The Speakers Life

In today’s episode of The Speakers Life we look at the value of going deep not wide as a speaker.

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Hi, there is James Taylor, keynote speaker and founder of SpeakersU. Today, I want to talk to you about the value of going deep, not wide in your speaking business, one of the challenges that we can sometimes find is even after you’ve identified that topic that you want to become known for as a speaker, is that it can sometimes feel so overwhelming or the opportunities out there, we can get hit with what we call a Paradox of Choice. So something I learned from speakers like Marilyn Sherman, and Bill Cate’s was not only did they choose their topic, but they chose an industry or few industries that they were really going to go deep on. So let me tell you how this can work for you. The first thing I would suggest is have a look at your topic and think about what is that first industry that you’re going to go to with it could be an industry, you know a lot about perhaps your work in this particular industry, you already know the associations, you know, the companies, you know what the challenges are going on in that industry, that’s an obvious first one to go for. So really stop pitching yourself to companies and associations in the industry around your top. But then I’d like to choose two other industries, one or the industry, have a look at your competitors. and see which industries they’re speaking to what you might find from that is this is this an industry that has a real need for your child, your your topic at this stage right now. But a third industry you might want to look at is an industry that you think is going to have a real need for your topic and your expertise in a period of one to three years. So it’s not like an immediate, it’s not the thing that they’re looking for right now. But you sense that it’s going to just the flow of things, you’re going to need your expertise speakers coming in on your topic to speak about. So once you identify those three industries, it’s about going deep, you’re going to research the associations, you’re going to research the companies, and you’re going to start pitching yourself to them. Now one of the benefits from doing this by going very deep in a small number of industries, is you become known as the go to Speaker not just on your topic, but on your topic and how it relates to that industry. This will put you in a class above many other speakers. So that’s my topic for today. Go deep, not wide, and you’re speaking. My name is James Taylor. Thanks for watching.

In today’s episode of The Speakers Life I talk with Pravin Shekar, keynote speaker on referral marketing about using virtual summits to get more speaking gigs.

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Hey, there is James Taylor and I’m delighted to have here today Pravin Shekar. Pravin is a startup specialist and parallel entrepreneur and speaker on agile entrepreneurship, guerrilla marketing, and business networking. He has KREA, which is India’s leading Healthcare Research panel, and is an angel and social invested in entities like INS eight, which is agile research, candy, which is a BPO. By and for the physically challenged, and KSE, which is a fresh cheese making entity and what I’m going to learn about this, he’s the recipient of the emerging leader in market research, the 440 Award from the American Marketing Association, and as president of the Market Research Society of India, and a trustee of the Japan stem cell research center. He described speaking as his alternative career, but one has taken him so far to four continents. Outside of speaking he is a keen photographer and images have been published in National Geographic traveler, and Lonely Planet. India’s my great pleasure have been with us today. So welcome, Pravin. Thank you very much, James, I look forward to it. So it’s fantastic having you here. I know you and I’ve been working there. But your speakers you remember, and I’ve been kind of coaching you. But But before we kind of get into I think you’re doing really cool things when it comes to online summits. Before we get into that. Tell me how did you get started in this world of speaking with the begin for you.

I’ve been speaking quite a bit. But on stage internationally, it was 2006 in Rome, when I did my first biggest speaking. And this was based on synopsis and ideas that you have to send across the dimensions before. None of this was paid until 2009. But I had my point of inflection, the talk that I gave in Switzerland catapulted me to another league. And that was possible, due to couple of mentors that I had. But that was when it started my speaking career, not the professional speaking. But the speaking part of it internationally started in 2006. Who, as you were getting started as a speaker, who were those early role models for you who are the speakers that you looked at. And so I like to be either have that type of career speaker, or you just really admired the craft. And now the way they spoke. I’ve been inspired by a lot of people. So I can’t name one role model. But I can name a couple of mentors. Now in the business sector, I have a business mentor called the G Krishna. When I was the beginning of my speaking career, he was there in all the talks. There was another gentleman Ray pointer, who was also instrumental in my 2009 talk. And these are people who might admired the way they captivated the audience. None of these are professional speakers, but they are speakers and entrepreneurs in their own right. So those are the two really big ones that I can name. But other than that, James, I love listening to talks and getting inspired because you never know these small bits that spark. Something has a little bit that grows on you. Absolutely. And united spent a lot of time together in Singapore, and also the the professional Speakers Association India that you’re heavily involved in as well. And you’re obviously a speakers you member and one of the things I was really impressed with what you did is one of the things we teach our speakers you about creating online summits or virtual summits. And and so a number of our members have created their own virtual summits. But you took it a few steps further. So first of all, tell us what what was it that interested you about the idea of doing virtual online summits?

I’m a crazy networker, James, I love meeting people, but then you meet with a purpose, the connections from them. So last year at the APSS Singapore summit, you did a pre convention workshop, and you blew our minds away from what a virtual summit is. That caught on, we then started the coaching part of it and us so free and giving the information I decided to continue on when I launched my first summit for the global reference summit, because as speakers as an entrepreneur, bulk of the business comes through word of mouth, and that’s the most economical way to grow your business, but there’s no strategy around it. So that was how the global reference summit came about. Because there is a need and not too many people know about the need. We followed your guidelines to the tee. But what we decided is, can we do a summit to raise awareness about blood cancer, that it is curable, that there is a particular need for people to be aware, because also in movies and TV serials here in India, James, if you’ve got blood cancer, you’re dead. But in specific cases, there is a possibility to reverse it. And that is why we tied up with G one, which is a nonprofit, to raise awareness that there is a cost like this that goes ahead and and does. So that was our first step, which is the global reference summit, 30 Global referral and word of mouth experts that was launched a couple of months ago, phenomenal success, and that’s setting the stage for the further science.

So what what did you learn about doing that very first time because often when, when I coach people on virtual summits, the first one I always tell is the most difficult because your learning curve is going to be the fastest. And you have you’re doing all these things in the technology and in this interviews, marketing, and what were some of the key learning points, you sent me some of the things that you really struggled with it first, yet to really develop learning on and what were those things that you found, actually, I really enjoy doing when creating a summit. So I’m an entrepreneur. And the first thing that comes to me is I have to do it myself. And I tried doing it myself in between my other professional speaking gigs. And a month after month after month, suddenly I had committed a summit because you have to 100 day challenge and hundred today and there was no summit inside. So first thing I did is form a team around. And I had a couple of really good guys. One guy is a rock star KP for the party, my colleague who became the Falcon. And once the team got set, James it was that much more easier for me to focus on strategy while the team took care of scheduling, the pre interviews the actual interview and taking care of the entire studio setup and having everything ready. The first three, four interviews, we made sure we brought in some big guns, we got celebrities, I had Bob bird, Ivan Meisner, and it was also that the HPC, Singapore, and that set the stage for the other speakers, because the first question that came up was is there. And the minute they heard these names, they said, Yes, I am legit, the conference is legit. Therefore we can go ahead and do. But for me, the biggest learning is former team. And it was the team, now you are watching me, but through me the team is getting pushed by you. Because we all have to read and have the standards of the template. And now as a thank you to the team, each one is running their own summit, which is going to be launched in August, November and early next year. So that’s from a company perspective, a thank you to each of them that I’m going to do the support role. And each one of them is going to host them on summit, one on remote sales slash inside sales, and other one on LinkedIn marketing. And we are also assisting a couple of other Indian speakers, the members of the professional Speakers Association of India to launch their own songs.

I love that model, what you’ve what you’ve done there. And and this is one of the things I was I think I mentioned it probably at that event in Singapore, I think the second or third summit I ever created. I did it with I mean, I’ve already got a team. But then I also brought in a co host, as well. And suddenly, when you have when you have a team, the two interesting things always happen, I think, first of all, is you have accountability instantly, because it’s asking, you know what’s happening, what stage is at. The other thing I think is very interesting from doing that is it brings in a diversity of ideas and views. And it allows you to just you almost like market testing in a very small way with a group of six people on a concept. There’s a danger, sometimes if you just do all try and do it all on your own, that you can do something and people when you launch, it wouldn’t work. And someone might say, Well, you know, think about doing this, if I don’t need so. So I love that model that you’ve done now. So you’re doing all these other summits and I love this and the LinkedIn summit, I’m definitely sign up for that one as well. And what So you mentioned this idea about networking with a with a person carpets. For you Where do you see these summits? Is it is it primarily around just word of mouth about raising your profile and the profile of the other people you’re working? Or is it generating leads? Or is it about bringing in sponsorship or something else? I could have said all three before the summit, but having run the summit, James, my biggest advantage of the summit is learning I get to speak and learn from 30 experts forget the 2400 subscribers who came in, I have to prepare for the meeting. And then during the discussion, they throw nuggets that I probably wouldn’t have considered. So to me, the number one reason why I’m going to be involved in all these summits is learning. Yeah, networking, of course will happen. Because if you and I don’t know, but we’ve spent half an hour talking that is spatial recognition that is top of mind and the minute you say outlier marketing, my name comes in the virtual summits are total than James Taylor comes in through. And that is my main reason is that I learned my subscribers and my followers will learn automatically. Yeah. And to, if I may, yes, what we have to guess from the 30 interviews, we have picked up eight to 10 points per speech, and are launching the key learning ebook from the 30 speakers. As a thank you a delight, thank you. But then every week, there is a gift that goes out to the deli and each of the speakers as a book as a program has something that they would like to offer. And that’s obby to thank you and also stay in touch with all the subscribers.

