Freelancer Visibility Series #2

If you want your dream clients to come to you instead of you chasing them, it's time to get serious about public speaking. And no, you don't need to be Tony Robbins or have a viral TikTok, you just need to show up and share your expertise the smart way.

In this episode, we're diving into the power of public speaking with Laurie-Ann Murabito: a reformed shy girl turned award-winning speaker, speaking coach, and strategist. Laurie-Ann helps clients communicate with confidence, position themselves as experts, and attract dream clients through speaking opportunities. With 25 years of experience, she's a Master Coach, a neuroscience nerd when it comes to audience behavior, a best-selling author (Rethink Leadership and Rethink Your Leadership), and host of the top 1% podcast Be In Demand.

Listen to learn more about:

• Why public speaking is the fastest path to authority, client trust, and inbound leads (even if you're terrified right now)
• How to find speaking opportunities (spoiler: there are thousands happening every day!)
• The simple types of talks you can give even if you’re “not ready” or you think you don’t know what to say
• How to seed your services into your talk without sounding spammy or salesy
• Why mastering public speaking gives you an unstoppable advantage in today’s crowded freelance world

Laurie-Ann is here to show you exactly how to step out from behind the laptop and onto the “stage,” whether it’s a live room, a Zoom room, or a podcast guest spot — and use speaking as your best form of marketing.

Sponsored by AI Copywriter in a Box 

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Links Mentioned in the Show:

• Be in Demand Podcast Ep262– Get Booked to Speak: How to Utilize The Warm Market Strategy
• Grab Laurie-Ann’s FREE Be IN Demand Listener’s Guide: https://SpeakAndStandOut.com/Guide Ready to attract high-quality clients and grow your business without chasing leads? Speaking is the fastest way to position yourself as an expert. She’s handpicked the must-listen episodes just for Freelancers and VAs. This guide shows you how to sell from the stage without sounding salesy, tap your network for opportunities, and turn one gig into repeat bookings.
• Join The Digital Marketer’s Workgroup: Are you already doing marketing work but need more clients and a stronger referral network? Join a tight-knit community of freelancers and get access to behind-the-scenes conversations, support, and troubleshooting that every solo marketer needs. Plus, you'll benefit from advanced trainings, networking opportunities, and exclusive job leads. Apply here!

Connect with Laurie-Ann:

• Instagram: @laurieann.murabito
• Website: https://speakandstandout.com/ 
• Facebook: Laurie-Ann Murabito

Connect with Emily:

• Facebook Community: Emily’s Unicorn Digital Marketing Assistant Lab
• Instagram: @emilyreaganpr 
• Facebook: @emilyreaganpr

3 ways we can work together: 

1. Need to build your digital marketing skills and set up solid workflows so you can confidently put yourself out there for freelance work? Get on the waitlist for the Unicorn Digital Marketing Assistant School where you'll learn in-demand marketing implementation skills to launch or grow your work-from-home business. I also share job leads directly with students, making this a true gateway to flexible, meaningful freelance work. Ready to get started sooner? You can jump into the self-study program right now.
2. Already doing marketing work and have a few clients? Want a stronger referral network? Apply for our Digital Marketer’s Workgroup—a tight-knit community of freelancers just like you. Inside, you'll get behind-the-scenes support, advanced trainings, and troubleshooting that every solo marketer needs. Plus, I’ve shared over 3,000 job opportunities with this group—exclusive leads you won’t find anywhere else. If you're ready to grow your business and connect with a supportive network, join us here!
3. Looking to hire a Digital Marketing Assistant? If you want to expand your team & grow your business, submit your job opportunity here. I'll share it with the skilled unicorn marketing assistants inside my workgroup totally free.

  >>> Download my Top Ten Most Requested Digital Marketing Tasks & Services

Why struggle to find those clients? What if they came to you? Because here's what you find, the people who see you speak and share your brilliance in front of a room because they look at you as the expert. They book the call. They're trying to convince you to take them on as clients. They're already sold. So if you want to make your sales calls easier, be that person in front of the room.

Emily Reagan

Hey, Laurie-Ann, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to get your insight on speaking, especially as a service provider. Step out as experts. Tell everyone Hello. Let us know a little bit about you and your business.

Well, Emily, first off, I'm so excited to be here to share you know, like, what I'm so passionate about with your people and your audience. And believe it or not, I am a reformed, painfully shy girl who accidentally became a professional speaker. I said yes to my first speaking event. My head went up and down, and inside, I was like, What are you doing? You're not a speaker. Spoke to a standing room only group of people spoke for 20 minutes. I mean, it was not great like, but when I think about it, like there are so many mistakes that I made, I just stepped into what I call the college professor. There was no intro, there was no who I was. I just dished out information. And then at the end, of course, there was no call to action, and there was no close I actually said to people, okay, so if you want to speak to me, I'll be in the back of the room, and I just walked away. That was it. People came up to me and said, So do you have a website? Do you work with clients? And I was just like, Huh? I could share that. I just didn't know, because all the speakers that I'd ever seen you know were motivational, inspiring, sharing their their big, challenging stories with people I'd never seen somebody who was like a coach like myself use speaking as their best form of marketing. So I just kind of, like, fine tuned it through the years, but I always like to share that story, because I just want people to realize, like, I wasn't very good, and I've, like, just gotten better through the years with each speech that I've given, which each group that I've spoken to, it's about doing the reps.

