Land A TED Talk, Go Viral, and Skyrocket Your Personal Brand with Ashley Stahl

80 to 90% of my leads were from my 19 minute TEDx talk.

Had you ever given a talk?

No, I never gave a speech in my life.

Okay.

I ended up getting six book deals offered to me, 40 speaking engagements. My keynote fee went from 5500 to 30K per talk. Wow.

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Earn your happy podcast. I have the podcast for you today. If you are ready to put yourself on the map as a speaker, if you're ready to take your brand to the next level, if you are looking for an experience that will completely transform you on the other side. Now, this is not for the faint of heart. I personally have gone through this journey that we're about to talk to today. And it is the single thing that was probably one of the most challenging experiences of my life, but the thing that also just took me to the next level in my mental game, personally. And also I feel like this was one of the biggest things that really put me on the map. And we have Ashley Stahl on the podcast today. She was a counter terrorism professional turned author, Forbes blogger, and CEO of Wise Whisper Agency. Her company has ghostwritten over 100 TEDx talks and placed over 120 clients on the TEDx stage. If you're a speaker or you want to be a speaker, there's no faster way to get a legit speaker reel than speaking on a TEDx stage. I can speak to this. I can attest to this. You guys can go Google my TED Talk and it has almost a million views, you guys. And I will tell you that I have sent that around to so many people or had people book me because they said I watched your TEDx talk or someone who works for us sent me your TEDx talk and I knew that I wanted book you for this stage. It is a game changer. And Ashley is the woman to let us in on how to write a viral talk, what to focus on when delivering your talk, and how to take advantage of the wave and fame and attention that follows giving a talk on that level of a stage. So Giving My first TEDx talk was such a pivotal moment in my career because it's such a powerful credibility builder and there are so many benefits that you might not even realize that come with this process for your career and personal growth. Ashley's going to break down how to structure your talk from what makes a great opener for your talk that will hook your audience in the first few seconds to how many talking points you should include in your talk. You don't need to have a Dramatic story to deliver to make, like this big, drastic difference in your career. She's going to share the secret to what actually makes a great TED Talk. And no matter what your story, the right support and guidance around you can deliver a viral talk that makes an impact on you and the people watching. So, you guys, if you're interested in working with Ashley's team to write you a talk and get you on a TEDx stage, because you're going to hear about how her team really helps place such a high number of people on that stage, make sure to let them know that I sent you because she's going to give you $1,000 off. So Ashley's going to give you a $1,000 discount if you let her know that you heard of her through the earn your happy podcast or through me, lori harder. So $1,000 off just for you guys, the earn your happy community. I know there are so many of you that are aspiring speakers, and also knowing that this is something that could really help launch your career to the next level. And her company has such a high success rate of getting their clients booked. Like, you guys, she gets 99 out of a hundred people booked on stage. So whether you work with Ashley and her team or not, this conversation is packed with gold on how to write a viral talk and step into the next version of yourself on and off the stage. So, you guys, let's get started. Enjoy the episode with Ashley Stahl. Here we go.

Ashley Stahl, I'm so excited to have you back on the show.

I feel like I'm taking over. Earn, you're happy?

You know what, do you want to be a co host?

Literally, I would do anything to hang out with you. This would be. I would be out of control on your show.

All right, well, what's so fun about today is that we have a really specific topic that we're talking about, and it's a topic that is so real to me, near and dear to my heart. A big, big, huge part of my story. A massive part of your story. And I believe that this show is going to change the trajectory of some people's lives, for sure. Hands down, listening, who are going to be brave enough to say yes and raise their hand to what we are about to talk about.

Yeah.

So what we're talking about, you guys, is TED Talks.

TEDx.

TED talks that have, like, changed so many people's careers. I know that we can all sit here and think of specific talks that have, like, changed our lives and people who have gotten a TED Talk that It's changed the trajectory of their careers. I can think of Amy Cuddy. I can think of. Is it. Did Simon Sinek do his TED Talk? I mean, multiple. Multiple people who have had them, and then from then on, you're never the same after that. But not even to talk about the really big names. I have had a TED Talk. You have had multiple TED Talks. So let's actually, let's start with first what we're talking about today. Meaning we're talking about TED Talks, but getting people to be able to do a TED Talk.

Yeah.

So tell me about what you're helping people with right now.

It's so wild. I feel like in the space that we're both in, there's a lot of, like, Tinder swindler, inventing Anna branding agencies where you kind of feel like it's smoke and mirrors and it's kind of. I don't dysregulate. I think consumers have also been really fatigued by investing and services that don't actually have returns. So for me, I've spent so much money on my personal brand PR firms, PR retainers. Right. Like so many different things. Speaking reels.

It's just $9,000. And maybe we'll get you an article. Exactly. Yes.

It feels like a graveyard of trial and error is my personal branding experiences. But the thing that carried me was TedX, the thing that actually gave me ROI. And so over the years, it's been a common thread for me. I was in the Pentagon earlier in my career, and it's funny to have been on your show as a career coach for 12 years. I was career coaching, but before that starting my career in national security. I remember I got this award, and I was at this award ceremony. I was working in Afghanistan, and this beautiful woman came up to me, and she just felt like she had this aura around her. And she started talking about how she just gave a TEDx talk at the UN and I remember looking at her thinking, oh, my God, I wish I could do that. I wish I could be like her. And I looked at her.

Had you ever given a talk?

No, I never gave a speech in my life. I was like, 23 in national security at the Pentagon. I was a gopher. I was, like, working my buns off, you know, And I had no ability to speak inspirationally. I didn't really know what I was doing. So I would have never known that. Now I have a firm where we've written 100 TEDx talks and we've booked more than 100 people on stage with nearly 100% success. Wow. Which is wild.

It is wild. It's because I know how hard they are to get.

Yeah. The organization, TED and TEDx, it's, it's really opaque for people. And I think that's why so many people come to us, because the reality is a lot of people can do it on their own. It's just a huge time suck. And if you're not a great writer, it's almost like, what's the point? Because you. And you need to deliver it. Right. Right. So it's written well, delivered perfectly, and if you're not going to give it a plus, that's why I tell people all the time it's not easy to go viral, but it is simple. Simply write the best talk ever and, and deliver it as well as you can. Because when you're delivering a TEDx talk, you're like an actor. Yeah, Right. It's improv. So. And people don't know that, that you memorize their lines. And even the best speakers on the speaking circuit, the highest paid speakers in the world, they have memorized their talks.

And I memorized every word.

Exactly. You have. You know, most of them have two to three keynotes. A keynote has a shelf life of maybe three or four. And then you got to get a new keynote. You got to memorize it. It's 10% excellent writing, which is the beginning. Nothing moves without it. And then 90% delivery. But yeah, for me, I remember I'd never spoken on stage before, and this woman talked about her TED talk and I looked her and said, oh, I wish I could do that one day. And she looked at me like a cartoon and she said, I bet you will. And she smiled and it was almost like a little ching, like on her tooth, like cartoon moment. And I flew to Istanbul that week. And because I worked in the intelligence world, I had a work assignment in Taxim Square. There were Protest. It was 2012 and I got a text from her and there was literally tear gas in the air and I was hiding in a spice bazaar. I can't even believe this. Like, TEDx has just been such a wild part of my life.

That is a crazy story.

