#384: Secrets From My Masterclass: Securing Partnerships, Building Your Brand, & Achieving Your Goals with Heather!

For the days you struggle that you say, I don't know if I want to post today or I don't know if I want to lean into this and call myself an expert. The more you can amplify your voice, the larger that you can become and the more people you can reach, the more people you can help. The reality is selling is helping. And as you step into that, start thinking to yourself, you know what? I've got to find my own voice and I've got to rock it, regardless of what risk there is. But because I can help somebody else 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. Fasten your seatbelt. I'm ready for my close up. Hi and welcome back. I'm so glad you're back with me this week. Okay, so today is a little different. You know, I like to mix it up for you. And please let me know, leave me a review. If you like this episode, leave me a review. Give me some props, let me know this is what you want to hear about and I will get you more content like this. If you don't like it, send me a DM, go to my website, heather monahan.com shoot me a note. Please let me know. I want to make sure I add as much value to you as I possibly can. I'm so grateful for you being here. Okay, so I'm excited that you're here this week because it's a sneak peek episode. I'm sharing with you an actual excerpt from my most recent masterclass that I just did with Melanie Borden. So here's the thing. If you want to be successful growing your brand and your presence, then this episode is for you. If you got big, big goals for 2024, then this is the show you want to listen to. I have found so much success with my brand and it has brought me the most incredible opportunities. Like recently taking the stage for Dean Graziosi and Tony Robbins. I never would have imagined that would have happened five years ago right after I got fired. But building my personal brand, leaning into it and owning it with messy action has given me opportunities like that that I am so incredibly grateful for and like for the show. I would never have the show if it wasn't for my personal brand. But the thing is this. You don't have to just do it. You have to show up and make it happen time and time again when it's not always easy and you can't see those big success moments yet because they haven't showed up yet. Remember, the day you plant the seed is not the day that you reap the harvest. You need to find ways to keep going through those times before the opportunity presents itself. But I promise you this, it's on its way and it will. So listen in. I'm going to share with you my tips, my tricks, my hacks and really all the messy action you're going to need to lean into and take so that you can launch your voice, your brand and your business to that stratosphere that you could not even imagine a couple of years ago. I promise you today is a day you are going to make it happen. And make it happen big messy actions where it's at. I'm bringing you into a little bit of my masterclass because I can't wait for you to take these tips, tricks and hacks and apply it to your life, your brand and watch how you explode in 2024. Now, one last thing before I let you come right into the class. We had such incredible feedback from this masterclass that we are offering a January four week masterclass, Mini Mastermind to ensure you deliver on your goals, your accountabilities, your resolutions and your big plans and big confidence for 2024. Stay tuned. I'm gonna have the link for you next week. Until then, let me know what you think. Come on into class, meet a different guest each week. There's one thing that I wanted to say which is consistency is key. Whether it's about leaning in and having a forward facing personal brand, amplifying your voice, any of it, you have to keep showing up. So often I see people like, they get hot on an idea like I want to do this and then they try it for a week or two weeks and then they back off of it because they don't see the results. Here's the reality. I've been doing this for six years. Everyone's always like, oh, I want the magic answer, like how do I blow up like you, Heather on LinkedIn, there's no magic answer other than consistency testing and trying, taking messy action, never giving up. You're going to have self doubt, you're going to have your own questions. You've got to stay consistent. So my one challenge to you, to all of you, you, you guys took time, money and resources to be here today to really get the results. Don't quit on you. Make me that promise. The only way you're going to get results, we can teach you everything. I can give you the keys to all of my secrets. But it's not going to work for you if you don't stay committed to it. Here's a great example of that. Three years ago, again, I've been doing this for six years, having a forward facing personal brand, right? I've made tons of mistakes, tons of messy action. And I learn as a result of the messy action that I take. I'm constantly pivoting to that point. People will say, you need like a perfect brand and brand pillars and brand colors. And you know what? My first book is like black and red. My second book's white. Like, I do whatever the heck I want because that's who I am. So it's like all about be real to you, but you gotta just take messy action and get going. So I heard from a lot of you guys and the notes that I took, everyone wants, what's the next next step? And I want the roadmap. Let me give you the roadmap right now. Here it is. Get moving. Like, take freaking action. When we hang up today, you need to say, what am I going to hold myself accountable to? One of the most powerful things we can do for one another is hold each other accountable. To say, like, where are you at with this? Like, what's your progress look like? That's helping somebody else, right? When we hold each other accountable, we're going into a new year. Everybody's got big goals. You need to write these goals down and then you need to hold yourself accountable to it and you take messy action so that you can move forward. There is no magical perfect. Because anything I teach you today is going to change by tomorrow. We live in a world that moves so fast, it's changing tomorrow. That algorithm changes all the time, right? So it's all about, yes, we want the knowledge, we want the understanding, but we've also got to hold ourselves accountable. To say, I'm going to keep learning, I'm going to keep challenging myself and I'm going to keep taking messy action. That's number one. You've got to hold yourself accountable. What action step are you taking today? Right? Like, that's how we're going to get the momentum going beyond this day. I hate one day things because I don't want anyone just to say, like, wow, that was incredible. I got so much information and now you know, I'm not going to do anything with it. I don't want anyone to waste their money. I don't want you to waste your time. You've got to hold yourself accountable to Take action so that you can achieve your big goals next year and beyond. And that's all about taking messy action and holding yourself accountable. Okay? When you plant a seed, you don't necessarily reap the rewards of that seed and eat that fruit in the same day, right? We know that. It took me years to blow up on LinkedIn. Years. So what works for one person can happen a lot faster for other people. However, I'm just giving you my personal experience. It took me years to really blow up on LinkedIn. But you don't need to blow up on LinkedIn. You can have a small community and monetize it, have a strong roi. You can make more money and be happier than people who have a bigger rate. So the key is to know, regardless of the size of your community or where you're at today, keep those big goals, keep moving towards it and then maximize the opportunity you have and give yourself some grace. My point is that I planted these seeds six years ago and I believe if you build it, they will come. Right? Like I wrote my first book and I'm like, this thing's going to go viral. I always have really, really big goals I believe in, like go big or go home. Swing for the frickin fences. I wasn't put on this earth to play small and neither were any you. So whatever your dreams and goals are, let's start thinking, wait a minute, how can I change this business model so that I could 10x this, right? How I could 100x this? Start thinking bigger doesn't mean it's always going to pan out. I didn't sell millions of my first copy yet, my first book yet. I will one day. I know that. I don't know what that tipping point will be. I don't know what's going to accelerate the sales. I keep the big goals and I stay patient and steadfast against those goals and, and I continue to add other goals and other projects and other opportunities to it. I'm constantly pivoting my business. I'm constantly creating just even like this masterclass. We're constantly trying and testing and trying different things and we're giving ourselves grace. And you know what? Maybe it's not always going to work out exactly the way we thought. Maybe because there's a better plan. This was the example I wanted to give you though. Six years ago I launched my personal brand. