One major pain point for speakers and consultants is putting a real dollar value on their services. Businesses and business owners often want us to justify our fees so they, in turn, can justify paying them. The best way to approach this is to think about their problems in terms of time – their time – and use the Value Calculation to give them a concrete number of what it will cost NOT to solve the problem.

Every year of our lives brings with it the opportunity to grow and change, often in small doses at a time. But when you take a moment and look at all of them together, you get a stunning insight on how those small lessons add up to something much bigger and more meaningful. Today, Michael discusses some of the small lessons he learned this year and why they mattered to him.

Speakers and consultants can both use the framework at different points in the customer journey as a way to focus on solving the problem and producing the outcome in the form of a transformation…it ties the ask, listen, learn, and serve mantra into the process and you become a servant to the client whoever they are. And that's how the 3D Framework will take you to the next level in your speaking and consulting.

The challenge is that some people don't realize transformation is possible. Our work is to push them in a way that opens their eyes to the possibilities. People won't act until they are motivated to do so, when they can see the outcome. To do that, you Design, Develop, and Deliver.

But there’s a downside to isolation that limits our impact…spending too much time in our own heads can lead to overthinking and ultimately to misunderstanding the very people we seek to serve.   The simple truth is that working on our own will never reveal what we most need to know about those we seek to attract—the words they use in their minds to describe the way they feel, the pain they are experiencing, the outcome they wish they had.   The good news is that there is an easy process for solving this problem. A way to gain insight into the way your audience sees their world. A way to position yourself as one who can help them overcome the challenges they are facing.   I call it The Ask. Listen. Learn. Serve. Mantra.   This week’s episode of Get Your Message Heard reveals how you can use it to engage with your target audience and define your path to impact. 

In honor of the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the US, this week’s episode is about gratitude and giving thanks.

Too often we put the bar to high before we make the time to express our thanks and gratitude. Instead of capturing the moment and just letting others know how grateful we are, we look for a way to make a bigger splash in expressing our appreciation.

The result: Often it never happens because we put an obstacle in our way. Or, worse yet, we completely forget to acknowledge the little things—yeah, the ones that really matter and over time accumulate to create significant impact.

Why not make it a habit to capture the moments and acknowledge them? Why not make it a part of who you are to look for the ways that people help and serve others, then recognize them for their efforts.

If you’re a regular listener, then you know that each episode of this podcast challenges you to reach out to someone and express your gratitude for the way they have impacted your life. With Thanksgiving upon us, why not commit to doing that more often and making it part of your everyday practice?

Most of us who lead expertise-based businesses work alone. We focus our effort in a specific topic area. We serve a specific type of client or market niche. We solve a specific problem for those we serve.   As our relationships with the clients we serve grow strong we become trusted advisors—people they turn to for help on a regular basis. But often the solutions to those other problems are not within our core areas of expertise and experience.   Though it’s tempting to want to step up, learn what is necessary, and deliver an intervention that solves the problem, that is seldom the best path. You run the risk of compromising your relationship, and if you’re really honest with yourself you know someone else could solve it better.   So what do you do? Develop a strategic partnership to bring someone in who is an expert in that area by creating a strategic partnership (aka strategic alliance) for the project.   This episode of the Get Your Message Heard podcast explores the idea of strategic partnerships/alliances and offers ideas on how to make them work, and why you might not want to consider them.

If you’re anything like me you love to create content. It’s a path to sharing your insights with others, and sometimes it’s the easiest way to clarify and focus your thinking on a topic.

But you know what?

There comes a time when you need to stop creating more content and leverage what you have created. To look at those files and piles of documents created from your ideas and look for a way to share them so you can create more impact for the audience you serve.

For most of us the very idea of pulling back on creation is frightening. We’ve become very good at creating new stuff, we enjoy it, and everybody knows it’s what we need to do to build our platforms. The idea of shifting our energy to refining and repurposing feels uncomfortable, and to some of us downright boring.

Yet only through doing that will you be able to create your most significant impact. Because stepping back and examining what you’ve created is the key to defining a strategic path for your work moving forward—a path where you define your core framework and start using it to connect with and serve your audience.

The truth is that if you’ve been creating for any length of time there are common themes that run through everything you do. Things that you always weave in, whether consciously or not. Your go to stories, your key insights and most shared recommendations.

Those things form your core framework, and they are the message that you most need to share; and frankly the one you can’t help but share because it comes from deep within you.

