Ep 55: Speak with Confidence & Profit with Suzanne Peters

This transcript was auto-generated and may contain errors in spelling or inaccuracies in the spoken words.

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today I'm being joined by Suzanne Peters. So Suzanne is in personal development and entrepreneurship, and she's actually known for being the founder of the Speaker Business Club. This is where she helps women to build profitable speaking businesses. And this is going to be the main topic about what we're talking about today. But Suzanne is also very passionate about

really empowering women. an award winning speaker. She's a best selling author, a business strategist, and she specializes in helping women to take their stories and turn those into thriving businesses. And I gotta say, as someone who's operating a podcast here, I often get people contacting me and saying, I have this amazing story, but I'll admit they're not always packaging it in the best possible way. And Suzanne is an expert who can help you with exactly that.

but she's also the visionary behind the Woman to Woman Network, which is a global platform that's dedicated to helping women to achieve more in life and in success. So Suzanne, thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. I am so excited to be here. I can't wait to dive into this because I have to say almost every time I speak, I have someone come up to me at some point afterwards, even like so much as at my dad's celebration of life last year,

One of my brother's friends came up afterwards and said, how exactly do you do that? The whole like getting up in front of people and speaking. I basically tell them all the same thing. I wasn't born with that gene that's supposed to make you scared of speaking in front of people. I have been at events where I've been literally handed a microphone because they don't have an emcee or someone to introduce someone like, hey, can you do it? they just pop a microphone in my hand like, yeah, no problem. I got this. But I know that that's not the norm either. Like not everyone feels that

you know, draw to the microphone in such a natural way. And at the same time, I know so many entrepreneurs that recognize that this is a great platform, a great way to get them, you know, podcast interviews, get them up on stage. There's speaking is such a powerful part of any entrepreneurs marketing strategy, never mind being able to build a natural business around that. So, you know, most people I think are just honored to be asked to speak in the first place.

So I want to dive into, let's start first of all with the kind of elephant in the room. If someone's saying like, listen, I know that speaking would help to get me more business, but I am terrified at the thought of it. What's your advice for them for first getting started? What's a nice way for them to kind of ease into the whole speaking gigs? Well, first of all, let me just add to what you said there. Whenever a microphone is handed to me, I get excited. I'm like, you sure you want to give this to me?

I hear ya. The simplest advice I can give to people out there is to understand there's absolutely nothing to be afraid about. We have this idea where people still don't understand how people do this. They look at speaking as being something they need to be afraid of. Whereas when you look at an audience, you're supposed to look at a room full of your friends, your closest friends.

who you have an opportunity to now speak with and share with and laugh and have fun with. So when you start to look at it like that, like, hey, I get to chat with my girlfriends or I get to share a joke, or I get to make them laugh, or I get to connect with them today, or I get to share my story. When you look at it from that standpoint, honestly, all the fear goes away because if you think about it,

If you are handed a mic in a room full of your family and friends, you won't be afraid. Exactly. If you had the mic and you say, Shauna come tell us about your experience here. Tell us about this trip you went on. You are excited to share that. So once you get out of your own way and you start to look at it as in, Hey, I get to do this. This is fun. Honestly, it just, the fear just goes away.

Well, and one thing that I like about what you said there was you were saying, you know, if I were to get up in front of people and share about, say, a trip that I went on or something that I've experienced myself, it's so easy to speak about it. And I think this is also something that people forget about is how often is someone being asked to speak about something they know nothing about? You're talking about things you know. Like this is I don't mean to say that I don't mean to downplay or make it sound like it's super easy because I understand, you know, getting those little butterflies in the stomach.

And I remember a friend of mine years ago, she does some speaking as well. And she said that she likes to tell herself when she gets those butterflies that that is excitement. So instead of saying that it's anxiety or that she's got nerves or anything like that, when she feels a butterfly, she's like, I'm clearly excited. it's funny though how having that conversation with yourself can really calm you down. And it works for a lot of people. And I like what you're saying of, this is just people that.

