← Beyond Blind Blaming
Beyond Blind Blaming
Master the Stage with These Practical Tips and Mindset Shifts for Speakers | Carla Howard
00:41:00
Loading summary
Transcript75 lines
- [00:00]
A
This was a big one for me is to remember I'm not getting paid for the hour. You're not getting paid $50,000, $20,000 an hour. You're getting paid for the value, your work experience, all of the time and energy you put in to create a fantastic talk that is what you're getting paid for.
- [00:24]
B
Today I'm joined by Carla Howard. She's a mentor, speaker and strategic change leader who is passionate about helping professional speaker speakers build confidence, navigate career transitions, and advocate for themselves. Carla has made it her mission to empower people with the tools, strategies, and mindset shifts needed to break through limiting beliefs and achieve their goals.
- [00:42]
A
Get a mirror. Look in the mirror and say I am a professional speaker. That is the moment that you become one. You're not anointed. There's no magic wand that's going to come down and tap you on the forehead. It's when you decide side that you are. One is when you become a professional speaker.
- [01:12]
B
Welcome to Beyond Blind Blaming. This is the place where we explore how easily hidden truths can hold us back, trapping us in cycles of frustration and blame on often without even realizing what's truly stopping us. Each week I'm joined by experts and professionals who share their journey of taking back control of their story, overcoming hidden challenges, and discover how to stop blind blaming from dictating their outcomes. The insights you're about to gain will help you see beyond your current limitations, find the courage to seek new perspectives, and ultimately live a life that's both purposeful and powerful. So if you're ready to break free from blind blaming and discover what's possible, you'll definitely want to listen to my next guest. I'm your host, Kevin Saint Clergy, and today I'm joined by Carla Howard. She's a mentor, speaker and strategic change leader who is passionate about helping professional speakers build confidence, navigate career transitions, and advocate for themselves. Carla has made it her mission to empower people with the tools, strategies, and mindset shifts needed to break through limiting beliefs and achieve their goals. With a background in corporate leadership and organizational change, Carla understands the challenges professionals face when trying to level up their speaking careers and at the same time maintaining a sense of balance and authenticity. She believes that success starts with clarity, confidence, and a willingness to take bold, strategic action. She's passionate about helping professional speakers grow their business, charge more, and get paid what they're worth. Carla, welcome to the show.
- [02:35]
A
Thank you. So nice to be here. Kevin.
- [02:37]
B
Well, it sounds like you've got an incredible career of helping a lot of different People succeed. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey and what led you to do what you do now? Sure.
- [02:46]
A
And I, you know, I'm one of those people that just absolutely loves the work that I do. I started my career as a corporate professional, got into change management a little bit by accident and just fell in love with it and had a corporate job, got laid off and had that oh moment where I decided, you know, what do I do? Do I go back to corporate or do I build a business around all the things that and my corporate job and blend in a few more? And I went with plan B. So today I am a full time entrepreneur.
- [03:24]
B
I love it. And then how many times do you see people that are trying to get out of corporate America like you did and get into a speaking career, but they struggle with confidence, especially when it comes to asking for money? I know it took me a while to go from $1,500 per speaking gig up to $50,000 and $100,000, which is what I change now or charge now, depending on where I go. But how do you get people to have that confidence? And what confident killers do you see?
- [03:48]
A
Gosh, you know, I think that's a huge issue for emerging speakers and for speakers that are just, you know, started getting paid small amounts of money and just haven't quite been able to make that jump into getting paid significant dollars. A couple of things is really building that strong speaker package so that when event organizers or speakers bureaus are looking to bring you in, you have something to showcase that you are indeed a professional speaker. The other thing is just getting really comfortable with the idea that the people in the audience are paying the event organizers to be there. And so there is value that you are delivering. Truly, the speakers are the reason the people are there in the audience in the first place. They are the draw. And so you deserve to get paid for the value you deliver. A couple things I always tell speakers, I love this exercise. I call it the salt and pepper exercise. We can dig into that a little bit if you like. That really helps us turn our speaking fees into facts and away from feelings. And the other thing is, this was a big one for me, is to remember I'm not getting paid for the hour. You're not getting paid $50,000, $20,000 an hour. You're getting paid for, for the value, your work experience, all of the time and energy you put in to create a fantastic talk, that is what you're getting paid for.