That’s fantastic. I love that idea. I remember seeing when mutual friend of ours, Shelly Taylor, who’s also a speakers, you remember when she did her summit, because she comes from being an author, primarily, it would be natural for her to create that book and a nine, I’ve never done with any of my summit shit. So I applaud you for doing I think it’s such a natural thing when you’ve taken in all that information. And and some people, frankly, they don’t have the time to go watch all the videos. And they just said, Can I just buy and some people like to read that’s how they they like learning. And if you’re able to create that piece of content for them, that provides it, you know, great value for them. So now, so now you’re starting to build, obviously, you’re speaking what what are some of your goals for the next year or so when it comes to the speaker part of proving right, just to take it to the next stage, which is why I signed up for this because you and your coaching James, I started my speaking career in 2006. But the professional speaking happened really about three to four years ago. And every stage is an inflection point. Now I’m at a particular stage. And one of the things that I learned from the business, Singapore this time is can I create multiple streams of revenue for me as a speaker? And to can my speaking business run without me actually speaking? Yeah. So if you ask my key goals, that is what I’m working towards. And that also means increasing my team expanding and investing a little bit more on creating IDs. And that’s where my thought processes headed towards right now. Because you’ve had this experience, obviously, coming from the business community and entrepreneurial community, you’re, you’re you’re thinking about those multiple streams of income. And I encourage you, any speaker, to have those different, you don’t have to have lots but just to have those different forms of income, because we don’t know what happens. Sometimes you might get sick, or maybe the market the economy crashes in the country, you speak a lot in and there’s no law, the word dries up there. And to have these different income streams just gives you more options. But I’m intrigued when you said that idea, the idea of building a speaking business where it doesn’t actually require for all the time for you to be speaking on stage, what is your thinking about that?

Book books, online training programs that go on consulting, as a protein shake a brand, a whole lot of my colleagues coming into the play, because my horizontal is marketing and my vertical is outbound marketing, which is non traditional marketing, especially when people are stuck doing traditional work, but they still want to grow, you’ve got to do different things to get on. And that is the area that for me Chico’s a brand as a speaker, and trying to be able to work towards. It’s an it’s an exercise I always do with, with companies on creativity, I do creativity training with different organizations, and it’s called the out exercise outrageous ideas. So for example, outrageous law firms have no lawyers, or what I actually use all the time I’ve mentioned people is mutual friend of ours, Frederick Heron, outrageous books have no words, he actually created a book which didn’t really have any words in it, which is so very, very well, a quarter million copies or something. But that’s actually quite useful thought experiment to do, outrageous speakers who don’t speak. And there was one I was talking about a conversation with someone the other day, who’s building a business, based upon initially that idea outrageous speakers that don’t speak. And what he’s been doing is he’s say his fee level is this amount. But he gets a lot of inquiries where clients, they can’t necessarily pay that. And in the past, what he’s done is he’s either given it to another speaker that he knows all or he’s given it to a speaker Bureau, for example. But what he’s doing now is he’s building in training, two other speakers, one that will be a little bit lower than him when it’s a lot price lower than him. That means now, when the client comes in and say, you know, we’d love your topic, we love the fact you speak on, you know, influencer marketing, for example, I would love to have you speak our event. But it turns out, they don’t have the budget, then it gives it will I tell you what, I can speak at it. But I’ve had this other speaker, who’s you actually can give my speech, I’ve had to give my speech on influencer marketing, and you can bring her in, and it’s for X X amount as well. So this idea, this idea of speakers who don’t speak using it as a thought experiment can be quite useful thing.

I’m an experiment, James, I’m an entrepreneur, experimenter. And all it takes is just a spark for me to try things out. And you never know that it goes exactly as you try it out. Now, for example, the first virtual summit for me is a video setup in the professional setup, using the tools and tricks that you mentioned. Now that the setup is there, I have started a new video interview series called em fail, where I talked to speakers, leaders, entrepreneurs, on their marketing failures, because nobody wants to talk about failures. everybody’s ready to talk about successes. But nobody talks about failures. And when I said this is going to be a weekly interview series, a lot of the entrepreneurs said, hey, I’ve got a story. Because my view as an entrepreneur, James, and you will relate to it as a coach is I would rather Learn from your mistakes and repeat that I can go and make new mistakes and share them with you. So I’m currently compiling a bunch of stories on marketing failures, which will become my stump speech in 2020. So So on that note, then I’m going to ask you the question of all the speaking, you’ve been doing, like speaking more professionals in 2009. Can you tell us about some a time when you worked on something, maybe a speech where you going and doing an event? And you gave it your all but something didn’t quite work out like you’d hoped? And what did you learn from that experience? You all have that don’t be my first talk in Jakarta. I was invited, flown over. Everything was because the the convention had had heard me speak in Berlin. And I had to go and repeat the same job markets adopted was my shtick for that year. And I went there, there was just zero audience participation. The faces were just playing. It was one of my first in that country. I was like, you’re almost halfway through as to what is happening is the audience even understanding, I slowed down my English, the only person nodding was the convention head, and one colleague of hers was when he speak, I went through the motion, finished the talk, got the claps, but I still had the confusion didn’t work. Until the I had to confront the organizer. At the end of the summit, she took me out to drink some popi lock, which is the most expensive, what did you get out there? And I asked her look, I have this nagging feeling that the audience just did not read, I did not relate to the audience. And I’d like to hear the feedback. They said, that’s how it is here that people have, do not show emotion.

When I asked them to be interactive, they will not be interactive. So that was a talk, that was a personal failure for me, because I had not prepared I had not spoken, I have not studied that country or the people out there. So the next time when I have to give a talk in Japan, I work with the organizers a couple of months in advance, I sent them my speech, or written speech for them to translate. And then they also had a simultaneous translator, who I spent some time with the previous evening, to work things out. And I had to mix everything up and that I had a far better response than the one I had in Chicago. So if you ask me for one of our my personal talks that I did not get a resonance, that would be the talks that I would refer to just fantastic. There’s different color, those cultural differences you find in different places. And I remember I haven’t spoken yet, but Lloyd Luna, who we both know, he said, he said, You’ve got to come to the Philippines, because the Philippines audiences are the most ecstatic, most exciting audiences. So and and you know your words that you go to some countries where the audience is, they’re enjoying the speech that you mentioned there. But they might be sitting with their, their hands. And you think i think i’m is this working is what is what’s going on here. And it’s only at the end, and they go fantastic and getting people coming up to you after but in the moment, it feels like it’s not working. So I guess it’s getting to learn those different, different cultures. And so you’re obviously based you’re in, in southern India, and China July, you’re highly involved in the professional Speakers Association of India, which is a great Association just had your, your conference, your annual concert few months ago in July, What’s your feeling about the Indian speaking market specifically, because this is obviously a country has been on the rise for many, many years, I was just reading a book yesterday about the rise economic rise of of India, how you feeling just now but the Indian speaking market is evolving James for ears. There was no concept of being speakers at best LPA, the airfare and then you come over, I’ll take you out for a drink kind of mentality. But that is changing. But it’s a big ship, turning it is going to take time, which is where the professional Speakers Association is also evangelizing and educating the market market that you go watch a movie you pay for it. It’s a three hour movie. Here, it’s not just my one hour of talk, but the hours of preparation, the lead up to the talk. So I can add value to your organization or to your convention. So we are in the process of evangelizing it, you’re very confident it will work through. But as I said, it’s a big ship, it’s going to turn slowly, but on it will see so that movement from going from Brianna and other countries have gone through that same same challenge. And they’ve kind of come out now. And this year starts people who stopped paying a small amount and then gradually over time it comes out. And then inevitably, in any field, you’re going to obviously see it will see this in India as well, you have this superstar speakers there as well, who you know, will get the get the big bucks, but behind them, they bring a new generation of speakers that are coming through.

So I’m hugely optimistic about India, as a country for, for speaking. And I say this, especially anyone who’s watching or listening to this just now, the thing excites me a lot of India is because you have a large English speaking population. Obviously, there’s lots of languages spoken across India. But it’s one of those countries where you can go into business the same everywhere. Where if you’re a native English speaker, you can you know that there are already audiences. And obviously, you have a massive middle class and growing middle class. And other challenge in front of us is our members. Most of them are very good speakers, but they don’t know that they are delivering a value and they can actually go ahead and charge plans for it. So that’s a bit of training. And that’s a book that I’m writing. James, I reached out to you earlier for that, which came out of lunch conversation with the members of the better local chapter of the PCI, except for me, and I’ve been speaking for five years. But how can I go ahead and charge? How did you get your first speaking gig? So it was a wonderful two hour lunch. And I promised you write a note. And the note became longer longer. It’s now a 50 page ebook really quick, 25 minute read. But then I said that’s for our members. And I’m going to pass it across three, with comments from you, Frederick and a bunch of others as to how you got your first paid speaking gig, and how they can go ahead and charge how much to charge, how to ask without being sheepish is a note that that’s my wiki work. It came out in a couple of weeks. And that’s something that I’m sitting across.