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'd only ever worked in corporate America, you know, that was my lane. I had a non compete for 18 months. In my industry that I was an expert in, I had to start over as a beginner. You know, some of us are starting over in transition moments, which is super, super exciting, because when everything's uncertain, anything is possible. And I remember thinking, like, okay, I'll just start building something and figure it out along the way. What's interesting is I end up launching a podcast in 2019, having no clue what I'm doing. Everyone told me it's too late to the podcast game. P.S. my show is top 10 on Apple Podcasts every week in entrepreneurship, right? Like, I'm crushing people that told me it was too late to start a podcast. By the way, maybe it's too late for them doesn't mean it's too late for you. So I decided to lean into my podcast. I ended up getting Dean Graziosi, who's Tony Robbins, business partner, on my show back in 2020. He was kind enough to say, I'm super worried that, you know, you've got this new business. I'm going to gift you a course, Heather, that Tony and I created. He gifts me this course. It was like $5,000. Very kind. Gives it to me. We had this great exchange. I have him on the show. I'm helping him promote his business, not asking anything in return. However, he did give me that course, which was so generous. I don't hear from him for two years. This is all about planting seeds. This is what I want you to know. I don't hear anything from him for two years. I keep building my business. I keep big goals. I'm out there, I'm making moves, I'm doing different things. And all of a sudden, one day, I get a message from his assistant. Hey, Dean wants to know you want to come on his show this year. I'm like, these guys are light years ahead of me. Of course, any time we can access our partner with someone who's ahead of us is going to give us, right. That credibility, that boost and a larger reach. It's going to amplify your reach. So I said, yeah, I would love to. So they scheduled me to be on Dean show at the beginning, before we start recording. I said, dean, what can I do for you? Add value. Always add value. Not asking what he can do for me. I'm saying, how can I help support you? He said, oh, listen, I actually have a new course coming out with Tony, and would you be willing to have me back on your show again? I said, absolutely. He's like, your show's doing better than mine. Blah, blah, I'm like, consider it done. Whatever works for your schedule. We're going to make it work. I'm going to promote the heck out of you. And I did. I promoted his stuff like crazy. Didn't ask for anything in return. He promoted me on his show. And at the end of that show, the second time, he said, there's something about you, Heather. I don't know what it is. I said, yeah, I know what it is. I said, you and I are meant to work together. He said, I feel that same way, too. Let's set up a call with you and I. So he ends up scheduling a call. This is now years after that initial time that I supported his initiative. This is now years after 2019 when I launched my podcast. Right. Like, all these things are building on one another. And he ends up saying to me, I would like to feature you on the COVID of our magazine. I would like to feature you to our community. I would like to have you do a course. So anyways, all these things have happened in the past few months, and I plant the seed today not knowing. I didn't know that I was ever going to be on Tony Robbins platform. Like, that wasn't some big master plan. But just have that faith that you're taking that next action step. You're building something from a place of good and wanting to help people and do that next thing and add value to others and know that those doors are just going to start opening for you. I don't know which door it will be. I don't even know what will come out of this. But stay open to, okay, I'm doing the work right now. I might not see all the results that I want, but I'm not going to let that get me discouraged. Stay connected to people around you that are positive, that are influencing you to keep moving the ball forward and commit to yourself and the people on this team to take messy action, to hold yourself accountable and to go for more. Okay, I had to just go up on a tangent about that because that was really important. Okay. You have to be willing to take those chances and not know and be willing to add value and help others and just leave from love, like lead from doing good. And the more that you do that, I swear it's the best business strategy in the world. I look back to my time in corporate America, and I'm sure some of you will resonate with this. There was a lot of people leading from a place of control, anger, cutthroat. And while it might look like they have success, on the outside, everybody lining up behind them wants to take those people out. And I've seen it time and time again. And now that I'm outside of it, I'm like, oh, my gosh, I'm so grateful I'm not in that rat race anymore. I'm so grateful that I'm now in a place where I attract like minded people to me who are kind, who want to do good, who want to support other people. So often people say, like, I don't want to be too nice or there's no such thing like that. Show up and be that badass, incredible nice person that you are and watch those opportunities are going to keep showing up for you. All right, finding your voice, this is super important. And this is actually the course that I did for Tony Robbins, which is so crazy. But it was all about. And this is what they asked me to create because they said that so many of the people in their community don't really have their own voice. When I was in corporate, I didn't really have my own voice either. Let me tell you what that means. I would dress a certain way because I was supposed to. I would act a certain way because I was supposed to. And yes, I made it to the C suite. You know, it looked on the outside like I had a lot of success, but I was losing my hair, I was grinding my teeth at night, I wasn't sleeping. I was miserable. Even though there was parts of my job I liked, even though I made a lot of money, I wasn't happy. When I look back now, I really believe it's because I was not using my voice. I was not being honest. I wasn't raising my hand and saying, this is wrong. I'm not gonna do this. This doesn't work for me. So it's super important in business and in life to find your own voice. And I've done that myself through a number of different ways. One of the ways is through journaling, being real. If you can only be real with yourself, do that when you're journaling, do that with people that you trust. But the more that you can start stepping into that, the more you can start amplifying it. But you've got to find it first. I want to give you an example of why it's important to find your voice. Too often we think we're showing up as that authentic version ourselves, but we actually know deep down that we're not right. And so what happens is miscommunication starts happening. This is a huge issue in business. This is A huge issue for partnerships. So let me give you an example. Back in 2019, I launched my podcast. There was this guy, Ken Coleman, who has a really big show because he's partnered with Dave Ramsey, which is a huge network, right? So there's so much value in partnering with people and accessing other people's reach and networks. So he came on my show, and he was going to have me on his show. I ended up parting ways with the platform that I was on, and I didn't have his show any longer, didn't have access to it. So I never got to load it and run it. Cut to, I run into him a year ago. We had not spoken in a couple of years. So in my mind, I decided, oh, this guy hates me. He had come on my show, right? Like I was supposed to be amplifying him, adding value to him, and then all of a sudden, crickets. Nothing. Well, I run into him at an event and I see him, and I kind of shrink back thinking, oh, this is not going to go well because this guy hates me. He walks right over to me and says he owned his voice. He said, heather, I need to speak to you. And I said, okay, hit me with it. You know, I thought the guy was going to take my head off. He said, I feel really bad. I was not very nice to you. I never followed back up with you. He's in through the lens of his life. He thought I didn't run the show because he had showed up as, like, a not a nice guy, when through the lens of my life, I had seen it as, oh, my gosh, I dropped the ball on this guy. He probably hates me. So the lack of us, either one of us finding our voice and being authentic and real with the other one, we created totally false narratives that forced us away from each other when, thankfully, we were brought together in an event. And now this guy's like, my homie. We message all the time. I had him back on my show, he had me on his show. He's always amplifying myself. Now we have a friendship as a result.