- [05:29]
B
I love that. And I like how you call it. The salt and pepper. I'm assuming I know what that means, but it. Is it hair, salt, pepper?
- [05:35]
A
No.
- [05:36]
B
I thought it was, like, you have more experience. All right, well, then tell me about it, because that's the first thing I want to do. Maybe it's because I'm getting gray hair now and it's bugging the crap out.
- [05:43]
A
Of me, but no, no. So salt and pepper. Anytime I have speakers that are really struggling with. They've got a conversation with an event organizer coming up. I'll say, all right, we'll talk about speaker fees. Let's say they're a newer speaker that didn't go in at $15,000 for the keynote. Write $15,000 on a sticky note, get out a salt shaker and a pepper shaker, and every morning for five minutes, I want you to point at the pepper shaker and say, that's pepper. That's all. And my fee is $15,000. And you do that over and over again, because what it does is it conditions your mind to realize that your speaker's fee is simply a fact. That's not pepper. Unless you need paprika, that is pepper. And your speaking fee is $15,000. And what that will do is when the event organizer says to you, okay, great, Kevin, really interested, can you tell me what your speaker fee is? You will automatically and with confidence say, my speaker fee is $15,000. And then you're quiet. You don't need to explain it. You don't need to justify it. It is a fact. So I. If I'm going to a negotiation, I'm driving down the road. I might say, there's a red truck, there's a green truck, and my, My hourly consulting rate is $275 an hour. And just on repeat, because it conditions our mind to very confidently state our fees.
- [07:16]
B
Oh, you just reminded me of this story. You sound a lot like the speaking coach I had years ago, and I had a speaking gig come up, and he taught me how to charge for what, a percentage of what I thought I was going to make. That business that was hiring me to be there. And this particular one, we were going to make them quite a bit of money, and the fee was going to be around $40,000, and I was a nervous freaking wreck. And he's like, Kevin, very similar to what you just said. Just do it. Just confidently say, okay, here's. I think I'm going to make your group, if your group does at least one or two things out of the things, I'm going to Share with them. You guys should make an extra $4 million for the weekend. And I'd like $40,000. So it was kind of into the law of comparison and things like that. And I swear to God, they went. And I said, I want first class travel because it was an overseas gig. And they just went, okay.
- [08:03]
A
Yeah.
- [08:03]
B
And my first thought was, well, shit, I should have charged more.
- [08:06]
A
Yes, yes. And I have had those same moments with speaking engagements where, you know, especially earlier in my speaking career where I would throw out a number and they would say, okay, great, that's within the budget. And I'm thinking, dang it, what's not in the budget? Because that's what I want to get right up to the edge of what, you know, how much could I have asked for? I think the other thing that new speakers struggle is they aren't sure when to call themselves a professional speaker. And this is always so much fun for me because they'll say, well, you know, but I'm not really a professional speaker. I'm this. You know, there's a really good way to know when you have crossed over and you are now a professional speaker. And they're like, great, what is that? And I'm like, get a mirror. Look in the mirror and say, I am a professional speaker. That is the moment that you become one. You're not anointed. There's no magic wand that's going to come down and tap you on the forehead. It's when you decide that you are one, is when you become a professional speaker.
- [09:15]
B
I've always gone with the definition. And the definition of a professional speaker is someone who lives more than five miles away.
- [09:22]
A
I love that. Well, because there's a lot of truth to this idea that, you know, like, I've spoken at a lot of companies. Do I say some of the same things that their leaders say? Sure. But I'm not in the company. I'm outside. So they're bringing in that professional to provide that guidance and support. It holds more weight than if, you know, Sally from accounting gives the same advice.
- [09:45]
B
Right. I love it. Well, do you ever see anybody with imposter syndrome? That's kind of a buzzword these days. And how do you help them overcome that? Like, I don't even deserve to be on that stage, Kevin. I'm like, wait a minute. Just heard this recently from a client. I was like, wait a minute, who told you that? So let's talk about that for a minute.