Fascinating and, and actually I just saying that I was also thinking terms of going the other way, one of the best speakers in the world Minaj, my Sudan. And my knowledge is the Toastmasters. I think he’s the he’s won it twice, best speaker in the world. And I remember him and I having a conversation once about something he calls the alien advantage, where he always felt that in his home country, he was never, he wasn’t he was never given the fees appreciated as much as when he goes abroad. And he speaks abroad. So he and I find this as well. So I’m obviously from the UK. By really speaking my home country, most of the time, I’m speaking in Asia, Middle East, like South America as well. And it’s a funny thing. So I actually wanted to whether we’re the the Indian speaker superstars that are going to be coming through, they will become superstars not in India, but actually in other places as well. And who knows, let’s see, let’s see what happens. I mean, we think it I mean, I think just that the not a football fan, but there was a big match here recently. And it was the the, the Egyptian footballer for Liverpool. And you know, he’s probably one of the most famous, you know, if you want to go and give a speech, you give a speech on anything in in the UK just now as well. But how much you would get paid? If you give it an easier I’m also Sure. So as I think there’s a very interesting kind of inflection point at the moment and anyone that’s watching this or listening to this now highly encourage you try and get to the PSA. Professional Speakers Association of India is one of their annual conferences, I believe the next one’s happening in, in New Delhi. In Delhi, the first and second effect, fantastic dancer and we’ll put some links here to that as well. So just switching things up a little bit. I as a question, I always ask them any speakers that I interview is, what is in your speaker bag? What is it that bag that you carry with you to all of your various speaking engagements, whether you’re speaking in Japan or Jakarta, or in Jaipur zoom recording Because bookmarks and my books, and you mentioned your books, so how, because this is something I often think about for speakers you’re traveling, I do normally have them shipped in advance to the place that you’re speaking in? Or do you try and get the client to buy a certain number of books in advance, or you just you just have a big box that you take with you.

I’ve done drop shipping, my publisher takes care of that. And then certain cases I carry them through with me when it’s just a sampler. My experiment with getting the clients to buy it has not been too much of a success. And I don’t want to push that that much. And my is a hit. They buy the books themselves on Amazon. So that kind of works out. And do you have an online resource or an app or a tool that you use, you find very important for the work that you do. I love Evernote. And I fell in love with it three years ago was writing my first book. And that’s you never know when inspiration will strike your James so it could be for me. I love watching movies and TV series and I have an Evernote called dialogue diaries. So you never know when a dialogue inspires. And I quickly posit write that down. And at least two or three instances, I’ve had an entire speech come out of that one dialogue because it despise you so much. Fantastic. So just capturing when the idea idea comes to you. And let’s imagine proving you have to start again, you have to start from scratch. This time. No one knows who you are, you’ve you, you have no connections, but you haven’t the knowledge that you’ve acquired over the years of speakers, author and entrepreneur, what would you do? How would you start things, invest in a team invest in automation significantly to build the brand and give value before I sell myself as a speaker? Okay. So that is what I will do it the first thing? Well, I mean, it’s been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today. Thanks so much for coming on. I think what you’re doing just now with virtual summits, online summits now you’re building them and training other people and and I think it’s amazing. I really looking forward to seeing the success of these. And especially I know you’re doing a lot of them for nonprofits as well, which I see is a big area, that’s a lot of opportunity there. What’s the best place for people to go to learn more about you, maybe they want to refer you for a speaking opportunity, or they want to learn about your online summits, would be my personal website, pravinshekar.com. Fantastic. I’m going to put those links here as well, proving thank you so much today. I wish you all the best with all the summit’s you’re doing you’re speaking, and I’m looking forward to sharing a stage together at some point in the future. Oh, and thanks a lot James for seeding and sparking the creativity through speakers you it’s been a phenomenal learning the last one year, as I said, not just for me, but for my team as well. So heartfelt thanks for all of us here to you, James. keep rocking.

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In today’s episode of The Speakers Life I talk with Moustafa Hamwi, speaker on passionpreneurship.

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Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript

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Hey, there is James Taylor and I’m delighted today to be joined by Moustafa Hamwi. Moustafa Hamwi is considered as one of the world’s top experts on the use of passion to spark creativity entice innovation and awaken the entrepreneurial spirit of a true leader. He has been ranked as one of the top 100 leaders of the future by the world’s number one executive coach, Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, as well as that he received the nickname as Mr. Passion by the great Tony Busan, who’s inventor of mind mapping. It’s my great pleasure to have Mr. Phone join us today. So welcome, Moustafa. James, and Hello, all the passionate listeners speakers out there. So share with everyone what’s happening in your world today. Where are you in the world today? I am in Uzbekistan, in Tashkent, that’s in the Central Asian Central Asian country. And currently doing some work with the government here on acceleration startup acceleration. Part of it is speaking part of it is coaching part of is actually me accelerating my own startup. And we’re very close to closing a funding round on a on an epic startup. Amazing. So you’ve lived in different parts of the world, you were in Dubai, no for a long time as well, you know, as it is Pakistan, as a speaker who could pretty much live anywhere you wanted to why did you choose as Pakistan to use as your as your home base?

Well, I mean, it has two sides with first side of it is my wife is was Vic, so that was a no brainer. He just come here, it’s easy. But also what I realized for a global lifestyle, and and I talked about this in my book, Lyft, passionately, my upcoming book, you really need to know what’s really important for you. So it’s easy to say no to what’s not important for you. And this way, your dollar gives you a lot more mileage also. So I know what I care for, I know what I don’t care about, and everything else in between doesn’t really matter. It’s all customizable. So being somewhere where you’re running expenses are very low. Where you You are not having to pay so much as the main major cities, I realized a big advantage because when I need to go somewhere, I get on a plane and go otherwise, most of my expenses are taken care of a lot lower costs. So that gives you options is that get a sense of freedom. You’ve seen you talk about passion. And I know a lot of something that that ties a lot of entrepreneurs and speakers is this sense of freedom having this kind of personal freedom is autonomy over how they spend their days and their lives. Well, if you want to be free, you have to free yourself from two things location and time. So as long as you can choose your location and time, the amount of money you need is not a lot. It’s just about being smart on how to manage your dollars, which means what an entrepreneur that money goes into business. And then slowly, all personal expenses are becoming business expenses, and kind of you have a merge lifestyle. Of course, that’s not for everybody. This is for somebody who truly knows their passion and really wants to live a what I call a lifetime die for you really well, because you got to really know what’s important and what’s not. That applies for personal life that applies to business. But when you apply to both, and you have clear decision making criteria, even yes or no or negotiations for business deal totally different.

Now something we share, we actually share a number of things in common. The first is we both kind of came from the world events, live events. For me it was working with music industry and different password. I know you worked a lot in terms of nightclubs events in Dubai and and didn’t pass to the Middle East. And then we made a both made transitions in our careers in terms of being speakers and we both did it pretty fast in terms of getting that first stage up. And something that you did very early on I know that can really help you get known in your field and amongst other speakers and experts was you interviewed 160 leaders, top leaders. First of all, tell me about that, that transition and making that decision to going through something as intense as interviewing all these top leaders. So let me rewind a little bit. I mean, you said I used to run one of the biggest event agencies in Dubai around up until about the crisis 2008 to 2010 and did some consulting and then bought a one way ticket to India on my soul search journey. Meta Swami did the whole kind of a you know, Eat Pray Love monk Who Sold His Ferrari journey without getting into the details. But that journey basically made me come back and seek purpose and seek something more meaningful in my life. Because in my previous life, it was all about the business. And it’s great. And you know, events are great, but there’s an emptiness at the end of every event. I finished the event and I feel really empty. I’m like all the fun and happiness is gone. And I realized what was missing for me is the impact that the events were leaving. I was in entertainment, I was product launches. I was doing nightlife events, and I was missing purpose. And when I came back, I did one talk called Cavalli to Minnelli about my journey of buying one way ticket leaving on my lifestyle going to India and coming back. And few months later, and that talk was just like one of those TEDx type events. And a few months later, random guy sees me in a hotel walks up to me goes, Hey, you’re that speaker guy? I said, Yeah, he goes, you did your talk about India. I said, Yeah, he goes, You changed my life. And I was like, wow, that’s what I want to be doing.

