How to Use Public Speaking to Grow Your Business with Leisa Reid

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Public speaking is an excellent way to grow your business as an entrepreneur. You just need the right strategies and ways to get started. We discuss some of them in this episode with my guest Lisa Reid.

As the Founder of Get Speaking Gigs Now, Leisa trains entrepreneurs who want to use public speaking as a soul-fulfilling business growth strategy. Clients who work closely with her “Get Their Talk Ready to Rock” and build their speaking skills and confidence through the Speaker’s Training Academy.

Leisa has booked and delivered over 600 speaking engagements, and she teaches her clients all of the strategies she uses to get booked, stay booked and monetize their talks.

In this episode, she will share the #1 secret she uses to get speaking gigs along with other golden nuggets of advice!

Why and How Lisa Got Started in Public Speaking

For Lisa, public speaking is near and dear to her heart because she has always wanted to be a teacher. Even as a kid she remembers teaching her friends gymnastics amongst other things. It wasn’t so much that she needed to be the center of attention or to have the spotlight on her. It was just that when she knew that she could help other people understand something quicker, easier, better; she had to do it. It was very fulfilling.

Now she’s basically a teacher disguised as a speaker. She knows that because she works with entrepreneurs all the time, there’s quite a few of us who have that same type of drive for teaching. When we get the opportunity to teach, we get a natural high, a shot of dopamine. Something amazing happens when you give the gift of teaching to an audience whether it’s virtual in person. You know that what you’re offering is going to help them solve problems or help make something easier for them. That’s a very fulfilling way to market your business!

Leisa believes that people don’t get into business to do the sales and marketing themselves. They are suddenly surprised how big of a part of their responsibility is sales and marketing. She loves teaching speaking because it’s one of the easiest and most fulfilling ways to do effective sales and marketing for them to market their businesses. Many entrepreneurs welcome that opportunity.

Why Speaking Should Be a Big Part of Your Sales and Marketing as an Entrepreneur

Public speaking is especially important if you have something that many people haven’t heard of; such as your own philosophy or framework about how to do something. Then there are people who have problems that you can help with, but they don’t know it yet. They may need more information than they can get by reading a synopsis of what you do on your website. Speaking always allows you to educate people and it allows you to educate more than one person at a time. With many live and virtual presentations, you can even record them and have evergreen marketing and branding content for future prospects.

That means there are a lot of ways that you can duplicate your efforts while attracting your ideal clients and potential referral partners. That’s a great reason to get speaking coach. When you find someone that you want it’s because you can relate to their story. You like their personality. You like their humor. You like how fast (or slow) they talk. They resonate with you because it seems like they’re genuine. That’s the kind of person that you should work with.

The Starting Point of Public Speaking as a Sales and Marketing Tool

In Leisa’s world the starting point of working with her is when you’re ready to get your talk “ready to rock”. That means you need to decide what your talk is going to be about, what your title is going to be, what your learning points are, your description of the talk, and what your call to action will be. That’s what she means when she says, “Get your talk ready to rock.”

When you say that you’re a speaker and update your LinkedIn profile to include “speaker” you’re claiming that title. That means when you’re at a networking event and someone asks what you do and you tell them you’re a speaker they’re immediately going to ask, “What do you speak about?” You don’t want to be hesitant or say something like, “I speak about quite a few things.” You want to be focused with a niche to explain. You need at least one talk to share.

Having that talk in your pocket will give you confidence and assuredness in the speaking world. It’s like planting a proverbial flag in the ground. If your talk is ready to rock, you’re going to be madly in love with your talk. You won’t be able to wait to share with everyone. That’s the kind of energy you want to start conversations with.

Where to Go to Practice When You’re Getting Started in Public Speaking

You can find lots of different places but it’s kind of like getting exercise, you can work out at home, especially if you’re just getting started. That’s what Leisa still does when writing a new talk. It gives her fortitude to do that. She’s been practicing that way since she was in college. She had a walk-in closet that she shared with her roommate. She would go into the walk-in closet and practice her new talks.

Practicing out loud on your own is very easy. It’s very affordable. You don’t have to get in a car. You don’t have to involve anybody else. If you have a dog or a cat, they can listen.

Then doing it in public is where people get scared; maybe they do it in front of a live audience and then it doesn’t go as well as hoped. That’s where dedication to practice comes into play. There is immense value in saying the words out loud, like dress rehearsal, to nobody. Three times at least. Then, with time, maybe after the third time, it’ll start to get smoother. You’ll start to transition easier. You’ll add things. You’ll change some things around. That dedication to practice ultimately makes all the difference for your public speaking success.

We also dive into topics such as:

The qualities of a “talk that is ready to rock”.
The dichotomy and power of planning your talks in reverse, with the title coming last.
The case for not using AI to write your speech but writing about what is unique about yourself instead.
The good news is that when you’re getting started it’s possible to market your talk without cold calling and what you can do instead.
The concept and three steps of Leisa’s “Speaker Soul Mate System” and how to find your “Speaker Soul Mate” to support and refer you speaking gigs and vice versa.
Why as a novice you need to start with one speech and then create two more as you grow and how to do that.
Rules of etiquette and strategies for working with meeting planners to get booked more.
What meeting planners really want as well as what they avoid and why.
How to stay consistent with getting speaking gigs after you’re established as a speaker.
How and when to ask for referrals for speaking gigs without being pushy.
The one thing, above all else, that you need to do to build your business through public speaking.

…and other golden nuggets of advice!

You can get my book here: “Idea Climbing: How to Create a Support System for Your Next Big Idea”

About My Guest

As the Founder of Get Speaking Gigs Now and the CEO of the International Speaker Network, Leisa Reid trains entrepreneurs how to use public speaking as a soul-fulfilling business growth strategy and facilitates the birth of new talks all around the world in her “Get Your Talk Ready to Rock” sessions.

Throughout her years of working with speakers, the most frequent confessions she hears are: “I’ve always wanted to be a speaker,” but “I’m still working on my talk,” and “I’m not sure where to get booked.” It is her mission to collaborate with her clients so they can quickly and easily create their talks and deliver them to audiences that are a right fit.

Leisa has booked and delivered over 600 speaking engagements, is a 7-time author, podcast host and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate. Although she has both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Speech Communication, she assures her clients those degrees are NOT required in order to be a speaker. She is a mom, a wife, a dog-lover and loves live rock concerts.

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