I was just reading this post over in the amazing Danielle Drews community "Public Speaking - Vocal Power", and I needed to share it with all of you here because this is gold from a lady that seriously knows her stuff. This is one of the most common questions I get.....and I understand.... Your Ego Wants Payment. But... Event Organisers Want Proof The key here is understanding this ...𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮. The skill is learning to recognise the currency. The most valuable things a stage gives you never show up on an invoice. They are... ✅ Proof: the assets. Video clips, photos, and testimonials that show you deliver. ✅ Prospects: the connections with people in the audience who may want to work with you. ✅ Partners: meeting organisers and influential people who can refer you to bigger stages. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒇, 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔. When you're starting out, take the chamber breakfast, the local association, the small podcast. Every stage is reps. It's how you sharpen your message, find your stories, and start building the proof that event organisers want to see. 𝐀𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬, 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥. Once you have strong proof and credibility, you can start choosing free gigs based on who's in the room and which of the three P's they're most likely to deliver. 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑧𝑧𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑤𝑛. 𝐾𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑎 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 In September I spoke at the 80th anniversary of our local Rural Fire Brigade. I didn't do it for exposure or leads. I did it because it was a chance to give back to people who serve our community. However I ended up meeting several high-profile politicians who were there to honour the brigade. Partners I never would have met if I'd only said yes to "strategic" gigs. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧: 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

I've got a few thoughts on this, but I'm keeping my mouth shut for now! 😂 Vote first. We'll talk about it shortly.

Oh, this was a cracking conversation, and I have a feeling a few of you are going to recognise yourselves in it. I certainly did! I finally managed to sit down with Lisa Adams from The Regulated Leader for one of our Skool Events Daily interviews. We've been trying to arrange this chat for ages, so it was lovely to finally get together. Now, here's something that really caught my attention. Have you ever known EXACTLY what you need to do to move your business forward, known it would help you, perhaps even paid good money to learn how to do it… and then proceeded to do absolutely everything EXCEPT that? Oh, I know that one rather well! 😂 Lisa explained how some of the things we put down to procrastination, overthinking or a lack of discipline can actually be connected to how our nervous system responds when something feels uncomfortable or threatening. And this is where it gets interesting. You might desperately want to grow your business, become more visible, start making videos or put yourself out there. But if being seen has felt unsafe to you in the past, your body may be putting up a rather determined fight against your plans. So instead of doing that video, you suddenly find yourself scrolling through Facebook, rearranging your desk or deciding that NOW would be an excellent time to learn something else! Sound familiar? 😁 What I particularly liked about Lisa's approach is that she's not suggesting we all need another enormous programme of work to add to our already overflowing plates. Quite the opposite. Her free 90-minute workshops are designed to help people recognise a pattern that's holding them back and walk away with one small, practical tool they can actually use. Not another notebook full of wonderful ideas that ends up gathering dust on the shelf. And believe me, I've got a few of those! Lisa also shared a lovely example of a client in his 50s who had always considered himself shy. His goal was to make just ONE YouTube video during their eight weeks together.

I've been having a lovely chat with Jude Hill, the woman behind Thrive Together Women's Circle, and we managed to cover everything from Akashic Records and past lives to business accountability, menopause and the general joys of being a woman! 😂 And that's rather the point of Jude's community. Women have an awful lot going on, don't we? We're building businesses, raising families, navigating relationships, dealing with ageing parents and occasionally trying to remember who the hell we were before everyone needed something from us! Jude has created a space where women can come together, support each other and actually talk about these things. We chatted about her regular networking and accountability sessions, the guest experts she brings into her community, and her upcoming Akashic Records healing and balancing session, which naturally got my attention because I find that whole subject fascinating. One thing I particularly liked was Jude's Daily Pockets of Sunshine. A little something positive to read with your morning cuppa instead of opening social media and immediately wondering what's gone wrong with the world today! But what really came through in our conversation was how important genuine connection is to Jude. It's not simply about attending another Zoom call. It's about finding women who understand what you're going through, who'll encourage you, share their experiences and occasionally give you that little nudge you need. And sometimes that's worth its weight in gold. So, grab yourself a cuppa and have a listen to our conversation. You might just discover a lovely new circle of women to connect with. You can connect with Jude Right Here ☕💕

Go premium and post your event in @Shannon Boyer The Skool Classifieds community, and lots of members will join your community. Of course, this is not guaranteed, but not only can they join your community, but they also add the date of your event to their calendar. 🟰 More members join your event, and more members join your community 🤷‍♂️ And Shannon also pins a post about your event. @Heather Wilson and I will keep posting about this until we're blue in the face. Well, Heather will 😁 Note: To do this, you have to join premium and also take Shannon's presentation course, and each event is $10.