Katrina Owens (00:00.814)
Hello, my famous friends and welcome to Fame Ready, the podcast to show you that anything is possible. Yes, including fame. This is a very special episode. We're calling this the red carpet year episode, which is a phrase that I am really leaning into right now, because when I look back on 2025, it really was my red carpet year. OK, I accomplished things in 2025 that the version of me who

sat in this very empty room that was not a podcast studio back then. She didn't know that this would be the year when everything would change. And that really is the hope and positivity and message I want to instill in each and every one of you today with this episode. So let's dive into it. It's so funny. I was gonna record this yesterday.

And I really try to stick to a schedule. It's hard right now, you guys. Christmas and the holiday season really isn't a busy time of year for me socially. Gabriel and I, our families live far away, so we just kind of hang out with each other during the holiday season. We don't have family gatherings to go to. We don't have people that are like,

wanting to see us during that, you know, really crucial holiday period, except for Dexter, who's being a pain right now. If you're watching this on YouTube, I'm giving him a face massage to distract him. So the holiday season ends up being like, really nice, actually, because it's a time for Gabriel and I to just like, be with each other in our house, no obligations. But when I tell you

It feels like it's taking everything out of me to get to that two week period when people shut down. Honestly, I am, I'm tired today. I'm really tired. And every single day, like, you know, things keep moving. Things keep shaking, moving and shaking. I got a really exciting email this morning about a speaking opportunity in 2026.

Katrina Owens (02:25.386)
And last night I was an event and I'm looking cute right now because I'm going to an event today. That's a bit of a trek. And I'm tired and I got one of these fancy rings. Okay. My ultra human ring. You know, it's the, think I talked about this on a previous episode. The ultra human is like aura rings competitor, but ultra human doesn't sell your information. So I've got this ring and I'm really interested in tracking all of my health data. Okay. So

That's what this does. kind of keeps me, tracks my sleep, tracks my stress levels during the day. And I realized that on like real work days, so I classify a real work day as a day when I'm like at my desk for the entire day, Zoom calls and working in between. I always had a sneaking suspicion that those days were like hard on my body for no other reason than like,

I have to exert so much to like show up on Zoom and coach and create content. And now that I have this ring, that is more true than ever. And so now I'm really cautious. Conscience. Now I'm really conscious. Why is that? Why is that coming out weird today? All right, I'm really conscious of...

Okay, can I just not say that word right? Okay, you guys know what I'm trying to say. Now that I'm aware of all of these like different things, how my sleep impacts my health, all the different things, like I'm trying to make life easier on my body, but today she's tired. Today she's got to go be social for a couple hours and then probably sit in traffic for two hours on the drive home.

but it's okay, these are all great problems to have. I feel really, really lucky right now to have an amazing contingent of clients. I have no shortage of people who are wanting to work with me and join my programs, which has led me to actually change some things around, refresh some of my offerings. I'm adding in a new VIP offering for those of you that are interested in an elevated experience inside the Fame Ready Entrepreneur Program.

Katrina Owens (04:46.22)
I'm working on all of that behind the scenes. And one moment.

Bless me. Okay, Heather's probably going to edit out that sneeze because you guys do not need to hear that. I have a condition. Whereas I can't just sneeze once or twice. Like if I sneeze, it's going to be 10. So this is going to be Heather, I apologize. It's going to be a bit rough for a couple minutes. Okay, that was sneeze number three.

Why is this happening right now? Like why is this?

Katrina Owens (05:33.582)
That was sneeze number four. Okay. We got a...

Katrina Owens (05:46.83)
Okay Heather, apologies. That was sneeze number five. I really hope.

and still.

Katrina Owens (06:00.27)
Okay, I was sneeze number six. Okay, really this is insane. Okay Heather, I apologize. This editing is gonna get.

Katrina Owens (06:32.48)
It's still not done. There's still another one in there, Heather. I don't know if I keep talking. God, okay.

