Insider Tips from an Event Planner | S3E006

If you're tired of hiding your brilliance behind stage fright, scripts, or playing it safe, then you are in the perfect place.

This is the Inspired Speaker Podcast, and I am your host, Danielle Benzon, professional rebel, voice coach, and your guide to speaking with confidence, charisma, and zero BS.

Around here, we don't chase perfection. We choose connection. So grab a hot beverage, warm up those vocal cords, and get ready to fall wildly in love with the sound of your voice. Let's get inspired.

I am here today with my very good friend, Heather Black. She is a stage-driven visibility strategist.

She has been helping me book Speaking Gigs, and she can help you book Speaking Gigs, and she's going to tell you all the behind-the-scenes magic secrets that you need to know to get on people's good books.

So, Heather, thank you so much for being here today.

Thanks for having me. I'm excited.

So excited. The cool thing about Heather is that she's a bit of a geek like me. And all of it, she's so, so service-oriented, so gentle, so kind, so patient.

But also, I just love all the little flourishes in your material, and it just really shows how much you care. And working with you is such a—I feel so taken care of, so I just wanted to say that.

Oh, thank you. I'm glad you feel that way. That's my intent. Like, I want all of my peeps to feel like they have a safe space. They can come as themselves.

Because this is hard—it's not hard work, but it's not easy. It's real work, right?

It's real work. You have to do the work to get to the goal that you want to do. And a lot of times, we get obstacles—mental obstacles, physical obstacles, financial—all those obstacles, right?

And so, when you hit that, I want you to have a safe space where you can come and be like, this is the wall I'm heading, and so we can find a way over, under, through it, around it, whatever we have to do.

So that you get where you need to be where you want to be. And so, it's nice to know that I'm creating that safe space. I love that.

Just demolish that wall. Yeah, you do. And you just said something I thought was so funny, and I've forgotten it already. It's gone. It's gone. It'll come back.

So, you help people. Oh, I was going to say, it might not be physically difficult, but it's definitely sometimes mentally and emotionally difficult.

You know, putting ourselves out there, being seen, being visible. This is tricky for a lot of people, even for me. So, I appreciate your patience and understanding.

So, you help people to book gigs, but it's not just, oh, I get people on podcasts. You do—you're like the real deal. So, tell me about that.

The real deal. Yeah. Oh, that sounds so—I don't know. Now I feel like I have this level I have to achieve. But no, because it's more about—it's not just podcasts, right?

So, we look at networking. We look at where you're posting on social media. Now, let me be clear. I don't do marketing strategy. I don't do your marketing. I don't do any of that.

But I do help people come to me and be like, well, I'm on Instagram, but we start talking, and their clients are on LinkedIn, right?

So, are you posting in the right places where your audience is? And so, we look at all of those stages and how you need to use them—virtual stages, live stages, your own stages, right?

And strategically, how are you using them to grow your business? What are the outcomes that you want? Where are you at right now?

And what should you be doing right now in this moment to get to where you want to be? Because a lot of my clients want to get on those bigger paid stages, right?

We want to be for our expertise. We're thought leaders. We want to get paid for it. But some of them get stuck in that free space, and it's because they're not strategically doing the things they need to get in front of the people that have access to those paid stages.

So, that's my real deal, and that's how I work with all of my clients. I meet them where they are and help them get to where they want to go.

And part of that is networking, because it's about relationships, right? If you're talking about stages that aren't advertised in public, if we're not talking about summits and podcasts, we're talking about stages that are harder to get onto—associations, conferences, that kind of thing—you need to know who to talk to.

I mean, that's a big part of the gig. So, how long have you been doing this? How many relationships have you built up? I'm putting you on the spot.

So, how long I have been doing this specifically, this kind of work. So, my business is almost four years old, but before that, I spent 23 years sitting in the seat of a meeting planner.

So, I know what is happening on the other side of those paid stages. I know what you need to be doing before, during, and after to be a good partner.

To get booked. To be a good partner once you're booked and what to do afterwards so you get rebooked and referred, right? Because it is all about relationships.