They're excited to have you up there. They're excited to hear from you. So what is there to actually be nervous about? I like your friend. That took me back to the first time I really looked at speaking that way. I literally stood at the side of the stage.

to and I was put on this spot. So I was handed the mic and I'm like, okay, I don't know these people. Does anyone here even know, you know what I did? I stood at the side of that stage while my body was being read and I was being introduced and I was literally jumping up and down. You know how those boxes jump up and down before they go to drink? That was me because I had to hype myself up. I'm like, you're not nervous. You don't get nervous. You can.

So this is you being excited. Forget everybody. Show them how excited you are. And I was just jumping up and down like having fun. Amazing. know, mean, Tony Robbins is probably one of the most renowned speakers and he talks about the state that you show up in for anything that you do. And he's someone who like, yeah, he does his whole routine to hype himself up before he gets on stage every single time, because you want to bring your energy to the stage.

So I love what you're saying though about getting excited about it and just sort of reframing it in your mind. And I love how you're jumping up and down because that physical movement as well helps to bring the energy. So that's amazing. So like I said before, so we know a lot of entrepreneurs, they're often like really just honored to be asked to speak for something. So they tend to view it as another marketing channel, but they don't necessarily look at making.

money off of speaking itself and turning that into an actual business. So how would you help women to transition from being, you know, speaking to get clients to actually like building a profitable speaking business? Well, first I would advise them to work on the speaking to sell part of things, Fizz, because anyone can speak for free. Sure. Anyone can do that.

Also, anyone can also get paid to come and speak. And in some cases, when you get paid to come and give a talk, you're not able to sell or promote your business or anything like that. But when, when you get into speaking to sell, that is when everything changes. So what I have done over her, I have lost from coming times I've done this, but what I've done over the years,

is I have taken free speaking opportunities. would pitch myself to speak at places, at events, at companies for free. But while I am doing that, I would incorporate my products and services, what I actually teach, and I would speak to sell. So that free speaking opportunity that I just got, I'm gonna leave that event with actual clients that are willing to hear me for my services.

So I would suggest the master speaking to sell based because speaking is one of the top ways to grow your business. But even if you don't have a business, you can literally get on a stage, speak, share your story, share your knowledge and invite people to work with you. And you will be amazed how that can literally be the foundation of a brand new business.

And I think that is really important to note because if you're being asked to speak for free but are not being given the opportunity to promote your products and your brand, what is the value for you? And I talk about this all the time, like I am super altruistic and I love to say that everything that I do is simply because I love doing it. And I don't do things that I don't love to do, but I do need to make money at the things that I love to do. And so.

You know, I'm very careful about, of course, not overstepping on any sort of guidelines or parameters that are put into place. But I know that I've been able to negotiate things like cross media sponsorship of some sort, or maybe you get a booth or like I know one speaker that I've talked with a lot, he always asked for a booth to be able to sell his books. And so he's not trying to sell some big high ticket programs so much as he's just trying to sell his book. All he asked for is can I just promote my book?

And if he can sell his book, he can potentially sell an actual client as well, book an actual client. Yeah. So I think that's really important. What you're saying is that, you you've got to turn those free speaking gigs into paid ones. Now, I know we could probably talk about this for hours because I think that one of the biggest challenges for people is, how do I sell when I'm speaking? And they're thinking of it probably as like giving some hard pitch in

you know, what do you suggest? How do you sell from stage? Well, keep it simple. Remember everything you do because the fact of the matter is most new speakers, they don't have a book, they don't have a course, they don't have a signature program or anything like that. They just found something they love to do. They found something they love to speak about, they're passionate about. And once you give them an opportunity to speak about that, they're gonna do it.

But when it comes to speaking to sell and selling from the stage, all you want to do is keep it simple. Now that can look like as simple as inviting people. I'm going to start at basic. Okay. That can look at as simple as inviting people to download your freebie online. So you be talking on stage and you might say, and you know what? I do have a gift for everyone here today. Go to my website right now. And in fact, I have a gift for you all today. Is it okay if I share my gift?

