Hey, welcome to the Sell with Confidence podcast. I am your host, Nat Tolhopf, one of New Zealand’s top sales and mindset coaches. On today’s podcast, I’m going to talk to all about how to get speaking gigs and how you can help ’em to grow your business. And I’ve got three ways about how you do those. So let’s get into that. And one of the reasons I’m so passionate about that is that it’s actually been one of the best ways. So we are straight into the three ways. The number one way of how I’ve catapulted my business so quickly and become an authority, is having speaking gigs at the top part of my funnel and one of my strategies has always been speaking.

It’s something that I did from the very beginning and I said yes to everything I was asked to do. Now, kind of disclaimer around this though is that I’m an extrovert and I naturally like to talk and I like to do a little bit of theatre. So there’s a little bit of naturalness to this. And if you’re someone who doesn’t know, or doesn’t enjoy public speaking, I mean I don’t exactly enjoy it. I get really fucking nervous and it does actually freak me out, but I’ve learned how to manage the nerves, but it might just be a longer journey of using speaking opportunities to help you grow your business. I just wanted to add that in there, that it’s easier, if you are naturally inclined that way, it is going to be a faster path for you. Don’t let that stop you from giving it a go though.

But also take it easy on yourself because if you’re an introvert and you don’t even doing videos and you haven’t even got branding photos of yourself and then you put on your kind of business plan, you’re going to go do speaking gigs, it’s not going to happen really quickly. You’re going to have to do quite a bit of personal development and perhaps a little bit of training around it. So we wanted to put that in there as that disclaimer that I have, do have a natural ability that I already do like that kind of thing. Okay, so that was number one. Number two is that actually speaking begins with drum roll, believe it or not, on your own platforms. I know, I know. But actually, if you want to get speaking gigs, whether it be paid or not paid, but you’re in front of your ideal audience.

The fastest way to get that is for you to speak on your own platform. So lives, videos, audio, for example, because that’s how people are going to warm up to you, to get to know what kind of presenter you are, what’s your style. And so that’s where I suggest everyone goes to first, because that’s where you grow that reputation and you grow that muscle. And then that’s number two. So we’ve kind of got number one is start doing them. Number two is speaking begins on your own platform. So you need to be getting your face to camera. As for some people, they do pick a podcast, and that’s a really cool way to begin that journey. And so number three is that to speak on your own platforms and then my suggestion is, okay. Then after that, you then go speak on other people’s platforms, whether that be online and public or online and in groups.

So I’m going to talk to a couple of things in here. So this is where it’s really important to know your repetitive messages or your core themes, and I do talk about that in my Become Unstoppable book, where I kind of help you unpack what your repetitive messages are because if you talk and write and showcase a message about things that you already know and love, it’s easy, there’s ease, and that brings a lot of simplicity and it brings you the confidence to be okay with repeatable things. So for example, if we decided to autopsy my podcast, we’ll see that a lot of the sales stuff I do talk about, it’s the same thing spoken about in a different way. It’s me having that confidence to have this repetitive message. And then from there, this is where we call signature talks come from. And for me, that’s what I’ve been able to do last year and this year is have these signature talks that I go, yep, I can talk and this is what I talk on.

So you’re not constantly having to recreate a new slideshow and all of this stuff. You’ve already been doing the same talk quite often. You feel really confident. And if anything, really excited about going to present it. I know for me, I get really excited now because I know my work so well and I know what I’m going to talk about, that it helps lessen those nerves. So for me, I started doing video appearances on my own platforms and I still do. And then what I did is I just started to get a little bit more confident and started to reach out to people. So you guys might know the amazing Makaia Carr. She had this incredible online business, could motivate me, it was all about fitness and mindset and so many things, and it was all broken into Facebook groups and they had a Facebook group on quite a lot of different stuff. And at that time, I was doing helping women do their businesses, but also helping women in their careers. And I noticed that Makaia had this group about careers and how to help people, interviews, all that cool stuff. And I noticed that there was no facilitator within the group. Now I had met Maka a couple of times, had been to a few of her things. She seemed like a really open person.

So I thought to myself, you know what? I’m just going to approach her, what would make her open her email? And my subject line was drop and give me 20. And lo and behold, she opened it and I was like, Hey Mak, it’s Nat here. I went straight to the point. I was like, what’s the win-win for her. And I knew she was trying to grow this Motivate Me group, and I said, I can see that you’ve got this really cool circle or this group around helping women with their careers. I see there’s no one facilitating it. I would love to do it. And lo and behold, she said yes. So I was able to go in there and it wasn’t paid. It didn’t matter for me. I was in front of my ideal audience at that time. And I went in there once a week and I did a live and I shared some info and it gave me some really cool confidence to facilitate and be part of groups, do my lives that weren’t just to my people.

