Why Every New Entrepreneur Should Start Speaking

Guest Article By the Queen of Sales Conversion
Lisa Sasevich

As a heart-centered entrepreneur, whether you are launching a new business, or trying to make the quantum leap you know you are capable of, you have an incredibly powerful tool at your disposal that costs you nothing and is uniquely yours: your voice.

By using your experience, your expertise, and your voice to speak to groups, either large or small, you can build a solid foundation and kick-start your growth.

What Is Speaking?
Let’s get rid of a few misconceptions first.

First, we aren’t talking about The State of the Union or a Commencement Address here. Speaking does not have to be done in a formal or lavish setting for it to be effective. In fact, as an entrepreneur, expert, or business owner, you use your speaking skills in multiple contexts every day.

The same speaking skills you use to convey your message to a small group gathered in your living room are the same ones you use in a conference room, creating a webinar, participating in a conference call, or up on stage in front of hundreds of attendees who have paid to hear your message.

Second, contrary to what your fears are telling you, you don’t have to be an extrovert or love getting up in front of a crowd to speak. There are a lot of tools you can use to make you feel more comfortable. You can effectively deliver your message in a video, a webinar, or over the phone. (Ladies, you don’t even have to do your hair for these ones!)

Remember, whenever you are talking about your business or your passion to a group that wants to hear what you have to say, you are SPEAKING.

Why speak?
You have something to say that no one else can.

The combination of your experience, knowledge, and perspective is unique to you and the world is clamoring for people who can speak authentically to those experiences.

Boost your visibility
By speaking you make yourself more visible to the world in a way that is more personal, accessible, and impactful than any writing or social media following you can create.

Boost your credibility
When you are just starting out, you have the expertise to help your clients, but you lack the track record of successes and overjoyed customer testimonials that help convince people that you are the solution to their problems. When they see you speak they see you for who you are, an expert.

Boost your profitability
Speaking is one of the cost effective ways you can add new business. You already have your ideas, experience, and voice. And for those of us who sometimes struggle with the technology side of thing (guilty!), speaking is perfect. You just need you, them, and a room.

Propel growth
One of the quickest and best ways to grow your business quickly is to speak to as many potential customers as possible. By speaking you can turn audience members into customers and into referrals for other speaking engagements where you can turn more audience members into more customers and more referrals. Oh, Imagine the growth!

Leverage time
The one thing you never have enough of as an entrepreneur is time. Speaking allows you to tell your story once and have it heard by as many people as can fit in the room. And if you’ve recorded your message, that same message can be seen and heard by the whole world.

But the best part of speaking is that you don’t have to go out looking for prospective customers, because they are already there.

In that 30 minutes or 1 hour, you have spoken directly to a group of people who wanted to hear what you have to say and are now ready to act. What’s a better use of your time than that?

Make Your Irresistible Offer
What separates a conversation about your passion into an opportunity to sell your services to your engaged and interested audience is your offer. Your presentation should be a gateway to your offer. When people hear your message and the passion you have for what you are offering right from your mouth, you can make your offer irresistible.

Make a Great Speech
How can you ensure that you’ve put together a great speech that is going to not only get people in the door, but have them leaving excited by your message?

1. Create a Great Talk Title
Your ability to deliver a great speech that turns into a sale starts with a Great Talk Title. Let your audience know not only what the talk is about, but how it will benefit them. The magic doesn’t happen at the end, but at the beginning and your Talk title begins to plant the seeds for your eventual success.

2. Create a Speaker Summary Sheet
Your summary sheet is a short biography of you, a summary of your talk (250 words, max! Keep it short), and your picture. This can be sent to organizations you want to speak to. You should also include a speaker introduction that the host can read when they are introducing you to the room.

3. Sizzle Reel
Your sizzle reel is a short video introducing yourself to your audience. It’s your trailer, press kit, speaker one-sheet, and bio … all wrapped into one powerful video. This is not something you need right away but keep your eye out for opportunities to catch this footage when you can.
Speaking from your heart always feels amazing. Speaking from your heart and actually turning that into sales feels even more amazing.

