**408 Marketing Q&A: How to Price Your Services, Evaluate PR Opportunities, and Build an Instagram Strategy That Actually Converts**

**Episode 408:** Rain or Shine Podcast
**Host:** Kelsey Reidl, The Rain or Shine Podcast

The Picasso Pricing Trick, Cold Email Red Flags & Why Your Instagram Isn't Working

Episode 408: Rain or Shine Podcast
Host: Kelsey Reidl, The Rain or Shine Podcast

Quick Summary

In this candid solo session, Kelsey answers your top marketing questions — covering pricing strategy, how to evaluate cold PR pitches, and what to do when your Instagram feels scattered and purposeless. Woven throughout are honest life updates: navigating her second pregnancy, the power of accountability, and how to embrace change as an entrepreneur.

In This Episode

Why accountability partners (and assistant nudges) are the secret to getting things done
How pregnancy #2 has looked very different — and why Kelsey is packing her calendar before mat leave
Debating winter babies vs. summer babies (she genuinely wants your input)
The Picasso story and what it teaches you about price vs. value
How to know if your prices are too low, too high, or just right
The truth about cold pitch emails — when to say yes and when to run
A step-by-step Instagram strategy for business owners who feel scattered
The four-part Instagram sales funnel: Create, Connect, Collect, Convert
Why showing up imperfectly beats waiting for perfect every time

Key Takeaways

Accountability changes everything. You'll cancel on yourself, but you won't cancel on someone else. Use that psychology intentionally — schedule with others, hire coaches, or create external check-ins to move your biggest projects forward.
Pricing is a gut check. If you feel undervalued after every transaction, your prices are too low. If you feel like you're ripping someone off, they may be too high. When it feels like a mutual exchange of value — you've nailed it.
Evaluate cold pitches with your wallet and your gut. Only pay for media opportunities you're 100% okay losing. Ask for traffic stats, audience demographics, and backlink terms. Some are incredible; many aren't.
Brand pillars create consistency. Before you open Instagram again, define 3–4 content pillars — at least one professional, one personal — and some rules for what you won't post. Decision fatigue is the enemy of consistency.
Don't stop at "create." Most business owners post and walk away. The real magic is in connecting with your audience, collecting intel on what they need, and then actually making an offer.

Memorable Quotes

"Picasso was pricing based on his value. He's put in thousands and thousands of hours — so to charge on an hourly basis simply does not make sense."
"Once you make that leap, you can then decide: is this the right place for me, or do I need to keep moving forward? That's what you do through life — you just keep turning the next page."
"The ratio of people who show up and create good content is probably 1% of Instagram users. The people who want to consume? Probably 99%. So yes, it feels competitive — but the opportunity is massive."

Resources Mentioned

Kelsey’s Website: KelseyReidl.com
Kelsey’s Instagram: @KelseyReidl
InstaSales Course — Kelsey's four-hour Instagram sales funnel course (free for podcast listeners — DM "InstaSales" to @kelseyreidell on Instagram)
Wave Mastermind — Kelsey's business mastermind community
Yahoo! News — Referenced as an example of a paid media placement that converted to high-ticket clients

About the Host

Kelsey Reidl is an entrepreneur, fractional CMO, and host of Rain or Shine (formerly Visionary Life). She's been podcasting for 8 years, helping entrepreneurs show up consistently and build sustainable businesses. She runs the Wave Mastermind and specializes in marketing strategy, website design, and business growth. Kelsey is a mom to a 2-year-old, an avid mountain biker, and a firm believer in the "rain or shine" mentality.