What was your first talk about? I don't think I know this.

Okay, this is a learning moment for everybody who's listening. Always speak on what you want to be known for. I spoke about websites. I wasn't even a web designer, but I spoke about what customers think when they come to your website. And it was something that I was working on for myself, because I was creating, you know, a website and experience for people that was going to get me more clients.

Did somebody ask you to do that? Is that? I mean, you were saying, like they proposed to you that you speak right?

Yes

On this okay?

Because in this particular case, it was actually me and three other women that were planning this networking event, and women just networked differently. We didn't want just networking. We wanted education and networking, which was something way back then, just wasn't put together. And so we were like, Oh, we see a need for this, so that's why we were creating this, and that's why they pointed at me and said, Lorian, you do the speaking. And I was like, Okay.

Wow, I think this is so relatable for our listeners, because a lot of us are doing freelancing. We are service providers behind other people's businesses, and that's where we like to stay, but at some point we are going to get asked, as I was, as you were, to come in and speak. And I want everyone to not be scared and seize that opportunity to step out. For me, that moment was my client ran a very big membership and asked me to come in her group and talk about Google Analytics. I was scared to death. I mean, yeah, Google Analytics is part of what we do now, but I was no expert to be doing that, but I knew enough to teach it and probably over prepared. I don't even remember if I introduced myself like I'm that type of person who would speak really quick and then leave like you like, totally relate to that story, but yeah, I want my service providers to say yes to those opportunities, because I know that put me in front of a room of 1000 people virtually who then turned around and wanted to hire me, or somebody like me, and hello, now is my business.

Yeah? So you were just starting.

Yeah

It's like following the breadcrumbs. So speaking such an amazing form of marketing. So let me just talk to you about the people that were in that audience, everybody who raised their hand, you know, yes, you were speaking in a private community a paid membership. But so those people have. Paid money to be there. They also raised their hand to saying yes to spending time with you, because they were interested in the oh my god, someone's going to come in and talk about Google Analytics. Yes, please. They may or may not have known who Emily Reagan was, and that's okay, but they were interested in the problem that you were going to solve for them. So that's a lot of yeses that somebody has already said, and you haven't even spoken one word that speaking really does for you, because everybody who's in your audience is a potential prospect

That makes it seem so simple, because I could solve that problem, I could step into what I have learned, being inside different businesses and playing around with their, you know, dashboards and seeing where their traffic is coming from. But Laurie-Ann, I was scared to death.

Well, most of us are, it's, you know, like it was the first time you ever did that, but my hunches, you showed up and you served that's exactly what I did. So I didn't even have time to think about the nervousness or being scared or, I mean, God forbid, you know, like self integrity is one of my highest values. So I was showing up and I was going to do that speech, whether I wanted to or not. I was just like, you know, that's just when I say, I'm going to do something. I'm going to do it.

People in my audience are the same. That's why we're successful at providing the services and the marketing that we do, and it sets us apart. We will always put our best in too, yes. So what other opportunities are out there? Because we're not all going to just get that handed to us that first opportunity to speak, and, you know, a paid group. What could we be looking out for as service providers? I really want everyone to start to just see things in a different light. See how that could pay off for their business.

Okay, so I'm going to throw some numbers out at you right now. There are 20,000 speaking events that are happening today and tomorrow and the day after and the day after. Now that's a global number. That number is done by research from MPI, which is meeting planners International. The number here in the US is 7500 so let's just break down the 50 states with that 7500 that's 150 opportunities every single day per state, granted. You know, in January, people are not going to Alaska. They're going more to those. 150 are going to like Hawaii, California, Texas and Florida. But I live close enough to the Massachusetts border that I'm like that gives me another 150 so there's 300 and actually only takes me about an hour and a half to get to Providence, Rhode Island. So there's another 150 I got 450 opportunities every single day that I could be tapping into in real life, right in real life. Now, again, that's by MPI, but I think that speaking needs to be redefined, because you and I are on your podcast here. This is another stage in my book. Is guesting on podcasts, having my own podcast. It's all a form of speaking, being at a networking event where you're not necessarily the speaker, but you are getting to know other people, and you are communicating with maybe one or two people at the same time. That, to me, is a form of speaking. So knowing, being confident in what you're going to say when somebody says, So, Emily, what do you do? And having that answer that not only intrigues people, but answers the question that makes them say, Huh, how'd you get into that?