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But that all goes back to finding your voice and sharing it with people, even if it feels like it's a risk. So I just wanted to give you that example that this guy and I for three years thought the other person hated each other when in turn, there was never an issue of that. And now we collaborate and help one another. Also, another important thing for finding your voice, and this is like my favorite story ever, and it's in my first book, Confidence Creator, is that so often we make everything about us. You know, self promotion and blah, blah, blah. We make it about us. But the reality is, if we flip that script and make it about that person we could possibly help. Then we can say, all right, now I can make myself take the chance because I could help that young person or I could help that person that's struggling. You never know. Everybody operates on different frequencies and through different lenses. Your story, your example, and your voice might land with somebody and they've been feeling isolated or alone. And this has happened so much in my life, but it actually happened to me, which I wanted to share with you. Years ago, I was C Suite executive in corporate America, and Taylor Swift had come to perform for us at one of our events, and she happened to be sitting next to me with her mother, and they were very lovely and sweet. I end up getting roasted at that event by a real jerk, an older man, and he's calling me VP of Cleavage from the stage, and everyone's laughing and I didn't own my voice. And this is such, like, I'll never forget this. And these are the things I don't want you guys to do. Instead of saying, this is wrong. You don't do this to someone. I'm a nice person. Like, no, I'm not allowing this. I kind of laughed and made a joke because I was so embarrassed and I didn't own my voice. Luckily, a young Taylor Swift leaned over to me and said, what's this guy's name? And I said, danny. And she said, why is he doing this? I said, because he's an asshole. And she goes, I'll be right back. And she got up and left and went out to the hall, and 10 minutes later, they called her up to sing. She had gone to the hall to write a song, roasting Danny. And she used her voice and took that stage and roasted him. And she got a standing ovation. Now, mind you, she didn't know what the Response would be from everybody. Everyone could have hated her. Everyone could have said, you're an asshole, Taylor Swift, and you shouldn't be talking about this, man. Luckily, they didn't. The reason why she came there, she wanted us to play her songs on our radio stations. She took a massive risk by stepping into her authentic voice and speaking from her heart. And it paid off huge. Everyone went wild. Danny took the stage and apologized after. And for me, it was one of those moments that she made it about the person she could help instead of what that value meant to her. I really want you guys to know, for the days you struggle, that you say, I don't know if I want to pose today or I don't know if I want to lean into this and call myself an expert. The more you can amplify your voice, the larger that you can become and the more people you can reach, the more people you can help. The reality is selling is helping. And as you step into that, start thinking to yourself, you know what? I've got to find my own voice. And I've got a rocket, regardless of what risk there is, because I can help somebody else. Okay, so make it about the people we can help. I mean, the reality is, you think too often, oh, it's already been said. Nobody needs to hear what I have to say. Like, I hear this a lot, right? Here's the thing. Bullshit. That is a cop out. That is all about fear. And I'm not going to allow you guys to have that excuse anymore. And it's so often I hear it. Your unique story, your unique background, your unique frequency that you operate from is completely different than everybody else's. I have a lot of examples on this one, but I remember, like, who's going to want to hear from a former C suite executive that I got fired? You know, like, who's going to care about that? I was telling myself that before I finally put a post up that, by the way, went viral. When I put it up, because I was leaning into my voice, I was telling the truth, and I was operating from, you know, taking that risk of I don't know how many people is going to impact, but I believe that it's worth sharing. I promise you this. Everybody is saying the same stuff. Do you think Kim Kardashian created skims? No. Sarah Blakely created Spanx. She just remarkets it as skim. And I'm not knocking the girl. Good for her, right? Nothing is original anymore. The last original creation was the Bible, in my opinion. Like, everything else is just reimagining. It. Don't get so caught up in this idea that you know it has to be this way. Or just reimagine things through your story and know that you're going to land and create and attract those right people that are going to get value from you. So too often, I think we get really hung up on that, that we need to be different or original. Don't overthink that. Just reimagine it through you. And those right opportunities will come. And those right people are going to be helped by your message. I promise you that. Yes, I get that it can be scary when you take that risk and go out on your own. Burn the fricking boats. There's no alternative but to win. When you start thinking that way, you're not going to fail. Failure is giving up. Right? Like, we're going to have tons of fails left and right. I have them epic fails every single day. Had one yester. That's par for the course. I choose to see those as opportunities for me to learn from it and take a different direction. You know, I'm being redirected, not rejected. I say that all the time and it's truth in my life. Right. So the people and the content you surround yourself with is massive. Anyone can be your mentor on the regular. Recently, I've been big into faith, and I've been following a lot of people that are quoting the Bible. And that's super helpful to me because I remember, like, okay, you know, I'm feeling scared right now.

Nope.