DELIVERABLE 1: CLEANED & EDITED TRANSCRIPT
Kelsey: Hey, Visionaries! Welcome back to the show. I'm so excited to do a solo catch-up — just you and me hanging out today. I don't have a super formal plan, but I'm going to do some marketing Q&A, popcorn-style: answering questions I've been getting through Instagram, our Wave Mastermind, and conversations with local business owners and friends who are starting businesses.
I thought I'd jump on, answer questions, and just have fun. My favorite podcast episodes to listen to are the ones that are down-to-earth — where the host is just being interviewed or riffing on what's going on in life. So we'll do a combo: marketing Q&A and life updates.
[BEHIND THE SCENES UPDATE]
First, a behind-the-scenes update on what's been going on with the podcast and life in general. We've had some amazing guests lately, and I've also been trying to weave in more solo episodes. Over the last few months, with a pretty full schedule, my bandwidth for recording solo shows became less and less — even though I want to publish at least one or two a month.
It's easier to keep the accountability of a scheduled interview. If it's "Kelsey's call with Sarah" and I'm interviewing you, I will show up. I will be prepared and present. But if it's just "Record a podcast" on my own calendar? I would skip right past that — which is so crazy, right? It goes to show the power of accountability. Having someone else involved can help you move projects forward at a rate you could never achieve on your own.
I think some people are very self-motivated. I can be in many situations. But there are certain tasks I will avoid or let myself down on. This is why people hire coaches and accountability mentors — some paying $1,000 to $2,000 a month just to be held accountable to their goals, whether that's strength training, tracking macros, or sending a certain number of business pitches. If that investment helps you reach your goals, grow your business, or finally lose the weight you've been trying to lose, it's always worth it.
All that to say: today I have about 33 minutes to record. My assistant asked, "Hey, we don't have the episode for next week — were you planning to record it?" And that was the fire under my butt I needed. So here I am.
[PREGNANCY & HEALTH UPDATE]
My voice is a little scratchy and I'm a bit nasally — because, as most of you know, I'm pregnant. I released a pregnancy Q&A a couple of episodes ago and shared it on Instagram and my newsletter. It's funny that all three of those communities have different members: some people are only on my broadcast channel, some only listen to the podcast, some are only on the newsletter. So if you don't share across all channels, some people still won't know!
Ever since I found out I was pregnant at the end of December, I've had the worst immune system. And I don't love dwelling on it, because I consider myself a very healthy person — I've been eating well, sleeping well, exercising. But this pregnancy has been very different from my first, where I stayed healthy throughout. This time I've been knocked to my knees repeatedly, most recently with bronchitis — something I've never had in my life. Here we are.
My hope is that my third trimester will be a bit healthier. But life goes on. You can be sick and still have to show up for clients, still wake up at 6:00 AM when your toddler does. I try to almost act as if I'm feeling amazing and override the fact that I haven't been at my absolute best.
[MATERNITY LEAVE & UPCOMING PLANS]
More solo episodes are coming as I shift my work focus in preparation for maternity leave. I'm not going to share exact timelines, but if you're a business owner, you get it — there are some demands that don't stop. I have a business partner, so I can't just disappear. I'll mostly be protecting time through September and October.
Right now things are busy behind the scenes. I have some last-minute website projects, four open SEO strategies I'm working on, and I'm starting a contract with one of my franchise partners for a beta program launching in June through August — right up until my maternity leave. Could I slow down a little? Sure. But my mentality is to do as much as possible while I'm feeling good so that when baby comes, I can fully lean into postpartum and the newborn experience. When I look back at photos from my time with Freddy, I can't believe I get to do it again.
On that note — I'd love your feedback. I feel like I had Freddy at the perfect time. He was born on Christmas Day, around the winter solstice. Post-holidays, from January through March, there's nothing going on. I just hibernated for three months in a bubble of bliss with zero FOMO. But a summer baby? Everyone's out at cottages, going to weddings, biking. I think I'm going to have a serious case of FOMO. If you've had both a winter and a summer baby, DM me on Instagram — I need to hear from you. I'm @kelseyreidell.