I just did a fireside chat with some professional speakers yesterday and giving them some tips on how do you get in front of the right people, because those bigger stages, they're not—there's not a place you can go on Google and search for, I'm looking for a 10K speaking engagement.

They are not posted. They're not posted for a reason, right?

It's about learning how to identify what those stages are and who do I need to have a relationship to get in the door, because if you don't have a relationship with the meeting planner, who may not be making the final decision of who gets the spot?

In fact, they're probably not, but they are making the decision of which applications go through, which speakers are being considered.

And growing your skill, too. I mean, the reason that those 10K speaking gigs aren't posted is because you get a lot of inexperienced speakers applying and clogging up the works.

So you also—you help speakers figure out where they are and build a strategy so that they're not applying for things that are way over their head.

Also not holding them back. You want people to grow, obviously, but helping them find that growth strategy.

Yes, absolutely, because there is a level of skill and relationship and knowledge that comes with getting into those 10K stages.

And to be perfectly blunt about it, there are a lot of speakers that probably shouldn't have those spots that do because of their relationship with adults, right?

But if you are just getting started and you want—I want a 10K speaking engagement, right?

I tell people there's a difference between being a 10K speaker and wanting to be a 10K speaker.

And a 10K speaker is somebody that is legitimately consistently being paid 10K to be on a stage, to be on stages, right?

And share their knowledge and their expertise. Somebody that wants to be a 10K speaker and said, that's their fee? Well, how many times have you been paid that?

Because if you're not being paid that, that's not your fee. That's not where you are.

And there is a path to get there, but you have to understand what that path is.

And helping people really—because a lot of people are trying to operate—so I have an assessment call where we actually go through and you've done this call.

And I actually just re-ramped it to be even better than it was before.

Well, I know, right? But—

It was pretty good already.

I know. Well, if you want to get through it again, let me know. I'm happy to test it on you again.

But we look at—you get four archetypes, and a lot of people are in those—at the starting level, right?

They're a hidden expert. They're a rising authority.

But they're trying to operate as a strategic authority at the very top level.

And that's never going to be successful.

All that's going to do is burn you out, wear you out, and it's going to erode your confidence every time, because you're like,

why am I not doing this? It's because you don't have the foundation in place that you need.

And it's frustrating, because there's this whole fake-it-till-you-make-it culture, right?

Which I hate so much.

You know, there's nothing wrong with having aspirations.

And, you know, grow into your goals.

I mean, I certainly feel like I'm growing into my aspirations.

I know I'm not there yet, but, you know, you've got to keep it in mind, and you've got to work towards it.

But there are so many people who think, you know, it's the downside of this whole, you know, manifestation thing,

is that people are like, well, if I just say it, it'll be true.

And I'm like, well, no, you still have to do the work.

I mean, you've got to be positive about it and have the right attitude and all that kind of stuff.

Sure, yes. But it is frustrating, because people just, you know, they think they can speak it into being.

And there is a lot of power in the words that we use, and I pay very close attention to what my clients are saying on calls.

And I had a call with a client recently, and so she was like, I don't feel like I'm at that level yet.

And I'm like, okay, well, what do you need?

Because there was this podcast she wanted to guest on.

And I said, what do you need for you to feel like you're at that level, that you can apply for that podcast?

Let's identify what those things are and start putting those things in place.

Do you need to have done so many podcasts? Do you need a certain level of collateral?

What do you need? Because the words we say matter, but we can't just name it, claim it, and it's just going to happen.

You, particularly when it comes to the speaking world, you have to do the work.

Yeah, and confidence is such a tricky thing with speakers, because you do need that confidence,

and confidence is one of those things, which is very ephemeral, it's difficult to nail down.

But if you can quantify it and say, when I have done 10 podcasts, I will feel good to apply to this podcast,

or when I have, you know, whatever, whatever your quantifications are, quantifications, qualifiers, I don't know,

whatever that, you know, make it quantitative, there we go.

There you go.

I know that's a real word.

When you can measure it, then you kind of go, well, okay, I'm there.

And I may not feel as confident as I thought I would, but I've met the criteria, so I can do it now.