- [10:01]
A
Yeah, that's a great topic. And I think just about every speaker either has that or has had it in their career. I'd almost worry if you got to the point that you didn't feel a little overwhelmed, you know, because you're looking out into hundreds of people, you're there to deliver value. You've got a big job to do. One of my favorite, favorite techniques to share with speakers is, you know, we think about what happens when we get nervous. So I'll just ask you, Kevin, think about a time when you were really, really nervous, anxious, nervous, just not feeling confident. And talk to me about physically, what happens in your body. Like, what. What do you experience?
- [10:48]
B
My neck gets. I mean, I. I still get nervous for every talk. So I just had a keynote recently. So this just happened recently. My neck starts to get tight. My mouth gets dry. It's like a very stressful time.
- [10:59]
A
Yeah. And then what about, like, does your heart kind of beat a little bit faster?
- [11:03]
B
Oh, yeah, definitely. So. And when I'm practicing, I start stuttering a little bit, and then I go down this rabbit hole. I was like, oh, my God, I'm going to screw this whole thing up.
- [11:12]
A
Exactly. So here's what's beautiful about that. The physical manifestations of being nervous are the exact same physical manifestations of being excited. So what happens when you're excited? Your throat gets dry? Your heart beats a little bit faster. Maybe your hand will start to shake. And so immediately when your mind says, oh, my gosh, I'm so nervous, I'm going to forget what I'm supposed to say, grab ahold of that, and change the narrative to, oh, my gosh, I'm so excited. This is going to be fantastic. And you have physical manifestations that prove it, because this is exciting and it changes the way we think. And when we step on that stage, you keep repeating that mantra. You hear them introduced, and you're like, this is fantastic. I am so excited. I cannot wait to get on that stage. And it quiets that voice that says, you're nervous. Going to forget what you're supposed to say.
- [12:13]
B
I love it. Well, as we talked about before we started in my book, Beyond Blind Blaming, and the podcast that I have as well that you're now on, I talk a lot about how people often misdiagnose the real cause of their struggles. What are some of the most common misconceptions people have when it comes to advancing their speaking careers? Or. Or what do they blame when things aren't going the way they want them to?
- [12:33]
A
Well, two things come to mind for me on that. The first one and I will tell anyone who is interested in this journey or in the entrepreneur journey, to be successful, you are going to have to do a whole lot of things that you don't like doing. I do not like applying for speaking engagements. I don't like creating talks. I don't like practicing talks. I do not like reaching out cold, calling event organizers. I don't like any of that. You know what I love? I love stepping on that stage. I love delivering value, and I love earning. Earning a lot of money for doing it. I love all those things. And guess what? In order for me to do the thing that I love, I have to be willing to do a. I could use other colorful languages here, but let's just say a whole lot of things that I do not like doing. So in order to be successful as a speaker, you've got to be willing to do probably 85 to 90% of things you don't like doing. The other thing that I think holds speakers back, and I run into this all the time, is they're looking for events that need them. And so that might sound like, well, yeah, that seems like the right thing to do, Carla. So, for example, I speak in three different lanes. One of the topics that I speak on is change leadership and change management. So you would think management conferences, leadership conferences, change management conferences. I've spoken, spoken for the issa, which is the Cleaning Products association of America, because guess what? They need support, too. And so, huge show, huge conference. I'm just going to submit and say, hey, do you got a place for a change management speaker? Here's. Here's what the topic's all about. Because those people at the conference are excited to talk about something besides cleaning products. They're excited to have a personal development lane. I had a gal reach out to me who's in my membership, and she said, I'm really having trouble finding mature women who are looking for my kind of coaching. And I'm really having trouble finding conferences. And I started laughing and I said, I just spoke at the National Portable Storage Unit Association. There's mature women there that could use your coaching. So instead of hunting always for the big conference, find those smaller conferences and submit your topic ideas. Because first of all, there's not going to be that many people really, you know, submitting in that niched area, and you're able to get the attention, you're able to get the stage time.