First of all. Yes. So gnarly. I was just sitting there and I remember I felt my phone buzz and I kind of like peered through it and I saw her name and I just thought, oh my gosh, it's so weird. She's messaging me. She was so cool. Hey, I referred you to TEDx Berkeley and I think you're going to get it. And I remember being like, oh my gosh, I've never spoken on a stage.

Like, wow, she had you really in mind.

She's like, yeah, what an. And that's the thing, like, entrepreneurship is so hard. And I wasn't even an entrepreneur yet. I was just, you know, at the Pentagon doing what I was doing. And I got an email from TedX Berkeley. It was so scary. They said, can you send us your speaking reel? I googled on my iPhone, like two or whatever iPhone iteration it was in 2000. I don't even know 12. What is a speaking reel? And then I was like, okay, I don't have one. I've never spoken before. So I put my iPhone up against my shower, I put the curtain behind me in the hotel room and I gave a weird talk. I don't even know what I said. And by some miracle, they took me and I invested everything in it. I got a speaking coach. I. And the guy, I mean, he looked at my talk and was like, oh, you can't give this. So I would have mortified myself. The only thing, like people don't realize is don't say yes to these if you're not going to show up for them. Right, because they're so powerful for your career. But you don't want to burn a bridge where you could have built one. Right? Right. So I hired him in every single night for three months. Because once you get a yes, once you book a TEDx talk, you have about two to four months out from the event. So for two to four months, I think it was three months every night I would see the red dot in my dreams and I actually started getting little panic attacks. I would hyperventilate. Same. Really? It's crazy. I remember I used to tell people, oh, it's like 49% worst thing ever. 51. Best thing I've ever done for my career.

I couldn't summarize it better.

Right.

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And that's the thing. If you look at the past 10, 15 years of your career, building a personal brand. It's like, okay, that nine minute TEDx talk, nine minutes is three pages typed, right? So that's nine minutes. It took me three months of focus and that changed my entire career. I got a million dollars of coaching revenue through that. Talking it up, leaving the Pentagon, becoming a career coach of all things. Coaching wasn't really in like I had a weird website with a cartoon of myself on it. Didn't even look like it was a very bad cartoon that I got on like fiverr or something. Wasn't my best and finest. But I, I literally had a wait list. And even the TEDx event itself, audience members found me after and I filled my first coaching group and I decided I want to be a career coach because there's no women at the Pentagon. All my friends from grad school are asking for tips for their career. And that launched me into career coaching. So what I didn't realize then that I clearly see now is this thing can pivot you. Nothing can pivot you like TEDx into a speaking career, into a new career. If you're done with where you are and you want, if you're in corporate and you want to be an entrepreneur, it's just a given at this point. If you want to have a book, it's a given. And so the brand was still newer in 2012. I mean, it'd been around and the audience was 4,000 people. I didn't realize like not all TED and TEDx events are created equal. So Yep. For anybody who doesn't know the difference, TED is largely invite only like you see Bill Gates, you see Bezos, those sorts of personalities there. So I don't really touch TED.

Right.

TEDx has had around 13,000 events around the world. They're licensed out by TED. And you know how much TED trusts the TEDx event in my experience, through how big the event is because the more people in the audience, the bigger the license, the more trust the TED brand has extended that TEDx event. So over at Wise Whisper Agency, we only book clients who have been on TEDx events who have already run. Right. So if it's a TEDx events first time, they're a new license from the TED brand. You're kind of a guinea pig. And it's so weird because if you think about it, it's a fine line between entrepreneurs. It's the biggest speaking engagement of their life. And like students sometimes at a university, fumbling and bumbling with audio. Yeah. So we book clients on events that have at least run once with stages that are coordinated, you know. Yeah, but that event changed my life. I pivoted myself into career coaching, and for the next 10 years, I always had a wait list in my career coaching practice. And I would say like 80 to 90% of my leads were from my 19 minute TEDx talk that I creeped myself out about for three months, but it totally transformed my whole life. And I'm so grateful to my younger self for, for doing that because, yeah, it was hard, but choose your hard, right? Like, do you want the heart of constantly marketing yourself, constantly things, constantly spending money on your brand, or the hard of doing it once, doing it right and set it and forget it? Right? So I've always been a hard worker. I've always earned my. You know, I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs, they. We eat what we kill, for lack of a better term. We're out there, we're working hard, and we're creating opportunities. And for me, I just kind of look back and think to myself, like, I cannot believe the amount of business. The second TEDx talk I gave in 2019 changed my life even more and more. I kind of, I felt kind of cringe because imagine your first speaking engagement of your life going viral. It's like a wonderful thing, but kind of an embarrassing thing too. I'm like, oh, it's my first time coming in.

I'm like, oh, God, yeah, exactly.

And you know, I can't even watch myself. It's hard to watch myself speak. But I remember thinking, I need to make good with myself with this. Like, this is my first try all over the Internet. So grateful for what it did, but I need to, like, do it again and make good with myself. So had another one in 2019, right before the pandemic. So grateful that I just rose to the occasion. And by the way, a lot of people are like, OH, are different. TEDx is more important than others. Like TEDx San Francisco, TEDx Berkeley. Such a big event, 4,000 people in the audience. I went on stage after Guy Kawasaki, like, wow, first speaking engagement of my life. No, thanks.

And awesome.

I know. I mean, you know, it's funny though, everybody was sweating backstage, all these successful people. And I was 25, four, you know, so 25. I remember just looking around, being like, wow, the nerves must never end. These are a bunch of executives.

That's powerful.

Yeah, it really grounded me. And I saw Guy Kawasaki was the only person, and for those of you who don't know him, early investor in Apple. Like, he was one of the only people that looked like he was just going to the mall, like, just another day.

I mean, his name is Guy Kawasaki.

It doesn't. He goes, yeah, he just hit, he went up there. And I just, I forgot my first line. I was next, you know, and I remember my lines left, left. And I looked at the paper, put it in my back pocket. And that's a little, little tip I give clients is put your speech in your back pocket, but don't, don't grab for it unless you have to. And there's some sort of comfort that they feel it is back there.

Totally.

They're not naked on stage. But anyway, you know, people think, oh, these TEDx events, you know, San Francisco, Berkeley, they're more important. And, you know, entrepreneurs were high achievers. So we want to do the best of it. If we're going to do it, it really makes no difference. You mentioned Simon Sinek. He spoke at some small TEDx event. It doesn't matter if you're at TEDx Timbuktu or TEDx San Francisco, like, as long as it's been run before and the stage looks respectable. It's about YouTube, right? So my second TEDx talk was a very small university in the Netherlands. And I knew what the brand could do because after being someone, like I was telling you, who eats what I kill, I work really hard. I thought to myself, wow, this first TEDx talk, it put me into feminine energy in my business. Instead of pursuing every single thing, it changed my career. It was like this mysticism where people every day were watching me and thinking about things for me that I would never have thought about for myself. So every. And you know, with your TEDx talk, you get contacted for random things that you're like, this is really cool. And I never would have thought about that. And in a sense, it's kind of like this invisible hand in your career that it's throwing you opportunities you would have never sought out in your own vision, and it's influencing you. I. My second TEDx talk I went to, it was at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and it was about how to figure out what you really want. That talk went unicorn viral. And the funny thing about it was because I had already done one, I knew what it would take for this second one to go viral. I knew how to move people, how to speak. I'd had a speaking career by this point. And I prepped so hard for this thing. And friends would be like, are you sure your seat? You know how to speak? Like, why are you overthinking this or friends like we have, they would say, I'm just going to channel. Don't channel on TEDx.