That's always something we stumble with. We actually had Marisa Corcoran in the group helping with those I help statements so we could, because a lot of us, like, start to panic with that question alone. Lauire-Ann, why should we even consider this? Because I think a lot of people start their business and think, Okay, I just need to. They don't think this bit. They want to just take a course and have it be done, right? They want to just have a successful business. Like, how could speaking actually help us as service providers?

It gets your message out there. When you're speaking, you are speaking to a very particular audience, and everybody who's in that audience remember like they've already said a bunch of micro yeses to be there to listen to you or to listen to a replay later on. So there's so much opportunity that's actually around you. So I want to share with people that I tell people to use their warm market, tap into your warm market first. And I actually have a podcast interview. It's actually number 262, on my podcast, Be in Demand, and it is about tapping into your warm market. Now what this means is these are all the people that already know, like and trust you, the different Facebook groups that you're a member of that bring in speakers, different associations that you might be in you've had a membership for years. I like run you through an exercise so that you can start looking at who is in my warm market, who. Brings in speakers, and then the next step is like, why to reach out to them and how to reach out to them? Because once you start, you're just sharing your brilliance, and you're basically, you're showcasing your business to an audience that is then you have a call to action, and they raise their hand and say, I want more I need more information. I need to book that call. I need to work with you.

Something magical happened for me when I showed up in person to conferences as a service provider. First of all, I was usually outnumbered. I'm going to make up some number, but it felt like 20 to one, like there was not operations, there was not marketing people there. It was a lot of business owners, and as soon as they could talk to me, see me Look in my eyes. It was so easy to book the client after that, like first interaction. So I feel like speaking is a way to just accelerate that trust, especially this day and age of the digital, online world, the trust recession we're going through, how a lot of people are scared to hire and so I think that that could be something a lot of us are discounting, or really not like even thinking about as a part of our own marketing.

Absolutely. I mean, there's so much opportunity that's out there, and people are hungry for real information from a real human being.

Who's been doing the freaking work like those of you listening. So what are these opportunities? Like you said there's like 150 per day per state. What are we talking about? Like, what kind of events?

Okay, let me throw another number out at you. There are in here, in the US, when, which also means, partially globally, 250,000 professional trade and associations. You know when you go to the circus or the fair, and there's that person who blows up those long, skinny balloons, and then he twists and turns and turns it into some cute little animal and hands it to some little kid who gets all excited. Yeah, there's an association for that.

The balloon animal people.

I don't remember the exact name of the association, but there's an association for that, I have a client who speaks in the real estate industry. So I have a book that is no longer in print, and I looked up real estate and counted how many different associations were under the umbrella of real estate, 134 that's 134 different associations that have chapters in every state, sometimes multiple chapters. Those chapters have monthly meetings, and sometimes they have yearly or twice a year conferences, and sometimes they're regional conferences, where they bring a bunch of chapters together to have one big conference. So 134 just under real estate, and I did not take a picture and share with him or count how many were under real estate investing and real estate management. With 134 industries, he could speak to each of them and be fine for the next three years.

We have freelancers who have niched in real estate and helping those type of clients. So like, mind blown. What an obvious opportunity to get your name out there and book more clients and probably build something that's scalable beyond your one to one work.

That's right, absolutely. So real estate is just one industry. There are so many industries that are out there, but it's about finding like, alright, if you're niching down, like, where are your people? And that's where you want to be speaking. That's where you want to get known. I kind of call it like you're climbing a mountain. You want to climb to the top of the mountain of your industry, because when you get to the top of the mountain, other industries from other mountains are going to be able to see you. They'll have heard about you. They'll have watched you speak. They're going to invite you into their industry. That's another way to get into other industries.

Yeah, and really get your name out there. Is this a faster way to grow your business as a service provider? I mean, I can't think of a way that would get you out there faster and more people saying your name.

That's right. You want people to say your name. So this is the whole reason why my name on my podcast is called Be in Demand. I don't want somebody to say, Hey, I kind of need a VA or a marketing assistant. And you don't want people saying, Oh, I know a person. I know a person. You want them to say, here's the person that you need to call, not interview, it's here's the person that you need to call. You want to be that person that people speak of. How do you get people to speak of you? They've seen you in action. They've seen you on stage. Because the person who is speaking, whether it's in person or virtual, you are seen as the expert in the room. So here's something fun that I do. Emily, from time to time when I'm speaking in front of audiences, you know, first of all, I will ask people, How many of you, like, looked me up on social media and stocked my website? 90% of the room will raise their hand and yeah, like, it's a lot, because people are deciding, do I want to spend? Time here in this room, or, you know, like, maybe I need to have other to do's that I need to go and do. Like, people are always juggling their time. Time is currency, so that's one thing that they are constantly doing.

