https://www.listennotes.com/e/99091f7c4b604292b2ecfc24ee46e718

Hi, I'm Blair Bryant Nichols, founder of BBN Creative Management. And you're listening to EA Interviews.

EA Interviews episode 536, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the imperfect action round. Seven days a week, join Mario Ficcini for today's Expert Authority effect interview. Expert Authority World. Have you ever wanted to grow your business, get on more stages, perhaps publish a book? Highly recommend it. But you think it's gonna lead to all these riches and it's just gonna explode your business and all these things. And it does, if you do it correctly. And that's why I'm so excited to have Blair Bryant Nichols on today's episode because I was just joking with him before we went live. Here I go. You know what I've told people that 10 years ago. I'm glad you're leading the charge and sharing with you why you should not only be doing it, but why you should build assets around. Okay, you can have the book, you can have the speaking, but what are you building around it? We're going to dive into this and more right after we thank our sponsor.

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Is, ladies and gentlemen, Blair Bryant Nichols. Blair, how are you feeling today?

I'm doing great, thanks Mario. Great to be here.

I am excited to learn what you have to say because I was already having a good conversation with you before we jumped on here and I'm excited to continue it. So what does the best thing you could tell someone that they want to do more speaking, they want to do more of the publishing like we talked about. They want to do more of what they think they need. But why don't you tell them what they really need?

Yeah, well, you know, I agree with your intro. I think speaking and writing and publishing a book are great ways, you know, to grow your business. But as you said, they do require the right strategy. So I think if you want to start speaking, it's easy. You just, you really do got to just start getting out there and start speaking. So people, if you haven't had opportunities to do that, that might be as simple as speaking at your alma mater or your kids school or your church or another organization, but you know, it's It's a much bigger project. When you start to think about how can you speak to grow your business, and then you want to be thinking about who that you is really your ideal audience. And then I think you can start to think about the strategy of how do I get in front of that audience and what value do I have to bring to that audience. That will also enable me to highlight, you know, my business in a different way. But that's just a completely kind of. That's like a rudimentary way as a business owner to start leveraging speaking, you know, to. To get in front of clients or customers. That's not what most people do. I think when they think about speaking, I think they think about speaking along a lot. You know, before they start thinking about how they can monetize it or how they can actually leverage it, they just think about the act of getting on stage. And to your point, a lot of people think you've got to write a book first to do that. And I would say that's not necessarily true. You can definitely speak without it, but it certainly helps. And it's a great way to differentiate yourself, credentialize yourself, draw some attention to yourself as a speaker and an author. And it's something that, you know, you can leverage after your talks as a way for people to go deeper with your content, learn more about you. So, yeah, I've always felt like coming. Starting in the publishing world where I work with authors who are, you know, either beginning their speaking or continuing their speaking. I always felt like, obviously there's a very natural connection, but it doesn't. It doesn't always have to be one step before the other. Nowadays there's a lot of ways, as you know, to grow your platform to get attention for speaking. And then once you are doing that, ways that you can start to build other things around it so you can really optimize and maximize your speaking.

Yeah. And you have so many great points in there. We can unpack them. But I. It's always interesting because I get that all the time. Should I write the book first or start speaking? And it's like, I don't know. Do you know what the heck you're talking about? Because my first book, Video Marketing for Business Owners, I had been speaking on for the better part of a decade, but professionally, four to six years. Seven. Yeah, let's say eight. Longer than that. Like, you know what I mean? I knew what I was talking. It's why I wrote it on that. Okay. The irony is I had booked about A dozen speaking engagements before the book was even published. And I remember this vividly because I was like, okay, you guys have known me five years. Half of you have hired me because, you know, we're the best at video. And now because I have a book, you're giving me the spot to speak. It was no new information. It was just packaged different. So 100%, the book is going to help you. However, if you don't know what you're talking about just doing a book to do a book, I have to bring this up nowadays because for obvious reasons, let's say I'm sure you're seeing everyone and their brother doing a book, but if they're not done well, it's more of a liability than an asset. So the speaking, it does go hand in hand. But you were saying some very interesting things about what you should be doing beyond the speaking.

Right.

Why don't you. Why don't we dive into that and you can, you know, share your thoughts on that? Because I. I think it's safe to say life is unpredictable. So I'll lead you with, should you put all your eggs in one basket for just keynotes and speaking?

