On my way to the cottage last week, I was binge-listening podcasts. With 3 hours in the car, you want to make it productive, right? I stumbled across Marie Forleo’s speech “Everything is Figureoutable” on Super Soul Sundays with Oprah, so I gave it a listen on the drive. It was a terrific message about having the resilience and finding ways to make things work, even when it’s not looking good.
That got me thinking about the speaking business and how when someone puts a roadblock in front of you, you figure out a way to go around it, or you take a different path. There really is a way to get most everything that you want in the speaking industry. Sometimes you just have to be patient and create a workaround.
A Real-Life Example of Resilience
One great example that comes to mind is Penny Tremblay. Penny lives in a small city in Northern Ontario—a place where you would think that there is not a huge demand for motivational speakers. Penny thought that she was going to have to be all things to all people in order to succeed in her own backyard.
However, when Penny bravely went “all in” and picked a lane, she discovered that her local clients did indeed need her specialty of helping teams play nice in the sandbox.
Even when it wasn’t looking good, Penny figured it out.
I asked Penny, knowing what she knows now, if she could go back to those early days, what advice would she give herself when she was just starting out? Penny replied, “I would give myself the advice to pick a lane sooner rather than worrying that I had to be the solution for every problem.”
Despite being in a small market, Penny figured out her path and made herself a key player within her hometown.
Feeling Stressed? Take a Deep Breath. You Got This.
Don’t you think that knowing that everything is figureoutable is a relief?
It means that we may not get it right the first time, but when we are willing to try something and fail, there is a beauty in that.
Many speakers don’t get their businesses off the ground quickly because they are so worried about getting everything right. It either takes much longer than it needs to, or years go by with their dream sitting in a box, untouched.
If everything truly is figureoutable, then when you lose a speaking engagement to another speaker, that means you weren’t the right fit this year, and your goal is to be positioned better or show more value to the client next year. Maybe you’ll get another shot, or maybe you’ll move on to another client. Just keep moving forward and trying new things. You’ll figure it out!
I recently interviewed Gair Maxwell for The Wealthy Speaker Podcast and he talked about bombing while trying out for Vistage (a CEO group that hires a ton of speakers for their monthly meetings). Gair was devastated when he didn’t do well; it was a huge blow. But several years later, he got another shot and he was able to become a Vistage speaker. In fact, he became a Vistage speaker of the year. What he recognized in hindsight was that he wasn’t ready for the group when he first tried out. He figured that out a bit late, but with his unstoppable mindset, he was prepared and ready when the opportunity came back again.
What Roadblocks Are You Facing?
There are likely some things that are getting in your way of building the business of your dreams, am I right?
Maybe you don’t know the path that you need to take to become successful.
Maybe you keep running out of time each day and never have enough time to do the things that you know will work to get you booked.
Perhaps a supplier is holding you up. For example, maybe you’re waiting for your website to be changed before you can “fire.”
Guess what? Everything truly is figureoutable.
If you need to free up some time for getting booked, do a “time audit” and drop some non-business-building activities from your list. You can also consider adding a new team member to take the low-paying activities off of your list.
If your website designer is causing you grief, have those difficult conversations with them and get the ball moving forward, or drop them and move on to another.
If you need a system for building your business, check out our Wealthy Speaker School. It’s all figureoutable, and we can take you step-by-step through to success.
It’s true. Everything is pretty much figureoutable. All that’s required is that you:
- Be open to ideas that you haven’t considered before.
- Be willing to take a risk.
- Be okay with failing the first time (or even multiple times) before getting it right.
This is just a part of The Wealthy Speaker journey. And when you see someone up on a stage that you covet, know that they too had failures, hit roadblocks and stumbled. Nobody lands at the top of the mountain—it’s a process of trying and failing that gets you there.
See you soon Wealthy Speakers!