- [15:26]
B
I love it. That's kind of where I got my start as well. I'm sure you did as well. Plus, you can get some great testimonials. If it's a smaller group, it's a lot easier to get a video testimonial of how much they like to talk about. So getting into that, what are some of the best practices that you find when people do get those talks that can help them? And what you just described was perfect, because when you do those smaller, more intimate groups, you're much more likely to get some great shots of you talking and interacting with the audience. But most importantly, video. How important do you think that is for up and coming speakers?
- [15:56]
A
Yeah, I think video is super important. I don't think you have to have it. I booked gigs. I booked gigs before I had a speaker's reel. I'll tell you a funny story about that. There was a. A big engagement in New York City. This was in the very beginning of my speaking journey for travel executives. And I was on the phone with the event organizer. She asked my fee. I said, $5,000. She was really quiet. She's like, okay, well, that's in our budget. And I thought I knew right away that I had underpriced it. But they ended up, she took it to the committee, and when she came back, she said, I really wanted you. Here's what held you back. You don't have a speaker's reel. And I said, I so appreciate the feedback. I'm going to get started on that this weekend. And then I had to Google what is the speakers reel, because I had no idea. So it is important and it is one of the bits of value you can ask for. So I always advise speakers, when you get into that negotiation conversation, don't just lower your fees. Say, my typical fee is $7,000. Here's a couple ways that I can retain the value and we can get within your budget. Are you going to have a videographer there? Great. I'm willing to reduce my fee by $2,000 for a raw, unedited version of the, of the. That videotape. Are you going to have a professional photographer there? Great. For 10 photos, I'm willing to come down another $500. You can ask for a table in the back of the room. You can ask for your book to be included. You can ask for testimonials and recommendations and discount your fees based on an agreement of how many of those that you will receive. So there's lots and lots of value you can gr. Then it doesn't just look like, okay, I'll take whatever you can give me. You're now in a value negotiation.
- [18:00]
B
I love that I've even seen some people that will do it for a douche rate if they can sell from the stage with the stuff that they sell off stage. Yes. And that's worked pretty well. I know. We just recently did it, me and a business partner of mine, and we did $25,000 for the day in sales from the stage because they let us sell from the stage and it worked.
- [18:18]
A
Yeah, absolutely. The other thing that I love is having a day rate. So I'm not. If it's an hour, it's this much. If it's, you know, an hour and a half, it's that much. If you want me on a panel, that's an extra whatever, I go in with a day rate and I am theirs for the day. And the event organizers love that. I'll even tell them, if one of your breakout speakers doesn't show up, I've got a library of content. You choose what you want. I can be there in five minutes. Have I ever had to do it?
- [18:49]
B
No.
- [18:50]
A
And it's a huge value to the event organizer because you're providing them a safety net, and most speakers won't do that.
- [18:58]
B
I love it. Great advice. So what do you think is, are there any blind spots that people have where they think one thing is the problem that's holding them back and they're not getting gigs, and you figure out it's something else? Do you have any examples of that by chance?
- [19:11]
A
Usually it's price. They think they're charging too much. And I always say people are willing to pay more for a specialist and they're afraid to niche down. You know, for example, if I get a leak in my roof and a handyman comes up and says, you know what? I could fix that for 700 bucks. There's a gazillion handymen out there. But expert roofer says it's going to cost you $1,500. And here's what I'm going to do. Guess what? I'm going with the expert roofer. They've got an audience full of roofer people who expect and have paid for value. So don't be afraid to niche down. And when we niche down, I think speakers are often afraid that, you know, they're going to get counted out because, you know, my talk's for everybody. Well, if your talk's for everybody, nobody's interested. So you've got to really hone in and you will bring other people along. So that niching down is going to get you paid more. It's going to get you booked more and it will make more people interested in your topic.
- [20:17]
B
I love it. Talk to us about how you work with coaches and how you help them. Excuse me, how you work with speakers.