Go to my website right now, go to speakforincomeandimpact.com where I'm hosting a free training. And I'm going to show you just how you can do this to build or grow your own speaking business. Look how simple that was. All I did was share. now when that person goes there and they sign up for either your free download or your free training, what you are going to offer them through that is an upsell. So automatically you already know that you are going to get some clients there.

One thing I like to do, like if you have a book, this is a trick I have done. I've done it a few times and it always works So for those of you who have books, you can do this trick. Show up with an event, like literally go up on stage with a handful of your books in your hand. Literally. Okay. A handful of your books in your hand, but not too much. Maybe four or five, not too much. Right. And you are letting them know, all right, while you are speaking,

I have a book that documents, that lays out my step-by-step plan, incorporates everything I'm sharing with you here today. Now you can get this book and you are sending them to your website that they can purchase this book. But what you are telling them is the first 10 people, depending on how many books you have, the first 10 people to go on my website and purchase my book now.

All you have to do is show me your receipts and I will give it to you right away. You don't even, we have to wait for it to be delivered. You would be amazed how many people would go on your website and purchase your book. Now, naturally you may not necessarily have all the books there unless you have a table set up or something. It's a great way to get a lot of book sales and just a side note, even though books is an entirely different topics.

Right. Make sure that inside your book, doesn't just share information. It has your websites, maybe QR codes, ads about your businesses so people can easily get more involved with you and learn from you. Now coming back to speaking to sell. You realize I'm enjoying this, right? This is great. yeah. No, keep going. Yes. Coming back to speaking to sell. It can be as simple as extending an invitation.

an invitation, whether it's at a special price or you have a code. I have given a code on stage before for my $200 coaching program. And I would simply say, you know what? I have a special gift I would like to give to everyone here in the audience. I have a code. This code is select 100. And if you go to my website now, maybe your program is 500, 600, a thousand, really doesn't matter. As long as you offer someone

something that they can get a huge discount or they think they are getting a huge discount they saving and the benefits they get way outweigh what they are spending, they are going to go ahead and support you. Or you can do it the easier way because remember I said keep it simple. Listen, it has been a pleasure to share with you all here today but what I would love to do is extend an invitation for those of you in the audience who would like to learn more from me and have an opportunity to work with me.

Go to my website right now. I do have a few of slots open. You can go and schedule a call with me right now and we can get something going for you. Or you invite them to sign up for your program right here. But the point is, keep it simple. There are many different techniques, many different ways you can sell from this stage. But the main thing is to keep it simple. And remember that the people in the room.

They are there because they look up to you. They admire you. From the time you have that mic in your hand, you are automatically an influence in the room. So by simply keeping it simple and inviting them to whatever that next step is that you want them to take with you, that's literally all you have to do. Don't overthink it. Don't try to be fancy. Don't try to trick anyone. Do not lie. Do not pretend. Just be yourself and extend an invitation.

That's as simple as I can put it. And I love one of things that you said there is as soon as you get that microphone, the audience is already viewing you as that influencer, as an expert. Like, I think we often think, well, there's an uphill battle. I've got to convince them that I deserve to be on this stage. Why? You don't have to convince it. Like, as soon as you're up there, they're already convinced that you are meant to be up there. And so.