And and from there on, I’m like, okay, I cancelled all the contracts that I had with me. I’m like, this is what I’m going to be doing full time I start speaking about passion about my journey, I realized companies didn’t want to pay me to come and talk about how I bought a one way ticket to India. should have thought about that before I quit. Again, product market fit you you quickly found out that the thing you initially went out with it didn’t fit wasn’t as good for the market. So then you can have figured out what was good what the market like I mean, listen. Yeah. But here’s the thing is I was driven by passion. Eventually I became Mr. Passion. So yeah, on a short term, on a short term, it was not a very good decision. But what it taught me is I was sink or swim situation. So I really had to figure out a solution. So it was a double or nothing, I was either either going to get screwed, go back to what I was doing, which I was not willing to do. I bought a one way ticket to India, I do skydiving for fun. So when you jump out of planes for fun, you pretty much got a couple of screw loose screws loose in your head, and you can really make some crazy decisions sometimes. So I decided I’m like, Listen, I’m I’m in it to win it. I’m not quitting on this, even if it costs me What’s the worst that gonna happen? I’m going to die. Guess what I want. I want this is where the whole kind of my motto of life to die for came up where I’m like, Listen, I was fed up with my life one way ticket to India, I don’t want to end up in the same situation again, I really want my life to be worth dying for. And if it’s going to mean I’m going to die, not succeeding in this, I’m still not quitting on it. This was pretty much my goal. And I had to figure out what the heck am I missing? I’m working hard. My story is genuine. I know I’m here to serve people. I was driven by a guy who said you changed my life when I was a successful business died before but I’m unable to get this business off the ground. What am I doing wrong? And and then within a span of it. So there’s a lot that contributed to that. And the first thing is I basically launched an online talk show, because when I started my speaking career, I was just emceeing for for as an opener it was it was a coincidence with with our friend Gautam Galanti right selection, and he had Marshall Goldsmith coming into the event.

He was speaking at an event and the MC full class minutes. And he calls me and I said, Okay, you know what, I would love to do it. You know, he goes, Well, listen, we you know, this is pretty much type of the kind of brat co branding work or barter work. So if you want to do it, we’re not paying because really an MC is not necessary. For us. It’s a luxury event is already a free event. So we really don’t accumulate costs and it doesn’t need a professional MC. I said, So who’s speaking he goes Marshall Goldsmith. I’m like, okay, but I have one condition. You give me five minutes to speak my own speech. So I’m not just the mouthpiece was saying welcome. Hello, everybody. I just want to add value for five minutes. You give me five minutes on the clock. It says fine. Five minutes is ok. I prepared for a full week for those five minutes. Like I’ve been a full week in not exaggeration as a for a full week. Well, I didn’t have much to do remember at the beginning, I was struggling getting jobs also because my story wasn’t resonating. And I wasn’t really an MC. So I’m not. I’m not an MC, but I’m not a father speaker. And I’m like, boom, this happens. So this was I’m gonna blow this out of the house. There’s nothing gonna stop me. One week of preparation, I made an opening that when Dr. Marshall Goldsmith came in, it was like probably the best best intro opening that ever happened in the room. And it was an instant kind of clicked phenomenal. We clicked and we flowed. He was I love the guy. I admire him. He’s just a phenomenal thought leader. And that was my break into the speaking because what happened is people were like, Oh, we like this guy. So then then got done with call me the next time and he says, Listen, dude, people like you. Do you want to do this next event? Who’s speaking? Oh, Ron Kaufman. Oh, next event who’s speaking and with every event, my condition became I want 10 minutes. I want 15 minutes. So you see, I’m I gave my credibility because remember, you’re talking to one of the top, you know, Speaker bureaus around represent the listener.

So they’ve got to be really protective of their brands. So So I did all what I could do to make sure every time I’m getting more mileage with the audience and with the Bureau and with the speakers. So on the next but something was still not kicking in because only the people would see me in the room would figure out like, Okay, this guy’s great. But I’m not getting that big media exposure around that you post on social media. This, I’m like, you know what, I’m a media guy. Originally, I’m a PR guy and events guy, I want to meet the idea. I’m like, you know what, I was looking ready for your Lewis house, all of them have, you know, interview shows, and so on. But actually Murray folio particularly, I like to be on camera. I know how to handle camera. And I’m like, I was standing there defense. I’m like, I’ve got Dr. Marshall. I can see camera guys in the back of the room that are already part of the whole Barker of the of the event. So it’s kind of everybody’s chipped in into the part of the event. I’m like Dr. Marshall, do you mind if I interview you on my show? He’s like, Yeah, sure. What are we talking about? I said, passion. It was literally like this because I had transitioned from talking about purpose by buying my one way ticket to India, because that was too heavy for corporates, and I realized fashion is a little bit sexier. People like that a little bit more. So I started speaking about passion. And I’m like, Okay, well, passion is purpose for me. So that’s part of my whole definition of fashion. Fashion is purpose so fine. You want to you want to call it passion, let’s call it passion, but its purpose for me. And the interview was very unprepared. If you go do it now and watch it with this brief you would see it was literally Hey guys, I’m excited here to have we have Dr. Marshall Goldsmith number of goals number one executive coach and I just rolled on with it literally five minutes on the camera woman that was my first and I’m like, you know what I love this speakers are here. Everybody wants to transit Dubai, it’s giving me a flow to put myself out there. And I insisted on my interviews being face to face. Because unlike the podcast, everybody’s doing podcast, but not everybody’s getting face time with these people. So this is going to be my unique point which is going to put me a notch everybody else was doing podcasts. I’m great on camera, they’re loving it, boom, you know, immediate niche area. And then I started getting better and better at it to an extent where I started even traveling around the world to film and interview some of those and that I did to the APS SS Asia professional speaker summit. I flew there and I managed to figure out a way and I to eat interview 30 people in one go in one day.

That’s heavy duty. Someone is this done those types of things before 30 in one day isn’t pretty intense experience if you’re the if you’re the host you’re doing it doing the interviewing, here’s the thing I thought I want to challenge myself I’m like maybe I got lucky I had too much coffee that they they were great speakers. And, and and the APS serve me in another way because I delivered the talk there. And and the speakers loved it. And a few of those speakers were on the committee that was running the global speakers summit next year in Oakland. So I get invited to deliver a talk over there also, for two reasons. One of them when I was at the APSS people are like, how long have you been speaking for him? You know, we’ve got Marshall Goldsmith, calling you world’s number of you know, top hundred coaches and Mr. And Tony was on calling. I mean, a lot of those happened during my interviews, you know, my interviews gave me access to become close friends. And I’m NT of Marshall Goldsmith. I co authored the book with Brian Tracy, I got nicknamed mr. cash by Professor Tony bizarre, you know, the amount of of what I got out of those interviews, because I was truly passionate about them. It was not just another interview, I was coughing cash out of my pocket to travel and meet people face to face. So I end up on the global speaker summit. I’m like, I want to see if I can do that again. Can I hit my number again, I did. Again, I did 32 interviews in Australia, not to the global speaker summit. But at the Australia speaker summit. I did 32 interviews, again, which some of them became even my business partners and affiliates. And it was just a system. And this was my event site because I learned that one day as an event, from the minute to the registration, you know how you automate a lot of what we did? Well, I took that to the next level because there’s physical interaction. reminders, SMS is guidance and the hotel directional signage is waiting area outside the room, having to having two computers with two chips, while the camera guy finishes with one interview me disconnects it so he doesn’t run out of battery and other chips. So I basically spent a little bit more the needed on some costs, but that gave me 200% mileage. So I just know I do this, I can like go for a year worth of interview in 48 hours.

And anyone watching or listening to this just now the point we want to get across is imagine if you did want to start with it in your area near you. In every area of topic. There’s usually a couple of big conferences a year. What if you did a deal with that conference? And listen, I will be the messenger, I’ll be Yeah, I’ll be the consultant as part of this. And I’m going to do all these interviews and we’ll give you you can do low bashing, even getting space. And we’ll give a little bit of content that you can use for social media. And then we take the main the main content, and we can use that as well. So just really quick. And I guess this goes to your entrepreneurial nature. You’re very kind of entrepreneurial thing that and I’ll give you I’ll give the folks are watching this. Another little hint into was DARPA’s entrepreneurial nature. I was speaking in Dubai recently. And I was actually one night I was in Dubai one day, Dubai next day, I was in Abu Dhabi. And and you came along, we got a chance to meet and you’re obviously your speakers, you remember as well above our speakers, you trade. And we were we were talking about Dubai, but you know, it’s like events, they’re really busy and like how can we how can we spend some proper time together and focus time together? I knew quickly I said, let’s let’s share cars together, head back to Abu Dhabi, which is about you know, 75 minutes drive or something. And so basically, together, we talked, we brainstorm for that 75 minutes, I think that’s, that’s that mindset of being open to being creative, to be innovative, to be open to trying different things and being can improvise ation, I think you’re you’re someone is very good at that. But something also I’ve noticed that you’re quite different from a lot of other speakers out there. Most of the speakers out there are lone Wolf’s me, you might call them. But you’ve always been pretty good at building teams around what you do to kind of support you and one of those is, yo yo yo speaking you have another part of your business as well, which is all around the publishing side. So describe to people you know that that publishing piece, what that’s about and how that can support what you do and how you build a team around that.