Wow, this is so fascinating, because I kind of butchered my last question. But I'm just thinking about when service providers come to me and they're like, how do I get more clients? How do I get more clients? How do I get more clients? And it's not an ad funnel, it's not more showing up on social. To me, I think this is the fastest way to get your name out there at that higher level. I know we all heard about speaking and I'm having a hard time articulating this to a speaking coach. So this is really funny, but like, why are so many of us discounting this as a true marketing strategy?

Oh, because most people, and this is what people have told me, I haven't been in business long enough. Nobody's asked me. They're so waiting to be invited. And also the I don't know what I would say, so you don't know what you would say. So you don't pitch yourself out there. You don't pitch yourself because you don't know what to say. Like, I mean, it's just, it's just a form of procrastination. Yeah, you're on this little hamster wheel, just like going nowhere again. But speaking is going to position you as you're going to be the expert in the room. You're going to attract the most ideal, perfect clients to you. Now, everybody that's in the audience. Not everybody's going to need you, but whoever doesn't need you also becomes a great referral agent for you. May hear somebody say, I need a marketing specialist. You know, I've just heard this person speak at a local chamber event or a local association or online, or I heard them on a podcast. Here's who you should call bingo all because you suggest to speaking. For the people who are thinking, "Well, I'm not ready." Is there a certain amount of speaking or things we need to check off a list to be ready? Or do we have to show up in all these baby places first? Like, what do you suggest? Well, here's the thing, you gotta have a speech, and I want you to be outstanding on stage, that's the main point. You have a speech inside of you, and the speech that you have that you can get started with is the most common questions that people ask you, right there is a speech being able to share with your audience. Like, here are the type of people that I work with, and this is how I help them, and even sharing, like a case study story- bingo, people that are in your audience are going to be like, Oh, that's me.

You know me, one of the early, early talks that I gave. First of all, I don't know why speech is so intimidating. I just said talk, but I talked about five ways. I helped my client grow her business online. It was straight up tactical what I did. And it's also this a little bit of an ego thing, or humble brag when you're talking about what you did, it's very tactical. You can see the tangible results like it was. It was actually a really easy talk. Laurie-Ann

I bet it was because it's something that you did. You're very familiar with it, so know your material, and to be able to tell stories in a way that overcomes the audience's objections. So this is something that I'm very big on, because a lot of times so your service professionals, they're going to be speaking in a lot of places that might not be paid opportunities. That's okay. We're showcasing our business, and a meeting planner is also going to say, you can't self promote. Well, that's okay, because what I teach my clients is to tell stories and to plant little seeds so that your audience is leaning back saying, Oh, she's more than just this speech. She's more than just this information. She actually works with clients. Oh, she works with somebody in my industry. Oh, she does that also. I would then looking. I know somebody who's looking. So you start to get your audience thinking differently. That's the whole point of you speaking. But you tell stories that overcome the objections of this won't work for my industry. This won't work for my clients. I could never do this. You tell those stories. Another one is a belief story. I just don't believe that I could do I don't believe that I could hire, I don't believe that I'm ready to hire a marketing assistant. You tell the right story so that people start to hear it. You're basically addressing their objection in a story. You know, the human brain just loves stories.

It's very meta as we do this podcast together, because I've already picked up on when you seeded, oh, I work with clients, and you busting through some of the objections that we're already thinking about, like I could never do this. I mean, I had the same thought. So, well done. Well done. Do you have a story of a service provider, maybe, who in your client list, who might have you speaking successfully?

Oh, yeah,

Let me give you a softball. But I want to know. I want to know if it worked.

Okay, so this service provider is a home organizer, so she was afraid of speaking. She actually quit her corporate job because they wanted her to speak in meetings. And she was like, nope, not going to have anything to do with it. So she actually tells her friends, I'm hiring a speaking coach. They're like, why you're afraid of speaking. And she said, I'm going to get over this fear. So she hires me, and I helped her pitch a mom's conference, because those are her ideal clients, or moms. Okay, so we're going to craft a speech, but I also help her handle the pre event, meeting with the person who's booking her in a very professional manner. It's an unpaid event, and the woman on the other end of the Zoom call said, I can't pay you to speak. However, I can comp your room. She was traveling with three other friends who were going to help her be her assistants in the room. So now she had her a hotel that was paid for for three nights to her. It's like she was like, I'm winning already now for her, she wanted a lot of audience engagement. I said, Okay, she had three different speeches ready to go, depending on how the audience answered the first question, that's impressive. This is just something that that I teach people who just like but I can speak on Home Organizing for pantries, toy rooms, and I think there was bathrooms. So she just asked the audience, what are you interested in? People raised their hand, she took a vote, and then she just went over to her computer, started the slides at the proper spot. But she had three different talks that she was ready to give now, because of that talk, she got on morning TV five times during the time that we were working together. She also got a book deal. Because this is back when, like Marie Kondo had come out, some publisher reached out to her all because she said yes to a speaking engagement that got her on TV so somebody saw her, reached out to her and said, we'd like to pay you to write a book on home organization. So I, of course, because I'm still our coach, I'm just like, so if you're going to get paid to write a book, we you and I are going to make this an Amazon bestseller, because that's a badge of honor for you. And then she turned that into a course. She is now known as the famous home organizer of Louisville, Kentucky

Oh my gosh, that on the Billboard.