Really, your next step is simply to give them that opportunity. That is valuable to them. That is a gift to them, to give them the opportunity to be able to explore your services further and be able to work with you further. And I love what you're saying about keeping it simple. I know I've used QR codes from stage. Those are super easy to throw a QR code up onto a screen. And those have become much more popular in recent years, which is fantastic because I

I thought when they first came out like over a decade ago, these things were going to be like the best thing ever and nobody caught on to them. And so I'm so grateful to finally see QR codes are getting their moment. But so that's a great way of doing it, just throwing that up on a slide. But if you are giving out a website, I cannot stress this enough. Do not give a website that has all sorts of backslashes, numbers, hyphens, dashes, all the different things to your point. Keep it as simple as possible. There is nothing worse than trying to give out

a website and it's got all sorts of stuff in it. Like don't get me wrong, a lot of my stuff is on AboutShaunaLynn.com and then it's a forward slash something or other, but I'm not usually putting forward slash something or other underscore dash one, two, three question mark. You know what I mean? Like it's not, no, it's like forward slash CEO or something like that. You know, like something nice and simple that everybody knows.

And try to avoid, if you're doing any sort of website, forward slash whatever, avoid the word entrepreneur in there. It is a pain in the butt to spell and nobody spells it correctly, including myself. You made me think about myself there just now. Really? Do you have entrepreneur in your website? No. Good. I have spelled that word wrong so many times. So many people do.

Every time I try to do the hashtag, I miss an R or an E somewhere. Yeah. So try not to put that in your in your website if you can avoid it. OK, so going back to the speaking, though, you know, I think people let's say people are trying to figure out, like, what is it that I'm going to speak about? And like I said, I get as a podcast host, I get so many applications from people who have a story, but they don't know how to turn that story into an actual

topic that is interesting. So I have definitely had some guests on where I've worked with them a little bit to create the topic because I can see like there is power in this story. Here's what I see how it's going to help other people. But I think that's one of the biggest things is if you have that story, you know, you have a story to tell, you know that you want to share it. You've gone through something incredible, whether it was traumatic or exciting or anything in between there. And you want to share that with the rest of the world.

But then the challenge is sometimes getting over that hump of like, instead of saying, when I was 16, I did this thing and this is what happened to me next. And you're basically telling a story that no one wants to hear. So instead, we need to make sure that that is a story that's actually landing with people. How does someone take their personal story and turn it into something that people actually want to hear? That's a really good question. Thank you for asking that. And first, let me just say, I really do have a

free training that I do every month. And you can register for that training at speakforincomeandimpact.com that's www.speakforincomeandimpact.com. And in this free training, this is one of the things I cover because what I realize is many aspiring speakers, even coaches, they have a hard time clarifying their message. Yes, we have a story. We've been through this. We've been through that. But when you look at it,

We have had so many different experiences over the years. So we have a number of different stories. And what I've found is people would start talking about one story, then they will go on another story and they'll go on another story. And in their mind, this is my story because all these things actually happened to me. But in reality, these are all different stories related to one person. Now, at the end of the day, I believe we all have a signature story.

And what is your signature story? In the simplest terms, your signature story is the story that, the experience that has had the biggest impact in your life. It's the one that has caused you to make the biggest transformation, so to speak, right? So that story, we all have a signature story. The other stories, you're still gonna use them. You're still gonna have an opportunity to share them, but they're more like a supporting story, right? Right, like an anecdote.

Exactly. Focus on your signature story. Now what you need to do with this story that you want to share. Now you don't want to go on stage and you don't want to be well, I grew up here and then this and then that and then and then and then no, you want to get absolutely clear on what is the message you want to share from that story.

What do you want people to feel when they're listening to your story? What do want them to do after they hear your story? What do you want the outcome to be for people who hear your story? Why do you even want to hear your story? So you want to take some time out and clarify your message first, because once your message is clear, everything else would come easier to you. You wouldn't be wondering, okay, what should I say? What should I not say?

which means if you're clarifying your message, there are certain parts of your story that you are absolutely going to share, but there are also parts that you're not necessarily going to share because all they're going to do is take up time. In fact, let me give you an example of how short your story is supposed to be. Let's say you are giving a 10 minute talk. Your story should be three, four minutes for the most. Because what you are focusing on

is the meat stuff, the important stuff. Why do you take people on that journey with you? Because now you still have to have, you still have to be able to share with them and make sure they understand the reason, make sure they have takeaways, make sure they understand, listen, I didn't just share my story for the sake of sharing it. I shared with you because I want you to understand this. I want you to learn this and I want you to take this away and then give them a next step. Sometimes.