So we basically I mean, first or to your point about collaboration, I one thing I learned from being in the nightlife, you cannot have a party on your own. You know, it is unfortunate a lot of a lot of the speaking industry is changing. But there is a lot of it, as you said that everybody is in that lone wolf space, and they feel lonelier and lonelier. And they don’t like it, but they don’t know the solution. And the solution is just understand that the pie is big enough for everybody. The business is evolving. You don’t know who’s going to help you. And I like to call that competition. You know, yeah, we kind of compete, but it’s a sport at the end of the day. I don’t hate the person who’s racing with me in the race. He’s got a you know, good luck to the best Professor may the best women If not, it’s a sport, you know, I win some you win some, there’s enough for everybody. And we grow an industry, that’s always been my thinking. And I come from that space. So in the in the journey of getting myself acknowledged, yes, the interviews are great for me. And the more I did, the better I did. And by the way, another use of all of this interviews is now we have a system where we distill those into books. So my upcoming book live passionately, is pretty much a distillation of those hundred and 60 interviews. Some people I actually interviewed twice, once one was about like Dr. Marshall I interviewed twice, one was about passion. The second interview, I actually did a spin off version, which I haven’t released to the market yet, but 30 episodes around the world the secrets of the world’s most passionate speakers, because I want to know how fashion contributes to making you a better speaker. So it’s just that, you know, I already have in the pipeline. So many books out of these interviews, so much social media content, so much like it’s been almost a year, I haven’t added new content, because I have so much content that I can recycle and cut and chop and play. And with. It’s an asset base, and I made some amazing contacts. So I’m like, one thing is missing. A lot of people have I mean, I have a differentiating factor on the video and the personal and the quality and all of this. But here’s the thing. Still, everybody’s got online content. Everybody’s got videos, everyone’s got podcast. So you you would it gives me an aha, when somebody sees this, these numbers and they see me next to them. But until they do your drowned in the crowd of internet of everybody interviewing everybody to be everybody, I’m like, I need something else to step up my game. So in one year, I became one of the acknowledged as one of the top hundred coaches in the world. Second year, I speak at the global speakers summit as always great. But there’s something else that needs to set me apart. Because as you said, I got in there, I found the industry, not generally but you know, some people, some people not necessarily collaborative. And I’m like, Well, I’m used to working with people. So I don’t know what to do, I need to stand out a little bit from the rest. And I realized all those major speakers were authors.

And I had seen that Brian Tracy co authored books. So when I interviewed him, I’m like, perfect opportunity. I’m like, Brian, I love you know, I’m a fan of yours. We’ve been working, I’ve done a couple of times with him when he came with became very close friends. And I said, How can I co authored a book with you? And then he offered me a solution. So we worked on that collaborative book. And then I became an author. And that immediately took me from just a speaker, because yes, there CSP and all of that. But until you do it, anybody can call themselves a speaker. And I’m like, how can I take that a level up. And the book made me an author, and an author really requires you to produce a book, it’s not as simple as calling yourself a speaker, although not all speakers are made equal. But an author gave me that step up above the rest of the speakers that were around. So it made it easier for a client to say, you know, what, if they haven’t seen me live before, they would say, well, this guy’s an author, he’s a, I always say author equals authority. So then a lot of people started coming to me and saying, What’s the for? How did you do your book, you know, and then we came up with ways of helping people. And next thing I found myself is producing those books for a lot of the speakers and experts and entrepreneurs that I worked around. And we have multiple solutions, where one of them we could take the interviews, if we structured and coach on how to run these interviews, pre planned, all of those get converted and become a book. And other solution that I collaborate with, with with another partner of mine who I met on one of my interviews where we do a recording system. So as a speaker can come to us give us a we work with them on creating a template, and a blueprint of the book. And then all they do is just record it using their iPhone. And guess what all we need is about five hours, that’s not too much for a speaker, five hours of speaking would give you a 200 page book, if done in structured well. And this is something that we’ve mastered now by producing a lot of books using that analogy, and we do it turnkey. I’m like listen, if somebody is wanting to nickel and dime, they’re not my client, I don’t want to deal with them, I came up with a mentality of Listen, just put money in invest, if it’s an investment, spending a few hundred dollars, or $1,000 more is not going to break the bank. You make money by being on stage, you make money by being an entrepreneur.

So really don’t haggle. Let us do our job. So I can pay everybody very well around me in the teams that I’m dealing with. So they can give you an internet service. You come to us, you work with us on an idea. Six months later, you have a book printed and delivered to your doorstep wherever you are in the world. And we set up an author page for you. And we set up videos and we do the whole shebang. So thank you solution. So this is really the two things that differentiate us is the fact that we can take your words and convert them into a book in a systemized process. And we do it very cost efficiently, very fast and end to end. So you don’t have to worry about the little details. I think something else that you pointed out there. I mean, I love the idea of this competition. And I am a huge believer in that as well. Not just in the speaking but from other business I’ve been involved in as well. I’m a big there’s, there’s, there’s more than enough business out there followers. And it’s about how we build a UC boat, you know, increases the size of the pie. But in doing that you also wreck it you’re recognizing who your kind of ideal customers were you said, I want to be what we saw in this nickel and dimed. I remember talking to you before, obviously, there’s there’s lots of solutions out there for people go to work with a publisher to publish whatever it is, yeah, I mean, there’s all there’s services out there. But you’ve picked up something which I think is is definitely strong in the in the Middle East, like places like UAE, and also in number of other countries as well. And when you’re working with more C suite people as well, they want a service, they don’t want to be going in there setting up their Amazon KDP accounts or you know, all these kind of things that you have to do. They just say, I just want to hire the best, I want to be able to work with that. So you’ve identified your, your place in the market, your ideal type of customer there as well.

And yeah, there’s other people out there that let the competition have have them I that’s not the customer that I’m I’m trying to go for as well. I’m just pulling back a little bit to your your speaking side, though. So you’ve been building all these things, the video side during that branding that way, you’ve been, obviously, publishing pieces, going back to the actual the core of the speaker and getting up onto those stages can tell us about a time when you, you you out there, you’re giving a speech, you’re working on something, and you put everything into it, for some reason didn’t work out like you’d hoped. And more importantly, what was the lesson you took from that experience. So you’re talking about every single event know you’re living in a dream world of everything goes according to plan. But I’ve been doing events in different angles, whether on stage or off stage for about 20 years, another single time it goes according to plan. I mean, it goes perfect to plan and something else goes wrong somewhere else, you know, some odd guy opens the door and walks through halfway through the presentations. There it is, is something that’s the fun. But I had I had a couple of of good learnings to say on my journey being being a perfectionist, and being so passionate and wanting to always stand out. And what I do, I kind of complicated my life a little bit with the quality of the presentations that I deliver from a fact that they’re a little bit more complex that require everything to be theatrically organized. So everything has to be exactly where it’s meant to be because I put so much energy and passion to it. And it’s more like kind of a show on fire I’m putting it in. So I need a pretty much full production team for something like this. And this is something at this scale, when you go up is what Tony Robbins does. He’s got a he’s got a front of house team, you know, maybe 2030 people in the back room. It’s a rock rock concert type of production.

So because of that my presentation runs in an order where I speak in a certain way. So I need my computer in a certain position and I need certain connections. So yeah, talk about being a prima donna in a way. But that definitely makes a huge impact on my business. And at the beginning, I first year, always still but first year, I had almost zero error margin on everything had to be perfect to the point. And guess where the biggest mess up always happens is not relating to you relating somebody else. So you know, somebody from the technical team thought they knew better. Although I asked for something, they provide something else and, and I have a they’re like, oh, I’ll give me your presentation. I’m like I’m running on a keynote on a Mac, you’re running off a PC on PowerPoint, you’re talking to me about two days worth of work of redoing a full presentation to give it to you with the animations and everything. It’s not going to happen now. I lost my temper and kind of a bit, you know, started kind of yelling at the AV guys and everything. Because it was a big project for me. And they kind of screwed up royally because I was going to go on stage and be below average to see my presentation is not functioning, the the transitions, the fonts, the colors, everything was out. And I had spent a lot of time and money on this. So in a way, that was not really good because it also caused a bit of tension and friction around and of course, the client came and interviewed and he was apologizing. But it brought a lot of unnecessary tension and friction. So I kept on trying to develop a detailed technical writer, then I realized the guys never read it, then I started adding up on the bottom you have to sign I want to know who’s the actual person and get their number. So I can call them in on that density or myself. But the end of the day, I’m like, well still messed up. So eventually I’m like, you know what, I started transforming a lot of the things that I started carrying my own stuff, you don’t have an HDMI cable, I have a 10 meter HDMI cable wherever I go, you don’t have clicker, I have four or five clickers, I have all the adapters, I have all the card readers, I pretty much carry a very heavy bag when I go but I’m like at the expense of losing the energy and the flow. And I made it now something that’s a KPI for me that the experience for everybody involved in the event is great. So so and that that became apparent on when a few clients recently the Pfizer didn’t invent for Pfizer and buckle in as our vision. And they send me an email. And that was for me like, yes, it took me a couple of years. I’m like, what, what is it that you enjoyed, he says, we got amazing feedback from everybody that was available not only about your talk, the experience of your you being with us in the event from beginning to end, you You came before you stayed after for lunch, you talk to people, the whole experience. And that was a big aha, because you know, evolving from being just about the speaking were fine.