But all because, and this all comes from, remember, she was afraid of public speaking, but it impacted so many different areas of her life.

I think where we struggle with this is, yeah, like our clients need to be doing this. We know this is part of their strategy. We're working with a lot of online service providers and coaches and course, creators and all of that. But I think sometimes it's still hard to see how me, a small freelance marketing assistant, can make that story work for me, because, like, I'm not have a book in me, and I'm not talking about actual Emily here, because I do have a book in me. I'm talking about somebody who just started freelancing here. But how does that story translate to the little guy who's just starting and might not have I don't know. It's hard to see those steps so far in the future when we're just started our business. And I say this all the time, we don't know where this is leading. We start out within the assistant role, and it just evolves so much. It's this struggle.

She just said yes to that first speaking event. As a matter of fact, her first yes was to me and to herself saying, I'm going to get over this fear, and she didn't know what that next step was. When she hired me, she didn't even have the moms conference. It was during our time of working together, she was like, this mom conference came up. I think this is an ideal situation for me to speak at. So it was like, yes, here's how you pitch yourself. So often times we just keep saying like, I'm not good enough. I'm not ready. But actually you are ready. And just to say yes that first time, say yes to yourself, say yes to your future clients. And why struggle to find those clients? What if they came to you? Because here's what you find, the people who see you speak and share your brilliance in front of a room because they look at you as the expert. They book the call. They're trying to convince you to take them on as clients. They're already sold. So if you want to make your sales calls easier, be that person in the front of the room.

Oh, my God, the best sound bite ever. No. I mean, people will say like, how did you book out? And sometimes I have a hard time explaining that, but I was never, I was never in this situation, and maybe this makes me so unrelatable, but it was always that they were trying to convince me to work with them. It has always been that power flip once my name got out there, I try to think about, like, what was so strategic about that? What were the little steps I didn't see where I was going? I mean, that was a beautiful story about stepping into the unknown without a plan. We do not. Have it all figured out, but that is, I think, the biggest power flip right there.

And I found this accidentally, because I said yes to that first event and had people come up to me. I really thought it was a fluke, but I'm always a sort of person like, Alright, how can I improve on this? How can I do it again? I did, and this time, more clients came to me again. Kept fine tuning, fine tuning, and within three months of not speaking very much, I had replaced my corporate income and was now, instead of working five days a week, I was only working three days a week. Now you're charging for these speeches, right? No, back in those days, it was just all showcase work. Oh, charging for speaking. I was actually in life coaching. Eventually got into executive coaching. Then I wrote a couple of books, and that's how I ended up speaking as a professional speaker in the leadership industry. So I just been following the breadcrumbs, and then I just a little burnt out. Something happened at the Fort Lauderdale Airport, which is what led me into the online world, and now I'm helping other coaches and service providers do exactly how I got started. Because I think that there's just this untapped market of using speaking as your best form of marketing to showcase your business and to attract the most ideal clients.

And I think there's a lot of messaging out there that is not new to us about podcast guesting, but people are not really thinking about what you talked about with all these chambers and all these associations and really getting our name out there with our expertise, like on stage so side step. What happened in Fort Lauderdale?

Oh, what happened in Fort Lauderdale was January of 2017 and here in the US, you're allowed to travel with your firearms if you have the right paperwork. And when I say travel, that means checked baggage. Baggage claim is out of TSA jurisdiction. The gentleman grabbed a suitcase, went into the men's room, put together his semi automatic rifle, came out shooting. Fort Lauderdale is a very big and busy airport. He fortunately only killed two people. I don't remember how many people were injured, but the FAA, like literally runs the globe's aviation, and every plane that was in the air was told to land at the nearest airport. And I literally said to myself, because I was traveling a lot, but I happened to be home. I was not in the airport at that time. My husband was out of town, so I'm trying to reach him cell phone. I'm getting a busy signal, not even his voice message. That's how many people are using cell phones. The only other time that ever happened to me was 911 so I literally said to myself, universe, I need a new business model. And two weeks later, I got a text message from somebody that said, Laurie-Ann, do you write speeches for people? And that's what brought me here, because she hit a home run, and I had so much fun helping her write an amazing presentation. And she was a she was a stylist, so she was another service professional, teaching people how to dress more professional that represented their personality, and she knocked it out. She went from losing money for five years to after her first speech, she actually walked away with three full paying clients. That was a game changer for her to a tiny audience too Wow. And so you just realize, like, I'm not going to travel anymore. I need to take my skills online. It's always interesting how people start their online business, and what was that push? And funny, I was living in Miami or homestead at the time. I remember, I remember that. In Fort Lauderdale it was really scary. It was close to home. Had everybody really freaking out, and I'm so glad you weren't at the airport. Oh my goodness. I remember, like, all of these stories, people talking about being on the airplane, like in Fort Lauderdale, the plane landing, stopping on the tarmac. And people like it was an emergency evacuation. They were like, leave your things, the little balloon slides came out and they were told to walk in the opposite direction of the airport, just walk, just leave the airport. They just wanted to protect as many people as possible.