And it was really cool. And from there, when I would go and do some selling of my workshops, people from that group would come over and buy from me. So that’s how I did it, and that’s how I still do it. I will always put my hand up and suggest to someone if I’ve been working with them, if I can be of service to their groups, and now I’m actually a paid facilitator for other coaches to run their sales sessions and sometimes some of their mindset sessions. So you just dunno where these things are going to lead. And sometimes we think speaking is just on the stage and it doesn’t have to be. So it’s another part of my business that I love doing. So that’s number three. Number four obviously is now speaking in person and how do you get an in-person speaking event? And also how do you then speak on other people’s podcasts? It’s pretty straightforward, guys. You just literally ask, I know you’re like, what? And I’m like, just ask. So

there’s a really cool conference coming up at the moment, and I saw it and I was like, oh, I want to be an exhibitor and showcase my books and I really would love to, and it’s for business women. And I was like, oh, they’ve got workshops, and they’d already got their top line speakers. And I was like, okay, that’s cool. But I could see they had a workshop lineup. And for me, there wasn’t a really specific sales workshop. So I was like, you know what? I’m just going to ask and put myself forward, and I’m now one of the workshop hosts. Now it’s not because I’m awesome, it’s because I asked and the person who I had the conversation with, she actually remembers me being a guest speaker on a summit. And she said, I loved what you’ve presented in the subject. Yeah, let’s put you forward.

So it’s got this beautiful full circle moment. If I hadn’t been doing my own lives, that would’ve give me the confidence to go and be a guest on a summit, be a guest in someone else’s group. And then you have a couple of touch points where people hear you. And then it really can be, who do you know when you come to those bigger things? Does that make sense? So to get those in-person speaking groups, you’ve got to ask, you’ve got to put yourself forward and perhaps think about having a speaker’s page and a media kit so people can see what you have done. I put the smallest of smallest things on my speaker’s page. I look back now and I’m like, oh my gosh, what baby Nat? But I was like, you know what? That’s actually what got Baby Nat into more speaking gigs is to showcase even the local ones that I did, because they still matter.

Do you know what I mean? So networking for me is how I actually got my first speaking gig meeting people in the business world. They’ll be talking to someone who’s like, oh, I need a speaker for our conference coming up. And they’ll be like, Hey, you should try so-and-so. And that’s actually how I got to speak at a cool conference. And then again at another cool networking event that the amazing Bo Burns runs over in East Auckland called The Click, and there’s a hundred plus audience who goes, and it’s come full circle for me. I did a presentation for her at a big promo conference, and she saw me pop up online, like six years later. And she’s like, oh my gosh, Nat you’d be perfect for our end of year speaker. Can you come and do it? And I was like, absolutely. So by coming and showcasing again in front of Bo, she had a colleague who said, oh, we need a presenter for something coming up.

And was like, oh, you’ve got to get Nat. And so what happens is when you start one speaking event in person, there will usually be people who will then ask that person, how was that presented? Do you think it’d be good for me? And then what can happen again is someone will be in someone else’s event and then go, Hey, can you come and talk to my business? And that’s pretty much what happened for me these last couple of years is starting one in person, speaking on stage, and then you get connected, you’re networked, and then there’s people in the audience who will be like, yep, come and then all of a sudden you’re a paid speaker. Not all of a sudden, there’s years of work gone in, but I started by just doing it, saying yes, going on my own platforms, getting on other people’s platforms, then getting in person and asking.

That’s what I really want you to think about is you’ve got to ask. So the fourth way to get speaking opportunities is ask and put yourself forward. So for example, we’re talking like four years ago, an amazing lady called Kate had this really cool one day kind of workshop that she ran down in Christchurch and she brought it to Auckland, and I could see she already had the speakers lined up. It was already fully marketed. I was going there as an exhibitor to exhibit some of my stuff, and I thought, you know what? I really want to be associated with this conference. It’d be really good for my brand. I really admire her. And I knew she wasn’t from Auckland. So I reached out and said to Kate, Hey, I know you are new to Auckland.

Do you need some help with booking a hotel and working out where to go, et cetera. I’m happy to look after you while you are here. And she thought that was so nice of me, and she was like, you know what? I’ve been trying to think of someone who could do some interviewing, some of our amazing guests. And she goes, I think you’d be great. So had I not asked, I would not have been part of that event. And by asking and obviously being in full integrity and wanting to actually help Kate, I was able to lead a panel and interview some incredible women and get showcased as part of this event as well. So you’ve got to put yourself out there. If we really think about the undertone of this whole message that I’m giving you today, and I could go on and on about the stories that I’ve got, it is just asking and having that incredible confidence and just knowing, particularly in a coaching world that us coaches, we can’t and don’t often want to always be teaching and facilitating.

So having someone else who has a separate skillset to you and can teach in different areas is really powerful. Anyway, I talk to my clients a lot about how to get speaking gigs, and for a lot of them, this is part of their strategy this year, and something that I nail home to them is you’ve got to share past your own audiences. The fastest way to do that is to fly on the wings of other people’s audiences while giving amazing work though. So I really want to know what you’re going to do from hearing this podcast and the four ways to get some speaking gigs and where to start. And I’d love to hear your feedback or hit me up whatever platform you love to be on. Message Me because I want to know by sharing this information, what it’s going to do for you. I know for me, if you took away the speaking mechanism part of my business, it’d actually be harder. I love the ease in which speaking gives me and the revenue that it brings into my business. So share this shit around people, share the podcast. Hit me up with your feedback. Get the hell out there. Go and book yourself a bloody speaking gig will ya? Yeah, you’re amazing. Stop mucking around. Keep being you. Bye.