#128: The #1 Tip To Landing Anything Important! with Heather Monahan

Come on this journey with me each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals, overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow. I'm ready for my close up. Hi and welcome back. I'm so excited that you are back here with me this week. Okay. This is major. Well, it's major for me. I'm super excited. I can't wait to tell you. And it's follow up to last week. So. So. And a lot of people have been asking me about it, so I had to share. Okay. As you know. Well, maybe you don't know, maybe you didn't listen last week if you didn't go back and listen. But here's the skinny is my new book, Overcome youe Villains is coming out with HarperCollins leadership November 9th. Would love it if you could pre order. Would love it if you could join my launch team. Okay. However, I. One of the funny things is when you self publish a book. My first book, Confidence Creator, which I launched in 2018 right after I got fired, that book I self published. So my team said to me, oh, you're gonna do the audible version, right? I said, yeah, of course. And I recorded the audible version. P.S. i had no idea what I was doing. I just went for it. It came out really good. The reviews on it are amazing and I'm so grateful that I recorded the audible version. Cut to. I now have had a podcast for two years, right. So I'm constantly recording myself into a microphone. Hello. With you Each week, twice a week. Then cut to. I became a professional speaker in 2019 and I literally spoken all over the world this week. I spoke in Australia, the eu, China, Canada, the US And India. Not even kidding. Is that crazy done? Virtually, of course, but still, however, I'm still grabbing a mic and speaking. Speaking all the time. So in my mind, I'm no longer a beginner, right. So of course I'm gonna record the audible version of my new book. Well, come to find out, the traditional publishing world is very different than self publishing. With self publishing, you check in with the one voice that matters. Your own.

Hello.

In the traditional world. No, no, not so much. So here's what they told me. They said you can audition to be Heather Monahan. However, we have a few really good voices that we would like to potentially. So when they finally. I've known about this for a few months and it frustrates me because I think it's so wrong. But it is what it is. So leading up to, I finally got the note from my publisher. Hey, Heather, if you're gonna audition, you need to do it now. And so I wanted to fly out because I said, well, who's the ultimate decision maker? Of course, we always want to know who's making the decisions. And they said, it's a gentleman who's the head of audio for HarperCollins leadership. I said, okay, where is he? Because I want to hop on a plane and go out to the studio and audition live in front of him. Because I am very hard to say no to live. And so are you, by the way. But I'm much easier to say no to an email. And she said, no, you're not doing that. And I said, so then what should I do? Go into a studio here, locally, record it, send it to you through an MP3 or MP4 file? And she said, no. Take your phone, hit voice note, press record, read a chapter, message it over to me, and then we'll see if you get it or not. I hated that. It sounded to me so low level that this was such an important thing to me. It's super important. I wanted to get it so badly. And just taking a voice note sounded so crappy, right? So I was torturing myself about this. Anyways, almost a week passes, and I get a note from her, hey, are you gonna audition or not? Because I guess the time now is to audition. Which, by the way, that's another weird thing about the book world. The timelines are constantly changing, moving. I'm back under a final edit deadline right now. I have a week to do my final edits on my book, and then it's being submitted for print approval. So crazy. This is like round 15 on edits, which is so bizarre. Anyhow, this is what happens when you're a rookie. You have no idea what you're doing. So I'm sitting literally right here in front of my computer, and I thought, okay, who can I reach out to right now? Cause I'm freaking out. I can't get myself to record this chapter, and I need to get this audible. I want to narrate the book. So I thought about my friend Kendra Hall. She has a book with Harper Collins leadership. It came out in 2019. She did the audio version, and she has a new book coming out in 2022 with Harper Collins leadership. And she's already been granted that she gets the audible version. And I had just seen her. She had just been out to Miami, and we were in spin class together, and we were talking about this. So I sent her a text, and I Just said, hey, it's my time to audition right now. No one's giving me any direction. I don't know what to do. Can you please advise? Just give me something. And she wrote right back, just be you, be yourself. Oh, and don't go too fast. And that was it. And it was really powerful, those words, because number one, she's 100% correct. Right? I tell this to people all the time up as you. You'll never be any type of imposter as long