- [20:23]
A
Yeah. So I have the, it's, it's a very interesting niche offering. So I have a get paid from the stage program. I run it three times a year and it is a six week program with no more than 10 people in the cohort. And we begin at, you know, really identifying your topic, building your speaker package, talking about how much, you know, each of those speakers should charge based on their experience to have a book. What is their, you know, what does their repertoire look like in terms of where they've spoken? And I give them a ton of feedback on their speaker one, sheets on their proposals, on their bios, on their, their speaker intro. And then I provide them the spreadsheet of at least 100 open calls for speakers for them to now go and take their package and submit. I'm always really clear what I don't do. So I don't listen to their talks. I don't help them write their talks. I really believe that being a great speaker is going to take miles under your sneakers. So you got to get on some stage, some stages and present. I can't make you a great speaker. You've got to make you a great speaker and then I can help you put a of piece package together that will get you recognized and paid.
- [21:40]
B
I love it. Well, that's the big key because if they can't do that, they can't get on stage and they can't get those miles underneath their sneakers.
- [21:47]
A
Yeah. And we all end up starting with some form of low paid gigs or free engagements to really get that experience. I'm always really careful to say, you know, be strategic about that and then start charging something relatively quickly and then you can ramp up from there. You know, there's this. Often event organizers will say, well, you're going to get exposure. Right. You take exposure to this audience, it's going to be good for you. And it's like, yeah, but exposure doesn't pay the bills. So I'm pretty sure if I went to my dentist and he said, you needed a root canal. And I said, you know what, how about you just do it for free? And I'll tell all my friends, I wouldn't be getting a root canal either. Right. I don't say that to event organizers, but that's the mindset that I want my speakers to have.
- [22:35]
B
Yeah. I think a good comeback at least the one that I've used for that, because I've gotten that before, is like, look, I get more exposure from a YouTube video and driving traffic for much less. And no more time out of my office, no more time out of my business for a hundred bucks than I'm going to get at your conference. I'm not trying to be rude. I'm just trying to say that's not a motivator for me to waive my fee. But let's talk about some other ways that we can. So I agree with you 100%. But I think everybody's got to figure out their own things. But when you're working with these groups and they come in for your six week classes, and I love the small, intimate group, I think that, I think more of what you just described is what we need. So it sounds like you figured out the coaching theme to provide some pretty darn good value. What do you think is the top three things that you discover during those classes that's consistent from class to class as far as problems or challenges?
- [23:22]
A
Yeah. One of the, I'll say the number one thing is that speakers focus on themselves instead of the audience. So I'll read their proposal and it'll say, I'm going to talk to you about how to quiet your inner critic. Because I found in my journey when I was this da, da, da, and it's a yawner. Nobody wants to hear all about you. How can you turn that around so that you are now saying, you know, what is the audience going to get? What are they going to walk away? What's the transformation they're going to experience? Sure, you're going to pepper in a little bit about you, but it's not really about you at the end of the day. It's about the value you're going to deliver to the audience. So number one mistake is they try to sell themselves in their bio, in their proposals, in all of the emails that they send to event organizers. It's all about them. And so when I am reaching out to an event organizer, I want to, to find out how I can support them in their event, in their community. Here's, here's my topics. I'd love to explore how it can support you and your community, not about how I can tell them how great I am. So that is the number one mistake that I see speakers make, whether they're novice or further down their journey. We have to rewrite their proposal often. So that's number one. Okay, I'd say number one. Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry, did you.
- [24:49]
B
I was just saying I love it. What I hear you saying was that nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. And the way you show them you care is by making it not about you. That's what I hear you saying.
- [24:59]
A
Exactly. I think the next mistake that I see speakers make is they don't want to do the crappy stuff, they don't want to do the hard stuff, you know, Calls for speakers. It's about a 1 to 2% hit rate it, it's a slog, it is no fun. And guess what? It's how you begin to get your name out there. Now, I've got a few tricks and suggestions that will help bump it up to the top of the the inbox. But you gotta be willing to do the things not the not sexy stuff. And so that's the second mistake that I see them make is they're not willing to do the not sexy stuff.
- [25:41]
B
Can you give us some examples of the non sexy stuff again?