My job is to. To hand all my fears over to God and let go. And I'm not saying, listen, this isn't a Bible class right now, but I'm just saying that's one of my strategies that I use. Right. So. But before, when I wasn't as into faith, I would have people on speed dial that are my people. Like my best friend Samantha. I can send that girl a text message at any point in time and say, I'm freaking out right now. This project I'm working on is not working well. What do you think I should do? I know what she's going to write back. She's like, you are the most badass. You crush everything you do. Remember this. Boom, boom. And she'll hit me with, like, the best things ever. She's like, remember how scared you were for your TEDx. What happened? And I'm like, thank you, my hype. Like, have your hype team, right? Know who those people are and know who's not on your hype. Team, right? Like that lady that fired me, hated me. And getting that woman out of my life was such a blessing. Because you will doubt yourself more and more the more you allow negative people into your life. Cut. I wrote a whole book about this. Overcome your villains. Get rid of negativity. Fire those people from your life. And when you do that, you create space to allow opportunity and positive people to come in. And that's really important. Another thing I do, I always have three things written down that my TEDx is one I always use. I thought I was going to choke. I was petrified. And I know people think, like, I'm always confident. No. No way. I push myself into fear every single day. If I'm not swinging for the fences and going for more, I'm shortchanging the world. That's the way I see it. God did not put me here to play small. My job is to impact people. I'm blessed to have this opportunity to be with you guys today. My goal is to impact you. Like, show up every day with that attitude. It makes you swing for the fences. Like, how could you not? How could you deny people that help? But one of the things I do is I write down three times over the past six years that I was super scared. I was scared the first time I got in the private meeting with Dean Graziosi a few months ago. Like, I didn't know what he was going to ask me. I self doubt came in. So now I write down, he freaking loves me. I've got a course up on his site now. Like, I'm always adding to that list to say, okay, the next time doubt comes in, pretty soon you've retrained yourself to say, I feel like I'm doubting myself right now. That's BS Because I know that I know all these other examples. You're literally retraining your mind to say, this is my new reality. Like, of course I'm going to succeed. And the more you anticipate that and know that, the more it actually comes to fruition because you're relentless in your pursuit of it. The other thing is getting back to your why. Right? Like, for me, you know, my son is definitely a huge part of my why. And if I'm showing up as a better leader, if I'm showing up as a stronger, happier individual, I know that that opens the door for him to say, I want to do those kind of things as well. Right? So connect back to your why. Set specific goals. Right? This is a huge thing, guys, and I want you to walk Away from this. Write down specifically what you are going to do as a result of this class, whatever it's going to be. Write down a specific goal. Those that deal in generalities seldom succeed. Those that deal in specifics seldom fail. So this is a quote I live by. Write down the specifics and literally write them down on a piece of paper. We're all going to write down our grocery list because we don't want to forget Bobby Joe's chips at Publix. But no one's writing down how much revenue they want to make next month or, like, you know, what big landing, Tony Robbins stage. Whatever crazy goal it is. These crazy goals start happening, and you're going to start seeing them come to fruition. But you've got to hold yourself accountable. Continue to immerse yourself and invest in yourself. You know, continue to take these steps. The problems arise when you get into a rut, and then you're in your head and you're saying, okay, the minute you see that and that happens to everybody. Call your hype person. The minute you see that, put on that TED Talk. That totally fires you up. Replay this class, right? Like, do the things that you know. Okay, this feels good. This makes sense to me. This is something I'm going to keep on my. You know, ready? The other thing that I do, I always have lavender with me. Like, it helps center me. I write messages on the bottom of my shoes. I can. I will. I am my biggest hype person because I know tough times are going to come. I know there's negativity. I was coaching somebody yesterday from a technology business, and he's telling me all the problems with technology and the recession and this and that. I'm like, bro, great. Okay, so that's. That's a thing. All right, now let's look over here, because you're talking to me about, like, 1% of business over here. There's billions of dollars in the world. Don't get so hung up on what's shrinking. Let's start talking about how you can solve problems and access more people so you can start moving your business forward. Like, it's so much about what we focus on and what we choose to believe. So make sure you're around those people that are believing in you and challenging you to grow because the world needs you, and the world needs people getting more fit so they can be healthier, so they can be happier. Like, when you start reading the testimonials of the people you help. Like, I cry about somebody. I got to get out there and hustle and work harder so I can help more people and bust through fear, because that's why I'm here, is to help people make more money, to help them get to that next level. But the more you think about it like that, how could you not get bigger and go for more? I'll tell you. Imposter syndrome. I'm going to give you a quick example of this. The only way you can ever be an imposter is if you choose to show up as someone other than yourself. Here's the thing. As long as you're being the real you, as long as you're using your real voice, you're finding your voice and you're leaning into it, whether it's messy, imperfect, whatever, how can you be an imposter? You can't. The reality is you're an imposter. When you wear your hair this certain way because they told you to, you dress a certain way, you know, you're not yourself. So my imposter moment was I got a DM on LinkedIn, of course, from a professor from Harvard, and he said, I love it if you would come teach my class. And I googled the guy, first of all, because I thought I was getting pumped because immediately I wasn't the smart one in my family growing up. By the way, if you're hanging on to any stories from your childhood, please fire those labels and rewrite those stories today. Seriously. I had to do that for myself. My sister was a smart one, you know, and I was a social one. So when I saw I'm like, oh, this is an imposter moment. He sees me as smart, but I'm not smart because I was hanging onto a story from my childhood. And so I DM the guy back like, let's get on a call and discuss, you know, I was full of it. I was so nervous that he was going to find out I wasn't the smart one anyhow. So we got on a call and then he said, hey, he saw me through this beautiful rose colored glasses and he said, you're a single mom. You understand social media. I'm an old white man. Like you see things differently in sales other than I do. You'll add tremendous value. And when I heard him see me with rose colored glasses on, I was able to put the rose colored glasses on myself and say, you know what? And that's a great exercise. Reach out to 10 people in your life. Send an email or a text and say, hey, I'm working on my unique value proposition right now. I'd love it if you could share back to me what you see as unique, valuable and different in me so that it can help me process how the world sees me and how I can add value. Those 10 messages you're going to get back are going to melt your heart. Save them on your phone in a file that I call it Fam Love. And I add all of like any nice messages I get to that. Anytime I'm having a tough day, I go back and look at those things and it allows me to put those rose colored glasses back on and say, oh my gosh, you are great. Like, you are doing good. Like, way to go, Heather. Like, there is value here, right? Because everybody's going to have those different moments of doubting themselves anyways. Bottom line is this. I end up going to Harvard. I end up teaching that class. When I left, I'm like, how are they doing it without me now? That's my attitude with Harvard. I ended up teaching there for two years, which is so surreal and freaking crazy. I've done keynotes for Harvard three times. Everything can change overnight. I went from a person that literally thought I was getting punked by Ashton Kutcher because I got a DM from someone saying they were from Harvard to now. I feel like, how does Harvard operate when I'm not there? I don't even know it's that crazy. But it can change that quickly. Just choo to put those rose colored glasses on that somebody else has for you. And realize the only way you'll ever be an imposter is if you choose to show up with somebody other than yourself. It's that time of year again.