as you show up as you. So if they're not going to like who you are, they're not going to like how you read the Audible book anyways. They pick someone else. So just be you and see if it's the right fit. And so I took her words to heart. The minute I got the text, I hung up the phone, I hit the voice note and I just clicked open on. I have a PDF version of my book right now that I'm editing on my desktop and I just opened it to wherever it opened and I just read. I didn't overthink it, I just read the chap. I made a mistake during it. I didn't stop, I just kept going. And then I hit send and I sent it. Okay, fast forward to. I had a big meeting this week with HarperCollins leadership. They had a big team on. And this was the marketing and pre launch call to go through. Really specific, right? So we have these big picture goals. I want to be a New York Times bestseller. I want to be a Wall Street Journal bestseller. Amazon Bestseller. I was an Amazon bestseller was my first book. But I was not a Wall Street Journal or New York Times on the others. And so these are new metrics that I'm, you know, creating for myself, new goals for myself. But there's specific steps I need to take in order to benchmarks I have to hit to get there that I don't know about. And they're teaching them to me on these calls. So we're going through the calls and all the benchmarks. I have to get 5,000 pre order books in by October. I need to hit 7,000 the first week of November. Right. I need to do it by individual orders, not bulk orders, which is new and different. We didn't think it would be that way. All of these changing rules and regulations to make these lists. So we're going through the deck, I'm taking notes and at the end of the call I said, oh, hey Sarah, one last question. This is my point person who was on the call too she wasn't the head of marketing, but she's my point. I said, I don't know. What do you think the timeline is on hearing back if I'm gonna get green light for the audible version? And she started laughing. She said, oh, my gosh, I forgot to tell you. I heard this morning. You're in. You got it. He loved it. And that was it. So here I was, freaking out, spending all this time trying to strategize how I could hop on a plane and get in front of this guy to pitch myself. And in the end, Kendra's advice, just be yourself and read it the way you would worked. So just be you. That's my message to you right now, today. Whatever it is done will always be better than perfect. Leave the flaws. Just be you and go for it. And that will be enough. And luckily, it was in this instance, too. So I'm so excited to do the audible version for you. Okay, a couple of other quick stories I had to touch on. So this week, my son, out of nowhere, had to go away for camp for a month. And I say out of nowhere because of COVID It was touch and go. They were gonna do it, then they weren't gonna do it, and then they could do it, and they weren't. And rah, rah, rah. Well, anyways, he left. So the day he's leaving, of course he wasn't ready because we really weren't sure he was gonna go. And he's packing that morning, and he starts freaking out because he says, mom, I can take a suitcase and a backpack. And I still. I have a pair of shoes that can't fit. I need these sneakers to play basketball in. And he brings it out to the living room and everything. I have everything all locked up, ready to go. And there's just a pair of shoes that doesn't look like it's gonna fit. And he just starts saying, it's not gonna fit. It's not gonna work. It just can't work. You know, it just can't work out. And he's getting so angry and upset. Set and obviously not thinking as clearly as he typically would. So I took a step back. I calmly said, because I wasn't in this circle of craziness, he was, because he's boarding a plane very shortly and stressing out. I'm not right. So I took a step back, I looked at everything. I said, there's a solution here. I just have to find it. I know I'm going to find it. And he said, how do you know, I said, I just know. I know I will. So I looked at the bag, I looked at the backpack, I looked at the shoes, and it hit me. Oh, my gosh. There's a zipper that almost doubles the size of the suitcase. He'll have to check it, but at least we'll be able to fit more stuff. I walk over to the suitcase, I unzip the secret zip, and boop. It pops up. And he looks at me and he says, oh, my gosh. How did you do that? I said, because I was so focused on the solution, the obstacle didn't get in my way. You were so focused on the obstacle, you couldn't find the solution? And I shared with him the example of. Especially because we're talking about the Olympics right now a lot. When you see in the Winter Olympics, those skiers that come down, I don't know if they're moguls or what, and they're turning and turning, and it's all. The path is 100% in between trees, right? And so I'm sure there's people that come down those paths saying, oh, my gosh, another tree. Oh, my gosh, another tree. And I'm sure they hit those trees, right? Because when you stay so focused on the obstacle, the tree, that's where you're going to end up. However, the people that win those