Right. No. And I don't think you should do that. You know, I. I agree. You know, there's a lot of different ways that you can kind of build your credibility with that book and with speaking and speaking could actually help you figure out really what you should be writing about. You know, we talk about comics going out and testing out material at small clubs. Even the biggest people, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, you know, we're showing up to small comedy clubs and working out new material. Speakers are not dissimilar. And so speaking might actually be the gateway that you need to. To articulate thoughts that you then turn into a book. You know, a lot of people get started writing because they. People keep asking them the same questions, and, oh, someone asked me the same question, so I wrote an article about it.

All right, Blair, I'm going to lead you with this question here, because I'm curious about the speaking. Do you feel that you should put all your eggs in one basket with just speaking for keynotes?

Definitely. I mean, definitely not putting all your eggs in one basket, but I do hear that question a lot. Whereas people are wanting to get into speaking, and it becomes kind of a singular focus. And I always like to ask them, well, for what. What is the goal of speaking? Is it just to get keynote fees? Because, honestly, there's a lot of other ways to make money. It takes you know, some time before you're making pretty significant money from keynote fees alone. Mario, I'm sure you know what it's like. You know, a lot of times these speaking opportunities, it's the ROI comes from that audience. So if you're not considering how you can potentially also turn those audience members into clients or customers or just get them on your email list. So if you decide to launch a digital course or host your own workshop. Yeah.

Even if it's down the road.

Down the road, exactly. Your email list alone is an asset. You can make you an affiliate or to do, you know, you can do a lot with your own email list, even if you never, you know, have your own products or services. But I really think it's important, especially as we saw in the pandemic when everyone's revenue that was dependent on in person paid speaking and that was their primary source of revenue, saw that go away overnight, that you need to diversify your portfolio because it's just crazy to rely on one, one thing. But a lot of speakers, you know, it takes them time to even build up to the point where they feel like they're getting booked regularly enough to take that next step. What I encourage people to do is as you're beginning your speaking career, as you're even considering a new topic or writing another book, think about all the steps that kind of follow through from that, like what keynote will help set that up and what is going to be the thing that I want to do with this? You know, just getting on stages, you know, can seem like a great thing to aspire to. And I know a lot of people really enjoy doing the speaking. I know you love doing that as well, Mario, and that's awesome. But it can be a lot of time away from home, a lot of time, you know, on the road, not that much glamour, all, you know, and it's so high and low. There's busy seasons, there's slow seasons.

It's fun when you can do it because you want to.

Right. Not when you, which is what I've.

Always done when it's. When it's your only thing. And that's how you know, if you don't go, you don't get paid. Well, you know, I don't know anyone that would rather not eat. Then go do something. But yeah, if you don't want to, you don't need to. That's the beauty of it, right?

And then, you know, how do you get to a point where you don't need to, you know, do a hundred events in one year when you could get the same ROI from ten events, depending on how you convert that audience. Right, exactly. So I like to talk about strategic speaking and why you're speaking at certain events and why those might be way more valuable than chasing a corporate event where you can't sell, where you might never turn those people into customers. And if not a consultant or thought leader trying to do more business with that company, there's not a lot in it for you there to begin with. So I just challenge the idea that paid keynote speaking is the end all, be all, dream job and encourage people to think about it a little more holistically as making it one aspect of what they want to do. You know, most speakers want to have an impact. They want to have. They have an advocation, they have a message, and that's wonderful. But to be able to continue to do that and actually to drive real change and impact, you know, you need to go beyond just a keynote on stage. 30, 45 minutes could change someone's life, but for them to actually transform or for an organization to transform, you know, you have to go deeper and it takes longer and there's more to it. So I would also encourage you to expand your thinking on what you could actually be doing in this world, because speaking and writing a book is a great way to, you know, get in front of bigger audiences and to have an impact, but, you know, to actually take that and transform people.

It.

There's a lot. There's a lot more to it than that.

It's why I've always suggested books to people, because you do get. Not only when they're reading it, you get a longer span. I mean, you're getting three, four, five, six hours in some cases, if not more, depending on the speed they read of someone's life. That's not an email of 30 minute talk and why I'm still so heavy on the video. I've always told people make training videos and stuff, not just to sell them, but just. I mean, it could be a free course to help someone, but I have to make a smart alec remark because usually it's about other industries and people. And I say it comedic. I love the comedy references you made earlier. I test out material all the time. You can ask my friend Tim, who I just sent over some more jokes to right before we went on like, literally 10, 12 years ago. He's like, I thought you weren't coming to this event. I go, I wasn't. But I came up with some new material. So I'm going To go test it. I'll be back in like an hour, literally. And it's one of the funniest jokes. I can't. Was I talking about. Oh, so the speaking and just relying on that and everything. Usually it's about others or at least something. This is really close to home because obviously we're talking publishing and speaking. But you said a few key things. A lot of people think keynote is a dream job. It might be a dream, but it will turn into a job.