The best way to get people to do what you want them to do after hearing your story is to tell them, tell them what you want them to do. And I can guarantee you 90 % of the people that hear you speak, they would go do it, but you have to be the one to tell them. So make sure you take some time clarifying your story isn't always easy, but what can help is taking time to write it out. So love that. If you have, let's say you have.

three or four different stories that has you a bit confused. What you can simply do is write down each of these stories, not in detail, just maybe a two-liner of each so that you can identify them. And then select the one that has had, caused you to have the biggest transformation in your life. That is the story you are going with. Now, if you're still not sure how to tell that story or clarify it,

Sometimes it may require you to go deep in that story. So what you might have to actually do is write out that story. I've had clients write out their entire story and then come back and show them, okay, no, this is your story here, but you are incorporating this story and that story. This is the story. This is the story you need to focus on. But it's only because it took time to write out that story and go deep and remember some key points in that story.

that they were even able to put it together in the first place. Then what you do is you go through that story and you pick out the most important parts of that story. For instance, everyone don't need to know that

the door was closed unless it's a key part in your story. You can simply say, well, as I entered the apartment, well, the door was closed and I had to take my keys out and unlock. They don't need all of that. Right. It's so true. don't need to know all of that, but you can tell, them know you entered the apartment. Right. Yeah, I know it.

Yeah, and you know, as you're talking here, you know, I can't help but thinking about so many stories that I've heard over the years where they've just got so much extra detail and you don't want your audience thinking, what's the point of this? Why? Why are they telling me this? Instead, you want them engaged of like, what happened next? And you want like you're telling me, think of any story that that you hear about. What is the actual meat to it? And I know, you know, sometimes if I'm recounting a story just to a friend.

I'll get a little bit lost in the details and I'll even catch myself like, wait a minute. Hold on. That's not even important. I digress. Let's go on. You know, like, let's move on. You can't do that when you're on stage, though. You need to get to the point. And I love what you said about it. About what is the action you want them to take? What? Why does this matter to them? You're not telling your story for you. You are telling your story for them. You have gone through something that can help them. If you start with what the.

outcome is that you want for them, the action that you want them to take, the revelation or transformation that you want them to have and you work backwards from that, then what's the story that you need to be telling them to get them to take that action? There are definitely times where we need to add a little bit of extra context, a little bit of excitement. Sometimes there's a point to the story that it's just humor, that you've added it in there. It's not actually adding anything to it, but that's OK, you know, as long as you're keeping them entertained.

But I mean, I know I've read some books from some fabulous authors and I love all the authors out there and my book is coming one of these days. It's one of those types of books. But yeah, one of these days soon, you know, but I do find because I read so many books, I consume a lot of books and mostly audio books and I can't help but looking at a book if I get it and I download it and I'm like, oh, you're 12 hours. Are you OK? Let's see if you actually needed 12 hours to get your point across.

And there is something to be said for emphasis on different points. But to your point, like the actual story about you can take a few minutes. And then as you work through the actual lesson part of it, you can continue to weave parts of your own story or another case study or other things back into it to prove your point. But if you're just telling one big long story without actually giving them any sort of action or getting to the point, they are going to gloss over. They do need to get something out of it. Yeah.

could be, the takeaways could be, the more excited they would be to want to take that next step with you. Absolutely. Absolutely. you know, I always say people want to feel like they've learned something from you. It doesn't mean that you have to give them all the things. You know, it's I spent 15 years as a home stager. And so I would do a lot of different presentations at real estate offices. And I always gave the real estate agents some basic tips that would help them.