races stay focused on the end line, the finish line, and the path to get there. They probably don't even see the trees. And so that was the message that I was trying to share with him when he left. I don't know if he was in the right headset to accept it, but I also know what it's like to be spinning and crazy in those moments when Covid first ended and Dylan and I went to go get in our car for the first time, and our car was gone, and I started crying, our car's been stolen. And. And he said, mom, we're flanked by a Porsche and a Lamborghini. I highly doubt someone wanted your mom suv. Something tells me we're probably on the wrong floor. That was his immediate answer, where I couldn't think clearly because I was just so emotional and stressed out that I wasn't thinking clearly. I was just focusing on problems. And he was right. We were on the wrong floor. Problem solved. So sometimes it really pays to have someone who's not spinning around and all the craziness and upset that you might be in to have them help give you some perspective. And today I was lucky to be able to do that. For a friend. She had just been fired. However, she hated her job. And when she's telling me the story of how she got fired and it was belittling and demoralizing, I kept saying, but you hated that place and you had set a goal to be out of there by the end of summer and you've been interviewing for other jobs. She said, yeah, I know, and I got them too. I have job offers. And I said, then why are you focusing on this upset? This is what you wanted. She said, but I wanted to resign. But those are, you know, those are just details right to the story. That's not the ultimate story. The ultimate story is that you get to leave a crappy place where you didn't like the people to go to a new place where people want you and are excited to have you. And for her, it was just that she was so focused on being belittled, on being embarrassed, on being fired, that she stopped to think this was actually what she really wanted. So take a look at what you're focusing on and be sure to focus on the solutions and the positive, not on the obstacles and the negative. Unless you want more of that.

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Okay, so I know that I'm always answering questions and I'm going to answer a very specific question I received from a DM on Instagram. However, first I have to tell you, I received so many questions this week about the speaking business. I don't know why. I guess because speaking events are coming back and now everybody wants to get into the speaking business. Here's the thing. Is it easy to get into the speaking business? No, it's not. I mean anyone can be in the speaking business, but it takes time and momentum to start getting booked a lot. I will break down for you how I did it and how it worked for me. But I spoke for 20 plus years in corporate America. I was never paid for it, never videotaped it, but I took major stages. It was just part of my job. I had to. I didn't know the speaking business was a business. Then when I got fired, I wrote and self published Confidence Creator and I googled how do you sell books and it said speak. So this is what I did. I just started cold calling companies and asking if I could come in and speak for them, if they would buy books from me. So for probably six months I was just turning up speaking for free as long as they bought, you know, bulk orders of my book. I did start videotaping footage there. So I got footage from a number of different companies I spoke at for free. So again, the key is you want footage of you speaking, you want you becoming a good speaker, which takes practice, which means refining your message, which means taking stages. So start Contacting charities, start contacting schools, universities, and offer your services, why you, how you're going to add value. And then ultimately one day I called the company and they said, sure, what's your speaker fee? And I had no idea. And I googled it and I found there's a range. Speakers are paid from $5,000 a speech to 500,000 for a 60 minute keynote speech. And it just depends on, you know, what hill you own, how unique you are, how notable you are, the value that you add, and reviews and ratings. So you also, along the way want to be gathering reviews of your speaking, recommendations for your speaking, and you want to promote that stuff on social and on your website. Then the next thing you're going to do. So now you've got, you've practiced, you've done a ton of speeches, you refined your message. You can break down the three different keynotes you offer and what the audience will get as deliverables from each one. So then you know who you're the right fit for. Businesses, universities, children's groups, women's groups, whatever it is, right? So you can start targeting who you're going to go after. There is a thing called association trends, which is, it's, it's a few thousand dollars a year to sign up for it, but you get access to what all the big events are for the year and you start cold calling and pitching yourself. I would recommend cold calling and pitching yourself to businesses and anywhere locally that