Don't channel on TEDx. Please do not.

Yeah, like you don't want to get to the Hamilton play and hope that the actors channel better than last night. You know, like it's, it's consistency.

Right.

So I got on stage, I gave the best talk I think I could have possibly given. I tried so hard and it went on the Internet maybe a few months later. Nobody watched it for six months and I was in manifestation expectation this thing's going viral. And I remember being almost like dumbfounded, like, oh. And not from a place of ego. It was just this knowing. I'm like, no, this is my best work and I know TedX, I understand how it works. Why isn't it being watched? Because if you think about it, TedX and Ted, there's 40 million subscribers on both channels. So the algorithmic potential if you play it right is higher than anywhere else for you as a speaker, as a subject matter expert. Find me somewhere that has that kind of subscriber rate. Right. And six months later it just started going viral like, and it was like, that is crazy. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

I'd not heard that before. Yeah, it's amazing.

They do what they want. They're an asset, they're a brand asset. They just have a life of their own. But if you think about it, we have friends who have books that nobody buys their book. Yep. And then three years later it's a New York Times bestseller. Yeah, like we've seen it before. So it's actually this is just a thing with virality is it's an asset. You don't need to put your pressure on yourself. It's not a time bound asset. If you have a book coming out in January, you don't try and get your TED Talk by January. It just exists and it's a engine for you unlike anything else. So that second talk, I was like, is this ever going to take it did. I ended up getting six book deals offered to me a speaking agent. He put me on a speaking tour, 40 speaking engagements. Wow. My keynote fee went from 5,500 to 30k per talk by the end of it. And I got an international licensing deal on my online courses. Because what I didn't know about TEDx is that if you do well on the TEDx channel, it gets taken on the TED channel. You get a complete second wing and then they have translators. So people found me in Taiwan and like the master class of Taiwan contacted me for my online courses and now I still get royalties from that. So like the reach and the opportunity was just. And I know there's more things, you know, four year spokesperson deal, almost a half million dollars of revenue for my business. Just absolute life change. And since then I've just been on a mission to tell everyone I know, like, you got to do one of these. They're so powerful.

There's so many reasons we. I want to touch on even more with you. So let's, let's rift back and forth for a little bit as you're thinking of even more. Some of the things that I was thinking that happened through mine and as you're talking and just other things that people can use it for is like, it's, it's like you said, it's like a search engine. So when people are searching for a question or a title, like your second title was how to figure out what you really want. How do you figure out what you really want? Yeah, like people are actually typing in something similar to that. And guess what all comes up? TED is a big. That's like TED Talks always come up when we're searching for different things.

Yeah. YouTube has a lot of street cred.

Yes, totally. So that'll pop up and with, you know, whenever they go, whenever people Google you, guess what always pops up for me? Always my TED Talk. And it's so funny because people think that that is like my main message. So also like when you're doing a TED Talk, know that this is the message people are going to start knowing you for. So if people don't know you for something yet or you want to pivot or you want to be really clearly the expert in that arena, it's crazy what it does because people will still mention it and they'll be like, she likes to talk about this. Or the finding the strength within your struggle. And I'm like, well, that's not the only thing I like to talk about. But I know exactly where they found all, all of the stuff on me seven years later.

Yeah, six years later.

Because I'm like, oh my God, TED carries. So it just gets legs and it will be, it's kind of with you for your whole career. So that's why it's so big to have someone like you on where it is so worth taking those two, really. Because it's a lift. This is not for everyone. Yeah, it's a big life. But if someone is ready to really launch their career and use it for what it can be used for and have this long life that it gives to work with someone like you who knows the details of how to put it together, making sure that it is an exact topic on exactly what you want. And then there's a lot of these little intricacies of. I know that you had mentioned, like, you know, they like to have some science with some different facts around things.

Which I wish I would have learned that.

Yeah, it's. It's really important to work with someone who knows because I was thrown off towards the end of the talk because nobody told me the guidelines.

Yeah.

So I had to do a lot of, like, switching, and I even worked with someone, so I had to do a lot of, like, switching around and figuring things out. And that's not how you want to go into your TED Talk, but, you know, the other things is if you are a speaker, if you want to be a speaker, there's no faster way to, like, none. Get your speaker reel, like a real speaker reel, than having a TED Talk. If you're someone who always tells stories on or wants to book more podcasts, it's huge to go. Hey, check out my TED Talk. This is what I love to talk on. Book deals. I mean, it's endless. And it's just like. It's just kind of like getting that 15 minutes of fame. You do have to learn how to use it.

Yeah.

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It's interesting what you're saying because one thing people don't think about is it's really not a TEDx talk. It's a YouTube talk, right?

Yeah, totally.

It lives on YouTube. And there's a couple things about that. You were talking about titles, which is really important in search engines. Below the video clip for your TEDx, there's about 80 words that are your bio. That is the place. And then it says read more. So obviously not everybody watching the ted. Most people are not going to click the read more button. So those 80 words right beneath your TED talk, you know, the TEDx curators casually are like, hey, do you have a bio? You may not be thinking, well those first words, those first 80, that's pretty much what lead generation you get. Because TEDx has insanely tight guidelines about self promotion, about what kind of science you're using. For example, we have, I would say about a third of our clients at Wise Whisper Agency are medical New York Times bestselling authors, doctors Biohackers, right? And they're pioneers. What they're doing is on the cutting edge. And so they'll come in and be like, I'm on the cutting edge, I need to share the message. And I'm like, I've got good news and bad news. Good news, we're write you an insane talk. Bad news, you can't say a word about your new message because your new research is too new. And it's going to be seen as pseudoscience and not widely accepted science by TEDx. And you could get your talk pulled down. And I hear from people all the time, it's never happened at our agency, but I hear from people who say, hey, my TEDx talk got pulled down. Is there anything I could do? And it makes me so sad that entrepreneurs, we work so hard, we want to get use out of what we do. And you know, I am, I'm proudly not affiliated with the TEDx organization. And I say that not to insult them, but because I'm really here for the entrepreneurs. And TEDx actually doesn't like the idea of entrepreneurs getting out there and using their platform for lead generation. And yet they have a platform that can amplify your authority, help you leave a legacy, impact millions, and create. Creates skyrocket in opportunity more than anything I know. And so it's this very interesting little juxtaposition of they don't really want people pursuing TED Talks for business objectives, but it is probably the most powerful thing you could do in your brand if you have a business. So for sure, you know, people say, oh, you know, what is my one big idea? And they get really stuck on TedX. And I always tell my clients when they come in, listen, is this is a YouTube talk, like I said, right. TEDx is like the bouncer at the door. And YouTube is like, like it's, they own the house, it's their party. And so I'm not thinking about your one idea worth spreading because people get on, they get really narrow thinking. Totally. If I ask you, Laura, what's your one idea that is going to change the world?

That threw me off so hard.

Right.

That took me the longest.