with speaking to their clients and understanding staging. And here's the other catch to this. So the tips that I would give them are not the ones you're finding on Google. They're not even the questions that they know to ask about staging. Answer the questions they don't even know that they have. That will give them those aha moments. But if you are saying something that they already know or that they can Google or that they can find 20 different books on in Audible, like give them something that only you

can give them that your story can give them. Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of female coaches. We're both female. We're both female entrepreneur coaches. We both work with women. Doesn't mean that our message is exactly the same. But if we're getting up there and we're basically saying the same thing, why would someone choose one of us over the other? Not that we're trying to compete to be clear here. But the whole point, though, is that you need to make sure that you're standing out. And that's with everything that you're doing. So one of the things I did in staging, for example,

People would often talk about when they think about home staging, they're thinking about decluttering, depersonalizing, take down your family photos, yada, yada, yada. We all know this. You don't need to be a professional stager to know that. You are not showing that you are an expert by telling people about that. So instead, I would talk about things like traffic flow patterns and how to identify the path someone's going to take through a room and what you need to ensure that that space looks like in order to make that flow.

I would talk about things like how why the doorway should be and how why the walkway should be. I would talk about why people can't visualize a vacant space. I would talk about why it matters whether or not your closets are full and give them the buyer psychology of what they are perceiving from these things. These are things nobody else is talking about and they don't even know they're not even asking the questions on Google because they don't even know they have those questions. Now when I'm teaching them something that no one else has talked about, they're like, well, she knows her stuff.

No, but no other stage or told me any of this stuff. So I'm not sure if the other stage or even knows that they should be doing this. So clearly I want to hire her. Right? Clearly. So I do the same thing with my business coach. I do my the same thing in my interior design. I do the same thing. I still train home stagers. And in all of those things, I'm making sure that I'm giving them something that no one else is telling them. And I think that's a big key to it. You have to be original. You will.

absolutely end up saying some of the same things that other people say. We all do. And those messages are still important, but you've got to make sure that you are setting yourself apart as well. And that's where your signature story comes in. Like you said, yeah. And it helps you to be authentic as well. So coming back to the point I made earlier, we keep it simple. had a client who was homeless in her signature story. She was homeless, but whenever she's sharing her story, she would say, well, I was,

I was out of place or I was out there and every time I would have to ask her what do you mean and then she would say something else that would just bring up another question in my mind. I'm like won't you hold homeless? She's like yeah but do I say of course yes. Keep it simple just tell it like it is so that people can connect with the real you they would understand you better and they would connect with you better.

So keep it simple, allow yourself to be vulnerable and just keep it real because people are gonna love that. I think you bring up a really good point. I I talk about brand messaging often. And when we talk about like your website copy, about your social media posts, a lot of times we try to put all these flowery big words in there, but they really, people really just wanna read natural English, conversational English, how you would actually speak.

It's the same thing when you're on stage. If you try to make it all flowery and sounding really good, people are tuning you out. But if you're just using words that are relatable and stories that are relatable and being your authentic self, they're going to relate that much more to that. They don't care if you screw up a word or I mean, my big thing is I love when I forget a word on stage. What's the word for that? What's the word for that? What's the word for that? I don't care. That's hilarious.

Like it's really not that big of a deal and eventually they'll be like okay this is not the right word but here's a simplified version of it. They actually prefer that I use a simplified version of those words sometimes so don't try to to sound bigger than you actually. Yeah. I don't want to say that you actually are. You probably do know all those really big words and you're really great at using them but if you're the only one in the room who does then everyone else is going to tune you out anyway. They are. They absolutely are.

I mean, love like it's one of reasons why I think I love doing this podcast is because we get to have these natural conversations. And so you and I are just sitting in my living room, having a cup of tea or something and just chatting. And that's the idea. I think when you're on stage like see perfect. That's the same thing when you're on stage, you want to just make it casual. Like, you these are all people like you. You said it from the very beginning. These are all your friends. They're all your friends in the audience who want to just hear from you. You're going to share a story with them. It's going to be really exciting.

