do more with less time (without diluting their personal brand). If you’ve been trying to post across multiple platforms but keep hitting a wall, this one’s for you.

Want Katrina’s help developing your brand voice before you automate it?
Learn more about the Fame Ready Entrepreneur Program—a year-long visibility coaching experience designed to make your personal brand profitable, memorable, and press-ready. Click here to get the details: https://knockoutdirective.myflodesk.com/group-coaching

Follow Katrina for more personal brand insights:
→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katrinaowenspr/
→ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owenskatrina/
→ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@katrinaowenspr
→ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katrinaowenspr
→ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@koyourbrand
→ Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koyourbrand/

This week’s episode of KO Your Brand is different.

There are no tactical tips. No PR breakdowns. No personal brand strategies.

Instead, Personal Branding & PR Expert, Katrina Owens, opens up about one of the most vulnerable and unspoken parts of entrepreneurship: the emotional weight of business debt—and what it means when your dream life finally arrives, but you're still battling the inner dialogue that says you don’t deserve it.

This is the side of personal branding that rarely makes it to your feed.

Inside the episode, Katrina shares:

• The real reason she’s struggled to celebrate recent wins, even while her business thrives.
• What it felt like to take out a business loan during a low-revenue season.
• How a conversation with her mentors in Living in Balance cracked something wide open.
• Why she still feels shame around leveraging financial support—even though she knows better.
• The mental pattern that tells us, “You should be able to afford your dreams without help."
• What she’s learning about money, safety, expansion, and what it really means to “love your life.”

This episode is unfiltered, emotional, and deeply personal. If you're an entrepreneur who's ever felt overwhelmed by the weight of building a business that’s built on you, this one will hit home.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Learn more about Living in Balance Mentorship for Women: https://libseminars.com/

Follow Katrina for more personal brand insights:
→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katrinaowenspr/
→ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owenskatrina/
→ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@katrinaowenspr
→ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katrinaowenspr
→ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@koyourbrand
→ Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koyourbrand/

In this week’s Pulling Punches mini episode, Katrina Owens shares a real-time, real-revenue win that proves how powerful a well-built personal brand and funnel can be, especially when they work together.

Inside this 10-minute episode, Katrina breaks down:

• What passive income actually looks like for a personal brand
• A behind-the-scenes look at the simple but effective funnel that’s converting new clients
• Why your personal brand must come before the funnel
• The difference between having content and creating conversion
• How to build the kind of visibility that turns strangers into buyers

Ready to build a personal brand that gets results? Join the Fame Ready Entrepreneur Program—Katrina’s 12-month coaching community designed to help you grow your visibility, authority, and income.
→ https://knockoutdirective.myflodesk.com/group-coaching

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Follow Katrina for more insights:
→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katrinaowenspr/
→ Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koyourbrand/
→ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@koyourbrand
→ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owenskatrina/

In this episode of KO Your Brand, personal branding and PR expert Katrina Owens shares one of her most foundational beliefs: you can’t succeed with public relations without a strong social media presence first.

She breaks down the following:

• Why PR and social media are not interchangeable—and how they work together to build authority
• The 4 essential types of content every press-ready personal brand needs
• A past client story that changed how she delivers PR support forever
• Real examples from her Instagram feed showing what powerful, strategic content actually looks like
• The platforms she shows up on (and how often) to stay visible without burning out
• Why brand partnerships and media features only happen after consistent content is in place
• The #1 way to know if your social media strategy is working from a PR perspective

She also shares her personal platform stack (Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok) and encourages listeners to start with one, stay consistent, and treat social media as a core business asset, not just a place to go viral.

This episode is equal parts intimate, motivational, and actionable, and it’s a must-listen for entrepreneurs building a brand that’s ready to be seen.

Want to build a press-ready personal brand that gets you booked and featured?

Learn more about Katrina’s Fame Ready Entrepreneur Program, her year-long group coaching container for entrepreneurs serious about visibility: https://knockoutdirective.myflodesk.com/group-coaching

Katrina’s outfit in this episode is from FORE ALL, use code KATRINAOWENS15 for 15% OFF your order.

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Follow Katrina for more personal brand insights:
→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katrinaowenspr/
→ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owenskatrina/
→ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@katrinaowenspr
→ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katrinaowenspr
→ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@koyourbrand
→ Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koyourbrand/

If you want to land more speaking gigs—and actually get paid to share your expertise—this episode breaks down the one thing most entrepreneurs are missing: a speaker webpage.

In this week’s Pulling Punches micro-episode of KO Your Brand, Katrina shares the mindset shift, messaging tips, and strategic structure behind the speaker page that helped her (and her clients) get booked for major conferences, corporate trainings, and brand-building stages.

She dives into:

• Why a speaker page is more than just a website update (it’s a visibility tool and energetic shift)
• What to include (even if you’ve never been on stage before)
• How to position your talk so clearly event organizers can’t say no
• Real examples of clients who’ve been booked because they had a speaker page
• Why this is one of the fastest ways to open up a new revenue stream

If you’ve been telling yourself you want to speak someday, this episode is the sign to start acting like it today.

Links mentioned:

• Download the Free Speaker Page Checklist: https://knockoutdirective.myflodesk.com/speaker-page
• Check Out Katrina’s Speaker Page: https://www.knockoutdirective.com/speaking
• Join the Fame-Ready Entrepreneur Program: https://knockoutdirective.myflodesk.com/group-coaching
• Follow Katrina on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katrinaowenspr/
• Follow KO Your Brand Podcast on IG: https://www.instagram.com/koyourbrand/

If you’re building a personal brand and wondering what actually moves the needle, this episode is your blueprint.

In this week’s episode of KO Your Brand, Katrina breaks down the three essential PR opportunities every personal brand needs to build visibility, elevate authority, and grow a profitable business:

1. Media Features (Why they build authority, not awareness, and how to use them strategically)
2. Podcast Interviews (The fastest way to grow your audience and prove you're an expert)
3. Speaking Gigs (Why this is the most powerful combo of visibility and authority out there)

She shares how each tactic works individually, but more importantly, how they function together as a PR ecosystem that compounds your growth.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale, this episode will help you:

• Identify which PR opportunity to focus on next
• Understand the purpose behind each visibility tactic
• Avoid the most common myths about press, podcasts, and speaking
• Learn where to find opportunities (including industry secrets she usually saves for clients)

If you’ve been waiting for a clear, honest, strategic breakdown of what actually drives profitable personal brand growth, this is the episode to listen to.

Links mentioned:

• Spotify Playlist of All Guest Podcast Interviews: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2zWgbyMlI05TYuNGRtuGZG?si=4512cd97d3d14a49
• Join the Fame-Ready Entrepreneur Program: https://knockoutdirective.myflodesk.com/group-coaching
• Follow Katrina on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katrinaowenspr/
• Follow KO Your Brand Podcast on IG: https://www.instagram.com/koyourbrand/