Katrina Owens (06:45.134)
Why? Why right now?

Katrina Owens (06:52.43)
Okay, we gotta move on with the show. That was about sneeze number eight or nine. Okay. I'm gonna sound a little bit congested for the latter half of this episode, but I've just had a full sneezing fit that I'm sure Heather by now has done you the favor of editing out of this, but just know it was rough. But anyways, okay. So let's get right into this episode because this is all about how you can have your own red carpet year.

And what I really mean by that is the red carpet year is what shows you that you really can achieve any goal, no matter how dreamy, no matter how like out there sparkly, glamorous it seems, you can achieve it. But you've got to have the plan in place to be able to execute on it. And this episode is going to be all about like what it really takes to have a red carpet year.

And then if you want my support in planning your red carpet year on December 18th at 1 p.m. Pacific time 2025, I am hosting a live masterclass that's going to take you through this, the entire formula of how you can really build your own red carpet year. It's a diagnostic. So as I take you through this live masterclass, you'll be able to see like exactly what you need to work on.

and then crafting a visibility plan around that. And my favorite visibility planning tool is Adobe Acrobat Studio. obviously, as an amazing brand partner of mine, they are actually helping me put on this masterclass on December 18th. So I'm so excited to share that red carpet here is proudly sponsored by Adobe Acrobat Studio. But let's talk about why you need to have one, okay? Because I was...

12 months ago, we really need Dexter to stop licking his paws and focus on this message. 12 months ago, I was a different woman, okay? I was a woman who was hopeful, who was really planning for a year that would turn her business around. But 12 months ago, I didn't know that my life could look as dreamy, as exciting, as magical as it did this year.

Katrina Owens (09:18.594)
And the reason why it was, Heather, I'm struggling today. And the reason why I was able to create such an amazing year is really because of a couple of things, okay? It was about my ability to like take on risk and manage risk, but it was also my ability to build relationships and not from a place of what can you do for me, but from, hey, let's,

my God, Dexter, I need you to stop, okay? Stop, because I've got to record this and it's not going well. Okay? And maybe you're the reason why I sneezed like nine times.

Okay, we're relaxed. Okay, Heather, I hope this is not gonna be so disjointed. I apologize.

Katrina Owens (10:22.69)
The second reason why I was able to have the most magical year possible was because of all of the relationships that I was able to cultivate. And when I talk about relationship building, it's not approaching relationships from a what can you do for me perspective. For me, it's seeing other women, other business owners, but primarily women who are building communities and businesses similar to mine and just knowing that by sharing ideas, being open to collaborations,

really like not looking at any of these relationships from a competitor angle, but from an angle of we're both building similar things. How can we build together because everyone's purpose is just so rooted in serving. And I think that's what makes a lot of this work so much different than other industries where, you know, I was talking to a woman last night who

works in real estate and she's a realtor. And she was telling me how in the real estate industry, it feels really competitive. People aren't really willing to like share information and experiences just because of the culture in the industry. And that is something that I'm really proud to like not buy into, at least, I mean, even, you know, if you're a realtor and you're listening to this, it doesn't have to be that way. I actually think

we can choose to look at things from a competitive angle or we can choose to look at things from a collaborative angle. But if you want to have a red carpet year, you cannot do it alone. You need to have the relationships, the willingness to collaborate, to support one another. I I've spent this entire year pouring myself into other people's initiatives. I've traveled across the country, yes, to speak on stage. But what we can't discredit is

the time, the energy, the money that I invested into these events that I've spoken at. Right? And yes, did I see a return from speaking at those events? Yes, because I'm a businesswoman. Okay. So we always want to see a return or the hope is that we'll see a return from the investments we make in our business. But at the end of the day, are conscious. There's that word again, we're conscious of the fact that we

Katrina Owens (12:44.808)
Yes, are building these relationships and we're coming from a place of how can I help you? But it's always got to be reciprocal, right? Like, you know, when we're doing business and building relationships in a business environment, it's this kind of equilibrium of support. And I think people are very quick to make it all about themselves. And that's just something that I don't buy into.

all of the relationships that I have in my business. I mean, I'm a Libra, so balance is like in my genetics, but I'm always looking for like that equal balance of relationships. And if something feels off balance, then it's probably not a relationship that you're meant to continue to pursue. But just know that there are so many amazing people out there that want to collaborate with you, but it's up to you to find them.