And that, I think, is so important.

A lot of speakers work on kind of gut feelings only.

And the problem is, is that your self-esteem is so dependent on how much sleep you had,

and, you know, whether or not you had a call to your mother that morning,

and there's all sorts of things that can really affect your self-esteem.

So you don't want to be relying on your self-esteem to tell you what level you're at as a speaker.

No, right.

And you don't want, you don't want to rely on that to know that will now, when I'm ready, right? No.

You won't know when you're ready. You'll never feel ready.

You'll never feel ready, right?

You're going to get ready doing the thing.

And so it's really important to quantify and set those measurable goals, right?

Like, okay.

And for some people, it's the outreach, right?

Like, oh, I don't want to do that.

That's so terrifying.

I mean, it's so scary, right?

Okay. So we're going to do three outreaches a week, right?

We're going to start again.

It's about identifying where you are.

What is the hurdle?

What is the obstacle?

And finding a way, you know, be that wrecking ball, you know, Miley Cyrus, like just,

what do we need to do to break this down?

And, but you want to set goals that you can actually achieve,

but also push you just a little bit, but not so much that you're overwhelmed.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah.

The only time I've ever felt ready is looking back, looking back and going, oh yeah,

I was ready for that.

Never in the moment have I been like, oh yeah, I totally got this.

I've been feeling like, oh, I'm excited and scared, but I've never been like,

oh, this is a piece of cake.

Like, I don't know if that, that ever happens.

So that's a bad metric.

Yeah. I think that, you know, if you ever feel like, okay,

I got this as a piece of cake.

That's when you start mumbling around a little bit, right?

And you don't show up as prepared.

You don't show up.

That was respectful.

Yeah. Yeah. You're just, okay, well here I am.

I'm going to do my thing and then cause I'm ready. Right.

And I think that, that, that feeling that we're nervous excitement,

um, that we, that we get,

I think that that's what keeps us in that growth phase so that we're

continuing to improve. We're looking at how we can do a better,

um, you know, last Friday I spoke at a conference and this is like the

fourth or fifth time that I've done this particular talk.

Um, obviously curated for this particular audience,

but it's the same time, right?

And this was the first time at the end of it that I felt like, yes,

I nailed that bitch, right? Like I got it felt really good.

And the results showed from that, right?

So I've had already had two people book calls and,

but does that mean I'm going to just stop? No.

I'm going to continue to go back because I still learn things as I

went through it to make me be like, okay,

this needs to be tweaked a little bit.

And I think as long as we're continuing to improve,

we stay in that growth phase.

Yeah. I feel like you can polish forever.

And that's the wonderful thing.

You know, it's not a, it's not a bad thing.

It's how can I improve? How can, and sometimes it's not even so

much that it's not polished.

It's just that I get bored and I want to polish it a different way.

You know, the same thing over and over.

So the, one of the big values that you bring to your clients is

having this experience of being a meeting planner,

knowing what it's like from the other side because speakers

think, and this is, I just think this is so funny because I

totally, I fall for this all the time as well.

And I know that this is my brain lying to me, but we think,

oh, well, but we're so special and talented.

They must want us.

And we think that that's the most important thing to the

meeting planner, like how special and talented and interesting

we are, but that's not the most important thing, is it?

What's the most important thing?

The most important thing is the result that you're going to

create for my audience.

And that's, that's the piece that I see a lot of speakers

skip because they think I've got this amazing message.

Everybody needs to hear it.

This is what's going to happen, you know, and they really

can't articulate.

And this is one of the ways I've changed.

My assessment is to really identify, can you articulate

the transformation that you provide, who that is for,

the result they're going to work, walk away with,

and who can pay you for that, right?

What is the value of what you're bringing to the room?

And so you get all of these amazing proposals,

but they're generic.

They're for any audience.

They're not for my audience.

And they don't tell me what it's going to solve for my

particular audience.

You have to do the legwork of understanding when you

submit a proposal, what that audience is sitting with.

What is their pain point that you are going to solve?

What is it worth to them?

What changes when they go back to that office on Monday?

What are they going to do differently because they

heard you speak?