Exactly. And it's actually, in my opinion, as a business owner at this point, who I've just literally booked so many people for TEDx at this point, I'm like, it's a waste of time to think that. And here's why. Yeah. If I ask you what are, what do you want to talk about? What's a topic that's easy for you oh, these three topics, great. Which topic is going to get you more clients? Which topic is going to give you more credibility in the direction you want to go in? Right. Like, we had a leadership coach come in, and actually a lot of our clients are not coaches, but because I came from coaching, I kind of expected a lot of coaches. And she's a leadership coach. So after kind of sniffing around and she was really stuck on the idea we're spreading, it became clear that she goes into corporations and she helps the employees with burnout. That's her special sauce. I'm like, great. Talk to me about what is the thing you say to people? 1, 2, 3, 4. If you can only have three or four conversations with people that you help from burnout, what are the most important things they need to know? What are the things that you see them pay more attention to you with when they're talking? I'm looking for people's best content because that's what's going to do well on YouTube. Not the one idea we're spreading. And I don't just have. We're completely done for you. So. So in four zoom calls, we pull everything out of our client and we write the talk. It can take up to 80 hours for our speechwriter to write a talk. And we have a creative director. One of them worked for Steve Jobs. So the amount of visionary excellence on my team, we're able to say, just give us your best thoughts, give us the most important topic. We'll leave some messages throughout. We'll tell you what's an idea we're spreading by the end of writing this talk. Don't lead with it, end with it. It look at everything you've said and make it make sense. And there's a big difference between a message and a theme. And I'm just learning this now with so many talks under my belt, with my team, we've got 10 speech writers, and I'm realizing a lot of people get confused between this. So, for example, the leadership coach, we opened up her talk, and we were kind of trying to figure out, like, what do we want to open up about? And we have a very intense intake form because our client's commitment is filling out an intake form, showing up for four zoom calls. That's it. So we go through the intake form, we go through their life stories, their moments. We ask them for a lifetimeline of moments that really affected the way that they think, or influx points, impasses. What are some big decisions they've made that change the way they see the world. And by doing that, we get this portal into their lives and we see these themes, right? So for this person, we could have opened up the talk with the moment that she realized she was burnt out, she was in the hospital, right? But we chose to open up with a moment that she was having fun for the first time in a while. And how warm the sun felt on her be for the first time, because it was almost like she had worked so hard, she'd lived her life in so much rain that she was wondering, like, can the sun even feel this good when you haven't worked this hard? Right? And we realized that the theme for her talk was about fun. And that's not a message, it's just a theme. And we just asked throughout the talk talk, reflective questions for people about when was the last time you had fun and what is fun for you, right? And, and why did you stop having fun? So there's, there's, that's just a, you know, a theme. It's not a message. Right? And we're still forming her message because the talk is still in production right now. But this just gives you an example. A message in my talk in 2019 is, or even in my talk in 2013 is, don't do what you love. Do what you are. You hear me as a career coach telling that to people. And it became the message of my book. And a lot of that has to do with my TedX talk. And a lot of clients who come in, they come up with concepts with us. So, for example, Stephanie Mae Wilson, amazing client, she has a book, and she has a whole message about the 20s and 30s and how that era of your life is an era that you make the most decisions. There's a lot of research to support. It's about 80% of your life decisions happen in your 20s and 30s. And we worked with her to come up with what term do we want to call that? And she came up with the everything era as we were writing her TEDx talk. And that has lent itself to programs she's going to create and so many other things. And so there's messages she came up with along the way, but there's also concepts and sound bites that you can come up with in these talks. So the list goes on. But you were talking about searchability, and I think that's really important. People spend too much time trying to be cute with their titles. Y we're really straightforward. There's a psychedelic researcher and they said to me, you know, I want to make a talk. And the title is going to be about mushrooms and fungus and something funny and punchy. And I was like, don't do that. Nobody's searching, searching for your job. People are searching about trauma healing if they want to do mushrooms or parties, you know, like pick your lane and go there. Like, like make a title. That is the SEO search of. Of the how to. I mean, if you look at the top 100 performing TEDx talks and TED Talks box, they're all. They all start like the Art of the Skill of five Ways to the Secret to the Reason why. They're all very straightforward.

How to like things that people are like, this is what I'm gonna get.

Yeah.

Like I'm gonna get the answer to this.

Yeah.

Yes. I again wish I would have come in with that. It's the game changer between. I. I've lost. I've watched a lot of really good talks.

Yeah.

That aren't viral. Like, man, this is a great talk. But people just aren't watching it. It's because the title is not.

It's like a present. If you go to a pink elephant gift party and like one of the wrapping papers looks really gross, like snot on it. Yeah. You're like, yes. But if you, if you see some pretty gifts, you're going to open it. That's the title. It's the present. Are we going to open it or not? Obviously if you're. If your content's not good, it's not going to keep the virality. It's not going to keep getting shared and seen in the algorithm. But you gotta have the present looking nice, right? Yes. That's the start.

I cannot stress enough how if someone is feeling a little bit stagnant in what they're doing. But as a hard worker who's willing to put in the work and thinks that they. It's a feeling. I feel like when you know you're supposed to do a TED Talk, you know that you have like what it takes to be able to be good. But maybe you haven't been able to really like pull that out of yourself. Yourself. That's how I felt before doing the TED Talk is like, I know something's in here. I have this really deep desire. I can see myself up there. But I've never worked with somebody. I feel like I need a lot of help around this, like pulling these stories out. I've got a lot of really great stories and I think this is for the person who's ready, like you said, to know how to extract all the goods out of it meaning I did get so much content from it. I still use this content. I actually still use it in talk talks where, you know, I had heard you talking on another podcast where, yes, this might be a 10 to 15 minute talk for you, but this talk can go on and you can continue to do it, especially if you start trying to book yourself or getting booked from this. Yeah, this can turn into, you know, this can be small talks, this can be keynotes.

Yeah.

You can go on for three years. You could use this talk for four years. I've been using the same talk now for almost two years.

Yep.

And I just shrink it or expand it, and I'll continue to use the talks that I'm using. In fact, this talk is most likely gonna become a book because now I've talked about it so much that I'm like, I know these stories so well inside and out. I know what lands, I know what hits, I know what doesn't. And so I know what content will now be good in a book. And like you said, the woman created courses from it. And all of these different things that branch out from doing this because you pull these really unique stories from the person's timeline that they didn't realize that now when you have them, when you work with someone who's really good to pull these themes out, what happens is you realize how easy it is to talk about something that was so a part of you.

Yeah.

And I think that's the biggest part of working with someone like you is you go, oh, my God. I didn't realize that that theme is.

Such a big deal for me.

Was such a big deal. And now it feels so easy to talk about.

It's interesting. I talk and think a lot about how much TEDx influences people's career on the other side, but you're making me think it also influences you in the process. And it's funny, I was just having a happy hour with one of my creative directors just last night, and she was saying that she was like, noticing that we have some, like, foreign dignitaries, like ambassadors, diplomats that come in for help with us with TedX. And it's been interesting. They've said, wow, this was like therapy, or, wow, I didn't think about this for myself. And it is quite transformative to pull into yourself in that way and not put the cognitive load or emotional labor onto yourself. It's interesting. I'm actually writing a TED Talk for somebody with my speechwriting team about cognitive overload. And I just was looking in her talk, we wrote a statistic in the past 20 years, we've taken in more information than the past 200,000.

Oh, my God.