you have contacts that can help you. But then, and promote it on social media, promote it on your website. You know, allow your website to showcase your speaking, have your real play as soon as someone lands on your page and have a spot to hire you as soon as someone lands on your page and then drive traffic to your site, do that through your email list, through your social media, through partnerships, through being a guest on other people's podcasts. Promote, promote and promote yourself. Then what you want to do is you want to land an agent because for a long time I was the only person booking me. And that is exhausting because we as just regular people don't have all the contacts in the speaking world. We don't know all the upcoming events, but there are people called agents that do. So this is again back to, instead of one to one, we're going one to many. So I started pitching myself to all the big agencies. There's Harry Walker Speaker Agency, Washington Speaker Bureau, Big Speak, GDA Speakers, APB Speakers, Speaker Exchange. There's so many flipping speaker agencies. I just learned of a new one this week. I was just added to a new one this week. So, anyway, start wherever you start, but just start cold calling and pitching yourself to all the agencies. Once you land one, you want to leverage that, landing that one opportunity to get all the other ones. That's exactly how I did it. And so now I'm with, I think, 15 different speaker agencies. So now once you're with the speaker agencies, you want to develop a rapport so that people pitch you. You want someone to like you, to be your advocate inside that agency, to say, wow, Heather's great. I'd love to pitch her for this. So whether you cut a specific commission deal or you're always checking in with the people and offering up ideas, or separating yourself and how you can add more value to them and their clients, somehow to break through, for me, I broke through. I'll never forget. It was the first week of March. GDA speakers had booked me for a huge international finance conference in Miami. The reason I got it is because I lived here locally and I pulled through for them. I did a great job. The review was off the charts, and they were so appreciative that I helped them out in a pinch that they said, we're just gonna start booking you left and right. And that next week I started getting tons of speaking engagements booked through them, which was amazing. That was the dream, right? So that I didn't have to be the one hustling every call and pitch down. And then Covid hit and wiped everything out. And then I started over as a virtual speaker, and then, which the rates were so much less. And then, you know, I've only done one live event in person since COVID has been unwinding. However, I'm still, like I said, this week, I did a ton of virtual events. I'm still doing a ton of virtual. But I'm so optimistic for in person again. And I have had so many inquiries for in person events for Q4 and specifically Q1 and Q2 of 2022. So I know it's coming. I'm staying focused on being hopeful the business is coming back, and I'm so excited for it. So I hope that breaks it down for you. Hold tight. We'll be right back. I asked you to try to find your passion. Okay, so I received a DM to. I believe this came to my Instagram. Maybe. Let's see where this little message is. Oh, my gosh, We've got a lot of messages here, peeps. Okay, so this came from a woman who seemed pretty upset and we are hoping that we're going to be able to help her. Here we go. Questions for the podcast. And I'm literally going blind. Is anyone else with me on that? I'm almost 47. I can barely see anymore if I don't have glasses on. It's tragic. Okay, keeping it real. Here we go. Hey. I don't know if you will read this, but I might as well try. Yeah, heck, you should try. Always try. Why wouldn't you try? I'm a stay at home mom of three. I haven't worked in seven years. I've worked at being a mom, of course, but I'm. I want to be a travel agent from home. It's a bigger company, and I want your opinion. Should I pay 2,900 or $3,500 to start this job? Okay, pump the brakes. Why are you paying to start at a job that doesn't make sense to me? Okay, here we go. Supposedly, they set you up with everything and it's, like, your business, but I've been out of the workforce for seven years. I feel so out of the loop and scared. That's the real problem, guys, right there, okay? It's not about what opportunity is out there. It's the fact that this person feels scared because they've been out of the workforce for a while. So what? You've been out of the workforce for a while. You've been leading a team at home. You're still working. You're doing it at home for your family. I don't see that as being out of the workforce. In my opinion, it's all how you choose to see it. Okay. I feel out of the loop. I feel scared. I always hear, if you have to give money to start a job, that's not good because they should pay you. Yes. You are such a motivational and strong woman. Thank you. I look at you and always say to myself, I just want to have a portion of her confidence and drive. I am my own worst enemy. Wow. That's really powerful.