And that really is just a clarity of your business

model.

I mean, you should know that anyway.

That's important.

What's the second most important thing to that?

I'm fishing for something specific here, and I don't

know if you're going to remember us having this

conversation because it was about six months ago now.

What is the second most important thing to meeting

planners?

God, now I feel like I'm...

I remember what I said six months ago.

Well, there's so many things.

Lead with results, have the relationship, and be a

good partner.

Understand what they are trying to accomplish with

their event and how you fit into that.

I think when we met, you had just had a very bad

experience because your answer to me was, just stay

on time.

Oh, God, please stay on time.

And you're like, I don't care how good your

message is.

I don't care.

I just want you to stay on time.

And I was like, okay, message received.

Wow, that was very aggressive.

But that is really important.

It is very important because the whole agenda has

been set and you've been given your slot.

And if you go over, then either somebody else

gets gypped or the sponsors are going to get gypped

because the break has to be shortened.

That time has to be made up somewhere.

So it's super important to be aware of how much

time you have and stay within your time.

Yes, that is very, very important.

Which fits with the whole it can be respectful and

have good relationships.

I just I remember you saying that and it being

such a light bulb for me because I come from a

theater background, from an acting background.

And when you're a young actor, you think that the

thing that gets you the audition is or the part

rather is your talent.

You're like, oh, the most talented person will

get the part.

That's not how it works.

Your talent gets you in the room.

Your talent gets you the audition.

And that's as far as your talent gets you.

You know, like, yeah, okay, if you absolutely

blow everyone away and everyone else is terrible,

sure.

But really, the actors who get the roles are

the actors who have good relationships.

They're respectful.

They show up on time.

They take direction.

They, you know, and sometimes it can be

something as silly as, well, you didn't get

the part because you look like my mother-in-law

and I can't, you know, or you don't fit the,

you know, you're the wrong height for the other

person that is your love interest or whatever.

It's really, really random.

But the point is it has nothing to do with

how good you are.

No, nothing at all.

And I think that is something, and I was

like, oh, that makes so much sense.

In the speaking industry, when you're taking

it very seriously, it's a given that you're

talented.

It is a given that you are a good speaker.

That is not, oh, but I'm a good speaker.

I should get the thing.

No, no, everyone who is applying is an

excellent speaker.

We hope.

It's not actually, it's not actually the

reality some of the time.

But it should be.

Anyone who's been considered is already a

good speaker.

That's not what gets you in the room.

What gets you in the room is the way you

behave to everybody else, your relationships,

the testimonials, whether or not you finish

on time.

And I think that's also what gets you

invited back.

Is that right?

Yeah, absolutely.

That factors into it.

You know, if you want to be rebooked and

referred, if you become known as a

speaker who can't manage a 60-minute

session without going 75, right?

Yeah.

If that becomes your reputation, you'll

start to see those inquiries and those

bookings will start to just shrink,

right?

And it becomes even harder at that

point because now you've got to, you've

got to go start new relationships all the

time as opposed to being able to work

your embers, work those people you

already have those relationships with.

Because people in the industry talk,

the AV team talks to the meeting

planners, the meeting planners talk to

the AV team, they're talking to other

meeting planners.

Like, they're literally, you know,

those meeting planner offices that

after the days over with, it's the

war room and you're just in there

swapping stories with your vendors.

And I promise you, they're talking

about you.

Whether you are fabulous to work with

or you're, you know, absolute

nightmare to work with, they're

talking about you.

And you want to be that person like,

oh my God, they were a dream, right?

Like they were early, they had their

materials in on time, they end on

time, they stay and network with the

audience and answer questions and they

do all these things.

And that's who you want to be, right?

And so that's one of the things I

help my clients really understand is how

do you become that good partner that

they'll, they will rebook an excellent

partner that is a mediocre speaker

over an excellent speaker who is a

horrible partner.

Yes, yes.

And those AV, the audio visual people,

it's so easy to not notice them because

they're very good at hiding in the

shadows, but be nice to them because

they, well, they can make you, they can

turn off your sound if they want to.

I mean, they are really the hidden

heroes of events.