I mastered my craft of, you know, putting myself as one of the top in the world in what I do and what I deliver. But then I started moving horizontally as a business and saying, What’s my customer experience? And this is something I’ve benefited when I interviewed Ron Kaufman, you see the value of these interviews is not only about media, when you’re doing it with old heart, you’re learning you’re sitting with the world’s best of the best looking them in the eye and asking straight questions. Those hundred and 60 interviews made me a different person. And I evolved from being just a speaker just thinking of myself as a business. And I’m like, what’s my customer experience from the beginning? They want to book me to the, to the minute they finished everything. And yes, sometimes the technicals are not going to go perfect, but I’ve made up for it in so many ways, my speaking is already above average, I’m happy there, let’s not complicate it and use the energy in other areas. And essentially, I mean, that that you’re absolutely like creating that entire experience. So when the teams after the event when they all do their debriefs as well, and so you know, the speakers Mustapha, yeah, fantastic, you know, really delivered, and also great, because he came in before, and he was speaking to the sponsors, and all that kind of that actually all adds up to a huge amount. And I think when it comes to technology, I’m the same as you I’m, I’m a bit of a perfectionist and a lot of things. And so I carry my pad with me, my bag goes with me all the speaking gigs, even though it adds all the weight to the luggage we carry. And I 100, I had to kind of make a decision because I was getting more and more levels of complexity in the types of presentations I wanted to give, and you get certain places I’m in Saudi Arabia speaking recently. And it just that AV team just going to happen. No, it would affect so I’ve actually moved completely back the other way. And simple, you know, very simple fonts as well, because that’s, you know, especially if you’re moving back and forth between Macs and things, I can get screwed up sometimes. And I’ve actually been going a little bit more more minimalist and then trying to then in terms of presentation, the visual presentation is more minimalist. So I can then amp up the actual me the me bit on stage and interaction with the audience. And so yeah, so it’s a it’s funny, that blend about what’s right for you, because sometimes you can go to those events. I spoke at one last week. And abt were awesome.

Like, they were just component like, everything was like we knew it before we needed it. But then that’s
no. But remember, early on I, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And the only but I was playing was as a speaker. So really, my goal, you know, I had a certain goal. I’m like, I am going to be one of the best in what I do. Not only because I’m you know, I believe I’m a good natural born speaker, but also their skill you see in passion mastery I talked about you know, there’s there’s talent, there’s knowledge and their skill. A lot of people depend on talent and talents is not not enough. Talent can make you hustle, but you don’t play top. You don’t play top sports. And you know what I learned this, I did an interview with Tasha Denver’s she’s a two time Olympian, US Olympian team. So on one of my interviews, she said, she said, she said, you know, in Olympics, everybody’s good. You know, it’s like, Who do you think you are, you’re competing for a split second. So really, it’s a it’s about a lot more than just how good of a runner you are, there’s so many other things around it. And, and being a great international speaker is a lot more than just being a great speaker. It’s how you I’ve seen it, you know, I this is why I love we flipped. Well, it’s like, the system ization and how you conduct business as a business not just as a speaker, and funny coming from an events guy and a serial entrepreneur. But at that time, I wanted to build my skill set as the talent as the speaker, and I got it to somewhere my learning is to the other speakers is that try to look at what else represents you as a business person. And what other touch points because it’s not only about speaking, it is about you delivering an experience end to end with your speaking because you’re brought in to be an inspire a trigger, a provocative thought leader. So really, it’s not just about what you say, or how you say it. And it’s not just about what happens on stage. What are you giving away, for example, I started throwing in a lot of freebies, online courses, book stuff. So really think about how do you engage to develop fans while you’re speaking not just while you’re on stage.

So a couple of final questions for me. First of all, what if you do recommend one book, your author yourself, but not one of your books, a book that could help any speakers watching this on your developing their craft on the business or mindset? What would that one book be? Very good question. Well, aside from my books, obviously. But if you see, I believe that the Bible of personal development for me is Think and Grow Rich, you can you can never, you know, you can never go wrong with that. It’s you study it, you read it, you think about it, because everything that’s there makes you a better leader in your own life in every aspect. And when you’re at that level, the same thing, when you go to a level where you’re playing International, it’s not how good of a speaker you are, when you go to a global speakers summit, and you’re mingling with all the great speakers, you think, okay, I’m better than this. And this, but this is better than me and this guy that this and this guy did that. So really, you have to find the totality of you are and be so congruent as an inspirational figure, not as an inspirational speaker. Because it’s not just about delivering the message, it’s about your energy, when you come into the room, what energy do you bring in when you arrive? I’m like, I’m buzzing all the time with this passion that what I’m coming in is the fashion not because of a video or not because of I made it my niche. I’m living it with everything that I’m doing. And I’m so passionate about. So if somebody wants to make themselves Mr. or Mrs. Organization, they very freakin organized in every aspect from the minute you touch every email with them up until after that. And this is where the biggest gap, I believe happens. And this is not going to come from reading a single book about skill set. This is going to come from reading things that create you as a greater person. There’s a lot of books that I can recommend. But I’d say anything that you feel enhances you. Productivity wise, I would definitely suggest getting things done by David Allen because you cannot run a successful business. If you don’t know how to manage your time solo printers and entrepreneurs or speaker printers, small organizations efficiency is a make or break deal for you.

And am I getting things done? When it comes to tools? Are there any tools that you use apps online tools? Do you find very useful for the work? You do? Yeah, I do. I mean, basically, in conjunction with getting things done, by the way, because these tools mean nothing’s like a knife if I give you a knife, but you don’t know how to fight with a knife. So so the tools that I use is I use only focus as a to do list system and I use Outlook for my emails and folders. Whichever calendar whether Microsoft Outlook or icon, I can leave this is mainly how I manage everything and it has to sit somewhere. It’s the way that I make these things work together is where the magic is the connections as well as the way when we set up a system with everything gallantly Of course you can go wrong, you know, Kalonji? absolutely lovely, how much time without what other recommend is active cola. Yeah, active cola was a very simple was base camp is very similar to base camp, depending, but use one of them. One thing a lot of speakers don’t do is actually they don’t build it as a project business. And at the end of the day, this business model is pure time. And the more time you waste per project, the more messy things happen, your business falling apart. That’s great. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for coming on today on to the show. If people want to connect with you learn more about you as a speaker, but also maybe learn about the publishing side, the passion printing and publishing and maybe working together on a book. where’s the best place to go to find out about all of that, so everything they can divert to everything by coming to my website, monster for.com. That’s mousdafa.com talk about personal branding.

I went for my name.com that was a that was a six month negotiation. So what’s the dot com and then from there, they can either go to the services and look up for fashion printer publishing or just go to fashion printer publishing.com and they will learn more about the books but if they want just email me fellow speakers, I’ll take care of you personally. So email me directly. My email is Mr. Mr. Father’s concerts drop me a line and I would love to support anybody that comes speakers, you will make sure they get a phenomenal deal on the on their publishing packages. Number one, because they came through you for sure not and fellow speaker you members, but also because of the competition concept that I say, you know, you need more you need bigger, bigger, bigger, more professional speakers that have the business card that that that make themselves stand out from the rest of the speakers is the same as a CSP. You know, CSP stands out from other speakers and an author would stand out from other speakers. So I want to create more of those. Welcome, Stephen, thank you so much for making that offer to everyone that’s watching just now. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I wish you all the success. We are speaking I’m looking forward to it will be sharing a stage I’m sure at some point in the future somewhere in the world. And have a wonderful, wonderful week. Thank you very much. The thanks to you and to all speakers, you fellow members.

How would you like to get paid to travel the world to share your message and expertise? How did it feel to get paid 5000 10,000 $25,000 to travel first class and stay in five star hotels in exotic locations. What I’ve just described is the lifestyle of international keynote speakers. And you can join me and over 100 of the world’s best keynote speakers, and speaker trainers as they reveal their secrets to becoming a better speaker and getting booked to travel the world as a professional keynote speaker and Bestival. As it’s an online summit You don’t even have to leave home plus it’s not going to cost you a single dollar euro pound ruble peso or yen. If you sign up for the free pass at International Speakers Summit calm you’re going to receive access to never seen before video interviews over 40 of the world’s best keynote speakers. In addition to this, you’ll get access to archived interviews from some of last year’s summit guests. So in total, you’ll be able to watch in depth interviews with over 100 incredible speakers and speaker trainers. You’ll have to find a theme for your keynote presentation how to craft your talk how to get booked as a speaker, how much to charge and ways to get paid to speak on stages all over the world. So what are you waiting for? Head over to internationalspeakerssummit.com now

In today’s episode of The Speakers Life I talk with Sha Nacino, author and speaker on gratitude.

