As I have been learning about starting a speaking business, I keep circling back to what my core message is, who my target audience is, and what kind of problem I am trying to solve. And circle I do, round and round and round. I wish I had Kevin, here again, to steady me and catch me when I get dizzy.
Cory Mosley: Presence Principle
This morning I attended an NSA session on being “credible, likable, and bankable.” A lot of good stuff from Cory Mosley on the Presence Principle. He talked quite a bit about the use of social media (Meerkat? Anchor? Blab? Medium??), all of which I know not enough, apparently. And then he talked about content distribution on personal blogs, radio, 3rd party blogs, tv, published columns, and online video. (What?!? I’m just a one-person shop right now.) And written testimonials, video testimonials, audio testimonials, and online testimonials. (Yikes! Do I need more equipment?) Check out corymosley.com. He’s got some great information and was worthwhile listening to. I was scribbling notes as fast as I could write.
Harold Wood: speech critique
In the afternoon, our Speaker Academy class had a session with Harold Wood of www.motivationalentertainer.com. His goal was to help us further develop our message, add some pizazz to our presentations, and become more memorable to our audiences. He succeeded! My task was to give a 5-minute presentation (yes, only 5 minutes) for him to critique. I did my speech on generating ideas for your bucket list. I used the fact of Kevin’s death as a prompt to think about what your eulogy might offer, and how we take for granted having time to accomplish our bucket list. My 5 minutes were up before I got halfway through my speech. On the plus side, I kept my emotions together while talking about Kevin’s premature death. On the downside, once Harold started telling me what he liked about the speech and how powerful he thought it was (and offering his condolences), I teared up and struggled to regain my composure. In the end, what he had to offer was very useful feedback, and I’m glad I had it all recorded so I could remember what he said in my moments of feeling vulnerable. He urged me to turn my speech into a keynote and to market my catch-phrases.
Brendon Burchard: I liked his words too much!
As soon as I got home tonight, I looked up the availability of my keywords. Taken! In fact, a very well-known author and speaker have used the exact phrases I used in my overall theme. I can only surmise that someone told me these same words, or I heard them somewhere else, in the early days of my grieving, or when I was thinking of starting my own business several years ago (since he wrote them in 2011). I’m glad they stuck with me since they still give me comfort and inspiration now. They are “live, love, matter” and the author is Brendon Burchard (MillionaireMessenger.com). But now I can’t use them, at least not the same way I had planned.
Me: still not 100% sure
The bottom line is, participating in this Speakers Academy (nsavirginia.org) has been like drinking from a fire hose every month, and all month long between sessions. It excites me to consider the possibilities, and I am grateful that the members are so generous with their time and experiences in helping us wannabes get a foot in the door. I have waffled back and forth about using my grief experience/transformation as my main topic for development or sticking in the business lane of court management, which I have done for 25 years. Either way, a business is a business, and I have much to learn and absorb and explore. And a mortgage to pay every month.
It seems like the fire hose is always on, full force; there is no out-of-water, roll it up and put it away break. Every time I go to a class or NSA meeting, I get charged up. I can’t wait to spend time thinking about it and trying out the ideas. Before I can get too far, though, it’s time for the next session, and there is so much more to add to the lists I am compiling.
Kevin: you are always on my mind
It’s times like this when I wish Kevin were here, telling me that it will all be okay. I remember when I was working on my ICM Fellows certification, and I was frustrated that my survey results weren’t computing, which meant my research was off-kilter. He had no idea what I was talking about, but he patiently listened and then tried to fix it – which as you might guess, was NOT what I wanted. But he helped me through it nonetheless. And many other similar “crises” over the years. I guess I am moving out of the wandering-around zone toward my new-life zone now, though, because I can remember these times and they lift me up instead of bringing me down to not have him here by my side…in my world. I am thankful for the time we did have, instead of mourning that the clock stopped.