4. And finally, follow my Five-Step Formula SPEAK

-> S – stands for Speak. You must learn to speak in a clear and concise way to convey the unique value that only you provide. For example, I help entrepreneurs sell without being salesy. Pretty clear, right?
-> P – stands for Position yourself as the expert. You know more about your subject matter than anyone in the room. Own that! You are the expert in your category.
-> E- stands for Expect Resistance from the outside as well as the inside. When you’re moving forward, you are going to experience resistance. And that’s a good thing! Resist the urge to stop or slow down. Lean into the resistance!
-> A – stands for Authority. No one grants you the authority to be who you are! No one knocked on my door and said, “Hey, Lisa, here’s the crown. You’re the Queen of Sales Conversion.” That is who I am. I crowned myself!
-> K – stands for Knowing. Your intuition is strong and accurate. You already know. Stop second guessing yourself. You know what to do at any given moment.

If you enjoyed this content, Lisa Sasevich is releasing a complimentary online training series chocked full of resources like this designed to support you on your business building journey. Check it out here.

108 Places to Speak Directory
108 Places to Speak Resource

Speed Reading Foundation Course

Too much to read? Not enough time? I think that all of us at one time or another have become overwhelmed by the amount of reading that we have to do. Reading is one of my passions and something that I enjoy immensely on a daily basis. I love to read fiction books and literature for the sheer joy of good storytelling. For professional reasons, like many of you, I must keep up with the latest developments in my profession. Reading for business and for professional reasons is a necessity is today’s highly competitive environment. The ability to read effectively for both comprehension and for speed is a highly valuable skill. Throughout the years, I’ve taken several speed reading fundamental courses that have helped me to keep up with my vast amount of personal and professional reading. I believe a speed reading course can help you to increase your productivity also.

The Speed Reading Foundation Course by Iris Reading can help you to increase your overall reading speed and comprehension. This course will help you increase your reading speed so that you can read more in less time. You’ll also learn practical strategies to enhance your comprehension so you can remember more of what you read. This course is ideal for students, professionals and lifelong learners.

Speed Reading Foundation Course

To sign up for the speed reading course click here:

Speed Reading Foundation Course (Online)

Advanced Comprehension and Memory Course

Do you have trouble remembering what you read? The Advanced Comprehension and Memory Course will help you improve these important capabilities. This online course is conducted by Iris Reading. This course will help you improve your memory by teaching you useful strategies to comprehend your reading, understand it better and remember it longer. Whether you’re trying to remember what you just read, passwords, birthdays, or to-do’s, this course will provide you with the best available strategies for memory improvement.

Advanced Comprehension & Memory Course

To sign up for the course, you can register here:

Advanced Comprehension & Memory Course (Online)

Tips to Prepare in Advance for a Successful Speech

Before speaking before an audience, you may feel nervous before presenting. In order to help alleviate some of that nervousness, there are several things that you can do in advance that will help you to be more confident the day that you are presenting. Below is a checklist with several tips listed that can help you to perform your best. If you know that you are presenting weeks or days in advance, there are several things that you can do in order to set yourself up for success. They are:

• Be knowledgeable about the subject matter.
• Prepare your speech well in advance.
• Know your audience demographics in advance i.e. conduct an assessment/research.
• Survey your audience members using tools like Survey Monkey etc.
• Build your credibility by knowing the image that you want to convey.
• Practice enough so that you are knowledgeable about the subject matter without notes. The goal is not to memorize verbatim. The goal is to know your speech well enough that you have a structure that you can follow.
• Know what your practical and visualization strategies are for success.
• Obtain feedback on your speech from people that you know and trust.
• Record your presentation and review the video.
• Ensure your handouts and PowerPoint presentation are prepared well in advance.
• Ensure that you have enough marketing collateral on hand i.e. brochures, postcards, and business cards.
• Connect with your host in advance to discuss the contract, the location/venue and the audio-visual requirements and details such as whether you can you make an offer or have a draw etc.

By following these tips and implementing your own, you will have a greater chance of delivering an excellent speech when you are scheduled to present. Preparing well in advance will help you to become a more confident and dynamic speaker.

Interview on The Nikki Clarke Show

On August 17th, I am being interviewed by the amazing Nikki Clarke on the Nikki Clarke Show. I’m sure we’ll discuss some exciting topics like issues of the day, coaching, public speaking, volunteerism, women’s empowerment and the list could go on! The Nikki Clarke Network was founded by Nikki Clarke in May 2014. The network is a 24 hour inspirational online tv network. The network offers unique programming with informative and entertaining segments in the areas of business, lifestyle, health, wellness, beauty, music and food among many topics.
The show also airs on Rogers Channels 672/673 and Bell Fibe Channels 559/560.

The interview is going to be awesome!