So the, you know, I don't even know how somebody measures that, but to me, that is just wild. And so it even highlights, I think, the importance of, like the cream rises to the top. But like you're saying, don't pursue this unless you are a hard worker and you feel that thing inside of you. And I think that feeling you're talking about is kind of a painful feeling. Like when you feel like I, I have something in me and it needs to get out and I don't know how to get it out.

Frustration, Stuck.

Overwhelm.

Yeah, totally.

Yeah. And it's not as overwhelming, I think, when you have the right support and we, we try to take on clients that we know we can book. Because as a business owner, I'm like, okay, our booking rate is pretty much 100% success. Out of 100 people, we couldn't book one. Right. And that person, she was from.

Out of 100, you only have not booked one.

One person? Yeah.

That is insane. Is that because you vet like, you do vet so hard?

We vet. Our booking team is super seasoned. She's been booking for 10 years. And we absorbed her into the company also, you know, outside of screening, it's. It's English. Right. Like, the person we couldn't book, she had a very thick Italian accent. Her English was intermediate. And she really struggled in pronunciating the words of her talk. And the curators gave us feedback of, hey, this person. We really struggle to understand her communication, you know, and so we, we actually helped her turn it into a keynote and go use it in Italy. So to me, and it's funny actually, because back when I was in career coaching and I had my book deal and da da, da. I would tell all my clients who bought sessions with me, use however many you want, but do a TED talk. These things are wild. And so some would use a few sessions of their career coaching packet. Some would use maybe all of them. And I would refer them to this booker. And that was when I got the confidence to create Wise Whisper Agency was I was like, damn, this booker is booking everyone. And it's a slow roll. It can take up to a year and a half, even two years to get booked. If you're somebody that. And so she the fastest. We booked somebody like Stephanie Mae Wilson. We booked her in six weeks from when we finished the draft with her.

So you write the talk first.

Yeah.

Then you do the booking.

Yeah.

Yes, exactly.

And, and we have all sorts of different things and we're very cognizant not to sell more things to our clients because we just want to be excellent at what we're doing. Yes. We don't want to be the everything agency. We are the agency that really has figured out TEDx. And like I said, we're not affiliated with them. And there's some freedom in that. Like, I just kind of am an entrepreneur watching what their systems are. And because the Booker has booked 100 talks, she intimately knows what's going to get you banned from the TEDx channel, what's not going to get you signed up. And so these have been some very key things that we've used with us. But it's fun to hear you say that you kind of like self discovered through it and that you built a keynote. And that's huge for me. Like when I got my first one in 2012 and I was working for Obama administration, I found a speechwriter who worked for the President. I'm like, hey, can you give me some tips? Like, I've never spoken before. And this guy, like, bless his heart, he literally walked me through. Here's how I write for the President. Here's. This is the opener. This is. How long is the talk? 10 minutes. Okay. Even in a 30 minute talk, you can't really do more than like three talking points. Correct. So he kind of helped me structure it. And that's what clients have said because we just started offering clients to upgrade their TEDx into a keynote, but we weren't offering it until we were ready because we were just getting our systems down, getting things perfect. And I tell clients I'm a straight shooter. Hey, if you have the team and you have a writer on your team, you just got gold from us. You got a 12 minute talk that's gold. All the structure is there. If you have a writer that you love on your team, you can go have them upgrade it for probably a more affordable price. You don't need to hire us to do that. We are brilliant at pulling the magic out of somebody for TedX. Can we turn it into a keynote? That's epic. Yeah. But I think that that's been a blessing for a lot of clients who come in is they're like, oh, this gives me structure. Now I could just make the three talking points longer. Exactly. Now I just can make my opening story longer, but the bones are there and I think that creates momentum, which is a good feeling to give people.

And I, I think just so people Know, like, I have paid multiple times for different keynotes. Like, someone to walk me through it and pull things out, but I've never had someone write me a full one.

Yeah.

Like, I. I've always. Even when I worked with people, I have written it. So that is such a bonus that you guys actually help write it. So you, like, really? They'll get, like, three pages of a written.

Yeah, it's done for you. I mean, we have.

That's insane.

Well, you're a content creator, so, like, I'm gonna.

I'm gonna talk to you after.

Yeah, I know.

This is like, oh, my gosh. So I paid a lot for some keynotes that I wrote, but, I mean, the points came out.

But, yeah, I'm very aware of the speaking market and. And what people are paying, especially because a lot of clients come to me, and they're kind of, like, going through some trust issues. The only clients who've come in on payment plans, mostly, I can't say all of them have been like, ooh, I'm traumatized by the people who've disappointed me in this space. And I've paid exorbitant rates. Clients have come in and said, we've paid fifty thousand, a hundred thousand for a keynote done for you, written for us. Because for a really seasoned speaker, they want people to pull the magic out of them, and it's hard to read the label when you're stuck inside the jar. Like, it's helpful for a talented communicator. And for me, I want to be a 10x er because these two Tedx talk that both went viral for me changed my life. And, like, I feel the sadness in me just saying this because, like, we both have worked hard, Lori. It's hard. What we've done is so hard. I went to the gym today, and I really didn't want to go. And there's this voice in my head that I. I said to myself, I don't feel like going. And the voice responded and said, who cares how you feel? Exactly.

And I have that same voice.

Right. And we kind of come from, like, you come from an interesting world of, like. Like fitness and, like, health and wellness, but then also, like, psychology and spirituality. So it's like the psychology and wellness people are like, well, you don't have to go to the gym every day. Take care of your body and your spirit. Maybe the best answer is not going to. The other people are like, go to the gym. Forget how you feel. Right. I'm somewhere in the middle.

Same.

But, you know, when I tune into like, how hard we work. I'm just so passionate about what we're doing. My firm is not the cheapest on the market. We've had a lot of people come in that are like, oh, I paid 10k for this. And like, they didn't. Nothing happened. Or. And that's why even with our booking team, I'm like, guys, it's, it's probably anxiety inducing for our clients to wait for six months, 10 months. And for their booking, we should update them every six months. Like, hey, you've, you've been pitched to a hundred curators and you've made it to 10 second rounds and one is still considering you now. Right. Like sending these updates because it's just such an opaque, overwhelming process. But I do think we're the best and the standard, Lori. Of people on my team. Just last night I was watching one of my creative directors because I'm having a hard time letting go and just trusting that everybody can do everything without me. I was sitting on a call and I'm like, I think she's smarter than me, I think she's better than me. And it was so freeing as a business owner to be like, wow, I found this soft. I found the standard. And you know, there's different people, different creative directors. I need to train more than others. And they really direct the direction of the talk with the speechwriter on the line and the client. But it was so powerful to realize, like, it doesn't have to be this hard. And people who, you know, think at a 2x or a 3x level, they're the hard workers and they're doing all the PR things, they're spinning their wheels like a hamster. And I just hope even if they don't hire my firm after this episode that they just remember, like there's efforts out there that are going to 10x what you're doing. So let's say you're lead generating in your company. You don't want to do a TEDx talk. Well, are you talking to a bunch of small companies that could be referral partners for you? And they have 10 to 10 clients and they're a small business. Why don't you go to the company that has a thousand clients that they could refer to you? Like, let's go 10x. Right. Let's think bigger. And so for me, TEDx has changed my life because it has shown me it doesn't have to be this hard.