They don't care how fancy you make it as long as the point lands. And that's really what matters. Yeah. That's what matters because most time we tend to complicate it in our own mind for no reason. But as soon as you keep it simple, be authentic and just get all day and have fun. What can possibly go wrong? Everyone is going to clap for you. Everyone is going to love you. And regardless of the story you tell, someone is going to come up to you and say, my gosh, that's my story.

There's always someone in the audience. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so just, we've got still got just a couple of minutes left here. And I want to kind of go back to, were talking about, were saying, you know, not everyone has a book, not everyone has a program. Not everyone has these things to sell, but if you are getting into speaking, there is something to be said for building onto that. So if someone's thinking, okay, you know, I've done a couple of speaking gigs and I've managed to get some clients.

booked onto some calls, at least, you know, that's that their call to action, so to speak, is just book a call with me. But they want to be able to maybe sell something else or maybe be a little less involved in those calls. Like, what's sort of their next step when they're starting to book these speaking gigs? Is it about trying to get paid for those actual speaking gigs? Is it or is it about like developing a program? Does it depend? Like, where do you normally take your clients with us? Well, it depends on the individual. That is the best way to answer that.

because I've been since me, have done a few speaking corporate speaking gigs, but it's not, it's not something I'm crazy about. like to get on a stage, sell my courses, invite people to work with me and my coaching program and take it from there. But then there are other people who are crazy about corporate speaking gigs. They just want to be able to pitch themselves to speak at other people events and get paid for that.

That's all they want to do. So it really depends on the individual. However, I would recommend that you learn both parts. So that way you can capitalize whether you get paid to speak and you cannot sell, or if you are doing your own events or at an event where you can sell from this stage. So I recommend you do both. And for those people who don't have anything to sell currently, but they know they have

the knowledge, the expertise that they can actually take people on the next step and give them what they need. Don't worry about it. Just put it out there. Like literally, I've done that before. I've that before. I've literally sat on a stage because of the room I was in, I realized, listen, I cannot just share this and just sell a book. That wouldn't work.

this program I have would not work for these people. So I created something there on this spot. I am so serious. I created something there on this spot and all I said, okay, so this is what you're gonna do. And I sent them to my website to make a down payment and I created this program. The way I was talking about it, you would have sworn that it was something I did so many times, but that is because I know my stuff. I know my stuff. I saw a need.

and I literally put something together in my head. didn't have a name for it at the time, but all I did was invited people to work with me. And this is something anyone can do. You can literally tell them because you already know yourself, you can literally say, now I know there are some of you in the audience that would like to work for me. Well, I have something special for you and you can extend that invitation. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. Remember that.

That is true whether you're speaking to someone one-on-one or whether you're speaking to a room full of people. So it all comes down to you. What direction do you see yourself going when you think about your vision as a speaker? Do you wanna be a corporate speaker? Do you wanna just build your coaching business private through speaking? Make that decision first and then decide, okay, which way do I want to go first? But I recommend that you learn to do both ways. That makes sense.

Yeah, and that definitely makes sense. And I know, you know, I've been invited to speak places where they didn't have the budget to be able to afford to have me come and speak. And sometimes I'll get a bit creative and try to barter a little bit and see, you know, how we might be able to work something out. But keep in mind that speaking, you're putting a lot of work into this. You're preparing that presentation. You're taking the time to actually go and present it to fine tune things behind the scenes.

not to mention if it's out of town, you're traveling there and there's expenses that are all associated with this. And I remember there was a time where, I'm not gonna say actual numbers, but there was a time where I thought a certain number was like, that's a really good amount of money to get paid. But then when I looked at the fact that in order to do that, I'd have to travel somewhere. I've got two travel days now, plus the day of the actual speaking. So there's three days that I'm not working essentially.