Oh, my God, I didn't realize that. Yeah, wow. What a gift from the universe too, to also provide. And I think we've all been in that situation where clients are asking us and kudos to you for listening and delivering and using your passion, your talent, to help somebody. I think that's also a little bit of what we're doing here on the podcast, too.

Yeah, I just wanted to help this woman, and she knocked it on the part, and she gave me the biggest gift, because now I'm sharing, like my 25 years of professional speaking, I'm sharing that with other people now to craft amazing presentations, tell their story and just have fun doing it.

Oh, yes. How can the listeners start implementing this marketing strategy? How can we do this for ourselves? Where would we even. Begin to find events to get started with. I've got one great resource that will lead to other resources. So you can start listening to my podcast, and I have a new Listener's Guide, and if you go to speakandstandout.com/guide G U I D E, that guide will lead you to hear about some of my most popular downloaded episodes. So if you're new to speaking, or you've done some speaking, or you just want to up level your selling from the stage, this guide will help you. And there's also a list of all my other resources that are in there, like the directory of places to speak and the one that you already commented on about how I was like planting little seeds. That's my 17 magical phrases, so that you know exactly what to say. That gets you more clients, more leads and more opportunities. Okay, cool, is that slash guide that's an opt in, right? I want to talk about that for a second. That's brilliant man.

Yes, I'm using my podcast as the resource, essentially. But there is, like, this guide, and it tells you, like, if you're this, go listen to these episodes.

Oh, good. So you're kind of like customizing our journey, like picking out the right content for us. I love that I did an opt in my top three downloaded episodes, and we tried that last summer ahead of my launch, and it was a little bit of a flop. But I like how you have done it a little bit more extensive. I don't think three like, I don't know. I just like this. This is a good idea. I want the marketing assistants to run with it, if they have podcast clients.

Yeah, and go grab it and just, you know, duplicate it for your business. So I also have all my other lead magnets are in there also, plus other ways, like I do these speaker circles, and also speaker breakthrough sessions, those become podcast episodes, but it's a way for my community to be a part of my podcast,

And it's kind of like a sexier version of the link in bio, a little bit more meatier and probably easier to navigate, like where you are and what you need to do. Oh my god, I can't wait to look at that.

And way more fun than a link in bio

Yeah, you'll see my link. Link in Bio, okay, I have to ask as a podcast host yourself, do you have any advice that you wish your, I don't want to say it like, in a snarky way, but your team was doing or like anything that's really wowed you out in your own podcast, support along your journey.

I didn't necessarily know what I needed to know when I started my podcast. I'm one of these people. Like, if you do human design, I'm a manifesting generator. So I came up with the idea I'm just like, I'm gonna start a podcast, and six weeks later, like, I don't overthink a lot of these things. I just like, Okay, let's just like, get it done. Check, check, check. So I didn't know what I didn't know. And I can tell you that my podcast name meant nothing, my graphic meant nothing to people. So I would say my team finally said, like, Have you ever looked at the other public speaking podcasts that are out there, and it's like, and so this is why I say to people, go research your competition, even the graphic what the titles are of other people, because that's who you're competing with. I've made some changes to my podcast, and last year I really wanted, my goal was to have my podcast to become the center of my content universe, and that's still evolving into this year. Also, I think I was just like, playing with a lot of different things. And so it's still evolving, but it's getting there. Like, I don't quite know what that means to have my podcast be the center of my content universe, but me and my team, like, well, we're figuring it out. We're evolving, and I think it's still, it's always going to evolve anyways. But I love having my podcast because I love having an intimate conversation with my listeners, with my audience, and that's the whole reason why. Like, I'm a guest here on your show, like, I just love to be able to serve other audiences.

I mean that comes through and the conversations you and I have on the side before we even hit record, I love that your team pointed that out in a nice way. They're like, we could do better here. We could get discovered. People could find us if we make some little changes. And I'm glad you brought that up. I just like insight to how things are working on the back end. And it's always kind of a fine line of, you know, you care and you want to help your clients, but when are you overstepping, going out of scope, giving them strategy they didn't pay for? But you know, we care. We want our clients to do well, so I'm glad somebody said something to help you.

