That Solo Life Returns with New Episodes

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Thank you for joining us for this episode of That's Solo Life,

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the podcast for PR pros, marketers, and communicators who work for themselves.

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People like me, Michelle Kane with Voice Matters, and my wonderful co-host,

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Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro.

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Hey there, Karen. Great to see you.

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Hello, Michelle. It's so good to see you. Hang on.

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You're back. We're back. If you thought we left you stranded, we are sorry.

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We did not. We took a little bit of a pause, which, you know,

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after however many episodes we've done, we had a pretty good stretch without

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taking a break. And we kind of decided to walk our talk a little bit, right?

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We did. I think you're at episode somewhere around 314, 15, somewhere in there.

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So, yeah, we have not really ever taken a break other than maybe a week. Yeah, here and there.

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Yeah, not very often. So we took some time off, and we are back with a brand new season.

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And we wanted to say hello to our audience. And we've really missed you,

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but the break was much needed. And we are so excited for what's happening.

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Yes, yes, we are. We are lining up some great guests and really just,

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you know, the pause not only gave us a moment to pause, but also just really rethink of,

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you know, what do we as solos in this landscape need to hear or need to tell

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ourselves and really, in a way, need to coach ourselves?

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Because in the end, of course, we have resources and things,

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but it's still us in the driver's seat.

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So at this point of 2026, what does it mean to be a solo business owner?

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How can we best equip ourselves and keep on keeping on in a way that's best

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for us? Because that's really what it's all about.

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It's not to fit anyone else's mold, but your own and what works for you and

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gives you the life that lights you up.

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And I think what I was reminded of during this break is that fundamentally being

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a solo, even if you, you know, many of us do work with teams.

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So even if you do have a team, it really helps to have that anchor point,

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that center of community.

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Because you're doing all the things and you're out there, but it helps to check

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in to hear from people who work like you do and understand what your day-to-day

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looks like, and to hear things that just make you go, oh, thank God it's not just me.

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So we want to make sure in this upcoming season that we're not just about the

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tactical or the strategy of running your business or doing certain things,

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but that we also address who we are holistically, because we're not just,

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We find ourselves in just a weird place in our history right now with the tension

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of technology rising and, you know, some of the things that are impacting the landscape,

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that division among people that directly impacts our job,

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redefining our work.

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But also many of us are at stages of our career where we are looking ahead over

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the horizon, over the horizon, I'm sorry, to figure out what's next.

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And then some are dealing with, you know, what I'm now calling super adult issues,

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like we've entered that super adult phase.

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We're dealing with things like, you know, raising kids, but also dealing with

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aging parents or relatives and, you know, those kinds of issues.

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And so all of that impacts who we are holistically and how we show up for our jobs.

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And so we want to tackle all of those things because that's how we roll.

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Yeah definitely definitely and and pretty sure i'm i'm not alone i know in present

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company i'm not with the inclination to think well it's again it comes back

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to how we're wired as communicators of all right i've got to cover all the bases

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got to be super ready got to be always on.

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And you know you really have to find a way to stay replenished especially in

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this era of caring for others because it takes a lot,

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out of you. And I don't know, I was, as I was scrolling over the weekend,

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there was a reel about something and I don't know if I qualify,

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but you know, they're like, if you're a highly sensitive person,

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I'm like, oh, that sounds like a PR practitioner.

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You know, you always, you're always kind of at the ready, taking on everyone

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else's issues. Think, think, think, think, think.

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And you know, how, how do you protect yourself or at least save some of your,

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some of yourself aside in the midst of that because, you know,

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we don't have the luxury of checking out entirely and,

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But there is room. I know for me, sometimes I just get in the rhythm and you

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don't make the room and you don't do what you should do.

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And eventually, you might bump into a wall here and there.

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So it's really about taking that time to say, I'm no good to anybody else if

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I don't just take a few hours.

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And I think not just for solos, for anybody that has a job that works,

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we all hit, you know, we can hit burnout.

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And sometimes that comes with just a bunch of changes, you know,

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and we have been assaulted with change over the past few years.

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And so I know for me, there've been different points in my career where you

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just are like, I just don't have the capacity to learn anything else.

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I'm just over it. I'm sick of it.

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Like, ugh, you know, here we go again.

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And sometimes I've been like that lately too.

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Like, oh God, I just don't want to, you know, I'm tired.

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And you start to think about like your job, like, do I even want to do this stupid job?

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And I know it's not just me because I've had those moments and I've had those

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moments recently where like, oh God, another media change. Are you kidding?

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How much longer can I be doing this? But that's natural because we do something for a very long time.

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It's normal to hit those spots where you question if you can keep going,

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if you want to keep going.

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And I think in those moments, we either, you know, we take some time off realizing

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that we just, we need a break.

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Or we really start to think about pivoting to something different.

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And a lot of our solos definitely pivoted to something a little bit different.

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Or we figure out how to reinvent what we do that fits who we are today.

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So, you know, we want to address those issues, too. Like,

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you are not locked into who you used to be just because you used to do it that

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way, just because you used to serve these people, Just because this has been

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your brand forever does not mean that you cannot change because we evolve.

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We change the things that we like to do.

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They change our capacity for doing work changes.

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And I know so many people right now are in this era where they're realizing

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I've got to shift my perspective around what productivity really means to me.

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It may not be, hey, I'm that person that I was five years ago,

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even a year ago, that could do 10 things in a day. Maybe it could do two.

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And the rest of my death needs to be on family or something else.

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Yeah. Yeah. Because, I mean, as an ever-recovering people pleaser,

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and I think with the loss of certain filters of being at a certain phase of life—,

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you realize, well, shoot, it wasn't a healthy motivator, but that was a motivator. Uh-oh.

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You know, I still want to do good work, but sometimes you're like,

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that desire to be like, I did.

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I'm like, but I still want to do the good thing.

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And I'm thinking, okay, we got to figure this out.

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And that's okay. And honestly, let's face it.

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We've talked about this a lot are most people that we talk to in our families

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or friends, you know, they don't understand what we do anyway. So they've been away.

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If they didn't understand before, it really doesn't. I'm also learned that we're

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not the only people who have jobs that our friends and family don't understand.

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You know, I, there are people who are accountants and their family thinks they're attorneys.

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And, you know, so I think the moral of the story is families just,

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you know, sometimes really don't know what your job is.

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I think there's a song. Oh, there was a song. Parents just don't understand.

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We can have the new one. Families. They don't just, they just don't understand.

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They don't get it. They don't know what we do. And that's okay.

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And of course, Michelle and I, we always, you know, we love to lead with laughter

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and, you know, optimism. So you'll still get plenty of that.

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But Michelle, I'm really excited because we are talking to some great people

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and we've got, we've got a special crossover coming up this season.

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Some really smart people that we're talking to and, you know,

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a wide range of voices and a wide range of expertise. So that's kind of fun.

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And people that are really different than us so that our audience gets the breath

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and death of these expert voices. So I'm really excited.

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And those pitches coming, the ones that are relevant, please and thank you.

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We get some other quite funny ones because we love having guests and we're so

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thankful for all the people who are reaching out and really want to do this

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show. That's a beautiful thing.

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Yep. Agree. Yeah.

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Yeah. So we're excited. We're glad to be back.

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We've missed all of you. I know that sounds weird since we're just a voice coming

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out of your speaker, but, you know, you do catch a vibe.

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But we hope you're ready for some great new episodes because we are.

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And, yeah. We will see you next week. And until then, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.