Yeah, it's great that I get to visit this city. I get to meet new people might get a couple of clients out of it, but depending on the circumstances of the situation, is it actually worth it for me? I was invited to speak recently at an event in Texas, so I'm on the East Coast in Canada and this was in Texas and I was asked to speak for an event. They wanted me to do two speaking speak like so speak twice to different presentations. Speak twice at this and.

they were going to pay me, I think it was $400 per presentation, and they would pay for all of my travel expenses. I'm like, okay, this isn't terrible. But as I started diving into it, the size of the audience was good, but the quality of the audience wasn't. I didn't feel like my chances of actually booking clients from this particular audience were high because I didn't feel like my people were in that audience.

So at the end of the day, I had to tell them, unless you are willing to pay my full speaker fee, unfortunately, I'm going to have to decline because there just wasn't enough that they could offer me. So sometimes you can barter with them and get them to offer you something that if it's getting you in front of the right people and then you can make those sales and it's worth it. But you've got to weigh those things out, though, too. I see so many people giving so much of their time and energy and money to speaking and saying, but I just love speaking. Guilty. Yeah.

I've done it. Been there. Done it. But if you're not actually getting paid for it, then it has to be something like maybe it's a signature talk that you've created that you can do 20 times a year, you know, inside and out. So takes next to no prep to be able to do it. It's local to you. And it's on a day where you don't have to reschedule anything else. OK, if those all align, go do it just for fun, just to help some people. No problem. But otherwise. Yeah, we're all in business, make money, right?

We are and a lot of people don't remember that. But coming back to what you said there, you negotiated. A lot of speakers don't even do that. If someone they wanted to work with tell them they can't afford the speaker fee, they're just like, okay. But I highly recommend, and you can even write this down, whoever's listening. You were seeking an opportunity to go speak at an event or a company.

and they tell you they are unable to pay your speakers fee, don't let that be the end. Simply tell them, well, I would hate for money to be the only reason we can't work together. So let them know that you are willing to negotiate. Open that line. And if they cannot come up with something, especially if you know that room that you're supposed to be in speaking has your ideal clients, you put an option out there.

Okay. So can you provide, maybe they can provide photography for you to get some professional photos to add to your, your portfolio, you know, put some ideas out there and think about what would do it for you. Maybe they can simply purchase your tickets for your hotel room, but are you willing to suggest things to them because they wouldn't automatically be like, okay, maybe that wouldn't be good enough for her. We just can't afford her. And they would be ready to go look for someone that they can go get for free.

But to avoid doing that, suggest something to them, let them know, listen, I'm really interested in working with your company. I don't want money to be the only reason we can't work together. Let's work something out. And like Shauna, be willing to negotiate because who knows what other doors that can open for you. You never know who could be in a room just waiting for you to come speak to them. Yeah, and sometimes it's actually so simple.

almost every one of these events has some sort of sponsorship that they have offered out to people. And if you can take a look at the sponsorship package that they created, that will give you some ideas about some things they might be able to offer you in return. It could be about putting your name on a table talk or on every table or printing your name on something or allowing you to attend a mix and mingle event that they have on registration day or something. Like you never know.

what opportunities are out there. But a lot of times they're telling you within their sponsorship package, the things that they can be doing to help to get you a better exposure to that audience. So there's always opportunities there. There's always things to be negotiated for sure. That's true. Love it. OK, so just remind us one more time. You said you've got this free course. What is the free course cover and where can they get it? It's a live coaching and they can get it on my website, speakforincomeandimpact.com.

www.speakforincomeandimpact.com It's a live training. do it every month. So if you miss it this month, that's no problem. Just check back in a couple of days time and you would see the registration page reopened. Perfect. I love it. Thank you so much. I cannot tell you how much I've enjoyed this whole conversation, Suzanne. Thank you so much for joining me today. I so appreciate it. was my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. And next time I'm going to have on my pink headphones also.

Perfect, we can be matching. Yes, I love it. So listen, if you are listening to today's podcast and what we're saying today is resonating with you, don't forget to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a review. And remember, the best way that you can show your support, not only for us, but for your fellow female entrepreneurs, is to share this episode with someone that you know can really benefit from it. So please don't keep us a secret, pass this along, and until next time, keep thriving.