- [25:44]
A
Yeah. Calls for speakers.
- [25:46]
B
Okay, that was one. I thought there was more that you were talking about. Sorry.
- [25:49]
A
Well, there's that. There's reaching out to event organizers, there's getting on LinkedIn and respectfully commenting on posts so that people are curious and interested about you. Not in a salesy way. There is connecting with event organizers. I just went through three weeks ago and looked at events I'd spoken at in the past and I sent all of them emails saying, hey, I've got a couple new talks. Really enjoyed meeting you in your community. We'd love to see how these fit in. None of that stuff is fun. It's hard work. And so it's having the willingness to do all of that not sexy stuff. And I mean, we could talk about more writing talks, practicing talks. Ice hate practicing talks. Absolutely hate it. And I will practice a talk before I hit the stage. And I'm talking about talks I have delivered before, 20 to 25 times. And it is not fun. But you gotta be willing to do that stuff.
- [26:53]
B
I love it. What I hear you saying there is some things suck. You have to embrace the suck if you really want to move forward.
- [27:00]
A
Yeah. Yeah.
- [27:01]
B
Anything else on that?
- [27:03]
A
You know, I think that's the top two mistakes. Maybe the third one is, you know, thinking you've got your package altogether, that you don't need anybody else to look at it. Because I know some great speakers and when I look at their content, I'm thinking, I know exactly why you're not getting hired. This is not speaking to your event organizer. You know, it's the small things I always say. I will tell my event organizers often. I will be the easiest speaker you've ever worked with. You are going to get my stuff on time. Even little things like I send them my speaker intro, but then I blow up the font huge and print it and hand it to them when I get there to say, I know I sent it to you, wanted to make sure you have it. And I blew up the font really big. So it'll be easy for you to read from the stage. When I'm at the airport and I'm flying to an event, I text my event organizer, hey, so excited to see you getting ready to get on the plane. I'll let you know when I make it to the hotel. I don't want my event organizer worrying about, did I miss my plane? Did I forget about the event and I go find them because guess what, I'm going to get to my hotel, they're going to be downstairs running around trying to, you know, get everything in order. So I shake their hand. Is there anything I can help you with? I'm here. I really work on being incredibly easy to work with. And then one other tip I always give event organizers. I'm a big believer in visualization and getting comfortable in my space. So I will find the stage and go stand on it while the tech guys are setting everything up. Kind of look around the room, imagine what's it going to feel like. Hey, sit. So I know how far can I walk? Is my lab going to interfere with a speaker if I get too far? You know, over here, those big speakers on the side and just get super comfortable in the space. So that's a, another tip that kind of goes along with being easy to work with. But I'd say, you know, make your event organizer's life as easy as you can.
- [29:08]
B
I love that advice because I think what you're talking about there and describing is developing a relationship with someone important who, if you do those types of things and you can tell me if I'm wrong, would probably give you a testimonial that you can use in your speaking brochure.
- [29:21]
A
Oh my gosh. Give you testimonials, refer you, bring you back for other events. I get brought back often for follow up events or a leadership conference that's adjacent to a conference that I just delivered at and they'll recommend me to other event organizers who are looking for speakers. So yeah, it's how you build your, your portfolio. Absolutely.
- [29:45]
B
I Love it. Well, now that we're on that track, what do you think are the top three things that needs to happen after a talk? Because a lot of times I see speakers go in and they do a talk and they don't do any follow up. So what do you recommend that happens after? Maybe top two or three things they should be doing with the organizer or with the audience or.