I was reminded of this in a recent conversation with a new connection who asked me lots of questions, listened to my answers, learned about my purpose and my process, then served me by saying: “You need to stop creating new stuff, you already have enough content. You’re just not leveraging it.”

My initial reaction was to pushback with a firm “No, I can’t do that.” But after a bit of thought and some introspection, as well as a timely nudge from one of those ideas that crossed my path at just the right moment (thank you Larry Winget), I acknowledged the truth in the statement.

That’s the moment I realized that my core framework is something I have used since I was a kid in 4-H completing projects and learning about new things…projects that taught me the power of what I now recognize as my core framework for everything I’ve ever done and for the work I do today with those I serve:

Step One: Define the outcome

Step Two: Develop the Path

Step Three: Deliver the Message

It is the path to impact that I always share in one form or another in the work I do from the stage, in one-on-one coaching sessions, and in consulting engagements with clients. And acknowledging that is going to help me become much more intentional about leveraging it to create more impact and be more strategic in the way I approach content creation and sharing.

Action Recommendation: Mine your content to discover your core framework so you can become more focused and create more impact in your content creation and sharing.

Podcast Download: In this podcast episode I referenced a process for tracking your time to gain a better understanding of where you are focusing your effort and energy. Download the worksheets I referenced here so you can easily examine the way you're investing your time each day.

For those of us in the expert space (speakers, coaches, consultants, writers, and content creators) is that it's very easy to get distracted by a new idea. We see a path we can take and it captures out attention--often taking our focus off of what we were already working on that is not yet complete.   We know we can do it, and we want to recapture the energy that comes with a new project. And frankly what we are working on is not panning out as we planned, so why not refocus our effort and energy?   In today's podcast I share some thoughts on this topic--something I understand all too well and struggle with more than you know.   My bottom line on the subject is this: There is value in Following One Course Until Success (i.e., FOCUS), even if the success is that you learn it won't work. Where most of us go wrong is that we give up too soon, before we've even shared our work with enough (of the right) people to know if it connects or not.   My advice, and my decision in the case I discuss on the podcast, is to commit to FOCUS on the most important project you're working on...the one that will create the most impact. Fight the tendency to jump to the next thing until you've shipped it and received feedback from people in the audience for whom it is intended.   Make sure to check out the Navigating North Summit:   navigatingnorthsummit.com Have A Question? I'd Love to Answer.

Simply email [email protected] and your question will be answered on a future episode of the podcast. I will also send you a free copy of my book, Public Speaker Secrets.

Download Your Copy of the 3-Step Roadmap to Start, Run, and Grow Your Speaking Business

This free guide contains my best strategies to help you start, run, and grow a speaking business from scratch.

Download it today and you'll access to time-tested tactics that I've used to help hundreds of coaches, consultants, and professional speakers create impact with their ideas and get their message heard.

To get your copy, just Text HUDSON to the number 33444.

 

The last few weeks of the year always challenges me. Usually there are a number of projects and action items remaining on my list, and I am never quite sure whether to focus my energy on doing them.   The truth is that in the past I never asked that question. I just pushed through and made sure all of the goals and objectives I had set earlier in the year were completed--ever box had to be checked off!   But you know what I learned?   Doing that doesn't serve me, my business, or my clients well. In fact, it takes my attention off of what matters most at this time of the year ... setting the stage for a quick start in the New Year.   That's why a few years ago I started subjecting my action list to this question every October: If I wasn't already doing this, would I begin?   When I ask that question (and answer honestly) I realize that some of the things I thought mattered early in the year are no longer relevant. So I started taking action to remove them from the list.   What did I gain?   Margin.   The margin I needed to map my plans for Q1 of New Year. That set me up for more impact with less stress, and has enabled me to achieve more in the coming year.   And you know what...most of those items I took off the list were never missed.   So what's the secret?   Getting clear on where you want to be at the end of next year and committing to make it happen. It starts with your destination story...an idea I share in today's podcast that I encourage you to pursue. Have A Question? I'd Love to Answer.

Simply email [email protected] and your question will be answered on a future episode of the podcast. I will also send you a free copy of my book, Public Speaker Secrets.

Download Your Copy of the 3-Step Roadmap to Start, Run, and Grow Your Speaking Business

This free guide contains my best strategies to help you start, run, and grow a speaking business from scratch.

Download it today and you'll access to time-tested tactics that I've used to help hundreds of coaches, consultants, and professional speakers create impact with their ideas and get their message heard.

To get your copy, just Text HUDSON to the number 33444.