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Okay listen. We live in a noisy world. Allow your voice to be heard by taking massive action. Setting the big goals first and foremost. And then taking the swings and going after it. Okay, Give yourself grace. You're going to make mistakes. This is reality. Don't forget the comparison of me when I started out versus 10 years of practice. I have a post that I put up a lot. It's of me reading from a teleprompter. It's so embarrassing and so bad. And then 10 years later, I put it side by side with my TEDx talk, which is so good, by the way. I worked so fricking hard at that thing. It's ridiculous. But I put that post up a lot to show people no one just was born on this planet. Amazing at something. Like, I hired a speaker coach. I invest in myself. I practice. I. I work so hard at things, there isn't a magic pill for it. Sometimes it takes 10 years of practicing. Right? But I just want you to know that I started out sucking and then I got good over a decade. Right? So again, not a miracle moment, not a miracle pill. But give yourself the grace that you're going to put the reps in and you're going to get better and better. Give yourself kindness and compassion. Like so often, we are our own worst critic. This is where it's helpful to go back to that UVP exercise and say, you know what? This is how these other people see me. I'm choosing to see myself that way. A great hack is to carry a picture of yourself as a young child and anytime you're being negative yourself, pull that picture out and say, do I want to talk to that person like that or do I want to talk to that person with kindness? Because that is definitely helpful. Done will always be better than perfect. That's my mantra in life and it's so, so true. Like again, take messy action and keep moving. Don't react to people. Yeah, don't allow haters and negative people to react. Like, just keep it moving. We always want to respond with race and class and keep it moving. Don't get caught up in the people being negative to you. Oh, I'm a big fan of 30 day plans. So, you know, say one of your goals for 2024 is you want to be the most confident version of you. You don't need to wait for 2024 to start first rate where you are and you have to step on the scale and find out how much you weigh. Same thing with confidence. Get real. Where am I today? Maybe you're at like a six. Okay, I'm at a six. I want to get to a ten plus. Plus. I Always want to get off the charts, right? So I write down again, if you want to make it real, you got to write it down. You're 90% more likely to achieve something if you write it down. Give yourself a specific timeline. Give yourself, you don't need me to give you. I mean I'm happy to give everyone a 30 day deadline. Happy to do that. But give yourself the deadline. You don't need me to parent you. You can parent yourself, right? You're worth it. Talk about like what one thing can you do each day? So for me it's about stepping into fear. It's swinging bigger, knowing that if I pitch myself or something, I'm going to, no, that's okay. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. When we start not taking rejection as personal, I still need to hear this right now as I'm talking. It's funny, when we don't take rejection as personal, we can move with more speed and have more success and open more doors. Don't make a decision for somebody else. Give that person the grace that you're going to allow them to make their own decisions for themselves. Stop apologizing. This is another big part of the 30 day challenge. No apologies. Reframe that as thanking people. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your understanding. Thank you for your grace. Stop apologizing. It's one of the biggest ways to chip away at your confidence. I wrote a whole chapter on this in my first book about how I used to go to workout and I would feel so good about myself on the treadmill when I was running and I would have self talk dialogue like, you look great. I'm so proud of you. You are killing it. And the minute at Barry's boot camp, we would go to grab the weights and people would bump into me. I would say, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And suddenly I didn't feel as good about myself. So I learned firsthand to stop apologizing. I never apologize anymore. I mean, listen, if I tripped an old lady walking across the street, I would totally apologize. But that doesn't happen. So I suggest that you stop apologizing too. It's really, really empowering. And if you go to my website, heathermonahan.com there is a 30 and 60 day accountability partner email that you'll just get every morning. And it just basically challenges you to hold yourself accountable to these, to keep building your confidence and to step into your shame, like own whatever shame that is and say, you know what? I'm. Shine a light on It. And I'm going to put that to work for me. One of the ways you can do that is taking other people off of pedestals. For me, I had Harvard on a pedestal. I don't any longer. Right. They're totally normal people, just like you and me. They might have a higher iq, we might have a higher eq. Right? Like, we don't all have to be exactly the same. And in fact, in 2023, we want to embrace everybody. We want to live in a world where we're accepting of others and acknowledging what's special, unique and different and celebrating that. So I want you to celebrate that about you too. Keep promises to yourself. If you say you're going to do it, you got to do it and shine your light to inspire others. We live in a freaking dark world right now. Right? The world needs your light. The world needs your skills and talents to make the world a better place. So do the 30 day challenge. Back in corporate, people would say, this might be a stupid question. Do not say that. No, no, Right. Like, we teach people how to treat us. So if we're going to say blind moment, you know, me and I used to do this all the time. That is not going to help you elevate yourself. Right. Instead you want to say, I've got a question. Like, just make a statement. You don't say, this is a dumb question. Right? So just being thoughtful about, listen, if you don't want people to call you dumb, don't call yourself dumb. We don't need to do that. So when you get into difficult situations to say, I'm confused, can you elaborate on that? That's a really helpful, like, you're not getting all the answers that you want. Tell me more. That's another great one. When you want to find and help me to understand, help me to help you. Are we clear on this? Let me repeat back to you what I think I heard you say. I was actually on a call this morning with someone and they said, heather, I think that you're upset. Did I do a bad job communicating? And I said, you know what? This is what I heard. We don't need to fight with people if we're struggling to understand something we can come across as our confident self without attacking anybody. This is what I heard. What was it that you intended? And I love this one. That's not going to work for me. You can own that without apology. And you don't have to have fights or arguments with people. It's about creating boundaries for yourself, which is super, super Important acts to increase confidence. Oh, channel your inner Sasha fears. If Beyonce Knowles has an inner Sasha fears, I think it's okay that we all have one. Whoever that may be, whoever that Superman might be for you, whatever it is, right? And if you don't have that one, use Sasha Fierce. Use me. Use whoever you want. I've had many a moment that I'm like, I'm going to channel this person going into this situation because I'm nervous, right? Like that happens to everybody. Channel that inner whoever it is and I promise you, it works. Practice affirmations daily. Write down the last three confidence building moments. Practice builds competence. The more you swing big, the more you take the risk, the easier it's going to get. Always listen to the one voice and opinion that matters. That's your own. Doesn't matter what somebody. It's like someone saying to me that I was too late to the podcast game. Don't forget this. I passed those people. Now here we are four years later, right? But people were telling me, no, you can't, it's too late, Heather. I literally pass those people. So just because it wasn't okay for them or possible for them doesn't mean it's not possible for you. Don't get caught up in that. And anytime you're feeling afraid, say this. There's a fine line between fear and excitement. I'm excited. I'm really hyped up. Use EFT tapping. Google EFT tapping if you haven't done that before. Meditation, working out faith and prioritizing yourself and, you know, getting back to your why? Super, super helpful ways to create confidence. One