- [30:03]
A
Yeah. So I'm a big LinkedIn user. I find LinkedIn is the best way to build your professional network. So I will always link in with my organizer before the event. So there's a. I'm going to give a couple of things that are before and after. I'll link in with my event organizer. When people come up to me to talk to me after I speak, I will get their name and I will link in with them. I also will have either my assistant or, you know, event organizer, someone in the audience take real quick videos of me on my phone and then I take pictures and videos of the event while I'm just kind of walking around. Might be pictures of the hotel and I have my executive assistant create, create a post workshop kind of montage and then I'll tag the event organizer, the organization and say had a great time at the XYZ event, whatever, you know, couple sentences and it's a really cool video. So that helps promote the event organizer and the event. I will also go into my LinkedIn recommendations and request a recommendation from the event organizer. Maybe if there's a, you know, someone, maybe the CEO of the association, the president association has come up to me, I'll request from them and audience members if they have really just loved it. I'd say I'd love for you to give me a LinkedIn recommendation. Are you okay if we connect and then I'll send you a request next week when I get back home. So I think the things that people don't do enough of is support your event organizer by promoting the event before, during and after. So highlight any posts that they make, comment on them at the event, quick video, quick image, quick selfie of you there saying, so excited I'm here, can't wait for tomorrow. You know, this kind of thing. And then on the back end something special that the event organizer goes, wow, you know, there's a video of our event and then asking for that recommendation.
- [32:11]
B
Oh, I love it. Such great advice, such great advice. How about capturing information from the audience if you get permission to do so? Do you have any suggestions there to build your list or do you have a business and do you just do speaking or do you have a business behind the speaking?
- [32:25]
A
I have several businesses speaking so I could dive into what all of those are. I have a very specific way of doing that. So I always tell folks, unless you've, you know, gotten permission to sell from the stage, never, ever do that. What I do is I create what I call my Additional Resources document. And it always has one or two things that are free. So it might be, hey, connect with me on LinkedIn. And here's a QR code. Here's my, you know, my link on LinkedIn. So it's PDF. And then I also, because I have a membership for kind and ambitious female entrepreneurs, we produce a free magazine every quarter and it's the Sparkle and Rise magazine. So QR code, if you want the Sparkle and Rise magazine, you know, here's your QR code and depending on, you know, the conference. So let's say I'm speaking at a women's conference, I would include the Sparkle and Rise magazine and then I would let them know this is going to put you on my email list. Right. If I'm speaking at a change management conference, I would not put the Sparkle and Rise magazine. Instead, I would say connect with me on LinkedIn. Here are two courses that I have, and you've got a, you know, a coupon for a reduced signup fee that might be, you know, two weeks or something. And then if you're interested in consulting for your company, here's how you can get ahold of me. So it's a PDF document with three, maybe four ways that I can support them. At least one of them hope, ideally, two of them are going to be free things. And then here's the one or two things you can pay me for. And it's one PDF and I asked the event organizer to upload that into the conference app in addition to the guides that I provide for my talks.
- [34:21]
B
That's awesome. I love it. And so you're building your own email list. It sounds like work.
- [34:25]
A
Correct.
- [34:27]
B
That's great. Well, if you could go back and give your advice to your old self ten years ago, what would it be?
- [34:32]
A
Oh, my gosh. So here's the funny thing. My entire course is full of mistakes that I've made. Like, I literally, when I sat down to build to get paid from the Stage course, I'm like, what's all the things that I did wrong for like the first 10 years and then bucketed them into themes? Gosh. I guess if I could go back 10 years, like, just don't be afraid. Get out there. You know what you're doing. Get out there, ask for the money and get on the stage, because that's how you become a professional speaker. Like, I just kept thinking, there's like some magic chasm I'm going to cross and I'm going to feel confident. No, that just takes getting on those stages. I think the other thing is that there are so many people that need to hear our message. You know, we are on a journey that we. We begin to think sometimes, oh, people are already talking about that. Oh, you know what? There's already a book on that. Oh, you know what? There's already somebody offering that. That somebody's not you. You are going to connect to an your ideal people. I always. I love this saying, if you're not turning anybody off, you're not turning anybody on. And so, you know, the thing is, get out there and turn some people off. Talk about things that they're not going to like. You know, be yourself, and you're naturally going to repel the people that you were not meant for and attract the people that you were meant for.
- [35:58]
B
I love it. Such great advice. It's hard sometimes, though, when you get that negative feedback or you get somebody who doesn't like you. I got.
