January 05, 2022

Breaking In and Taking Off (ft. Ryan Estis)

26 minutes

Breaking In and Taking Off (ft. Ryan Estis)

Leading expert and our first guest Ryan Estis talks breaking into speaking, missteps to avoid, and how to find success (and meaning) in this business

OPENING QUOTE:

“I remember when I got the call and the offer. I was in California, and I pulled the car off to the side of the road. My heart was pounding, because I knew. I knew if I delivered and I could measure up to that moment, then that said something.”

-Ryan Estis

GUEST BIO:

Ryan Estis is one of the top sales and leadership speakers in the world. In less than a decade, Ryan built his speaking business to over $2 million in annual revenue, performing on some of the biggest stages in the world. He prepares some of the world’s leading companies to embrace change and achieve breakthrough performances again and again.

Links

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[5:31] - When to Jump

And whether to bring a parachute

People entering the speaking business often wonder when is the right time to go all-in. In Ryan’s case, he had some connections, successes, and a certain level of financial security in his corner before he fully committed to the speaking path. That decision is personal, and depends largely on your individual circumstances. Don’t let someone else’s path dictate your own decisions.

[8:27] - The Discipline of Preparation

Achievement in public comes from work done in private

When asked what advice Ryan has for speakers preparing for high-stakes engagements, he goes straight to preparation. Great talks don’t come from flashes of inspiration, but from repetition, rehearsal, refining, training, and listening to mentors and coaches. What you do when you’re alone in a room will directly benefit what you do onstage in front of hundreds.

[12:22] - What’s Next in Speaking

The future of an evolving business

Ryan predicts that the coming years will be the best possible moment to be in the expertise business. He also believes that when live events fully come back, they’ll come back in a big way and provide more opportunities than ever. Finally, he shares that more and more organizations are recognizing the need for guidance and outside expertise, providing even more opportunities for expanding the role of ‘speaker’ to the more broadly applicable ‘expert.’

[17:26] - Skipping the Missteps

Ryan lists common career mistakes to avoid

First, don’t think that writing a book or having great stage presence is enough to build a career. You need the strategy, team, and day-in-day-out work to make it happen.

Second, never be afraid to reinvent yourself. The world is constantly changing, and the experts who change their style along with it (without giving up their identity) are the ones that find lasting success.

[20:33] - An Act of Service

It’s not about who’s onstage

Ryan closes out this week’s episode with a powerful message about the role of a speaker. Calling speaking ‘a beautiful act of service,’ he recalls how his early benchmarks for his success were whether he got an ovation or great crowd response. Today, he focuses on whether he was able to make a positive impact in anyone’s life. Without that, speaking is just performing entertainment.

RESOURCES:

[4:06] National Speakers Association
[7:21] SHRM
[8:10] Daniel Pin

Follow Ryan Estis:

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Follow Josh Linkner:

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ABOUT MIC DROP:

Brought to you by eSpeakers, hear from the world’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing tipping point moments, strategies, and approaches that led to their speaking career success. Throughout each episode, host Josh Linkner, #1 Innovation keynote speaker in the world, deconstructs guests’ Mic Drop moments and provides tactical tools and takeaways that can be applied to any speaking business, no matter it’s starting point. You'll enjoy hearing from some of the top keynote speakers in the industry including: Ryan Estis, Alison Levine, Peter Sheahan, Seth Mattison, Cassandra Worthy, and many more. Mic Drop is produced and presented by eSpeakers; sponsored by 3 Ring Circus.

Learn more at: MicDropPodcast.com

ABOUT THE HOST:

Josh Linkner is a Creative Troublemaker. He believes passionately that all human beings have incredible creative capacity, and he’s on a mission to unlock inventive thinking and creative problem solving to help leaders, individuals, and communities soar.

Josh has been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of over $200 million and is the author of four books including the New York Times Bestsellers, Disciplined Dreaming and The Road to Reinvention. He has invested in and/or mentored over 100 startups and is the Founding Partner of Detroit Venture Partners.

Today, Josh serves as Chairman and Co-founder of Platypus Labs, an innovation research, training, and consulting firm. He has twice been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.

Josh is also a passionate Detroiter, the father of four, is a professional-level jazz guitarist, and has a slightly odd obsession with greasy pizza.

Learn more about Josh: JoshLinkner.com

ABOUT eSPEAKERS:

When the perfect speaker is in front of the right audience, a kind of magic happens where organizations and individuals improve in substantial, long-term ways. eSpeakers exists to make this happen more often.

eSpeakers is where the speaking industry does business on the web. Speakers, speaker managers, associations, and bureaus use our tools to organize, promote and grow successful businesses. Event organizers think of eSpeakers first when they want to hire speakers for their meetings or events.

The eSpeakers Marketplace technology lets us and our partner directories help meeting professionals all over the world connect directly with speakers for great engagements.

Thousands of successful speakers, trainers, and coaches use eSpeakers to build their businesses and manage their calendars. Thousands of event organizers use our directories every day to find and hire speakers. Our tools are built for speakers, by speakers, to do things that only purpose-built systems can.

Learn more at: eSpeakers.com