Exciting Interview on the Nikki Clarke Show!

I was interviewed by the amazing Nikki Clarke for the Nikki Clarke Network on June 12th. Our engaging interview discussed everything from coaching to how to overcome blocks to success and how people can step into their authentic power as leaders and as speakers. The first part of our interview will be broadcast through her online radio station.

The Nikki Clarke Network was founded by Nikki Clarke in May 2014. The network is a 24 hour inspirational online tv network. The network offers unique programming with informative and entertaining segments in the areas of business, lifestyle, health, wellness, beauty, music and food among many topics.

The Nikki Clarke Show is also broadcast on two television networks: Rogers and Bell Fibe. Stay tuned for Part 2 of my interview!

Lessons in Abundance from Dr. John Demartini

One year ago, I had the pleasure of attending a conference where Dr. John Demartini was one of the keynote speakers. Dr. Demartini is an international best selling author, educator and public speaker focusing on high performance in human behaviour. He helps people develop the mindset and behaviours required to create success. Dr. Demartini started from incredibly humble circumstances and has achieved great success in his life. Recently, I was reflecting on his talk and here are three keys lessons that I am sharing with you. They are:

Our Values Determine Our Financial Destiny

According to Dr. Demartini there are certain characteristics and mindset that must be developed in order to build wealth. One of the main ones is that you must know your values. Your values determine what goals you go after in life. Dr. Demartini posits that our highest values filter i.e. determine our reality. In other words, you will always find the time and the money for things that you value most. For example, if you say that you value health the most, yet you live a sedentary lifestyle and drink and smoke like there is no tomorrow, chances are being healthy is not one of your highest values. More likely you value pleasure and immediate gratification above a healthy lifestyle. People need to look at what they value without judgment. Getting real with what we value and realizing if our lives demonstrate the opposite of what we value, that realization could be a turning point to make change in our lives. Knowing your values is important in goal setting because if a goal is not in alignment with your values, then there is a high probability you won’t achieve it. A big part of goal achievement is setting goals in alignment with our highest values which is important when it comes to building wealth.

Guilt and Shame Prevent People From Receiving Abundance

In my experience, people who are wealthy or affluent are comfortable with making and receiving money. Money is simply a tool that helps them achieve their goals in life. A key part of building wealth is by being receptive to abundance in your life. In other words, do you feel worthy to receive abundance in all its forms? Abundance can take the form of love, good health, wealth, pleasure, friendship and the list could on. People are often comfortable with some forms of abundance but deep down they don’t feel worthy to receive others. You are worthy because you were created by the Divine. If you feel unworthy you will self sabotage or not take the action required to achieve your goals. According to Dr. Demartini you be must be willing to move past, liberate and process any guilt or shame over incidents in your life that have prevent you from receiving abundance. Anything that you feel shame or guilt about find a way to process it in a compassionate and forgiving manner. One of the initial ways that you can start processing these feelings is by writing them down in a journal or diary. You could also speak to a trusted family member, friend or if need be a therapist to help you move forward. Remember that nothing in life is wasted. Through every experience you have been made stronger, more courageous and resilient! For whatever may have occurred in your life learn to love, forgive and have compassion for yourself.

Make a Contribution by Serving Others

While it’s amazing to be able to use or express your gifs, ensure that you’re using them to help others. Be willing to make a contribution to the world, don’t just take up space. Ask yourself on a regular basis, Wayne Dyer’s famous question, “How Can I Serve?” After all, you are as Dr. Demartini would say, “a citizen of the world.” You have the potential to impact people globally not just where you were born and grew up. Sometimes people don’t know how to contribute and the first step is looking at your gifts and figuring out how to help other others. Start generating ideas in order to make an impact. At the conference, Dr. Demartini asked the attendees to do an exercise where they generated ideas to use their gifts to build wealth and help others. He encouraged us to make the following lists. They are:

• List 200 ways that you can benefit by serving the most numbers of people.
• List 200 ways to invest.
• List 200 ways to accumulate a vast fortune.
• List 200 ways to leave a legacy.

Once you have these lists compiled go through them and pick the ones where you feel you can set goals and make the most impact. You will be surprised at how brilliant and creative you are when you generate your lists!

The overall lesson that I took from Dr. Demartini’s keynote speech is that we are here to serve and make an impact. We can let shame, guilt, excuses, unworthiness, failure, family, society among a myriad of reasons prevent us from fulfilling our purpose and destiny. Or we can make the courageous decision to: live our values, deal with our feelings compassionately and use our gifts to fulfill our purpose while helping others. Now that is an abundant life indeed!