And then up to you to invest the time and the energy into cultivating something amazing. Cause none of the stuff happens overnight. And that really is the point of red carpet year. Okay. It's not red carpet weekend or red carpet month. I really view having a red carpet year is like you're setting the stage. You are rolling out the red carpet for an incredible 12 months, but it's going to take time. And we look at this,

I look at this metaphor of a red carpet as not everyone is going to be able to stand on it. Right? Like if you ever watch like footage from like movie premieres or award shows, you have the celebrities, the filmmakers, the songwriters, they walk the red carpet. And then you've got paparazzi on the outskirts. You've got fans on the outskirts and everyone is looking at and celebrating the people on the carpet.

But if everybody was on the carpet, it wouldn't be like that kind of like place of significance. And that's what's so important to kind of echo through all this work is that not everyone is going to do what it takes to stand on the red carpet. And that's what I think is so fun about the work that I do because I really do believe that PR is for everybody and building a personal brand like this is accessible to each and every single one of you out there only.

Katrina Owens (15:10.878)
if you choose to actually

take the leap, okay? So only if you choose to be the one, to go first, to lead, that's when you get to stand on the carpet. But if you're not willing to do something that not everybody else is willing to do, you're gonna have a hard time getting on that kind of coveted red carpet.

It's OK. That's why I'm here, right? That's why I provide this resource. That's why I'm going to be hosting this free master class to give you the tools to do it. But I just want you to know that it takes a commitment. It really takes a commitment to building your personal brand, to holding on to your vision and standing strong in it, even when things get a little bit shaky.

So red carpet year is really about doing all of those glamorous, exciting things that have been on your vision board and finally bringing them to a reality. But we don't just like see our vision boards come to life without any action. And so in that masterclass is what I'm actually going to be giving you, the tangible tools of building your red carpet year. But what I wanna talk to you about right now is what I actually think...

Okay, are you asleep now?

Katrina Owens (16:43.95)
But what I... Sorry Heather, this is gonna be a nightmare to edit. I apologize. Dexter's all over the place today. Am I sneezing? Oh my God.

Let me find my train of thought.

Katrina Owens (17:15.278)
Okay, but let's actually talk about what it means to have a red carpet ear and what it doesn't mean. Because I think people can get a little bit confused.

angle. Sorry Heather, I'm like, I feel like I lost the plot on this.

Katrina Owens (17:45.996)
Okay, we're back, we're back, we're back. Okay, so let's talk about a couple of the things that you actually need to have in place to have a red carpet year, okay? If you've listened to some previous episodes, you'll know that the one thing that I am encouraging all of my clients to have, it is the thing that helped me flip my business from an agency to a highly profitable coaching business in just one year, it's to have a North Star.

And so that's the non-negotiable because if you're going to stand on a red carpet, you've got to stand on it for something, right? So you're on that red carpet because you're known for being the songwriter, for being the performer, the producer, the director, you're there for something. And so I need you to really understand like, what is that North Star for you? Okay. What are you going to stand on the red carpet really being known for? So over the last year,

This was me going full into my coaching business and just every single thing that I did, every thing I invested in, any event that I went to was with the goal of growing my coaching business. Now in 2026, I will be launching my very first book. So now everything that I'm doing, cause this book is gonna be a best seller when it comes out, but everything that I'm doing up to that point now is to grow my audience for the book.