Yeah, and I always look at like people that are on my team. I'm not their only client, so you're seeing lots of pieces of work from other people. So how can you take stuff from other people, like, ideas without, you know, breaking, you know the confidentiality, but like, share it with your other clients, because your whole job at the end of the day is to help your clients look like rock stars. Yeah, and I think that was a big strength I had, is like, this is working for this person. This is working for this person. What if we mix it all up and make it work for you? Never stealing anything. Exciting, but that's a strength. I think that's why a lot of VAs end up as business coaches in general, because we have worked inside so many businesses, and we we get a sense of what works, but also it's always changing, right? So we have to be able to pivot, okay, I have to call this out, because you and I sat by the pool, we had a conversation, and you're like, I made these changes to my podcast, and I think you said quadruple to your downloads, and you were the inspiration for me, because I started the same way, really freaking fast. I mean, I said I wouldn't even do a podcast. And next thing, I'm doing a podcast and picking out music, and I'm going and I'm going and naming. It was the hardest. Always been the hardest, and we didn't have a chat GBT, and my name never made any sense for anyone searching for me, however, once you're in my community, it makes sense. You're the inspiration of me going back and releasing the new podcast cover, which just came out. Let's see, by the time this comes out last month, and I want to thank you because that insight paid off. We'll see what it does to my downloads. But I think it's interesting that both you and I weren't afraid to start things evolved. We got more clear on our offer, on our topics, on our mission, which ties exactly back to us just saying yes to somebody listening, saying yes and just going with it and not being afraid of it being all perfect and all figured out, because you have to go update that cover or that title eventually right? And I tell people, especially with podcasts, like everything is editable. Like your name is changeable, your music is changeable. The graphic is like, everything that you think you're going to start out with, you're going to change it later on down the road anyways. So don't get so hung up that it has to be perfect today to tell you the truth, like I had an intro when I first started my podcast and I ditched it last year. I don't really even have an intro. I say it as I'm starting my recording. Oh, good for you. So now it's a little different every single time, so people don't hear the music and go fast forward, fast forward, fast forward.

30 seconds. Yeah, yeah, right. I was listening to my intro. I'm like, it's a little bit long, and I'm like, dang it, but you know,

just try saying it, see what happens. Podcast intros interupt.

It is.

For whoever's listening. All of a sudden, instead of hearing the music, they hear you talking about, like, Hey, this is Emily Reagan, and this is the podcast four, and they're going to be like, this is new.

Yeah, that'll be fun. I like wing music. I like edgy rock music. But one thing I did do, I don't know if I told you this, is I started adding a while ago sound bite hooks at the beginning of the episode.

Yeah, I notice that with yours. That's a really good editor, by the way, thanks.

And her name's Emily. She's a unicorn. Not me different, Emily. But yeah, I feel like I get frustrated with a podcast. It's hard though, if people are covering a lot of topics, but I want to know there's something meaty inside. So we started doing that, and then we did, I think it was your advice again, to do the testimonial sound bites when I was in a launch wasn't that you?

Yeah

Yes!

I have been doing testimonial audios in the beginning of my podcast. Now, like every single episode has a testimonial, which is another form of pattern interrupt, because people are expecting my voice and they hear some guy's voice, so they're wondering, do I have the right podcast? And then whoever it is is talking about me. So they it's like, Oh, I do so, yeah, that's all

I like that. Do you have any tips for collecting those?

I just keep asking. I have gone back to on my page, on my testimonial page for my work, for both coaching and also speaking. I've taken every video, and I'm converting those into audio clips. That's it.

Yeah, like my marketing assistant, my team, any of you listening, could do that for your clients.

Yes, the processof doing this, because I have a lot of videos,

No, you need like, a custom GPT that I think can store some of that. And just brilliant, brilliant. Sometimes I like these little side conversations. Have you found anything that has helped you market your podcast better, like post production, in the promo stage? Anything that's working for you?

I think really having searchable keywords people are looking for. That's really how my podcast is growing. Because anybody who's like on my LinkedIn, on my Instagram, like my current audience, they already know I've got a podcast. Like, if you join my email list, you're going to hear about my podcast right away. So for me to get people to download and listen to the episode, but it's really about I'm really trying to reach new people. I also do some ads. I like Overcast personally, I'm not running any ads right now currently, just because the categories that I like to be in, they were just too outrageously priced. I'll wait a couple of months, and then I'll try it again. But I get a lot of new followers that way. Also,

I've talked to some ad managers about that, and I have one friend, Megan Shields. She does specific ads. Just for podcasts, and I should probably invite her on the show and figure out what's working.