- [36:05]
A
It used to be. It used to be hard. I love it now. I really do. I'm like, cool. That means I actually said something. That means that my style, my way means something because it's not for everybody. So great. That person is not for me. Guess what? That just means that somebody else is going to look at that same post, same talk, same workshop and say, oh, my gosh, that is exactly what I needed.
- [36:37]
B
Well, what's really fun is when you get a lot of followers and hopefully everybody listening will get to this point and you get some of your other followers or fans to stick up for you and say, I don't think you know what you're talking about. And you might want to take the time to get to know this person. Yeah, it gets really fun. That's when it gets fun.
- [36:52]
A
Yeah.
- [36:52]
B
Well, it's very clear to me that you've learned to invest in yourself over the years, whether it be reading or whatever you do. What are your favorite ways? This is one of my favorite questions asked, by the way. But I always ask people, how do you prefer to invest in yourself? Books, podcasts, masterminds. You did mention you had a coach at one time.
- [37:08]
A
Yeah, yeah, that was super helpful. I have a mastermind. I run a mastermind. I Love masterminds. I'm a big reader, so my preferred way to consume content is by reading. And I've learned over the course of my. I'll say it started in corporate. And since becoming an entrepreneur, it's become even more clear to me to just celebrate my mistakes. Like, I actually sat down with my executive assistant when we were planning for 2525, and I said, girlfriend, we are going to mess some stuff up this year. Like, we are going to get out there and we are going to do a lot of things that aren't going to work. And so I want to hear, every month when we get together, I want to celebrate all the things you mess up. Do not be safe this year. And, you know, as a corporate person, we get so conditioned to being afraid of our mistakes, to knowing that someone's going to tally it up at the end of the year and it's going to be the reason we get 3% instead of 5%, and it begins to condition us. And so today, I get really excited when something gets messed up or doesn't work, because that just means I'm one step closer to the thing that will work. So I learn really well from mistakes and. And by giving me and my team an opportunity to get excited about mistakes.
- [38:34]
B
I love it when we help clients. It's very similar to what we do when we help clients. When we help them come up with an agenda for their team meetings that they're not having, by the way, that's another topic for another day. But when we do get them to have weekly meetings with their team, we actually encourage them to have a section called Celebrating mistakes, and that's where everybody goes. And they put their biggest blunder of the week on there. And then they say how they're going to correct it, make sure it doesn't happen again. But then the team votes on who wins. And my old business partner and I, Charlie and I used to win all the time because we're like, yeah, we did this, and it failed. And then the team would like, okay, well, you're definitely the winner this week. At one time, we had a little Burger King crown that we would send off, but it got a little hard because we're a virtual company, but it was still a lot of fun. So I'm so glad to hear you say celebrating mistakes because I think some. Most of us will beat ourselves up, and you can't do it. You just have to make a decision to move forward and say, all right, well, that didn't work. Here's what I can do to make sure it's better and move forward.
- [39:25]
A
Exactly. And there's so much to learn in those mistakes, you know? So, yeah, those are the. I'd say my. My favorite ways is reading and really leaning into mistakes that I make.
- [39:37]
B
Awesome. Well, how can people get in touch with you if they want to talk to you about your masterminds or your speaking courses or anything else that you do, what's the best way for them to get in touch?
- [39:45]
A
You know, the best thing is LinkedIn. I really love connecting with people on LinkedIn for speaking. I've got a website, thespeakersconnection.com and you can reach out to me at carlaespeakersconnection.com as well.
- [40:02]
B
Awesome. We'll make sure we put all that information at the bottom on our website and also wherever we do the podcast posts. So, Carl, thank you for being here. Incredible information. I wish we had more time together, but we're getting close to the end of the time. So anything else you want to leave our listeners with before we wrap it up?
- [40:18]
A
Oh, gosh. I just appreciate being here with you, Kevin. One of my favorite things to do is be a guest on podcast. It's so much work to run a podcast, and I love the opportunity to meet new people, to engage with a new community, and to provide value to a group that I might not ever have a chance to provide value to. So thank you for your questions and thank you for having me.
- [40:43]
B
Well, thanks for being here. I know you're busy and we'll see you next time.
- [40:46]
A
Yeah.