So this year, as I roll out the red carpet, it's me standing on the red carpet being known for this book. So when we create a visibility plan to have this iconic year, it's having the iconic year where we are known for one thing. And it doesn't mean once that year is over, we move on from that project, right? It's not like my coaching programs just fall to the wayside now that I've kind of accomplished it. No, we've got to continue to grow and scale them.

the basis of my revenue at this point. But now I have the ability because I've stabilized my revenue to a certain point. It's okay. What can I do to build on that? And for me, that's having this book and then doing my events also that they all contribute to the same thing. So there is a really important thing that you need to remember when it comes to having this North Star. It's that your personal brand

Katrina Owens (20:12.384)
is going to be the vehicle to take you there. So everything that I do is obviously from this lens of personal branding and public relations. So we have to remember that our personal brand really is the vehicle to take us all these places. Okay. If you want to have a bestselling book, if you want to speak on stages, if you want to be paid to speak, if you want brand deals, you have to be able to be known for something. And yes, your coaching programs, your book, your signature talk,

Those are all reflective of your personal brand. So we'll do a little bit more workshopping on this in the red carpet year masterclass, but you've got to have that personal brand dialed in. You need to know who you are. You've got to have that blue ocean strategy that I'm talking about all the time. You've got to have that dialed in. And not just that, but second to that, you also need to know who your audience is, okay? Because it's not just enough to know who you are.

When you're walking that red carpet, who are the people that are on the sidelines? Who are the people cheering you on, watching you, celebrating you? You've got to know who those people are, because they're the ones that are going to get you to the place you want to go, right? Like, I would not have been able to scale my coaching programs if I wasn't speaking to an audience of ideal clients. The book isn't going to sell if I'm not speaking to, like, the target audience reader.

So you've got to know who you are, but you've also got to know who you're speaking to. You got to know who is on the outskirts of that red carpet cheering you on. That's the visual. After that, the next component, and this is something that obviously I support all of my clients with, but it's that media. It's what are you going to use to actually get you there? So for me,

Public relations is my marketing tactic of choice. And I think sometimes people like separate PR and marketing. I really see PR as like a marketing tactic. It goes in the same bucket as social media, your website, your SEO. Like they're all in the bucket together. It's not something separate. PR is just one of those tactics. And so everything that I do and support my clients in is through the tactic of public relations. Okay. So

Katrina Owens (22:35.88)
When we talk about PR, it's, okay, what do we really need to put in place to communicate to that audience? Where are they? What platforms are they using? What mediums are they reading? So for example, if you told me, Katrina, I want to be a paid speaker, I would say you've got to do some authority building. You've got to be able to show that you've been

featured on different stages, but also recognized by different media. So it's probably time to do some media outreach to secure some press features. It's probably time to also do some unpaid speaking if you haven't done much of that. And it's building up that experience so you can actually build out that red carpet year, right? All of these different media are available to you, but you've got to strategically select.

And when I talk about media, there's actually two types. There's owned media and then there's earned media. So owned media is anything where you control the message. So social media, website, blog, sub stack, your own podcast, anything where you control the message in its entirety as it's going out, that's your owned media. And you have to have that in place before you can start to entertain the idea of earned media. Okay.

Earned media is any media that you earn through outreach or maybe people organically coming to you. So that's being quoted or featured in different articles that's going on TV, it's speaking on stages, going on other people's podcasts, it's awards. It's anything that you obviously like have to earn. But here's the most important thing to remember of all of that. If you aren't working on your own media,

then you're going to have a hell of a hard time receiving earned media. Because if you're not telling your own story first, why is anyone going to share it for you? So if you're not showing up like a speaker and positioning yourself as one, why should someone give you a stage if you're not working on building out that platform yourself first? And that's what so many people get wrong. We think that we can just

Katrina Owens (24:56.27)
start using earned media as a replacement for social media, as a replacement for our website, and it's just simply untrue, okay? Having a red carpet year is for the businesses who are willing to treat their business like the big business that it is. And that requires big moves, big investments, time, energy, financially, a big vision.