of the ways that you can amplify your voice and one of the ways that you can become a better speaker is going on to podcasts, right? So it's really important. It's like a test ground for you to test your material. One of the important things about speaking is knowing what's landing with people, right? So I was able to fine tune my message before I took really big stages by taking smaller stages when I spoke for free, right? Like at charities at my kids school. Like, listen, put yourself out there, raise your hand and ask for these opportunities and you will get them. And then ask for reviews once you do them. And then ask what part landed with you the most. Like, where did you get value in what I discussed today? And then keep a living, breathing doc that says, like, this is what's landing, this is what's connecting. So that you can always go back and say, I want to incorporate this message with this audience. That's super helpful. Podcasts are super helpful as well because you'll see whoever the podcast host is, they're going to share some content on social about you and you'll start seeing, oh, this one gets reposted all the time. That message, adding value. Okay, write that down and put that in the doc. I can include that into a speech moving forward. Right? So you definitely want to make sure that you're including and, and paying attention to these different opportunities. And you've got to pitch yourself, right? It goes back to sales. You need to be pitching yourself to different shows. So you want to approach it from, I'm a badass because I own this lane over here and I see things totally differently. You see things from the standpoint of like moving fast. And maybe I'm looking at it from an antiquated way. Both have value. It's all about rocking and owning, you know, with confidence who you are. Just, you don't need to apologize for it. Like, I haven't been in the industry for 20 years. Who cares? It's so cool that you have a fresh perspective. Like, I remember when I was young in corporate America, that's kind of what I own. I'm like, I'm not 60 years old, white male, and that's what I'm going to rock and make work for me. Now that I'm a 49 year old white female, I'm like, well, I've got a ton of expertise, so I've got that going for me. Right? Like, you can choose to see it either way you want, but see yourself through that lens of like, this is what's special and great about me. That's why I love that UVP exercise where, you know, you hear firsthand from people how valuable you are. Okay. One of the important things about when you do podcasts, you can have these transcribed, you can use it like, as Melanie was saying, the opus clips. Like, you get so much content from doing shows. So not only is it a great opportunity for you to practice your material, which is great for speaking, but it also shows you what lands with people. It also allows you to establish yourself as an expert, for sure. And then you can repurpose these things on your social, on your website. There's so many different ways to leverage and use podcasts. That has like a compounding effect, right? It's not just a one and done item. It's something that people are always going to go back to and are able to access and get more value from. You need to pitch yourself number One, you have to pitch yourself to get on. But then at the end of the show and you want to make this known to the podcast host ahead of time. Hey, it's really important to me. I want to drive these people back to my free ebook or my 30 day accountability program. Like, drive these people back to your community. Do not waste your time going on podcasts. And done. You just lost that whole community. The reason why you're going there is to add value. But to attract those people to your community and offering something for free is such a great way to do this. The best show I ever went on was the Lady Gang and I'll tell you why. They ran a promotion for me on social media where they gave away my books and promoted my free ebook. And that's what really opened my eyes to wow. All of a sudden I got like thousands of followers. Because they got into my fold in my community on my website. And on my website I have access to like, follow me here, follow me here. So I saw a direct return. Make sure that you're seeing it from a business strategic lens. When you do podcasts, anyone and everyone can add value. I don't care who you are. It's about finding what those right shows are. Making a list of those shows. You can go into Apple podcasts and like, click on my show, say you're like, oh, I'm a great guest for Heather Monahan. That's my audience. Well, when you click on my show, it's going to show you 10 others you would like. Those are 10 other leads now for you to pitch yourself to. Right. Like, it's all about how can you add value to a certain audience and, and then pitching yourself to get on there. Yeah. So they already have a relationship. These people already know, like, and trust that host. That person's extending that. No, like and trustworthiness to you. So it's a really powerful opportunity for you to convert and sell people if you're going to let them know, okay, the way that you land a podcast, you want to do your homework ahead of time. Do not send a blind pitch. That happens all the time. That's just lazy. Right? Like, this is sales. So you want to do your homework, you want to research the people, see how they're adding value, what they might be missing, you know, how you might be able to help and support their audience. Listen to other episodes. That's another great way. You want to leave a review and take a screenshot of that and send it to people. Hey, left you a five star review. I Love your show. You're doing an amazing job. Had a couple of ideas. I haven't seen you dive into this topic, and I wonder if your audience and community could benefit from it. Right, okay, I'm just going to give you some examples. Generic and not thoughtful. Go right into the trash. And by the way, you can pitch yourself to a podcast and maybe they say no at one point in time. Sometimes what happens for a podcast host is we batch so many shows that we're like, oh, I don't even want to worry about guests right now. I'm focused on my master classes right now. This really happens. But then sometimes someone could come to me. I don't have anything batched, and I get a pitch on a Tuesday, and I'm like, can you do it tomorrow? That happens too. Timing is everything, so don't get discouraged. If you're getting no's, just use that as like, okay, I'm starting to get my feet wet on these pitches. I'm seeing what's working, what's not working. But timing is everything, too. You can go back to someone again. And this is Lori Harder. For example, I was on Lori's show in 2018. Her team pitched me to have her on my show. This year I had her on, and I've sent so many pitches since. When Overcome youe Villains came out a couple years ago, I sent so many pitches to Lori's team. Lori has one of the biggest podcasts out there. And I kept getting no's and kept getting no's, and I'm like, that sucks. Well, add value to others, support others. She comes on my show and suddenly at the end she's like, heather, why haven't we had you back on my show again? I'm like, I don't know. Like, clearly we need to do it. But you know what's interesting? She goes, yeah, but you have to come to Arizona. She said, I have a new policy. I'm only doing in person. I was like, okay, I didn't know that, Right? So it wasn't something that was visible to me. So sometimes you're getting a no, but you don't know why. It's all about, like, you know, just don't give up on it. Like, keep thinking, how else can I challenge myself if this is an important thing, which getting on her show is like, how can I add value? How can I continue this conversation? How can I not give up when you've been on a decent show or you've got a good showing of who you are and it's powerful. Like, put that clip everywhere. Put that clip in the email that you send to somebody so they know, like, this person's like, wow, that's impressive. That did really well, right? You're selling yourself. You need to put your best foot forward. Be brief and to the point. I hate these four page emails I get from people about a pitch that goes in the trash. No one has that much time, right? Everyone's attention span is very small. Cut right to the chase. How can you add value? How can you benefit them? And what are you willing to do? Maybe you have a big email list. I'm going to go ahead and encourage my community to listen to this. Think of ways you can add value to that podcast host and to their show. They want more downloads, they want more views. Think about, I have a Facebook community or I'm a part of some tribe over here. I'll promote that episode with