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Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript

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Hey, there is James Taylor and I’m delighted today to welcome onto the show Sha Nacino. You know, Sha is a trusted global speaker on gratitude, happiness and productivity. A Jack Canfield, certified trainer on success principles and a prolific author of 12 books. She was recognized as a distinguished Toastmaster, the highest award given by Toastmasters International to its members worldwide. A student of some of the world’s best teachers Bo Sanchez, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield, and Tony Robbins. She loves to write books and teach people how to write books through her 90 day book writing challenge. Today’s show has addressed thousands of audiences from more than 26 countries globally. She is also the founder of HR summit, global global author, site and world gratitude summit. And this year, we were actually both recipients of an award and she at the same event, and she received female entrepreneur of the year award by the United Nations global entrepreneur Council. So great, great wall to get in show. Welcome to the show.

Happy to be here, James, thank you for inviting me. So I was just saying that you you just pick up that amazing award for United Nations global entrepreneur cancel. What was the event like that? I believe it was in China and India, right. It was a beautiful event. And I didn’t know that it was such a prestigious event. I learned I learned. Well, I learned this and officially that there were about 3700 applications and nominations, and only about 50 were awarded. So it was beautiful. And I met a lot of people from more than 15 countries who are also aware of this. Well, congratulations. Because it’s interesting. through doing speakers, you and obviously your speakers, you student as well. And that there are the speakers you committee is fantastic. But whenever it was it to me, like who who’s doing, who’s doing really interesting stuff in the community just now. And I also mentioned your name, because one of the things I think you’re so good at is actually taking action. You know, a lot of people talk about things, but you you will learn something, learn a concept, learn a strategy, learn a technique. And not only do you take action on it, but usually by the next week, you’ve said, Hey, James, I tried that thing I did this, and I even tried this little extra thing is about what do you think of this? So where do you get your mean? Where did you learn the ability to really be action oriented, because not all people like that, and and we don’t go to those lengths.

So my background was I was an employee for nine years. And you know, as an employee, if you have ideas, you can adjust, incorporate them right away, because there has to be approvals from the higher bosses. And when they become an entrepreneur, I really love the flexibility to be able to execute your abs. And I think one of the things that I really learned early on was not to be afraid to make mistakes. So I like whenever I had a seminar or a gathering or, or an event. I just looked one thing. One key takeaway, I don’t have to look for so many things, one key takeaway. And from that one key takeaway, what action can I do right away. And I just love taking action ever small team. So we’re pretty dynamic. And when I when I have an idea, I communicate with my team, and sometimes within a few hours execute, or sometimes a few days or a few weeks to execute.

Now one of those ideas that you’ve executed very well is you I think you heard me speak at a conference. I’ve talked about online summits and virtual summits. And I remember you coming up to me saying I love I like I wanted I want to do this, I want to do this. And then very quickly, you actually started your very first summit, and we were going to work together on that. And then from there, you’ve gone on to build other summits, where you’re also co hosting with other speakers, for example. So take take me through that. What is it about online summits? Do you enjoy? Because you’ve you’ve done more than one now? And what what have you found have been the benefits of doing online or virtual summits? And where do you see them going terms of how you, you bring into all the other things that you’re doing in your career and in your professional life just now.

Right? So prior to meeting you at the Asia professional speakers convention in 2018, I’ve seen some of your online summits. And I really, really wanted to meet you. Because I wanted to ask for your permission, James, can I also do the same? And so when I met you in Singapore, I asked him James, can you do the same? And then you said, Of course you can. And I’ll be happy to help you. You don’t even have to ask for my permission. So anyway, we did I met in me the the talk on on online summits. And we launched our first ever each our summit global in August. And I really had fun doing it. My main reason for doing the online summit was because as a speaker, I get invited by HR professionals to speak to their companies. So before my speaking engagements, I would talk to these HR professionals, and I see their problems. I know their concerns, when employees have problems have concerns, they go to HR, but what NHRF concerns or problems, their backs are against the wall because they need to learn how to motivate themselves. So I wanted to be the go to person of HR professionals, when they need some motivation. It’s like my way of giving back to them, because they’re the ones giving me business. So when you when you hit that online summit event in a mean, lecture, or a thought in the Asia professional speakers convention, I thought that the first summit they will do is for the HR professionals, it’s really to give value to the HR professionals. And I was also very happy because you and all the other global speakers agreed to speak at the summit and give value to the HR professionals. So I wanted the the online summits to be communities where people can learn can be inspired. And the speakers can also give value. It’s a platform for them for your messages to be heard.

So you did that the very first one and I was so impressed. And you mentioned it. Obviously we met in May. And then you launched it in August with three, three months or so getting up and running. What What were the what were the key? I mean, the good thing that you identified very early on, was we spoke a lot about your customer avatar, and you had a really good sense of your customer avatar that HR professional is struggling is needing motivated meeting there’s idea. So so that was great, you really identified that very early on, what were the key challenges that you find in creating your your first online or virtual summit?

key challenge at that time was the internet connection in the Philippines. So at that time, the internet connection in the Philippines is in our office was very slow. So what I did was I had to rent a private room in a co working space. And of course, the rent is not that cheap. And so I had to maximize doing interviews on a daily basis. So sometimes I would do nine to 10 interviews in a given day. And I realized, wow, this can be so tiring mentally and also, physically, as you guys my voice. So I think that was one of the biggest challenges that we had. But we had a lot of fun as well, my team and I had a lot of fun. And also since it was the first time that we did the online summit, we had to really, you know, I had to review your slides during the the WBN in Singapore, and had the philosophy What’s next? What’s next, what’s next. So that really helped me your thought really helped me and your slides really helped me.

So you have that first one. And I always say when creating any type of online or virtual summit, the first was always the most difficult because you haven’t you’re having to deal with the technological side, you’re thinking about that you’re thinking about the content and everything, but the marketing and all and how to get out into the world, the next summit that you decided to do, what was the next one after that?

Okay, the next one was the overseas Filipino summit. So the reason why we did that is because I send out inspirational emails every Monday. And I will usually receive lengthy emails from all races Filipinos really resist Filipino workers, and they they share with me their problems, their concerns, etc. And some of the emails were so lengthy, they really divulge their concerns, and sometimes I would be able to answer all of them, but sometimes because I receive hundreds of emails, we don’t get to answer to each and every one. But But I read everything that the they’ve written me. And so I have a good idea, good sense on what their problems were. And it just sparked that in my mind, okay, somebody, I’d like to do something for you. And so when the idea of online summits came to mind, through your talk, I decided that the next set of people would like to serve it overseas Filipinos, because, you know, as Filipinos, they have a lot of concerns, one of them is really missing their families a lot. And I also know a lot of speakers, starting speakers in the fitness space in the Philippines, who also wants who also want to have a platform where they can share the message. So it’s like a melting pot of speakers wanting to be heard. And these people who want some guidance and inspiration as well.

So you don’t really know you knew the kind of the technology side of running a virtual summit by this point. You said you knew how the kind of formats and things what what were the key learnings from that summit that you took away?

I think the key learnings there is to have to have fun. I try to because because in the beginning, in my first summit, of course, there were you know, I was trying to really follow the procedure etc. In the offices Filipino assignment, I really tried to have fun, because now I know I know how to do it. And also because the language that we used was, you know, mixed of our our first language and also English. So it was it was more cash flow, it was more relaxed. It was more of family family oriented. Yeah. So So I think the key learning very, I was intentional that, okay, I want to have fun when I do the overseas Filipino summit. And I want the audience as well to feel the fun that even if they’re abroad, or they’re, they’re far from their families, they have a community online community, who can who they can share fun or happiness with. But once again, you’ve identified identified your avatar, you knew who your avatar was, what the other key challenges were, so you could provide some of that content. And then what was one of the did after that was that the authors some of the moved into next?

Yes, we so we have the global authors summit. But this is a lives live in person event. So the reason why we did that was because I have this 90 day book writing challenge. And after the challenge, there is a book launch. And we’ve always had the introduction to book writing, plus book launch, 1.0, and 2.0 3.0, etc. In 2018, I noticed that so many authors are going to launch their books, so many graduates of the online course, we’re going to launch their books, and they couldn’t fit in one event. And so I decided, Okay, and since some of these authors would fly in from so many other countries, although most of them are Filipinos, I decided, why not elevate this to another level. So instead of the International book launch that we’re having, which which we usually have about 100 150 people during the book launch. So how about creating a global event for authors? And so we launched the global authors summit. And I think we had around 350 to 400 people who attended the event, and we had about 22 authors who launched their books.