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Number one, go buy my book Confidence Creator. Now go read it. Listen to this podcast every freaking week. And if you haven't listened to the past episodes, start diving into them. You've got to do the work right. You need to create the vision of who you want to become. You need to take the steps. You need to fire the villains in your life. You need to stop apologizing. You need to start explaining, accepting compliments. You need to start spending time doing the things that matter to you, that feel good for you. You need to start making yourself a priority. That's number one. Number two, I would say is this. Until you get your mindset right, you're not going to find the right job. And that's also to the point of my friend that I was just sharing before who just got fired. If you get your mindset really negative and flipped around, you're not going to pull those right opportunities to you. So I would say this. Get your confidence right. Focus on you. Invest in you. Even if you have to hire a coach or an accountability partner. Or you can sign up for my free Accountability Partner program on my website, heather monahan.com there's plenty of options out there for you, but you've got to take the steps. Give yourself a deadline. Hold yourself accountable. Set clear, realistic goals about your confidence, you know, and start making that happen. Make that your priority. Now once you've done that and you've started down that road, right, which is that can be this week. Get Cracking on it. Make it happen, make it your priority and make it known what you're doing, that you're going to become the most powerful, competent version of yourself. Once you're down that road and making that happen, then you can say, okay, I want to get back into quote unquote corporate. So right now it is a candidate market. You are never going to have a time like this. You should not have to pay to work anywhere. People should pay you. So make it clear, write it down. I am going to find a job doing X where I will be paid at least Y. And it is going to happen in the next month and start creating that pipeline of opportunity. Start sending out resumes, start applying to jobs, start reaching out to people who are recruiters and start telling them the opportunities you're looking for. And if someone comes back to you and says, yeah, but you've been out of the workforce for seven years, say, actually no I haven't. I've been leading a team at home and I want to talk to you a little bit about how I've improved my skills, my leadership skills through that journey. Let me share a couple of different stories with you and how I've managed that and talk about how you're teaching your kids about integrity and honesty and getting work done and setting goals and building momentum and purpose and whatever it is that you've been doing. Share your story and frame it up in the best light possible for the opportunity that you're going after. Remember, if you don't believe 100% in yourself that you are the best hire that they should have, they're not going.

To believe it either.

So you need to convince yourself first. You need to show up as that best version of you first and start filling that pipeline up and attracting those opportunities. And these people will be offering you jobs, knocking on your door and trying to hire you. And that, my friend, is fact. People want confident, good people all day long. I would rather hire a good person who's trustworthy, has a great work ethic, is creative in finding solutions, who's a team player and who wants to win and believes in the purpose and mission of the company over someone who has seven years experience sitting at a desk in corporate America. So frame it up to your advantage. Start shining your light, start rocking your confidence and start filling that pipeline and let me know which job you decide to go to and how much they are paying you until next week. If you could please leave a review of the show, it helps so flipping much. You have no idea. Please go down to the reviews. Apple, wherever you are, Apple podcasts or anywhere, Spotify, doesn't matter. Please leave me a review. Please share on social media. Let me know what you want to hear more of. Whenever you share something on social I repost, re, tag and thank you. As always, no one succeeds alone, and that includes me. Until next week, I'll be creating my confidence and I know you will too. I decided to change that dynamic. I couldn't be more excited for what you're going to hear. Start learning and growing. Inevitably something will happen. No one succeeds alone. You don't stop and look around once in a while. You could miss it. Come on this journey with me.