My goal over the next few months is to slowly wind down work projects, take care of all the appointments I've been putting off — dentist, massage, seeing my psychic medium to connect with my mom — and take a birthing course again. Ways to consciously slow down.
[EMBRACING CHANGE]
There have also been some shifts in what our summer and future are going to look like. My nature would normally be to resist change. But I've gotten really good at seeing change as an opportunity — because change often means expansion.
Every time I've changed careers, I was terrified. When I left Loblaws to work at Vega — horrified. But it sent me into my next biggest career leap. When I was let go from Vega and moved to Garden of Life — terrified again. But that set me up to understand what I wanted and start my freelance career. Going from full-time at Garden of Life to part-time so I could build my freelance business — another huge change that led to something greater than I could have imagined.
I even knew going full-time at Garden of Life wasn't right. They flew me out to Palm Beach Gardens in Florida, and over dinner they offered to hire me full-time. In my gut, I knew I'd be miserable. The next day when they told me the salary, my gut said it again. And I still said yes. But I'm so glad I did — because it catapulted me into enormous growth. I learned to listen to that intuitive voice, and I knew from day one that I wanted to get out, which kept me focused.
I was talking to a friend who wanted to make a career change and she said, "But I don't know if this next thing is going to work out." And I told her: "That's normal. You're never going to know. Nobody can hand you a contract guaranteeing you'll make as much money, get the job, or enjoy it." But once you make the leap, you can decide whether it's the right place or whether you need to keep moving forward. That's life — you turn the next page, open the next chapter, until you've written a whole new book and you're so glad you didn't stay stagnant.
[MARKETING Q&A]
Question 1 — Pricing
The first question is all about pricing: "Everyone is buying my lowest package right now. It costs $500, and I'm trading away too much time for it. I'm not feeling valued. What do I do?"
Pricing is a huge topic, and price and value have very different meanings. I always think about the story of Picasso. A kid walks into a restaurant, sees Picasso sitting at a table, and asks him to draw a picture. Picasso draws something in three minutes, hands it over, and says, "That'll be $10,000." The kid says, "What? That took you three minutes!" Picasso replies, "No — it took me a lifetime." That story perfectly illustrates the difference between price and value. Picasso was pricing based on his value — thousands of hours of practice, thousands of reps. The kid was looking at time and materials.
So where do I always start with a client confused about pricing? Number one: is there an industry standard? Do a little market research. If you're a holistic nutritionist, what are others with your experience charging? Maybe it's $180 for an intake and $150 for follow-ups. From there, you can decide to enter at a budget price point, at the industry standard, or at a premium rate — because you go above and beyond, offer extra value, and want to position yourself as a premium brand.
The next step is a gut check. When you make a $500 sale, what do you feel? If you feel like you got ripped off — raise your prices. If you feel like you're ripping the client off and can't deliver that value — you've priced too high. But if you feel the client is getting value and you're being valued? You've hit the right price. It's honestly as simple as that.
You'll also want to revisit pricing every six months or so. If demand goes up, raise your prices. If demand is down — and many people are experiencing that right now, with real economic scarcity in certain industries — you may need to discount temporarily, or simply offer more for the same price. Supply and demand matters. That's partly why you're seeing some coaches disappear right now: they built their businesses at a price point the current economy won't support, and they don't know how to pivot.
Question 2 — Cold Pitch Emails & Random PR Opportunities
The next question: what do you do when you get random cold pitch emails — "Hey, we want to feature you on a top 10 list for Yahoo! Post," or "You've been invited to speak at a summit for $500," or "We want to record a free podcast segment with you"?
Some of these are incredible opportunities. Others are total duds. Here's how I think about it.
If it's free and it doesn't feel like it would tarnish your brand, I'd usually say go for it — as long as it feels somewhat aligned. It probably won't be a magic pill for new clients or leads, and it typically benefits the company reaching out more than it benefits you. But it's not nothing.