Yeah. And you get, I mean, at the end of the day, you have learned how to Give a talk?

Yeah.

You learned what talks you have in you. You learn that you now have 10 years of content. Truly. Because you go through this insane process of pulling every story out that you didn't even. I think the cool thing is you learn. You have stories that you didn't think were stories. And a lot of times, it's the small things that are the big things. Like that sometimes, like, that actually makes the best speakers. And I think through that process of everything you go through and what I know that I went through. You know, I was saying this before, but, like, there was Lori before the talk, and then there was Lori after. And I was never, ever the same after that. And things just seemed possible after that. Because I believe if you can do that, if you can get up on that stage, if you can memorize three pages. I had a. I had a belief that I didn't have a good memory. So you can imagine how that played into this. Like, I did not believe I could memorize a talk. And my talk was 18 minutes long at the time.

Six pages. That's a lot.

I memorized all of it.

Yep.

And I didn't believe I could memorize a paragraph. Like, that was a core belief. I didn't graduate high school. I was positive I couldn't do it. And you learn how to. You learn how to memorize. You learn all these different things, but it rocks you. It truly rocks your world. I mean, the woman who went before me did not put in the work. Oh, yeah.

You see it.

Oh, my gosh. She was taking her shoes off on stage. She was a scientist.

Oh, no. Okay.

And she was freaking amazing. But also, like, did not. Did not have someone to work with. Put it together herself.

Yeah.

And it just rocked her world because she. The. The monitors went out, so that's why. Also, thank God, I memorized all the monitors went out because it wasn't a super seasoned team.

Yeah.

And she started panicking and started literally. She took a layer of clothes off. She took her shoes off, and she was. Was sat down on the stage dot and was like, I can't breathe. I'm so overwhelmed. So if she would have worked with someone, I think it would have felt much more. I mean, I was freaking the f out, but I. I felt solid. I felt grounded because I had a whole team who had done this help work with me. And they weren't. They were awesome. But everything you're saying, like, you are just. This is all you do. This is like, next level of. Of ted.

So I'm.

I'm so excited for people who think they just want. They want to like propel themselves forward because there are. Which. I'm loving the book 10x is easier than 2x. I love this so much because it is a move that will require so much from you. It does.

It's a lot.

But you will like take five years of trying and spinning your wheels and you'll compress it into this like, like four month time period of who you become. Even if you don't book a stage. Truly, even if you don't book a stage.

Which you will. Yeah. Which you will.

Who you will become. On the other side of this, you.

Touched on a couple things. An interesting fun fact. Ben Hardy, who wrote 10x is greater than 2x with Dan Sullivan. He's a friend and he actually. We taught each other writing. Oh my God. I helped him learn how to write webinars and he taught me how to write better blog posts.

It's such a good book.

Ever ago. Yeah, yeah. He's such a magical person. But you touched on two really big things. One is storytelling. Two is memorization. So you talked about like the story that people open up with. And I want to just bust a belief that a lot of people have and there's many, right? Like you don't have to be famous to be on the TED stage. A lot of people think that TEDx stage. It was my first talk of my life. Yeah, but you talked about like stories and how people struggle sometimes to figure out, like, how do I open up this talk? How do I. What stories do I tell? Or do I even have any stories? And there's a couple types of clients that we see come in in our Entei form, 1/2 stories that we like to call cheap shots. And we don't mean it in a judgmental way. It means it's a crazy story. Obviously it's going to go viral. Like for example, my 2019 TEDx talk called how to figure out what you want. It opens up with me, my dad in the kitchen getting a phone call that I was kidnapped. It's a cheap shot. It's a crazy story. It's not usually relatable. Cheap shots are not relatable. But they're so insane and they're so parked in people's fear or people's brains in a different way that they pay full attention. That'll help you go viral. But what I've learned that's so much more powerful is what you're touching on is, is the vulnerable stories. We had a client come in and her intake form didn't have any cheap shots. So, you know, one client, he. He had an intake form. He was in two fatal car accidents. Every. Everybody died except for him, and he was untouched. Right. So that's a. That's a crazy story. Right? But this woman came in and she was talking about in high school how she was, like, a little bit pudgy and, like, really uncomfortable in her skin and, like, not popular. And she's at the popular guy's house for a party and. And the girls played a joke on her. They told her that the guy wanted to talk to her. And. And then she went to the bathroom to, like, get herself all, like, vibey. And she heard outside the bathroom, the guy said, ew, gross. I don't want to talk to her. And we ended up not using that story for her TedX. But it sat with me as, like, this is like everybody's. Everybody has stuff like this in their back pocket and they just.

Just automatically back somewhere.

Exactly. It's like we have these painful moments, and the 10x stage isn't necessarily a place to, like, go tell a heartbreaking story and make people cry. I think people think that it works. It's possible we could do it. But like I said, we had that one coach who just talked about having fun again. And I think great writers can deeply move people in every day. And I actually think the everyday is some of the most relatable content there is. And so making magic out of the everyday, I think is where the sauce actually lies for people and being relatable and being vulnerable. And like Martin Scorsese says, he says what's most personal is most creative. So when we work with people, I am trying to tune into, like, what is personal for you. And the thing about the opener of a TEDx talk is it's kind of a top hat, meaning you can swap it out. Good speechwriters, great speechwriters, can weave it in and make it make sense. Incredible speechwriters weave it in, make it make sense, and actually make it seem crucial to the story by the end. So if you watch the how to Figure out what yout Want talk that I did, you'll see me talking about my dad in the kitchen with the kidnapping story. But it's a talk about how to figure out what you want in life. Watch how I wove in the kidnappers to that. To me, that's excellent speech writing, and that's not something that I can do alone. I think I'm really epic at this. But if there's anything I've learned as an entrepreneur. I've hired people that I think are on par with me are better than me. And if there's anything I learned in national security, my saving grace is knowing what I don't know. Because in counterterrorism, people die if you say you know something and you don't. And so I've carried that with me into entrepreneurship and. And even in my sales practices, like, we just don't take on people I can't help. Yeah. Because I know the limits of what I can do, who I can help, who I can create results for, and I don't want to work with me. Don't give me your money if I can't help you. It doesn't sound like a fun time.

Yeah, exactly. So do you have some core pieces of what makes a viral talk? I know that you do this for. For people, and they don't necessarily need to know it, but what are the things that you're like? This is what you have to do.

Yeah. Okay. So we touched on a couple of those. I think the, the, the title, like, give it some real thought. Don't just make it the how. How to, you know, if you want to write about relationships, how to find the love of your life. That's a very straightforward title. There's probably some SEO competition for that one, but that's a really good example of being straightforward. There's also the open loop title. So instead of how to find the love of your life, like the secret to why you haven't found the love of your life, that's like an open loop. That's the monkey mind. Right. So three ways to find the love of your life, the secret to why you haven't. Those are two different approaches on the same title.

Oh, I like that.