And so that means treating every single piece of your brand and business like it's the big deal that it is. I did a really cool post on this actually, because after Big Brands Energy Sessions, the main event, at that event, every guest got an amazing candle from Hushed, which is a local candle maker here in British Columbia, Canada. And they were branded with the phrase, what if this is the day that changes everything?

one of the statements, one of my core statements that I'm always using. And the content, even up to this day, two months later, I'm getting tagged and people with the candle on their coffee table, their desk in the background on Zoom. And to me, that was an incredible brand move. That was me being very, very intentional about every single detail. I treat my brand like...

Like I'm Coca-Cola. I've said that before. I treat it like every single touch point has to contribute to this big brand that I'm creating because that's how I'm going to grow so much faster. That's how I had a red carpet year, you guys. I had a red carpet year when I was willing to just stand on like whatever carpet was around me. And I was like, one day this will be red, but I'm going to act like it's red right now.

And if you're not willing to do that, if you're not willing to, you know, be a little bit delusional about it, and if you're not willing to put your ego aside and make the investments that you need to grow, to create the opportunities for yourself, then it's gonna be so, so challenging to see that year come to life, okay? And this is the final part, okay? So we talked a little bit about what you need to have.

Katrina Owens (27:15.682)
We talked about what your audience or how you need to know who you're speaking to. We talked a bit about media. And the last part about this is execution. Okay. You need to act. I cannot tell you in the past year how many clients I worked with on like one-off strategies who, you know, they signed on for this offering I used to have. don't do it anymore for this exact reason. People would invest in a strategy and tell me,

If you create the strategy, because you're not gonna implement it myself and I'll be off to the races and I've now learned you simply cannot, okay? Selling people a strategy, regardless if they just wanna know how to do it, you need to be supported in your journey, okay? No one grows a business entirely alone. And if they do, they have a very, very hard...

challenging time doing so because who wants to do that shit alone? And that's what I see with a lot of personal brands too. It's like, because this is so personal, I know that I'm the best one to figure this out and I'm gonna figure it out myself and I don't need the support. And the people that say that, they stay stuck.

And I always feel really sad for those people because I hate to see someone stuck. really do. I think what's really cool for me over the last 12 months is now seeing the impact that my work has had for the people that are consistent, the people that are executing time and time again. The clients that are in my programs that stay with me long term, they're the ones that continue to see

bigger and better results. have the red carpet year because of the execution. I was on a discovery call with someone yesterday and I was talking about the structure of this new program that I'm gonna run and I basically said, every single week you will get homework. I give my clients a lot of homework. And if you're a personal brand, oh my gosh, I'm getting so congested recording this. If you're a personal brand, you've gotta...

Katrina Owens (29:35.714)
do the homework week after week, okay? You can't just say, okay, I'm gonna skip that step. I'm gonna move on to the next thing, that particular piece. I don't wanna create that asset. I don't think I need that asset. You do. We can't skip steps, especially when you have a very specific North Star that you're trying to reach. You really can skip steps. You think me in this book writing process, there are so many steps I wanted to skip.

my God, writing a book is actually one of the most challenging projects I've ever taken on, challenging and time consuming. I'm actually at the point right now where I'm just finishing my final manuscript. It's actually due in three days. So I'm about to spend my whole weekend working on it, finishing it so I can get it to my editor for like that's first review. Okay, and this is just like the review where she's gonna read the entire thing and then tell me what makes sense.

what's irrelevant, what context needs to be added in. So when I get this back in like two to three weeks, I'm going to have a whole new set of work to do. And if I was to skip any of these steps, the book just wouldn't be as good as it could be. And I think the same goes for our personal brand. If we skip steps, especially when we want to use PR and have a red carpet year and do the things that not everyone is

is capable of doing in their lifetime, we can't skip steps. We have to be willing to check all the boxes to do all of the things, because those are what really contribute to the overall vision. And when I think about the brands, you know, when we think about really big international brands, think about how many different people they have in even a marketing department, okay? They'll have like, if you think about a brand like Coca Cola, they'll have a marketing team, but then it's not just marketing, it's broken into like,

international marketing, partnerships and brand activations in the sports industry. And then they probably have brands and activations in a corporate industry. And it just like, it's so, there's so many touch points. And that's how I think about my own brand. I'm like, how can I continue to break this down and get more granular? Because the more specific you can be in your branding, your messaging, your tactics,