They really are.

And they really are behind the scenes

and they, and that's their role is

to not be seen.

But without them, the event doesn't

run and your sound doesn't work and

your slides don't go the way they're

supposed to.

And your music doesn't play when it's

supposed to.

And so they really are, they can be

your biggest advocate because what are

they doing next week?

They're going to the next event,

right?

That meeting planner is going to have

that same event again and again and

again and again.

And that doesn't mean she doesn't

talk.

It doesn't mean you can't be

rebooked.

It doesn't mean she's not going to

necessarily go somewhere else.

But that AV team, I promise you,

they're going to the next event.

They're going to the next meeting

planner, right?

That's how that nature works.

They have so much, much a bigger

network in some cases.

They do.

Than the meeting planner does.

Yeah.

So, you know, bring them a bag of

candy.

Give them a thank you card.

Like my AV team, like if any of them

ever see this or comment on it,

y'all can tell me if I'm wrong.

But I always were like, how are

y'all doing?

Here's some treats.

Like I would take them treats.

I would.

Yeah.

Don't put the treats anywhere near

the soundboard though.

Don't do it.

No, no, no, no.

Keep it away from the equipment.

Right.

Because they really do make or

break your event.

One hundred percent of the time.

It's so true.

It's so true.

I've been on AV team.

So, yeah.

Yeah.

It's definitely true.

So I have speakers.

It's so cute.

I have a lot of my clients.

They get really nervous because I

talk.

I tell them never, ever, ever go

over time.

This is something I train into my

speakers.

But then they're scared of well,

how much is too short?

You know,

if I'm supposed to give a 20

minute talk and I give a 15

minute talk,

you know,

that's,

that's part of the reason why

some people go over is because

they're so anxious about

delivering enough.

What would your answer be to

that?

How much too little is too

little?

So, I mean,

if you're slotted for a 20

minute talk and you do eight

minutes,

that's too little, right?

You can't,

you can't.

Right.

And so,

and this is one of those things

where we're rehearsing and

becoming comfortable with your

material and pacing

yourself.

And it's something that I

struggle with.

You came to my quote,

unquote two hour workshop that

was done an hour,

15 minutes.

I was like,

oh, okay.

Yeah.

I need to slow this way down or

make this whatever.

Right.

It just comes from doing the

practice and doing the thing.

And sometimes you don't know

until you get into the room.

But one of the things that I

like to do,

because I have gone over once

and I literally had the woman

she just ended the call.

Like I was like,

oh,

that was very.

Wow.

Oh,

yeah.

cause I had,

I had not paid attention to the

time.

I was paying attention to my

timer that I started when I

started talking and we had

started later than intended.

So it was,

it was totally on me.

It was my.

Right.

Wrong rule.

Right.

It happens.

But one of the things that I

do now is I always try to

allow at least 10 minutes for

questions and answers.

And if they don't have

questions,

right,

then you sit there with that

awkward pause.

So what I do is have some

pre-prepared questions,

right?

Oh,

yeah.

Back pocket questions.

Yeah.

Back pocket questions that you

can fill and just continue to

add more value.

And if you know,

somebody's going to be in the

audience,

you can plant some questions and

get yourself a plant.

Absolutely.

Have a seed in the audience to

ask the question.

But sometimes just,

just saying,

well,

this might be a question you

have that will spark people.

Because what we've done,

we've given them a lot of

information and they're still

trying to process.

Right.

And so if you have a 20

minute slot and you go eight

minutes,

that's way too short.

If you go 20 minutes and you

go 15,

then you can probably fill that

with,

with just question and answer

and just giving them some of

those back pocket questions.

Yeah.

So, you know,

five minutes,

have some back pocket

questions,

have some extra things that

you could potentially talk

about if no one has any

questions.

But Q&A is a lovely way to

wrap it up anyway.

So yeah,

I think always rather

leave them wanting a little

bit more because

there's always so much,

there's always,

it's so easy to add after.

Yeah.

But once you go over,

you have kind of

messed up the day for

everyone.

So don't do that.

Yeah.