I think that outside of the title, it's the opener. That's what creates the traction. It's just like the title. Like, if people don't click, they're not going to listen. Well, if people don't like the first five to 10 lines, it's like a job interview. Yeah. I think it's in the first 90 seconds. Is it that recruiters. I used to be a career coach. I'm asking you that. The recruiter makes an impression of who you are and a decision about you. Right. It's the same thing with TED talks. I think people listen and they decide if they want to keep listening. Your opener needs to be good, and there's different types of openers that we do. So we were talking about the cheap shot. We were talking about the more relatable stories. But another thing that is really important with the openers is think about the first words you're using. So if you look at my TED talk from 2013 14, my first TEDx talk at Berkeley, the first words of my talk are spying the Pentagon, counterterrorism. This was my career when I was 22. So those words catch people right away. The thing about that approach is if you're conversational and you don't bring people into a story, you know, like, so for example, my 2019 talk, I bring them into the kitchen with my dad. He gets this phone call from the kidnappers. It's a story. People are going into a journey with me. That's one approach, I think that goes more viral because it's easier to follow some people and you'll know what I'm talking about. They go the conversational route, they'll open up their talk with like a shocking statistic. Did you know that? Da da da da da. That works in getting the attention immediately. But the problem with that for me as a speechwriter is you gotta have, I keep their attention. So the statistic or the knowledge bomb you drop, it needs to be interesting enough where people keep listening to make sense of what you just said. Otherwise, if you just kind of move into chatting and stuff like that, you might lose the listener. The next thing you need to consider outside of the opening story is the structure, right? So we tell clients who come in, why would you do an 18 minute TED talk when you can memorize 10 minutes?

Minutes?

Let's write a shorter talk.

Like what's the point?

We can shop it, we can get you booked. Why would you do long?

If I do it again, it will be short.

Amen. Yeah, it's a lot of work. And so we always tell people about that. And I would say, you know, like we kind of touched on. You can't fit more than two to three talking points in a 10 to 20 to even 30 minute talk. If it's a 10 minute talk, it's probably two solid talking points. If it's three, you probably have two light ones and one meaty one. And they better be worthy in your opinion. And I don't want to get no worthiness of like your worthiness, but the you, you want to be original and you don't have to say something that's never said before, but you do need to say it your way, right? So for example, like when I was a career coach and at all my online Courses I would teach negotiation. How many people have talked about negotiation? But the way that I would teach it was I would talk about it. Like, for example, I'd say talk about money like you're ordering a sandwich at Subway. Like, do you want pickles? Do you want da da da? Like, it's, it's a transaction. Like there's no energy there. Like, and, and so that's how I would say it. That's how I would teach it, mindset wise. So you really want to think about, well, what's your way of saying this? Right. So many people talk about 10 Xing. Right. But they might call about Quantum Leap or different languaging. And it's not just about the language. It's about the way that they think and the way they tell the stories. So when you think about three talking points back in, in speech writing, it would be called signposts, posts. Those are things that get people out of their iPhone. When they're in the audience and they want to look down, it brings them back up. Right. So those are your three points. And they could be questions you asked, actionable steps you want your person to do, Mind shifts, pieces of data you want people to understand. That's more of an educational TEDx talk.

Yeah.

Format. We usually stay within that. There is another type of talk that's more about a message. You've seen keynotes that are just about a message. Yep. And those are really powerful. That's a different type of speechwriting. I think those do equally well. Most of the clients who come in are subject matter experts on something and it makes sense for us to take the educational route. So that's the route that we've really focused on.

That's powerful. I love, you know, everyone who's listening can find themselves in different ways of speaking.

Yeah.

So I think where people can get caught up and where I had gotten caught up in the past is looking at people and thinking I had to be that way. But really good speechwriters will help you be you on stage and like, kind of find like, I think that sweet spot of where you feel really good up there.

Yeah.

And even though it's gonna take a lot of work, there is a place where you kind of fall into a groove where you're like, oh, this, this message. When the message feels like you, you can feel like you up there.

Yeah.

And I think what you guys do is like pull that version out of that the better.

Like, people are like, I wanna sound like me. I'm like, meh, I want you to Sound better than you.

You think you can possibly sound like.

Be you the best you? Because like, I think, I don't know, like, whatever that proverb is, it's like, it's easy, it's easy to go fast. I don't even know what it is. You go, you go fast when you're alone, but you go far when you're together. I think that a TEDx talk is just not something you should do alone. And even if it's not with my agency, just anyone listening, I really hope they get some support, especially personality types. I'm an ENFJ on Myers Briggs and I don't live or die by those. I'm pretty sure you're probably the same enfj.

I think so. It's been a little bit, but I think that's what it is.

A lot of our good girlfriends, Lori, we're all ENFJs, which Obama's an EFJ. I think Oprah is. It's like, it's like diplomatic, like, you know, content creator have things to say inspired by communication. Ideas come through communication. We do best with brainstorms. And so a lot of content creators come into my business and that's what they need. And it makes me sad to think of them like, how the heck are you going to sit with this thing in a coffee shop by yourself? It sounds like a lot.

That's why I was literally stuck for so many years and things didn't move forward the way that I wanted because I thought I was just supposed to sit here and get it. And then I'm like, oh, now I do nothing alone. Yeah, the original ideas and getting things out. I never do that alone anymore if I know I have. Like, I had just recently got booked for a big keynote and it was an audience that I knew is not my normal audience. And I wasn't comfortable at all. And I was like, hey, who do I need to make myself comfortable? Who can help me get something out that will also feel like me but be a fit for this particular event? And I was like, there's no way I'll do anything alone anymore. I mean, it will take you so much more time. It would have taken me probably 30 more hours than it took me for real. And I'm not even joking. It can take me so long to pull things out that I aren't there unless I'm with someone else.

Well, what you're sharing is about really excellence, right? And it's interesting. Like hiring people around you that are excellent is such an up level. It's also like, knowing that what you talk about is, like, representing you. Right. And feeling good. Because when we feel good, we push. Like, when I talk about TedX, like, my sales for my company has been the easiest thing I've ever done, and I think it's because, like, I'm just alive about it, number one. And number two, I have the right people. I have the right who's around me, like you're talking about, of who is going to help me. And I feel so good about who's around me that I think it translates. It's into people coming in because I'm just like, yo, we are the best. I know it. I'm so impressed.

I think I've never heard of anyone who, number one, can, you know, write, like, write the speeches, write viral talks, and then also book.

Yeah.

99.

Yeah. It's wild.

Of 100 people. And it's like, I think you have all of your processes in place, and that's so exciting. So tell me, what does it look like take to work with you? How can we work with you?

Yeah, it's funny. In my book, I open up my book U Turn I. I open up with how it's preschool graduation, and they asked who I want to be when I grew up. I said I want to be a poet and a mother. And I think I just met the right guy the past, like, eight months, so hopefully I'll be a mom with him.

Okay.

I don't know, but I feel like it took me all 37 years of my life to come back to this business and be the poet, you know, because that's really what I am. How does it look to work with us? So. So we're totally done for you. You reach out to us. And by the way, anyone who does, if you say you're from Lori's podcast, within 60 days, $1,000 off, like, please let us know you found us through Lori. So you'll reach out to us. Let us know you found us through Lori, and we'll do a call. Usually it's with me, and I will get a sense of whether you're bookable, whether it's a fit for you. I'm really careful with that because of my numbers, because of our success rate. Great. If it is and you're ready to go, we'll sign you up. Usually we need a couple of months because our speechwriters, they've written movies, they've written multiple New York Times books. They. They're all allocated. It's been so hard for me, Lori. I'VE interviewed over the past like eight years because I had a ghostwriting house for a while. I've over. We've gone through at least 1200 resumes to find these 6, 7, 8 people that are helping us. So we can't really work faster. Right. So clients wait a couple months for this.