Okay, so you see, you kind of took a slightly different direction with that one as well. And a question I’m sometimes asked is about virtual summits, online summits is, well, what is the that are Why? What’s the return on that time that money it costs, you know, to put these together? So what was the ROI was similar things that you were looking to get from each summit or was a slightly different, you will, you’re measuring success in slightly different ways with a different summit. So I think the ROI for the two online summits that I did was, number one is trust, you’re building trust and relationship with your audience. And I know that trust the basis of any business, any business transaction is trust. So if you if you build trust with the with the audience, I was hoping that you can get also speaking engagements from there. But But the main, the main reason really, for me doing the HR summit global was number one to give value. Number two, I wanted to build relationship with all the other speakers and varied from them as well. And for them to have a platform the share their message. And number three, this is the this is the effect now. So these are the causes, why why I put up the online summit, the effect that I want, the effect would be if I get speaking engagements from from from that summit, then that will be a big bonus. And I think it’s it’s being because I have an invitation to speak in mail deems next know, two months from now, next month in August. And yeah, and I know that we were speaking on stage together in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently. I see you’ve been in Paris, I think you in the other day, and then California, I think as well. So you’re certainly certainly helping also build your brand, internationally.

Right, right. Yes, definitely. So it builds your brand internationally, you’re right leaves, I forget about that. So James, and I shared the stage in India. And then I also spoke in Malaysia with James. And then I was the host for the post convention in Singapore in May as well. And I also had a speaking engagement in New York, this March 2018 2019.
Wonderful. So you’re, you’re you’re spreading your wings, you’re going you’re going global now as well. And this this new summit that you’re working on at the moment, you decided to something which I which I always actually encouraged a lot of speakers to do because I often think a lot of speakers we’re we can, we can get very in our own thing. And we can get very, it’s sometimes course a lot of speakers, lone Wolf’s there, they just focus on their own thing, don’t think, you know, the bigger the more the community side of it. And and I don’t think there’s a lot of speakers, if you’re doing a summit, whether your first or subsequent summits, to co host one, because it can add a lot of fun. And it takes some of the pressure off as well. And you can go into areas that maybe you’re even not as you’re not known as the expert in at the moment, but allows you to move sideways a little bit as well. Tell us about this, this new one you’ve got going on with you, you’re actually doing them with another speakers, you remember, right, I’m doing this with the Jonathan low also speakers, Hugh member, he was the former president of the global speakers Federation as well. And he actually invited me shot, can we do a project together an online summit together. And so we decided to put up the global success summit. And so both of us are members of speakers, you have James Taylor. And also, both of us are jack Canfield, certified trainers on success principles. So that’s where the word success came from. And then we decided to focus on five pillars. So sales, service, leadership, communication, and digital marketing. So obviously, my expertise there is only on communication, one pillar. And this is good, cuz, cuz Jonathan Lau is really known for sales and service. And so he gets to interview a lot of people from from those feelers and I get to interview some people from communication, and we both get to interview some people from the leadership and in the digital digital marketing sphere.

And in terms of how, how you’re dividing up the workload, so are you doing kind of 5050 interviews? Or is he gonna do more than two years, then you’re going to, you know, you’ve got a team that work for you, as well, you is your team going to help on doing all the infrastructure in the launch and in the marketing? To solo john will do most of the interviews, because he knew more of the people who will be who will be guessing in the summit. And they’ll do more of the back end. So editing of the videos, setting up the systems, etc. And also the marketing plan. Now, I first heard of it heard of your work more through your writing than I did anything else more for the speaking side. So you’re known as a, as an author and author coach in a writing coach as well? And how have these online summits, how they they worked alongside your writing and your author coaching? Because I would imagine, as we have other speakers, you remember, like Shelley Taylor, for example, who have used a lot of their content from their summit in order to put them into book because that’s something that you’ve done, or do you see them as quite separate types of products?

It’s a bit separate, but I think the way to to marry the two was that now I’m a speaker on gratitude. And one of the one of the questions I asked during the HR summit global, one of the ultra questions I asked was, how important is gratitude in, in life and in business, and that is something that I can also incorporate, because I’m writing a book on gratitude. And so now I can say that I have, I have done some interviews with more than 3040 people, global speakers to also share their inputs on what gratitude is. So yeah, so they can available to us some inputs from the interview. I look, I’m writing, was there any in doing all? I mean, you have you worked out how many interviews you’ve done. Now, you must have been a lot of interviews as part of all these virtual sites. Right. So I’m guessing that I’m getting I’m guessing you up into the hundreds now?

Okay, maybe, maybe around 7080? Yeah, almost almost 100? And were there any any interviews that you did, as part of that? where someone, a guest said something or did something? It really can it made you maybe rethink what you’re doing in your own business and in your own life? Yes. In fact, one of them is your dreams, because I can see how how strategic you were, especially in using automation and technology. And that is something that my team and I still have to work on, because some of the process that will be redoing, are very manual. And so I’m still saying how can I, how can I put more automation in what we’re doing? Fantastic. So it’s been it’s great. I mean, I think you’ve done such a good job on doing these virtual summits. The when it comes when you start really moving into the marketing automation is gonna be a piece of cake for you and your team. I know you’ll be you’ll be very good at executing on that as well. So where do we go and and where do you go now? What’s your next? What is it the rest of this year look like for you?

Okay, so the rest of the year, we’ll do more online summits, we will relaunch the HI summit, global, Filipino summit. And we’re cooking up to two new online summits. One is the global success summit with Jonathan Lau. And the other one is the world gratitude summit. So the road gadget summit is a bit different from the other assignments I’ve done, because it’s a noble movement. We want to encourage people to adopt the attitude of gratitude. And we’re planning to launch this on September 21, during the world that it should be. And also, one of the things that we’re really looking at is, is to have more speaking engagements, globally, overseas. So this, this August, I was invited to speak in Melbourne. And then a speaker’s bureau invited me to speak in Dubai. Fantastic you so you’re definitely expanding globally now. Which which is amazing. And what so you know, you you’re going on to these gigs in Maldives, and Dubai, and New York as well. What is in your speaker bag, what you would you carry with you to all these various speaking engagements and do the keys, I have my laptop, and then I have my clicker and some extra batteries. And then I have a USB as well. So I think those are just my speakers. But I also have this small my tiny Mike that I use, because I love the villain on the road. And I just use my iPhone, and then a little modified. Yeah, gimbal but haven’t been using it. And I know I’ve seen you do a lot of things in terms of social media, which is really all about building your brand overall and brought into the sense of gratitude. What was working for you when it comes to social media at the moment?

Okay, I think for social media, it’s just a way to build awareness and to square conversations. But what really is what’s really working for me right now is email marketing. So in terms of converting customers, email marketing really works. But I would say that social media is also very effective because I remember I asked the organizers of the United Nations global entrepreneurs Council, I asked them how did they How did you get to know me because I didn’t apply for the award. And they said Oh, we’ve been following you on social media for the past six months. So in a way that was also actually building my brand and I’m very grateful for that. So you’re going to be hitting the road next you’ve got all these summits are going to be coming up as well if if people want to learn a bit more about you and everything you’re doing and following you online where’s the best place to go that central point them to go and find out more about you? Alright, so you mean go to my website shut Missy know that calm? Or if you would like some some of my you know, fun side? You mean go to my Instagram account at SHOT underscore casino.

And for anyone that’s been moved to be hearing by speakers, you we talked about speakers you at the start? What have you found to be the benefit. So being speakers, you remember,
the key. So number one is the community. Number two is the one on one coaching with James Taylor, and nothing surprised, and James is praising the speakers you very, very low, because that includes already the one in one coaching. And number three, I really like all the contents in all the training videos. You know, James, when I attend conventions, or learning events, it’s not really for the learning. I mean, the live events, it’s not really for the learning. It’s more of you know, to meet people and observe how speakers do their job. Because I know that the information I need when it comes to building my career as a global speaker, is all inside the speakers you Yes, funny that is that I mean, I think that’s been a big, big change in recent years about events, not just speakers, events, but events more generally, I was an event the other day attending, I wasn’t speaking at it. And I left it thinking, I could have watched all of that as videos that were YouTube videos, because some of the speakers already had YouTube videos, I didn’t really physically go there. And unfortunately, the event wasn’t didn’t do a particularly good job in, in organizing the community and the connecting piece. And I just what a huge waste. Because the people that yourself, you’re putting out so much great in terms online summits for the content, side. So when you come together for a live event, the contents out there already, what you want for those live events is a community that you were talking about. And we just sometimes it was little conversation.

I know you and I think in India, we have breakfast One morning, and we’re just sharing ideas and sharing strategies on how to build our speaking businesses. So I absolutely agree with you. I think that’s where we, that’s where live events can really do to do well as the focus on that community piece. Right, exactly. So thank you so much for coming on today. show it’s always a pleasure speaking to you. I’m always deeply impressed by how quickly you’re able to execute on your ideas. And if people haven’t checked that shall go and check out showers work. She’s really doing a phenomenal job of building her brand internationally using virtual summits. But also combine that with her speaking and obviously with the with the writing side that she’s known for primarily. So thank you so much for coming on today’s show all about your speakers life and I look forward to us sharing a stage together very soon. My pleasure, James and yes, I look forward to to bonding with you again and Allison and sharing ideas as well.

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