Absolutely.

And I guess I'll just say for any of my friends that are watching this, it's not directed towards you. And if you haven't done your book yet, you really should, because I know what you're doing and you tell me behind the scenes, but let's dive deeper into that of how you're helping people expand on what they're already doing. Because I am not by any stretch putting anyone down directly. Because the goal really is, and that my passion does come from helping people, speaking here, having a platform, the books and everything. Because you really can, you know, I joke all the time, swipe your credit card and get another thousand books printed. And you just helped a thousand people. I believe that all day long. I'd be hard pressed for someone to do a thousand speaking engagements in a year. There's a few people at the top of my list right now, but they would not see their families for a year. Maybe.

Yeah. I mean, even virtual, it's. It's hard to actually rank, you know, rack that many up in any period of time. And, and to be, to be honest, like, you wouldn't be a very good speaker if you're doing that.

I was gonna say in the quality, too, you might be able to do them. Not well, but.

Exactly. If you're delivering the same, literally the same canned keynote, you might be able to do it, you know, as many times as possible. But the best keynoters and the best speakers are the ones who are really taking the time to at least tailor their content, customize their stories and their message to their audiences. So it does take a little bit more finesse. And like you said, it's a job. You know, you're. The thrill and the adrenaline on stage is the very short part of it. You know, like I said, the rest of it can be pretty mundane. And it can be. It can be a lot of chasing leads and trying to get things booked when you could be spending also that time just on content creation, figuring out your other products and services, that every time you're out, whether you're on a podcast like this or whether you're on stage, you are making the most of that audience to drive them to do something with you. You're making a lasting impression so that they want to explore what it might be like to book you or to, you know, do further work with you. So I just think that as much as you might want to put all your focus and energy into, like, getting booked and getting there again, it's going to be really hard to maintain and to grow if you don't have other areas of revenue coming in around it because you simply just like the getting to the point of where it makes sense can take so much time.

Yeah. And it's a great field. I'm again, not putting anything down and encourage people to do it, but the reality is it's just as time consuming as other stuff. And I said all that jokingly because I've never wanted to create a job. You know, a lot of people go, oh, I started a business, Fantastic. I'm probably number one advocate. But there's a point where you go, you know, I traded work 40 hours a week to work 100 hours a week. And it's like, no one I know, you know, any successful entrepreneur I know, we never got started to work more. It's to have a greater impact and have more time freedom.

Right.

At nine out of ten, you know, oh, cool. I don't need to listen to the boss six hours a day, but now I get to do spreadsheets. Seventeen. Like, no.

Yeah. Now you're running your own business. And like, you know, that's a lot of the clients when I work with them, and I question why they haven't let go of certain things. You know, if you want to be a pro speaker, why are you the one that's getting on every pre call? Why are you the one that's vetting every first thing? I mean, that might be how you start, but you want to start thinking about, okay, how am I spending as much of my time like, I know you like to do, Mario, like, how am I spending most of my time talking? How am I spending most of my time actually doing what I'm here to do, which is spread my message and speaking. Do you want to be spending it on bookkeeping and accounting and. And like, you know, like, free calls that you're. That you shouldn't be on yet because you could have someone else that's. That's vetting these things and, you know, kind of putting them, positioning you better for them. You know, I think it's hard when you're starting off to hire, to figure out what sort of hires you need and everything else. But I think if this is what you're passionate about, you like you said, and you want to be out on your own and you want to get away from this feeling of the corporate life, then don't just recreate it for yourself. Like, you know, there's so many resources, so many affordable fractional part time help and other things that can allow you to focus on this specific thing and dive into the other creative parts of it. Like I'm talking about what other products, services, things that are hard to focus on. If you're really trying to do everything in the ops and admin side too.

Where would you advise someone start? So they want to speak? Okay, I'm with them, I hope we're at the same event. They want to speak, they want to do this, they're hearing what we're saying, they want to leverage it more, do a book training. But where do you advise they start? I know what you're talking about. You gave a few little insights there with the pre calls and the ops and admin and stuff. But what's the biggest problem you keep hearing over and over and where would you say they should start if this is what they want to pursue this year?

