349: Designing Success with Affiliate PR Maven, Kaila O’Connor

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Kaila O’Connor.  Kaila has had an interesting journey.  Kaila was a shining star climbing the ranks in the PR space – her dream career until it wasn’t.  After a decade in the business, she found herself getting burned out and unfulfilled.  She left her career and focused on herself to discover what her true path should be.  She found Human Design and immersed herself in the topic, even becoming certified. 

Once she had alignment, she founded KMO Consulting because she recognized a niche in affiliate marketing.  In less than two years, KMO generated $5+ million for its clients in affiliate revenue, secured over 1,500 top-tier media placements for its clients, trained 100+ PR professionals in Affiliate PR, and trained the entire Condé Nast editorial team (80+ editors) in affiliate marketing.

By using Human Design to find alignment and focusing on a niche, Kaila found massive success and I’m excited to discuss all of it with her in this episode.

www.KailaOconnor.com

Kaila grew up in the Midwest and both of her parents were music teachers.  A big goal of hers was to expand her perspective.  She went to college to follow in her parents’ footsteps but quickly found she did not want to teach music, so she decided to perform.  She transferred to a music conservatory, but transferred late and needed a minor.  The only thing available was PR101.  She quickly realized how PR was like performing and gravitated to it. 
For the first 10 years, she was in the B2B corporate space.  She learned about the culture and metrics around how things were done in the PR space, but measuring ROI was always hard or not possible. 

After 10 years, Kaila was burned out.  It was then she discovered Human Design which taught her how to use her energy effectively.  It was at this time, that she was recruited to an agency in LA that had a focus on affiliate.  She had a knack for it. 

Talk to us about getting burned out and finding human design…

• How we feel when do something matters.
• Our energy and how use it matters.
• Human Design has 5 energy types.
• At the 9 min mark, Kaila discusses the ins and outs of Human Design, so it’s best to listen.

How can entrepreneurs incorporate human design to start or better run their business?

• The areas where it is applicable are in the areas of scheduling and environment.
• Additionally, aligning how the brain functions for it’s peak times is important.
• Some people work in blocks, others work more free flowing.  Knowing how you best operate is critical to create the environment and schedule to allow you to be most successful.

To find out more about Human Design, you need a few things.

• In some ways, it is similar to astrology.
• Birth date
• Location
• Birth time
• Go to www.MyHumanDesign.com

What are the key elements of a great PR strategy?

• The strategy that is most important is the authentic message for the entrepreneur and for the business.
• You must also serve who you are meant to serve and reaching them.
• PR is 3rd party validation to the customer. 
• It takes the work and research along with testing to figure it out.

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Talk to us about combining affiliate marketing into their PR…

• Start by joining an affiliate network:
  • Shareasale
  • Impact
  • Rakuten
  • PepperJam
• Once you join, onboard Skimlinks
• Expect to set your commission rate at 20% unless your product is $500 or above.  Then your commission rate can be lower.
• You should combine SEO with affiliate programs.
• Trending content and keywords is important.  This shows intent for their search and buying signals.
• Focus on products always in stock and that are ones people use over and over. 
• Influencers can help.  Quality over quantity.  Consumers are being more considerate with how they are spending. 

 
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned to help you succeed as an entrepreneur?

• Never be afraid of change.
• Trust that you have the right answer within.  Trust your intuition.

 

Best Quote:  Trust that you have the right answer within.  Trust your intuition.

 

Kaila's Misfit 3: 

1. The opposite of victim is creativity.  When you feel agitated or irritated, either wait it out – outwait it.  Or use creativity to change your brains pattern.
2. Get to know your feelings.  There are 27 types of emotions to learn, understand, and identify.
3. Trust in yourself.  Don’t be afraid to pave your own path.

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