So it's limited space.

Super limited. Yeah. Yeah. Like, we take on no more than five month. And right now, and I don't know how much we want to scale because I just love what we're doing.

And you like your numbers. You're like. I like getting people booked.

Yeah. I like everything. And I just don't know if we're everybody's everything. But after that, your start date, you have four Zoom calls over two months, 90 minutes each. We pull everything out of you. Our intake form should take you probably a couple hours. So Your commitment is 2 hours intake form, filling out your life moments, questions. We prompt you with. We go through it before we meet with you. And then on those four zoom calls, we pull everything out of you. For your TED Talk. The first zoom call is the brainstorm. Who are you? What do you want out of this? What's the best topic given, what you want out of it? And what is some of your best content? We go through your intake form, we look at your stories. We start to get a sense of what the opening story is. The second zoom call, we show up with an opening story we took a stab at. And the thing I'm really proud of is most clients are pretty blown away, you know, And I say most. I would say we have around 40, 50 on deck right now. I'd say there's like four or five that had some like real edits on it. So really vast majority is like, okay, yeah, no edits. That's crazy, right? So that feels. I'm really proud of that. And then we start to brainstorm your talking points after we've kind of taken your spirit it into the opening story. And then we go and we write two out of the three, if not all three of your talking points. Two out of two come back on the third zoom call with the talking points, and we get full rounds of edits, go through it, rip through it with the creative director and the creative director on the back end, the speechwriter. I mean, like I said, it's like 80 hours to write a speech. So that's where I'm at. That's where my time goes. I'm hanging out with the speechwriters. We're having all hands on decks we're giving each other writing room meetings, going through speeches together, and then we come back fourth zoom call. We look at the final draft and then it's sent for final edit. So that's over two months. I wish I could do it faster, but the speechwriters need a lot of time to write. And then from there we hand it off to booking. And we have other deliverables that people can sign up for PowerPoint title suggestions. We even have an ads person who can guarantee a million views within seven months of ideal clients, not bots that watch your talk. So our ads guys insane and he's been just really elevating the talks. So a couple of our clients have gone viral because of that. It kind of gets the coattails going of virality anyway and then it takes it from there and it keeps going viral. But yeah, after that we have other deliverables. A lot of clients come to us and ask for keynote upgrades. We've been asked a lot of time for books. But as a business owner I'm like, how do I allocate these speechwriters onto a book? It's such a long term project, doesn't even make sense for us. But clients keep asking for it. So I'm currently looking for somebody that can do it for us because they can't. And that's it. We get you booked, we let you know when you're booked, and from there you own the relationship with the curator. You know, like maybe 5 to 10% of the time the curators will want you to change something in your speech. It's totally your relationship. But we've, we've given you your slides, we've given you everything. We've even given you your bio that goes beneath your YouTube clip. That is good for your lead generation. And the thing is, we're always changing, right? So by the time you get booked, you might have changed a little, you have some tweaks and we also have a speaking coach on deck. So if you've decided to invest in speaking coaching, that's there for you, all about your presentation skills. And you talked a lot about memorizing and I thought that was really important that you talked about that. Ten minutes is three and a half pages. It's pretty easy to memorize for a high achieving person. But I mean, six pages, what you did, that takes a lot. Like you just start to fatigue. But once you have it memorized, that's when we tell people to start with, with the speaking coach. Because once it's in your cells, you can really Focus on how you're showing up. The words are autopiloting out of your mouth. You know exactly what I'm talking about, Lori. And it's all about presentation and excellence there. And our speaking coaches award a lot of celebrities on their movies and how they show up on set and. And we actually have one of them, they have a stage in la, so if clients are LA based, they can show up on the stage, get video recordings that we can really show them what their little ticks are, you know, so, for example, some people, they feel so small on stage, it's almost like Darwinistic where it's like everybody's looking at you. You just feel a little overwhelmed by that. When you're a speaker. Yeah. And so you kind of. We've seen some speakers, they put their arms too close to their sides and they look like a weird cartoon with their hands. Like a T. Rex. Yeah, like a T. Rex. Like a little T Rex hands. And we try to, you know, our speaking coaches help them see that on video. Like, hey, spread your hands out. It's a big stage. There's a lot of space for you there. You need to look like a weird T Rex. So. So these are just little things we help with.

Did you hear that one?

When.

When I was first trying to figure out what was going viral on TEDx, there, there were a lot of things, but they talk about the videos that had gone viral. The. The people within. The first. I think it was like the first two minutes, like, used a hand gesture like over 60 times or something crazy.

Oh, my gosh, that's so interesting. I know.

You should look it up.

Yeah.

Because it was. And I used a bunch of hand gestures and I did really well. So, I mean, my talk was not great, but we still think it was a million views.

I mean, I feel like a high achiever like you, Laurie, like your C. Is that a lot of people say, like, you work hard.

Like, I'm sure it was all right. It was all right. But truly, when I look back on, like, it could have been, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

But it's. But I guess that's the really exciting thing for people to hear is like, I actually encourage you to go back to my first talk and look at it because it wasn't that great. And it did do really well and it did launch so many things for me.

Yeah.

And so many people came by way of that talk, booking me for other talks. But a big part of it too was me using it to go and get booked. Like, if you have A TED Talk. You have street cred. You really, really do.

Yeah. It's wild.

And the thing that I want people to hear, though, is everything we talked about today. Imagine the person that you are after you've put in this time, after you've learned how to memorize a three to six page talk, after you've gone through with complete strangers and talked about really vulnerable things and created a story around it. Like, like after you've said yes and signed up the person that you become who just follows through with this, you. You're not even the same. It's about. It's about such a commitment to this next level of yourself that just that alone is like, you can't imagine what that's going to do for your career. So I'm so excited about this. Okay, so they just have to mention earn your happy or lori harder for $1,000 off to work with you guys to go through this super transformative process. Where can they find you?

We are over@wise whisperagency.com and yeah, it's. I'm honored to hear from anyone who listens and is a part of your community. And I'll be a street shooter. That's my promise to anyone.

Good.

So if it's good for you, I'll let you know. If I don't think it is, I'll let you know.

And I know that about you. And that's the only reason that we are like, I am pushing this so hard for the people who it's the right. It's the right fit for. Yeah, but that's going to be a really, really small number. But I know that anybody listening to this, this is like, this was gold. Like, they kind of learned how to write a viral talk. They learned about the things they can put in place to become their next version of themselves. Like, this was so much gold whether they work with you or not. But you guys, if it is for you, this is the person that I would absolutely like if I was going to do another TED Talk. I'm. I am going to you even keynoting. I'm like, all right, here we go.

Yeah.

So I'm so grateful for you and how you show up and just how much much time you've put into yourself and your journey and everything that I know that you're doing right now to get 99 out of 100 people booked, that's insane. I know that that is like, truly so important to you. So I'm so grateful for you and thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

Thank you for having me going to grad school and not getting my hours to be a therapist. I told you. Never would have thought I'm here, but I love that I am. And thank you for seeing me. Yeah. So fun.

All right, you guys, thank you so much for tuning in. And until next time, earn your happy. Bye, everyone.