Yeah, definitely. So we're back to you. And also, like, when we're done recording here, I'm going to go on to IG stories and talk about it. I've done a speaker breakthrough session today, and this is my second podcast guest episode. So I will talk about these, so then I'll bring them back later on, and I'm going to take a picture with you. I didn't take a picture with her with you, but I just keep talking about my podcast, because that's the best place for people to really get a feel for me, like they feel the energy in my voice. So it's not just the information, like I want them to fall in love with me.

I just have such a hard time grasping that you were the shy girl

I know, I know, but once upon a time, and that shy streak does still show up from time to time

but we also will show up in the way we need to when we have a deep connection to our why and our impact, why we're showing up. And I know for me, I think about that first speaking, my first Facebook Live like my passion for doing and helping people find this remote work was so deep that I was willing to put myself out there and be scared. And I just hope anyone listening? Because I don't know it's so easy to look at someone who's been in business for eight years, who already has a large platform, and compare ourselves. Do you have any advice for somebody who's staring that down?

I'm going to say the same thing that I said earlier. Go do the thing. Say yes to it. See what happens. Because here's what I tell people, just go say yes. Do it a couple of times. If you like it. Continue to do it. If you're just like, this was dumb. This is stupid. You can go back to your old ways and keep struggling on social media to find new clients. So there you go, do the thing

Lauirie-Ann says, Keep lip syncing and see how that works out.

Right? I mean, if I hadn't followed the and it was literally like a download when I was in my late teens, where I wouldn't look people in the eye, couldn't have conversations with people. And the emotion that I had was, Oh, my God, this is not going to help me in the long run. Those were the exact words that I heard, and I was like, let me just try and just look somebody in the eye. And I just tried, like, again. I didn't overthink it. I just did the thing, and I got positive reinforcement, which was the person didn't laugh at me, and I literally thought, huh, that wasn't so bad. I could, maybe I could look at them while we're having a conversation a little bit longer and a little bit longer. So start with like speaking on IG stories. Do an IG live bring a friend on to interview you or something.

Having someone else interview you is so such a smart strategy.

Yes, just start actually, I have a client who's inside of one of my programs, and he's got a podcast that he wants to rebrand. And I said to him, I should come back on your show. I'll interview you about your new methodology, about what you speak on, about what you case studies. And he loves the idea, and so that's what we're going to end up doing. I'll interview him so that he's spotlighted as the expert.

We did that for my 200th episode.

Nice!

And it was really fun, because I just showed up and I turned off my brain, and who knows if my answers were great, but it was such a change of pace, and it was a way to celebrate and spotlight me and feel comfortable. So I love that, and what a good opportunity for somebody listening to speak without the spotlight on them.

That's right.

To interview.

That's right.

I wish I had looked at all of this as practice, because I was the girl who I don't know in my MBA program, I had to give a presentation. This was five minutes. I made it three and I left. I just didn't see the point, and I was so into myself in a way of being scared, which I don't blame anyone for, but I wish I would have chose to look at those little moments as just practice, just go through the motions, and all these little opportunities that came my way. I mean, I have been on TV, I have given sound bites for my organizations. But for some reason, when it comes to being the face of a business, it just felt different. I felt different. I think that IG stories showing up on Tiktok, it could all be practiced to get you there. You've given us a wonderful resource to go cherry pick some of the speaking events in our area. And thank you so much for that. You're also going to continue the conversation in the workgroup, and we're going to dive a little bit more into the how, because I know that is where we're leaving everyone dangling. So will you talk to us a little bit about the training you're going to do to help us take that next step?

Oh yeah, I'm going to be sharing with people my Open the Door to the Conversation. This is one of my strategies. And then I'm going to share with you people like really how to look like a pro, right from the get go, whether you've never spoken before, I want you to look like you're a professional. And I'm going to share with your community all the different steps, because speaking is so much more than just showing up for that half hour, hour that you're actually speaking. People are always amazed, like for a two day conference, even a virtual conference, I will show up and be in the audience for both days, not just my one hour that I'm speaking. And the reason why I do that is because I'm gonna grab little bits from the other speakers, from the other teaching points, and I'm going to share them in mine, and that is like the lemon on the glass in the fine restaurant.

Oh, I love that tip. Okay, I cannot wait to dive in. You're coming in May. Going to help our people book their first speaking events with confidence. And I know my people care about that. We want to look professional, just like we care about our clients business. I know that holds a lot of us back. We want to know what we're doing, and it's only because we care. So Laurie-Ann, thank you so much for coming on the show, sharing your story and encouraging us to put ourselves out there, and obviously you have the podcast be in demand. But where is the best place to connect with you?

Well, everybody's got their own preferences on where they like to connect and learn more. So I would say just go to my website, which is speakandstandout.com and you will find your favorite social media platform to follow me on.

I like that answer. All right. Thanks Laurie-Ann,

Thank you.

Emily Reagan