I would really rather you

end a little bit short

than go over,

honestly,

because I'm going,

ending early,

I can deal with,

but going over,

I can get that time back.

Yeah.

So what's the biggest

mistake speakers make?

Or the biggest faux pas,

the biggest,

maybe it's not a mistake.

Maybe it's just the biggest

thing they do wrong.

Maybe it's not a mistake.

Maybe it's on purpose.

I don't know.

Maybe it is on purpose.

I think that the biggest

mistake,

particularly when you're

growing your speaking

business is to treat each

stage like it's a one

time deal.

Yeah.

You send that thank you

and then you're gone.

And we never hear from you

again.

You're leaving gold in

the room.

Right.

Because particularly for

those speakers that they

do the stage,

they say,

thank you.

And then they're,

they're like gone,

gone.

Like my people,

my people want to ask you

questions.

So find out beforehand,

what are the networking

opportunities?

What are the meals that

you could pop into and

sit at a table?

Right?

Because this is good for

you and it's good for

the meeting planner because

then people are going to

remember you.

They're going to be able

to digest what you said

and then come and ask you

those questions as they

come up.

But every stage is just a

stepping tone to your

next stage.

It is not a one and done

unless you treat it that

way.

If you treat it that way,

you're constantly starting

over.

So don't do that.

That's a lot more work.

So speaking of work,

you have clients,

obviously,

you work with people.

Do you mostly coach or

you mostly kind of do

four?

Like is it,

do you have like different

levels of offers?

How do you work with

people?

Yeah.

So I do have different

levels of offers.

I have some one-to-one

that you're doing.

Um,

it's a 12-week program

that really is very,

um,

very,

I think is white glove,

right?

I think it's white glove

service.

You get multiple check-ins

a week.

You get a plan every week

and we work with that,

um,

to,

to,

we set your goal for the

12 weeks and we work

specifically towards that

goal, right?

I think it's a very high

touch.

Yeah.

And that's where a lot

of my people who are

just getting started because

they really kind of need

that accountability and

support.

They need that.

Okay.

I'm stuck here.

What do I do with this?

Right?

They need that pushing

through that wall because a

lot of times it's that

internal wall, right?

That fear of being seen,

that fear of rejection,

whatever we're dealing with.

And then I have a strategy

too.

Like you help me get clear

on what type of,

what type of speaking

gigs I want to do and

when I want to do them

and, you know,

building the business around

my life,

not just trying to fit

in whatever,

you know,

that really helps.

Yeah.

You know,

the tracker and we track

the things and I do

opportunity research and all

that good stuff.

So it's a very good touch

package,

which is great for people

who are just starting out

for those people who are

farther along and they're

like,

I really just need to figure

out how to navigate this

paid speaking room or how

to navigate getting more

money so that I'm getting

more clients,

whatever,

whatever,

however you're being paid

to speak,

right?

You can be paid before,

by the people putting you

on the stage,

you can be paid after by

the people in the room,

right?

you're getting paid.

and it's more of a blueprint

consulting type package,

right?

So I'll lay it all out for

you with a 12 month plan

and some KPIs and some

things.

And then there's some

implementation support if

you want it,

but if not,

you can take the blueprint

and run with it.

And then there's also,

for those that have gone

through the 12 week,

there is a one more six

month step up if they

want to continue,

or they can go on a

retainer either way and

stay right when they're

out with the 12 week,

they can go on retainer.

But if they're like,

okay,

I really want to level up

when I'm doing,

then we step into that

six month commitment and

go through a more intensive

blueprint for them as well.

So yeah,

I got options.

I'm looking forward to

working with you for a

long time.

You poor thing.

I mean, people,

people tend to do like,

I just had a call with

a client.

We've been working

together for almost a year.

She did phenomenal work

this year.

She was like,

brand new to it.

She knew she wanted to do

this.

And she went from like

zero stages to 15 this

year on top of working

full time,

having a toddler at home

and she's pregnant,

right?

Oh my goodness.

Some people could

just do everything.

I can barely get out of

bed and do it.

I'm like,

you want me to do it?

But yeah,

so she's,

you know,

this little rock star,

literally she's actually

an aerospace engineer.