Katrina Owens (31:54.914)
the more intentional you can be with each and every one of those things, the more opportunities you also create for yourself. So that really is the execution piece. And I know I've just thrown a lot at you. And what I want to bring to your attention, because this is a formula that I talk about a lot, it's actually called the fame formula. OK, so we talked about founder, all about you and what you need. We've talked about your audience, that's the A. Media and execution.

And so that creates fame and that fame is what gets you onto the red carpet. And if you've just listened to this and you're like, I am taking this all in, but my gosh, I'm feeling overwhelmed. There's a generative AI tools that can help you with all of this stuff. So the one I've really been loving lately is called Adobe Acrobat Studio. So you've heard me talk about Adobe Acrobat Studio before it is,

Katrina Owens (32:55.622)
my God, Heather, I am like so mucous up right now. Okay. I'm almost done. I'm going to get through this. I apologize. Adobe Acrobat Studio is a new way of using Adobe Acrobat to create content to...

Katrina Owens (33:19.02)
Okay, one more time. Adobe Acrobat Studio is a brand new way of using Adobe Acrobat, which I know we're all familiar with, but inside we have access to PDF spaces, which is where you can start to upload things like podcast transcripts. I do my media kit, my services guide. I'm even using it for my book. Okay. So let me tell you about how I've been using it to like kind of create this final manuscript because obviously we're not

uploading our proprietary information into chat gbt right right you guys i need to tell you something if you are please stop okay i will never upload my book my rough draft anything into a platform like chat gbt because it's not private enough okay they can always change how they use the information that you give to a platform like that and this is not me being a chat gbt hater i use it for lot of things

But when it comes to putting my intellectual property, that's very, very valuable into a tool. It's got to be something like Adobe Acrobat, which keeps all of your documents totally private to you. Okay, so I want to talk about this piece. We'll talk about it more on red carpet year in the free masterclass because it's just so important. Okay, as you move along in your personal brand, you must get more diligent in having contracts in place and protecting your assets.

in not just sharing things willy-nilly without putting parameters on how people can use your image, your words, your work. It's so important. And that really is the next level of personal branding. It's creating it, but then protecting it. So that's something that I'm going to talk to you guys about too when we run that free masterclass. And Adobe Acrobat Studio is a way that you can still use generative AI to create and refine, but without

the fear that your content is going to be misused or shared with somebody else or God forbid, maybe you come up with a really cool name for something, God forbid, a generative AI tool figures out what that name is and then proposes it to somebody else. It's terrible, okay?

Katrina Owens (35:40.216)
So that really is why it's so important to be really discerning about the types of tools you're also using as you build out your personal brand. So with that, this is your exclusive invitation to red carpet year presented by Adobe Acrobat Studio. is a free live masterclass that I'm hosting on December 18th at 1 p.m. Pacific time. If you register, you can get the replay. So even if you can't attend live, I really, really recommend signing up for this. If you want to do more speaking,

more podcasting, more media features, increasing your awareness, your authority, whatever visibility goal you have. This is where we're going to workshop it so you can bring it to life in 2026. So the link is in the show notes for you to register. If you have any questions or want to get in touch with me, you can follow me, send me a message at Katrina Owens PR on Instagram. can also connect with me on LinkedIn. You can follow the show at Get Fame Ready on Instagram.

please write and review this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. That would be the greatest Christmas gift of all time, really. And yeah, I'll see you over on red carpet year on December 18th. And until then, we'll see you next time. Toodles.