me to that tribe. You got my attention. Now you're adding value to me, my show. This is the best pitch, I think. Always lead with a five star review. Take a screenshot of what you wrote. Listen, reviews make a huge difference to people. So take that screenshot. Talk about something that you love about them. People want to hear why you love them. People want to be loved, right? So show the love. Mention that you have a topic that hasn't been discussed recently or on the show that you have seen. Like, how can I be unique and add value and just bullet point, make it easy. Also credibility. You want to have some links of things you've done that are big and that can be anything. It can be other shows, it can be your background and expertise in some area. But really, at the end of the day, you want to share how you can benefit their audience and benefit them. I remember this was back in 2019. I'm like, go big or go home. I want Gary Vee to be my first guest because I want to stand out from the crowd because everyone told me I was too late to the podcast game, remember? So I took a Google alert out on Gary B. Any target you have, always take a Google alert out on them. And I was getting nothing back. I was dming him. I'm like, nothing. Crickets. And so finally I'm like, one day I get a message because Google will send you a message. Hey, Gary Vaynerchuk just opened a new wine company with his partner Trouty. So I think to myself, ooh, I have a personal brand on LinkedIn. People know like and trust me there, this guy Trouty, don't know who he is, but I bet he'll respond to a DM for me because Gary's not right. So I go to LinkedIn, I find Trouty. I DM him. How can I add value? I say, trouty, hey, I saw that you're launching a wine company. I was in the wine business for a few years. I'd love to share with you the epic fails that I made, what not to do, and what specific things you can do to set yourself up for a major launch. If you're interested, happy to do a quick call with you and give you that feedback. Who wouldn't say yes to that? He's like, yeah, I'd love to, Heather. Great. Because he could see that I'm a real person, not a psycho killer because of my profile and the investment I've made on myself in LinkedIn. So we get on a call. We're on the call for an hour, and all I'm doing is giving him value. I'm like, don't do this, do this, don't do this. Contact this guy for this. I'm giving him everything. At the end, he goes, I don't know how to thank you. How could I ever repay you? If there's anything I can do to help you, Heather, let me know. I go, funny that you mentioned that. And here's what I want you to know. Convert opportunities in the moment. So often people be like, well, he offered to help me, but I didn't want to be the pain. That person is going to forget about you and move on. Never, like, convert in the moment. Never walk away from someone extending an olive branch to you without grabbing that branch. So I grabbed the branch. I said, listen, Trouty, so cool that you say that. Here's my ask. I'm launching a new podcast. I would love for Gary Vaynerchuk to be my first guest. Can you make this happen? He goes, oh, God, you are unbelievable. Yeah, let me try. And it didn't stop there, right? Like, he ends up getting back me the next day. He's like, I talked to Gary. Gary says, you need to buy some wine from the new company. Anyways. I had to spend $10,000 on a wine order, which Empathy Wines. I bought the wine, right? Like, and then I'm like, how can I convert that into an opportunity? I partner with another company and I. Whatever. Like, I found a way to unload the wine. It was all about taking that risk and, like, you know, investing in him anyhow. I end up getting him as a guest on my show. I fly to New York. All money that I'm spending, right? Because I just believe in this big vision that I need to make a big blast. And it was so flipping smart, by the way. It paid off huge. But you don't know, just kind of, like, take the risk and go for it. I fly to New York, I'm spending all this money, I walk in and I say to myself, I'm getting it. I need to be a guest on his show. So I made friends. And this is really important. Yeah, Gary Vaynerchuk is the big name, but everyone in his circles who's important, because those are the people that are going to help you. The gatekeepers are the people that are actually will remember you, remember your kindness. Like, I had become close to his assistant at the time was a young guy named Tyler. So the minute I walked in, I didn't run over to Gary Vaynerchuk. I ran over to Tyler. I made it all about Tyler. And so he's hugging me, and he's like, I'm so happy you're here. And I sent him some nice, thoughtful things ahead of time. And when I stood there, I said, I need a favor. And he said, what is it? I said, who's the ultimate decision maker to get me as a guest on Gary Vaynerchuk show? Mind you, I'm about to record him for my show. And he goes, honestly, Heather, he is. I said, so give me your best tip. He said, my best tip is pitch him while you're on your podcast. So the whole thing's recorded on video and he can't slime his way up it. I'm like, done. Thank you. I got a really good intel from his right hand, right? So in the back of my mind, it's a horrible podcast because it was my first interview ever. And the whole time I'm like, close this guy. Close this guy. But I did at the very end. If you ever go back, and not that you need to go back and see it, because I'm telling you, but at the very end, I say, well, Gary, I'm so grateful that you were my first guest, and it was amazing having you here. I just want to see how I could add value to you. Do you think your audience could benefit from. And I pitched myself to him right there, and he goes, yeah, they totally could. I go, great. When can we do it? He's like, tyler, can you set it up to have Heather on the show? And Tyler's like, you got it. And the whole thing's on video. So anyways, I end up going back six months later and I'm a guest on his show. So my point is this. On the outside, everyone's like, oh, Heather's friends with Gary Vaynerchuk. No, I'm not friends with his assistant. Right. But like, all of that I made happen. It wasn't like I ran into him at a party one night and, you know, it was just a great opportunity. So that's just a little bit of intelligence, some of the different ways that you can be creative about, you know, landing these things. Okay, so I am going to shift gears. I want to hit you guys with some hard and fast strategies right now with speaking. Number one, Gig Salad G I G Salad. This is a website that if you want to speak and you feel like I can't really pitch myself to the bureaus or the agents yet, go on there right now. Everyone gets leads from this place. I'm still on there. Because what it is, and it's like a local opportunity, it's a national website. It costs like I don't even know, 20amonth or something to be on there. You create your own profile. You write like what it is that people will get by hiring you. And then what happens is locally for me in Miami, if someone's got a local event going on and they're looking for speakers, they just go in there, they just make an offer to you. Maybe it's a grand, maybe it's 2 grand, maybe it's 10 grand, I don't know. But like, you can decline it or accept it, but it's a great way for you to start showing up on SEO as a speaker, which is super important, and to get direct opportunities that are in your marketplace. And I've done tons of work with them. If I'm here locally and I have nothing going on and someone offers me, you know, five grand to do a 60 minute speech is right next door to my house, I'm like, okay, I'll take it. That's up to you. And put yourself on there. It definitely is worth it. Now, bureau's, speaker agencies and bureaus are. It's a huge part of this business. I don't dominate in the bureau's and speaker agent world. I dominate in getting 90% of my leads from LinkedIn. That's how I dominate. I market myself as a top keynote speaker. You should market yourself that way too. Right? Like I'm always using the hashtag keynote speaker anytime I'm telling a story about my speaking or trying to get people interested in hiring me as a Speaker. I'm constantly showing up in speaker pictures like showcase yourself as a speaker. However, there's a whole business to the bureau and agency side. Really good friend of mine, Ryan Leak, he's an incredible speaker by the way. He kills it because he has one agent and one agent alone at Premier Speaker Bureau that loves him, that he's created this incredible relationship with. And that guy just sends them all his business. He's not like me out on LinkedIn hustling all the time. He doesn't have to, right? So there's very different ways to skin the cat. There's a lot of