Talk Speaker to Me

"A lot of speakers think that if I have this many followers or if I grow my social media presence, then that's really going to be what leads to more book gigs and more revenue, which is absolutely not the case."

We talk a lot about what you should do to market yourself as a speaker, but what is the biggest mistake you might be making right now? This week, TSL Director of Marketing Chris Seo is on the podcast to share the single biggest thing speakers do wrong when it comes to marketing. 

In just 3 minutes, Chris covers:

• Why marketing and sales are different — and which one you should focus on
• How to stay focused on what drives revenue and booked gigs
• What things you should spend time on — and what you shouldn't

"There are a lot of KPI's that make you feel good, but at the end of the day might not actually drive revenue, which is what all businesses should care about most."

Ready to learn what really matters in marketing? Let's talk marketing mistakes!

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"Sales is not about being some guru, knowing some magic phrase, or having this natural born sales gene that doesn't really exist. It's about having a good process and following that consistently."

Whether you're a brand new speaker or you've been speaking for a while, mastering the art of sales is often one of the challenges speakers face in taking things to the next level. This week, TSL Director of Sales Sam Hill is bringing you some simple, practical advice on how to build confidence in selling your value to every event organizer and potential client you interact with.

In just under 4 minutes, Sam covers:

• Why you have to have a process to be successful
• The importance of prioritizing prospecting and outreach
• Why you need to be "best in class" at giving away value
• And more!

"I want you to remember that you cannot give away too much value."

Ready to level up your sales game? Let's talk selling confidently!

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"The first thing is that you've got to treat it like a business from the get go. You can't be coming in and using your personal bank accounts and not setting up a business and not keeping records."

If you're just starting out as a speaker, it's really important to get the basics right. One of those fundamentals is the financial structure of your business — and remember, you're starting a speaking business, not a speaking hobby. This week on Talk Speaker To Me, TSL CFO Andrew Davis is here to share some practical advice on financial preparation for starting your new business.

In under 4 minutes, Andrew covers:

• Key financial steps to take when starting your business
• How to set up a bookkeeping system
• Why data is valuable for new business owners
• And more!

"Over time, you're going to start to get the benefit of data... where you can start to set goals for the following years and really tie everything together in your business so that this isn't a hobby, because you're out to make this a business."

Ready to roll? Let's talk financial preparation for your speaking business!

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This week on Talk Speaker To Me, Conrad Close, our Content Marketing Manager, will take the mic to teach us about what speakers should be pursuing in their marketing. 

'If you want to grow your speaking business, you need to master the three main areas of marketing.'"

In this episode, Conrad covers: 

• Why do you need a strong personal brand? 
• How should you use social media as a speaker? 
• What is SEO, and how do you win? 

"If you don't have a clear vision and you don't have a clear why, and you don't have a clear understanding of the value that you bring, your marketing will not work." 

Ready? Let's talk marketing for speakers!

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This week on Talk Speaker To Me, Katie Campbell, our Lead Concierge, discusses how speakers can build confidence to be the experts in the room. 

Often, we get anxious about getting on stage when we're early in our speaking career. In this episode, Katie covers how to build confidence as a speaker. 

"How do you get comfortable being known as the expert? This can feel very foreign at first as you're taking the stage."

In this episode, Katie covers: 

• The importance of mindset in your speaking
• Why you need confidence as a speaker 
• Practical ways to boost confidence

"Your story, what you bring to the stage, is completely different than somebody else's. Even in that same niche, an audience member is going to have a very different experience with you as they are with somebody else, because they're not you. They haven't walked your life. They haven't experienced what you have. They haven't learned what you have. Really owning and taking initiative to not compare in a negative way."

Ready? Let's talk confidence! 

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Here at The Speaker Lab, we talk a lot about how to get on stage — but what do you do once you're up there? This week, Lead Coach Rick Clemons is walking through how to master stagecraft as a speaker.

You'll learn: 

• Why stagecraft matters
• How to audit your current stagecraft
• How to get better at stagecraft
• How to overcome common stagecraft challenges
• And much more!

"Every opportunity you have to be on stage is an opportunity to present and perform."

Ready to master the stage? Rick, take it away!

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This week, we're digging into positioning yourself as a speaker with Michelle Onuorah! Michelle is a speaker coach here at The Speaker Lab and also a speaker, podcaster, and workshop leader with her own business.

"Your eps is what is going to be your north star. That will help you determine what gigs to take, what opportunities to take advantage of, what type of talks to offer, and also what type of messaging you want to put on your website and all of your branding assets."

During this episode, you'll learn: 

• Why you need an EPS as a speaker
• What makes a good one
• How to ensure your EPS aligns with your audience

"And finally, the advice that I have for speakers crafting their expert positioning statement for the first time to make sure that it's in alignment with their audience. Talk to your audience. Talk to the types of people who are going to be in your audience and find out from them what are their pain points, what are the things that they're struggling with? What are the solutions that they're looking for? What type of transformation do they want to see happen in their lives?"

Ready to get into? Let's talk positioning statements with Michelle!

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If you want to be a successful speaker, it's pretty hard to do it alone. Thankfully, there are thousands of other speakers out there who are navigating the same challenges, problems, and wins as you are in your speaking business.

This week, Emily Arnold is here to talk about the best way to find community as a speaker. Emily is our community manager here at the Speaker Lab, which means she’s got a front-row seat to the speaker community and the importance of community as a speaker.

"Enjoying community is basically my favorite part about being a human on this earth."

In this episode of Talk Speaker To Me, you'll learn:

• Why community matters
• How to find community as a speaker
• The importance of ongoing investment in your community

"What's one thing you can do intentionally to cultivate community in your life as a speaker?"

Ready to learn more? Let’s Talk community with Emily.

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 "Listen, if you want to make more money, workshops are one of the most profitable ways to do it."

In this episode, TSL facilitator and master speaker Erick Rheam walks you through how he uses workshops to build and scale his speaking business.

Check out this episode to learn: 

• The 5 steps to launching a workshop offering
• Why workshops help you scale your income and your business
• How to get support as you pursue workshop offerings

 "The main thing is as speakers, when you're sitting down with an event planner or decision maker and having a conversation, find out what their problem is, what gap you can fill with your content, and then fill it."

Ready to learn a thing or two about using workshops to grow your business? Let's go!

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Katherine Johnson is here this week to talk about developing executive presence as a speaker! Katherine is a speaker and a coach here at The Speaker Lab who works with students to help them build confidence, conquer impostor syndrome, and develop strong communication skills with their audiences.

"Executive presence is all about perception, right? It is the constellation of cues that people use to create judgments about important things, like our credibility, our trustworthiness, and likability."

In this episode of Talk Speaker To Me, Katherine covers:

• Why should speakers develop executive presence? 
• How can speakers develop it? 
• What changes when you embody executive presence in your speaking business?

"Your energy is one of the things that people are picking up on, and we know that confidence is contagious. So what does confident energy look like to you? Look at nonverbal communications. Look at the way you walk onto a stage. How do you sound? Where does your voice go when you're confident? You've got to understand how this gets communicated and broadcast around several different touch points."

Ready to learn more? Let's talk executive presence with Katherine!

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