I was feelin' a guest post this week and I am so glad to have my girl Chantelle Adams pop in on speaking! So without further adieu…

Are you ready to step into the spotlight and spread your message far and wide?

Then speaking is definitely in your future!

You might be thinking there is no way you would step on stage and speak to thousands of people but I want you to know that speaking for business is not just about stepping on a live stage.

Here are just a few ways you can add speaking to your business:

• Hosting a podcast
• Being interviewed online
• Doing a video blog
• Speaking on online summits
• Hosting webinars or online trainings
• Radio interviews
• TV interviews
• Hosting retreats, workshops and your own live events
• Break out sessions at live events
• Keynoting live events

All of these areas of speaking will help you grow your list, establish you as an expert, increase your visibility and your platform and send more clients your way, which helps you make a difference in the world and to your bottom line.

So how do you get started with speaking?

1) Know Your WHY

You have to know why you want to speak and have a specific desired outcome clearly defined before you say yes to any speaking opportunity or create your own.

Do you want to build your list, add another income stream, build your platform and expert status, get more clients or all of the above?

When you are clear on the outcome you want to achieve then you will know where to focus your time and energy when it comes to speaking.

I have done free gigs that resulted in over $10,000 in sales to my signature program because I was speaking from the heart, delivering tons of value and connecting with my ideal audience.

But even bigger than that you have to have a WHY in business that is bigger than your fear of speaking.  I know fear of speaking is the #1 fear, next to death.  But really it is the fear of being seen, of being vulnerable, of being good enough.  Time to knock those fears down with your big why.  If you have a why that is bigger than your fears you can do anything you set your heart to.

So, what is your big why for business, why do you feel compelled to do the work you do?  Why do you wake up every day and work so hard to get your message out into the world?

Once you have that why clear you will be ready to shout your message from the rooftops and from any platform!

2) Build Relationships

The greatest factor that I attribute to my success as a speaker and entrepreneur is building relationships, real and genuine relationships.

Why is this important?

Because everything you do will get done faster and in a bigger way if you work together and support each other!

When I first started with speaking I was told I would have to make 100 cold calls to get even one maybe!  Yikes, those are not very good odds and I hate cold calling because it feels so insincere.  So I figured there must be a better way.

I reached out to two people who were very influential in the market I was wanting to speak in, set up a personal meeting and asked them what they needed and how I could support them.

I listened. 

I truly cared. 

I built a relationship.

From there those two influential people used their networks and relationships to spread the word about what I had done for them and I got booked solid: 175 paid speaking engagements in my first year from 2 solid connections.  No more cold calling, they came calling on me.

I still send thank you notes and gifts and reach out to these two individuals because I know they supported me in my journey and I am forever grateful.

So who are the people who you admire?  Who could possibly book you to speak on their podcast, their TV show or their live event?  Who do you want to interview or have at your event?

Make a list of names of all those people you want to build a relationship with and then start reaching out.

The 3 keys to building relationships are:

1) Give first, without expecting anything in return.

I did a free speaking gig for these two individuals to show my gratitude for them taking the time to speak with me.  These two booked me personally over the next 4 years for over 40 speaking engagements not to mention the referrals that came my way.   Was it worth it to give without expectation of anything in return, heck yeah!

2) Support others in their dreams and desires.

How can you help them get what they want?  How can you add value to their life and support them in their dreams?  Can you share their work, comment on their blog, connect them with people who need them, give of your time and talents to help them in some way?  This act of genuine giving and support will come back ten fold.

3) Show gratitude.

Always, show your gratitude. Send them a hand written note with a thoughtful gift.  Publically share your gratitude.  Tell them more than once, you can never be too thankful!

The last step that I am going to share with you today about getting started speaking is:

Deliver Your Standing-Ovation-Worthy Speech

That is really the most important step.  When you rock the stage whether it is virtual or live you will get more bookings from word of mouth, you will build your list of raving fans from people who were just lit on fire from your words, you will get more cash because people will want to pay to work with you more and people will want to pay you to speak to their audience.

So, how do you rock that talk?

First you need to own your story.

This is so important to build connection and also is the foundations of your brand and your message.  Think about the work you now do in the world, how did you get there?

Almost always there was a breakdown then a breakthrough that lead you on the path to doing the work you are called to do in the world.

Find that story, share it and you will build connection right away with your audience.

Second, deliver incredible value and amazing content.

You don’t want to leave them hanging or just give them surface content, you want to go deep and help them walk away feeling filled and ready to make the changes you talk about.  You want to give them the tools to make that happen.

If you deliver on value and content then the audience will love the breakthroughs you have already helped them with and will want more!  Trust me, it works!

Lastly, bring you to the stage.

People have a great built in BS meter and if you are pretending to be something you are not people will pick up on that right away.

Think about your personality, your interests, your little quirks and find a way to infuse those things into your speech (or video, or podcast, or interview).

I love dancing and zumba is my favorite way to move my body at the gym so I get my audience up dancing in my speech.  I have a bubbly personality and so I bring that to my speaking.  I just recently did an interview on Lady Biz Radio and the comment she shared when promoting the podcast was, “you can’t not love her bubbly personality.”  I am just me and when I let the true me shine through people feel that and THAT is what builds true connection based on trust.  When you do add more of you the right people will be drawn to you.  And that is the perfect recipe for building a business you love!

So what are your personality traits, favorite things and little quirks and how can you bring some of those things into your speaking and your business?

As you can see speaking is a huge part of business and takes on many forms and to truly succeed at speaking in business you just need to:

1)   Know your why.

2)   Build Relationships.

3)   Deliver a Standing-Ovation-Worthy Speech

I hope you will connect with me online because I would LOVE to hear how you are going to start adding more speaking to your business to build more connection, credibility, clients and cash into your business.

You can get more in depth with owning your story, crafting your speech and getting booked in my FREE 4 part mini e-course: Speaking for Business.   Check it out: https://chantelleadams.leadpages.net/speaking-for-business-free-offer/

 

Chantelle Adams is a Professional Speaker, Speech Stylist and Courage Igniter.  Throughout the past 4 years she has delivered over 700 speeches and added more than 6 figures to her business through speaking.  Now she teaches women entrepreneurs how to own their story, write their signature speech, rock the stage and get booked while adding more clients and cash to their businesses through speaking.  Chantelle is also all about helping women get their brave on in life and biz.  She definitely walks her talk as she recently jumped out of an airplane and fell 10,000 feet to raise $10,000 to build a school in Nicaragua while getting 60 change makers to co-author a book, The Courage to Fly, and share their stories of courage with the world. If you are ready to get your brave on then come join The Courage Revolution and the Brave Tribe at www.thecouragerevolution.com.