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How do I find opportunities to speak? How do I get noticed and chosen to be a guest on the right podcasts and events?

These are some of the questions I hear most often, entrepreneurs who understand that guest speaking on other people’s platforms is one of the best ways to quickly grow an engaged audience.

But the question is, is it really about finding MORE opportunities?

Sometimes yes, but what I find is that many business owners grossly under utilize the opportunities they already have, missing out on previous connections (and results).

Maybe you’re here because you’ve been doing the work to put yourself out there.

You’ve identified a topic or two that you’re pitching to podcast hosts. You’ve most likely already taught a workshop or webinar, you’ve pushed past the fear or speaking in front of groups (mostly), because you’ve accepted that getting visible and putting yourself out there is part of growing your online business.

You are ready to level up and make big strides in your business.

So here you are asking the questions, how do I land MORE opportunities to share my message?

Well friend, today I’m going to encourage you to slow down, so that you can speed up ← I learned that phrase at a leadership conference years ago and have been waiting to use it!

But wait, why are we slowing down?

I get it. You want more people to hear your message. More eyeballs to see your brand. More leads.

These things are supposed to lead to more of an impact (and more sales).

But consider this:

Have you ever blown up a balloon that has a hole in it?

Sure you can gain some traction for a moment, but slowly and surely the air leaks out making your efforts futile.

After working with thousands of business owners over the last 15 years, I’ve found that while most business owners think a lack of leads it’s what’s stunting their growth (more air in the balloon), the real issue is conversion (a hole in the balloon).

Today we’re going to hit pause and do a tune up for your business so that you are primed and ready to blow up that balloon with confidence.

I’ll walk you through 3 specific audits to make in your business and speaking process to maximize your results, whether you are already booking speaking opportunities or just getting started.

Inside this episode (or check out the full transcript below), you’ll learn:

• the empowering way to critique your own work to build confidence and skills without negative self talk
• the 3 absolutes you must include in your content every time you give a talk or interview
• how to leverage your social media platforms to make your guest speaking “sticky”
• what metrics to track and how to balance quantitative and qualitative results

Episode Show Notes:

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The 3 Audits to Improve your Speaking Results

1. Audit Past Work

It’s time to watch (or listen) to your past work. I know, CRINGE! But if you want to become exceptional (or even just really good), you have to be willing to WATCH YOUR GAME TAPE.

That’s how professionals get better, whether you’re an athlete, actor or pro speaker. Watching/listening to past interviews and presentations will be YOUR BEST TEACHER.

Now to ensure you don’t go down the rabbit hole of negativity (why does my face do that?), make sure you ask yourself this question:

What’s my goal for watching this video?

Are you watching to tear yourself apart and unearth all your inner insecurities? Heck no. So don’t you dare allow yourself to entertain those thoughts. And if you catch yourself thinking about it, SHUT IT DOWN.

Instead, watch with the intention to improve.

Your feedback mantra: helpful feedback only.

If it’s not changeable, it is not helpful. If it is not helpful, it is not tolerated. You have to be disciplined enough to only give yourself feedback that’s actually going to be helpful.

3 questions to ask yourself when critiquing your work:

• Was I likeable and authentic?
• Was I clear with tangible value?
• Did I lead them somewhere?

Tune into the full episode for more context and additional insights with self critiquing in these areas.

2. Audit Your Home Base (ie social media platforms)

Your home base is where people find you online, particularly on social media. Imagine someone is listening to you speak and thinking, “I like this chic!” so they look you up… and what do they find?

You want your profiles clear and sticky.

Your bio, links and photos paint a picture of who you are, what you do and how they go deeper with you.

Consider the last few posts you’ve made, ensure that at least one of them directly relate to your area of expertise.

You don’t want someone to hear you on a podcast, come connect with you, then get assaulted by your cat and smoothie photos.

Unless your a health pro who loves cats… then that might be an exception 😉

Point is, if they follow you, then get served up posts that don’t have anything to do with your area of expertise or what you’ve talked about on that podcast / platform, they will most likely not engage with your content or unfollow you (and if they don’t engage, it’s only a matter of time until the algorithm puts you into the dark hole of accounts it barely shows them.

You want to ensure your home base is sticky.

Meaning, they STICK AROUND AND ENGAGE.

It is THEN that you can start establishing rapport, leading them closer to your offers.

3. Audit Your Results

I’m a big believer of keeping tabs on the numbers in your business. You don’t have to go down a spreadsheet rabbit hole on this one but if you’re leveraging guest speaking as a way to grow your audience, you should have an idea if your plan is working.

Here’s what I recommend:

Each month, when you review your important numbers (in my business that means looking at gross revenue, leads, landing page views, social media followers, and podcast downloads), look for trends or outliers. And especially pay attention to what happens to your numbers AFTER speaking opportunities. Pro tip: look at your numbers in a line graph view to make it easy to see peaks and valleys..

Here’s a possible scenario: if you did 5 podcast interviews or guest presentations in Q2, did you see a gain in email subscribers or social media followers?

Don’t worry if you didn’t and be mindful of the the effort trap (the expectation that if you do X number of appearances / effort, you’ll get Y leads.

Visibility takes time. Consider it as work beneath the surface that will slowly and surely bubble to the top. So don’t obsess over your numbers, instead learn to look for experience and for opportunities. I want you to know your numbers and take PRIDE in them.

Watching the numbers is a chance for you to start asking questions of yourself and your strategies. It will help you make decisions on what opportunities to say YES (or NO) to in the future. If you want to want to improve your numbers– check out Podcast Ep 101: The #1 Reason Your Message Isn’t Attracting Your Ideal Client.

TAKE ACTION FROM THIS EPISODE:

? HOMEWORK: If you haven’t already created one, make your running list of your guest speaking, event and podcast appearances, including the live / release date. I recommend that you review this list monthly along with your key metrics.

? ACTION ITEM: Block 90 minutes on your calendar to perform your 3x audit. Be sure to block out additional time to audit future work. Pro tip: do this quarterly.