different ways to become a very successful, well known speaker. I took the LinkedIn route, he took the speaker agent route. Now I suggest doing both, right? That's a big goal of mine for 2024. I'm already with the bureaus so I'm going to run down real quick what some of these bureaus are. On all of these bureaus, you go to the website, you'll see it says apply here to be a speaker. Start swinging, right? Like, start pitching yourself. This is how you'll start showing up. And this helps your SEO. And then you start promoting it that you know you're a professional SPE on Washington Speakers Bureau. Okay, so here are some bureaus. Harry Walker Speaker Agency. I am with them, but it is a celebrity speaker bureau. The only way that I got on is the guy said I went right to the top. Of course, right? I'm like, found the guy's email from Seamless AI, which is a tool that I use to get people's email addresses. I googled who's the CEO or president. Found the guy's email, pitched myself to him. He was very kind and responded back, you're not unique or special. Come back to me when you're unique or special. This is back in 2018 and my book Trump Donald Trump for number one on the speaker business biography list. I took that screenshot and I sent it back to him and I said, you don't have anyone on your roster that just knocked the President out of number one position on the business biography list. I am suddenly very unique. And he wrote back, touche, I'm going to add you. So he added me. So I'm on a celebrity site, which is crazy, but okay, you don't need to be on that one. However, I will say they have sent me, I've done like three or four speeches for them. Okay, Washington Speakers Bureau. This is another one that Kepler Speakers Bureau. This is a big paying college client base Leading authorities dot com. Premier Speakers Bureau. That's one of my friends with. But again, he has an incredible relationship with one agent, and that's changed everything for him. GDA speakers, they book me a lot. It's gdaspotlight.com. they're based in Texas. That's a really good speaker bureau. American Program Bureau, apb. They have a media client base there in Boston. I'm with them as well. And I went exclusive with them for a little bit of time, but it didn't pay off. So, you know, a lot of people, like my friends, exclusive with Premier. If you go exclusive with somebody, the whole goal is because they're going to be booking you all the time and it makes sense for you to take yourself out of the market. But if they're not, you know, shake hands and park friends. Speaker Spotlight Speakers. CA Worldwide Speakers group. And there's so many others, like, like, gosh, just Google speaker bureaus and just start pitching yourself. You guys listen. At the end of the day, it starts with speaking for free, right? Because you need footage. You want to get footage of yourself speaking. You want testimonials of yourself speaking, all the reviews and recommendations. One of the things that I would encourage you to do is identify 10 competitors. And I say competitors loosely, but, like, for me, I was like Sarah Blakely, Mel Robbins, like, I just made a list of 10 and then go down the rabbit hole. How are they positioning themselves on their website? How are they positioning themselves on the speaker bureaus? Like, how can I reimagine that through the lens of what's unique and different about me? Then go further down the rabbit hole and see where they've spoken like me. They're going to have testimonials. And guess what? A testimonial is a lead. It is a lead for you because it's the name of the company and the person that hired them, right? So now I just go back to AI. I've got that seamless AI, and I get that person's email address. And now I say, hey, I wanted to reach out today. I know that you had Mel Robbins last year. I'm sure she killed it. She's absolutely incredible. I don't know if you knew this, but I add a lot of value and I speak for a lot of companies right after Mel speaks. Here's why. So I pitch how I can add value to them. So when they're looking for their next speaker, here's why it makes sense, right? Those are just leads out there waiting for you. Start maximizing them. And taking those opportunities to go for them. The other way that you can jump in the speaking business is partner with somebody. So there's so many. I get a lot of these inquiries. People will send me a note like, hey, do you want to partner? I speak on negotiation, you speak on confidence. It would be a cool thing for us. Like when I go speak somewhere, they're not going to have me back for a year. I can offer you as a lead, Heather. And then when you speak somewhere, they're not going to have you back for a year, you could offer me as a lead. So I've partnered with different people. Some people like do it, some people don't. You know, again, it's like test and try to find out who those right partners are. But it makes a lot of sense because it is true. Most people aren't going to hire you back right after you know you've spoken somewhere. So on LinkedIn, that's again, 90% of my business comes from there. Definitely. Look at your profile and look at through the lens of if somebody doesn't know me, am I screaming keynote speaker to them? You need to be create content around keynote speaking, tell the stories of speaking engagements. Even if they're free, it doesn't matter. Nobody knows they're free, right? That's up to you to position yourself as that authority in blah, blah, blah, whatever it is and see it through that lens of what's powerful, unique and different about you. Tell that story and talk about if you're interested in hiring me as a speaker, click here, right? Like tell people hire me here. How are you positioning yourself? And that's important. Like, what value do you add? Like, what are the takeaways of your speech? How are you benefiting others? The same thing as I keep talking about all day to day, right? Like, how can you add value? How can you benefit people? And what are you doing unique and differently in that space? How you position your website is huge. I'll never forget I had a founder of Washington Speaker Bureau. I met him randomly in South Beach. He's an older gentleman, super nice guy. And I'm like, hey, I need your help. And you know what's funny? He had just retired, I didn't know. And he's like, you know what's interesting, Heather? I have a lot of free time on my hands. I'd love to mentor you. This is just like a random dude that I found at a hotel one day at the Edition in South beach and he's like, I retired. I don't really have A lot going on and my kids are gone. I'm like, oh my gosh, could you jump on a call with me like once a week? He's like, yeah. And so it was just about asking, right? He was bored. This guy was just bored. I didn't know that. Anyway, the first thing he said to me is, I want to go to your website. So we got on a zoom and got on my website. He's like, this sucks. He's like, all I see is your dumb book. And I'm like, okay. He's like, all I want to see is you speaking. And I was like, I didn't even think about that. That's a great idea, right? So look at everything through that lens of if you don't know you, what do you see? And ask a friend or ask a family member to look like. If you go to my website, what would you see? Like, how am I positioning myself? You need to make it hit people over the head with what it is that you do on your LinkedIn profile, on your website, wherever it may be, with whatever initiative it is. And that's not just for speaking. It could be for anything. But look at it as an outsider. Too often we're so close to something that we think it's the greatest in the world. Bring another set of eyes and it could be your 16 year old son, like mine. I make my kid do stuff like this all the time. I'm like, what do you see here? And then let them tell you. Because anything should be simplistic enough and clear enough that a 9 year old gets it or a 90 year old, right? So just ask somebody, lay eyes on it and then take that as constructive feedback and say, how can I get better as a result? For me, I go to Mel Robbins site and say, how's she doing it? Because that's like, look at someone who's higher, like ahead of you, you know, above you, and say, what are they doing differently? That I could learn from, lean from. And how can I add that to my arsenal again? Speak for free, speak for charities, speak for schools, get footage of you speaking, get reviews and testimonials of you speaking. It's super, super important. The 10 competitors, we need to make that list and we need to go down the rabbit holes, do the work. And again, as I mentioned partnering, I decided to change that dynamic. I couldn't be more excited for what you're gonna 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.