Three Ways to Play a Bigger Game in Life!

Rick Tamlyn is an international coach, speaker and author of Play Your Bigger Game. In the book and in his speeches and workshops, he helps people live more meaningful and purposeful lives by elevating the way they play their game. The game being a metaphor for life. I attended one of his introductory workshops and here are some key takeaways that I learned about how to play a bigger game in life. They are:

1. Be laser focused when it comes to your priorities. The world was here before you or I were born and there is a good chance it will be here long after we have departed the mortal coil. Meaning that if you set out with the goal to change the world, you’re going to be frustrated. With all the issues in the world it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Does that mean that you don’t fight the good fight for causes you believe in or against injustices that exist in the world. Of course not. You continue to advocate for issues that you believe in and rail against injustices. To deal with the overwhelm when you want to make a difference, pick an area or areas where you can make the largest impact for the most amount of people and focus in on those areas. Each human being only has so much time and energy and being laser focused helps you to achieve your highest priorities. Being laser focused on your priorities means that you know how you want to contribute and the type of impact or legacy that you want to leave. Look at how you can positively impact your sphere of influence with the causes you believe in. Sometimes you don’t need to go far, you can start with your family, your work or your neighbourhood.

2. Have a vision and be committed to it. Often in life people lack the confidence to start working on a goal or project. They believe they can’t finish a project or reach a goal, so they don’t bother starting. Even if you don’t have everything figured out when starting out on a goal, your level of commitment can help you achieve that goal. Rick Tamlyn says that “the antidote to lack of confidence is being committed.” When you know your values and have a vision for your life, it is easier to commit to a goal even if all the details aren’t worked out. For example, if getting healthy was a matter of life or death for you, your commitment to being healthy and living would make you figure out the details. Knowing your values and having a vision for your life can help you with being committed to a goal. When you have a life vision , it’s very easy to commit to priorities that fit within that vision and say no to things that don’t.

3. Play (live) outside of your comfort zone. Rick Tamlyn says that, “Playing a bigger game will design who I become.” If you are continuously “playing it safe” and not learning or growing, you will find your life becoming stagnant. When you don’t set new goals or aim for new achievements, it’s challenging for new opportunities, people and things to come into your life. Stepping outside of your comfort zone may mean setting a new vision for your life where you have to let go of people, places, things as well as things about yourself that don’t fit into your new life vision. We are creative beings. At any time we can choose who we are and who we want to be. We are not limited by our past, family, or societal programming and conditioning. While it does take work to bring your vision or goals to fruition, it is worth the time and effort required. When you learn to play outside your comfort zone while using your gifts and talents to serve others, life is enjoyable and you learn to live your life purpose. So have fun, take those calculated risks, learn something new, reach out to someone and love with an open heart.

Here’s to playing Your Bigger Game!

Featured Speaker at Swift Networking Event on March 30, 2017

Are you a small business owner, entrepreneur or professional who is looking to connect with your ideal clients and grow your network? Speaking engagements are an excellent way to connect with potential clients and expand your network. On March 30, 2017, I will be a featured speaker at a networking event called: Swift Networking. I would love to see you there! The topic of my presentation is called: Develop Your Signature Speech. A signature speech is a presentation that outlines your key area of expertise when you are invited to speak at events. Developing your signature speech can help you to leverage your speaking engagements to connect with potential clients, maximize sales and other opportunities.

Developing your signature speech ensures that you are ready to speak on your area of expertise at a moment’s notice and attract potential clients and opportunities to you. In this dynamic workshop, I will teach you tips and strategies on how to develop your signature speech. You will learn:

– The components that you need to develop your signature speech.
– How to research your ideal target audience or clients.
– What you can do before your presentation to ensure that you maximize your speaking engagement.
– What you can do during your presentation to connect with potential clients and your audience.
– What you can do after your presentation in order to collect leads, maximize opportunities for sales and develop your network.

I’ll be speaking along with two other great speakers. Tickets are selling fast. You can purchase your tickets here!

Purchase Swift Networking Tickets

My passion in life is helping people to develop their leadership and communication skills to the highest level. It’s a privilege to be able to help people get their work out into the world. Feel free to reach out to me if I can be of service to you.

Looking forward to see you there!

Deborah