There have been times I've paid for these opportunities. Years ago, Yahoo! News approached me to feature me in a top business coach blog. There was a cost of a few hundred dollars, and I decided to try it. This was around 2018–2019. The blog was credible, Yahoo! News had real traffic, and I actually got people booking my $5,000–$7,000 packages from that feature. People would read through the top 10 coaches, book calls with a few of us, and choose. My investment paid off in spades.
But there have been others where you can clearly tell the blog is brand new or the audience is tiny. So always do your digging. Ask: What's your website traffic? What results have others experienced? What's the distribution of this podcast? Will you backlink my website? What's actually in it for me?
And be honest with yourself: if you're not 100% okay with losing the money, don't spend it. There are no guarantees. Sometimes our ego says "I got chosen!" — but will it actually do anything for the business? Maybe not. Use your discernment. As an entrepreneur, that critical eye is one of your most valuable tools.
Question 3 — Scattered Instagram Presence
The last question: "I feel like my Instagram is really scattered. Every time I go to post, I have no idea what to say, but it is the platform where I have the most followers. Help."
I think this is so relatable. You have a business, you know you need to use Instagram, but you don't know what to say and it doesn't feel like it's doing the job it should.
First, a reframe: yes, there's a lot of noise on Instagram. But we're living in the creator economy. The ratio of people who create good content versus people who consume it is probably 1% to 99%. It feels competitive, but the opportunity is massive.
Here's where to start:
Step 1: Define your brand pillars. Think about the boundaries of what you will and won't share, and what themes anchor your content. You'll want at least one or two pillars tied to your professional life — client testimonials, industry insights, thought leadership, behind-the-scenes of your work. And maybe one or two personal pillars — movement, a morning routine, a consistent habit that people can follow along with. People love that kind of content. There's no right or wrong, but at least one professional pillar is non-negotiable. Otherwise you're sharing personal information with no clear path to conversion.
It's also worth defining what you won't post. Not sharing things in real time. Not posting all day long. Giving yourself a 20-minute time limit for a Reel. Having those rules takes the decision fatigue out of it.
Step 2: Create a daily storyline. What makes certain creators magnetic is that they have a recognizable rhythm. Maybe you always share your morning coffee with a podcast recommendation. You always share your dog walk with a marketing tip of the day. You always take people behind the scenes of what you're actually working on. This is storytelling with a start, middle, and end — and Instagram's built-in features help: polls, music, tagging others so they re-share, natural light, portrait mode, consistent brand colors and fonts. Done is better than perfect. But content you would want to consume? That's the goal.
Step 3: Don't just create — connect, collect, and convert. I teach a four-part Instagram sales funnel in my InstaSales course: Create → Connect → Collect → Convert. Most people stop at "create." They post and then do nothing. They don't spend time connecting with their audience, collecting valuable sales insights, or actually making an offer. You might have the most magnetic Instagram in the world, but if you're not doing those other three steps, you're leaving money on the table.
If you want a copy of InstaSales — it's a four-hour course — DM me the word "InstaSales" on Instagram and I'll gift it to you for free as a podcast listener.
[CLOSING]
That's a wrap on today's episode! I love having a time constraint because it gave me just enough runway to get this done for you. Whether you're on a dog walk, doing dishes, on the treadmill, or dropping a kiddo off at daycare, I just want to remind you of the power of staying inspired. Keep mentors, books, and voices around you that remind you that you are in charge.
There have been so many times — both for me and for clients — where we know we need to show up more, be more visible, be more unapologetic. But we hold back because of what a neighbor might think, or we're waiting for things to be perfect. I can tell you with certainty: if you can't rise above that little voice, you will never get into the magnetic momentum you deserve.
Nine years into this journey, I still catch myself wondering what someone might think if I post something. We're all in it together. Thanks for hanging out with me today. There are so many episodes in the archive for you to binge, and I will see you on the next one.

408 Marketing Q&A: How to Price Your Services, Evaluate PR Opportunities, and Build an Instagram Strategy That Actually Converts