So she actually is a

rocket star.

But anyway,

so we pause today

to have a baby and we

talked about what she's

going to do next year.

And so she's,

she's planning to come

back next year and

work with me for,

you know,

another six months to a year.

So because we're a

lot of people,

it's not really even about,

you know,

you can learn my system

and go do it yourself,

but a lot of people

really want that help

and support and

accountability that I

provide.

Yeah, yeah,

because it is,

it is scary.

You are pushing yourself

and you can feel like

you're putting yourself out

there.

So what is,

we're nearing the end of

our time together,

I'm afraid.

What is the one most

important,

I don't know if it's

encouraging thing or

just important to

know thing for speakers

that you'd like to,

they could get one thing

out of this.

Oh, and you've got a gift

too.

We mustn't forget that.

So we'll talk about the

gift in a second.

But before we do,

what is that,

that one thing that

makes a difference for,

you know,

for speakers to get hired

and to get on stages.

I think the one thing

that is the most important

thing is to understand

who you need to be in

front of,

who is the audience

that you solve the

problem for.

So you can identify

where they are and

then you can identify

who you need to be

building relationships

to get access to those

rooms.

The last time you know

who,

the who part,

right.

You got to reverse it here.

You know the who part

but you're out here

trying to be in all the

rooms.

Just hoping that you're

who's in the room.

I really want you to be

very intentional about

who it is.

Where are they?

And then let's build

relationships with those

people that have access to

them so you're in the

right rooms.

Because you can get burned

out too.

You know, it's

definitely happened to me.

Like I was doing so many

speaking gigs and I was

just,

I wasn't getting a great ROI

because I wasn't being

intentional about it.

I was just kind of,

you know, throwing spaghetti

at the wall to see what

stuck.

And, you know, at the

beginning,

do that at the beginning

just to kind of test

yourself and see what

you're capable of.

And then stop.

And then go,

okay, this is what I've

learned.

I'm feeling confident

enough in my speaking

skills now.

Now I need to be more

intentional about where I

show up and make sure

that I'm getting a good ROI

because you only have so

much energy in the day.

You don't have so much

time.

You only have so much

energy.

Spend it well.

So speaking about

strategy and strategic

choices,

tell me about this gift

that you have for us.

Yeah.

So I have a stage-driven

visibility leak report.

These are like the seven

most common leaks I have

found on my assessment

call.

This is where, between

the stage and the

revenue, this is where

it's leaking out.

This is where your

revenue is going.

And so it kind of walks

you through identifying

what your primary leak

is and how to fix it.

So it's really,

really great.

So it takes about 15

minutes to go through

the seven leaks and

identify this is a leak

for me.

And each link has

it.

This is the first thing

to do to fill that gap,

fill that hole.

Because I think a lot of

us are fumbling through

and I'm doing all the

things right.

Why is it not working?

So that is such a

strategic tool to use,

such a useful analysis.

Because sometimes you

only have to make a tiny

tweak.

Sometimes you don't

need to reinvent

everything and throw it

all out and start from

scratch.

Sometimes you just need

to change a small

behavior every day and

it'll make a huge change.

Heather, this has been

so exciting.

Thank you so much.

You have so much,

so much perspective,

so much just really sensible,

important things that

we forget.

You know, like,

hey, relationships are

important.

And that's pretty common

sense, but it's amazing

how many of us.

And it is, it's because

we're stressed and it's

because we're scared and

it's not because we

necessarily want to be

transactional with people,

but we're so involved

with ourselves that we

forget to be generous

and to say thank you

and to build that

relationship and to

follow up and let's make

our lives easier.

Let's do that.

So thank you so much,

Heather.

Do reach out to her.

If you're curious that

new, the newfangled

assessment thing

sounds amazing.

The new version,

definitely get her gift.

Identify where your

leaks are and how you can

plug them so that you can

have a more seamless

journey towards speaking

success.

Heather, thank you so much

for being here.

This was an absolute

pleasure.

Thank you for having me.

The time went really,

really fast.

I enjoyed every minute of it.

I know.