Scout Sobel on Scouts Agency, Okay Sis Podcast, and Entrepreneurship
Scout Sobel is the mastermind behind Scouts Agency, a PR agency that specializes in female voices, brands, and businesses through podcasting and traditional media. “I started it because I fell in love with the podcast space running Okay Sis Podcast with my sister. I realized that guesting on podcasts was such an intimate way to connect with an audience.” She had also loved the PR space. So she had the idea one day to help podcasters manage guests, get them as guests on other podcasts, and run their traditional PR so she had a media kit made up, emailed over 1,000 podcasters, and built up her roster. “It took off pretty quickly and I was able to quit my day job four months into starting Scout’s Agency. Since then, we have expanded into representing women in business, not just podcasters, have an office, and have the most amazing team.” They have been able to represent dream clients like Catt Sadler, Bala, Lauren McGoodwin, and La Detres.
When Scout was younger, she was not entrepreneurial, but once she got the entrepreneurial bug - when she was 21 she started her own magazine - she realized that working for herself was truly the only option if she was going to find fulfillment in her career. “Since the age of 21, I have been chasing different projects, business ideas, and roles in order to find the one that best suits me.” Once she started Okay Sis and then Scout’s Agency, after years of different iterations of her career. “I knew I had struck personal gold. If you are looking to start your own business, I would say to really evaluate if that is the role you want to be in. Entrepreneurship and being the boss is a buzz word right now and looked up to quite highly, for obvious reasons.” But, she says that if running a business isn’t your passion, you won’t be able to put one foot in front of the other. She says that starting your own business requires an all encompassing energy that is flowing each and every day. “It has to serve you, even when it is the most challenging. I love every second - even when I am crying and curing myself for starting my own thing.” She believes that it is the game you have to be in love with. “And if you are, move forward now. Start today. Everyday, commit to doing one small thing to move your business forward until eventually it will be your full-time, full speed ahead love.”
Three years ago, Scout started her own podcast because her apartment building was next to a studio and she somehow got herself a slot on their network. “After a year of running that solo podcast, it started to feel stale.” She says the passion wasn’t there but she knew she loved the medium. She was at the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa with her sister, Mady, for her birthday and after a few glasses of rosé, a massage, and a day at the pool, she realized she didn't have an episode for the following week so she asked her if she wanted to hop on the mic and record from her phone in the business center of the hotel. “And it was FUN. I was laughing and buzzing with a playful and connected energy. Two weeks later, I asked her if she wanted to start a podcast together and Okay Sis was born. The community we have built and the caliber of guests we have been able to interview and now call our friends - Lauren Elizabeth, Charlotte McKinney, Pia Baroncini, Lauryn Evarts Bosstick, and Amanda Stanton - has been mind blowing.”
She started SCOUT Podcast not too long ago because she has lived with bipolar disorder since she was 14 and few that she had a lot to say on the subject of mental health and entrepreneurship. “I started it as a personal diary really. It is just solo episodes of me chatting about things like how to overcome anxiety, my relationship to faith, my entrepreneurial tips, etc. I don't post on a designated day of the week - really just when the inspiration flows!”
In five years, Scout hopes to be purchasing her dream home that is custom designed overlooking the ocean. “I am going on year 12 with my husband and one (maybe two!) kids. I am writing my first book, I am running Scout’s Agency, and I am co-hosting Okay Sis Podcast.” She sees herself doing everything she is doing now, just on the next level. “Still creating, still dreaming, still hustling.”