Right. I think spending time to figure out who your ideal audience is, is, is really invaluable because I think what frustrates most people is what I hear a lot is I can speak to anyone. Well, my topic really relates to anyone. Well, any audience you know is the right audience for, for my topic, sure. You know, that might be true and there's certainly books that you know could be read by wide, wide audiences. But coming out of the speaking world or coming out of the publishing world, I would say. But there's not an audience that's going to pay to hear every author speak. There might be an audience for every author, but that doesn't mean in this market that everyone, because you've written a book or because you have expertise, is getting, is getting paid. So I think figuring out really not just your topic, but who you want to speak to. Because if it's bigger than just getting paid, if it's about growing a business, if it's about your mission, your impact, then I think starting with who you want to impact and trying to maybe narrow that as much as possible is the best place to start and getting in front of those audiences because then at least you'll feel like you're making progress in that specific area. Whereas I see a lot of speakers who just try to go out and boil the ocean, you know, just hit up anyone that they can really just try to send out all sorts of different inquiries to wherever they. And it's hard. That's why there's bureaus and all these other businesses out there. Because most people don't have speaker booker in their job title or even in their job description. For most companies it might be the boss's assistant, it might be the boss, it might be their marketing department, it might be a third party altogether. It's really difficult to just go out and figure out who all the key decision makers are for speaker booking. So spending your time just on getting your content out into the right spaces and focusing on the right audiences, whether it's associations that align with that audience, whether it's, you know, specific community groups that might really help you cater into that niche audience. That's where I would say to start. Like I said, probably in our pre call, like go speak at your kids school, speak at your, you know, an organization that you're affiliated with. Get out in front of audiences because you never know who might be in that audience that can then invite you to other things. But if you start by thinking I really want to focus on this audience and this community, then I think you'll feel the progress and the momentum faster than if you're just trying to like really address a wide audience and go as and you know, try to reach out to broad types of events and people. I think you'll just spread yourself thin. But that also kind of comes hand in hand with what is the right topic for you and why are you the right person to talk about it. So in my coaching, a lot of that, the upfront time that we spend is on that. What's the right topic or topics like not we don't need a dozen, we need two or three. Because you want to be known for something. You don't want to be known as the guy that can talk about anything in business. You want to be known as the expert in digital marketing or your area of expertise.

Yeah. Niche down and have a specific vertical. Vertical or at least two or three that are adjacent to each other.

Yeah.

And a topic or like industry.

Right. And a message that could transcend to other audiences is great. You know, but sometimes you're going to start niche before you can, you know, build an audience that is going to be excited about, you know, your message in a broader, more keynote sense. But yeah, you know, starting there really kind of Figuring out what is your unique. Like helping people figure out what makes them unique, what's like, their value in the marketplace. Oftentimes it's hard for us to know, you know, like what on our resume or what in our background might be cool or stand out in, in that market. So that can take, you know, a bit of time. But once you've got that, you know, kind of figure it out, like who you are, how you want to position yourself in a way that makes your topics relevant and credible to you. And. And then the other big, you know, challenge is getting video. Now this used to always be the hardest thing for speakers because they felt like, I have to get booked. I can't have video until I'm booked on stage. Well, that's BS Nowadays, you know, events are virtual, so you could speak straight to camera and that could be an example of a virtual speaking event. And there's so many different ways and opportunities for you to film footage, for you to get other footage just bringing, you know, hiring a camera person. If you do a pro bono talk, I always tell people as you're starting out, like, negotiate for the recording more than negotiating for a fee. But I'd say even don't ask the event organizers. I've seen it go wrong enough to know better. Just bring your own videographer to anything. You know, just do a pro bono event so you can get that footage if you really think you need more than what you already have. But there's a camera too. Exactly.

You know, my good friends I met 2014, she was just met her at the event, she was going to be speaking and everything. And again I go, how? What are you doing for video? And I go, I'm happy to record it. You have your assistant, you know, it's not hard to get nowadays, like you're saying, and so many people just overlook it. And what are your thoughts on testimonials?

Yeah, and that's another aspect. So if, when you're putting together a speaker package, you're going to have your bio, a photo. Now we're talking about a demo reel, sizzle reel. The topics, the topics are going to have maybe two, three sentences of the description and maybe two or three bullets of takeaways and then one or two testimonials, obviously you can have more. They can be on your website. But if I'm talking about a one or two page PDF, that's something you can share with bookers or meeting planners. And it's the same thing that might be on the speaking page on your website. Definitely. Having testimonials is so important and it's important to try to get those filmed as much as get them written down. And that can be tricky. But if you have your own camera person on site with you like you're mentioning, that's a great time and way to capture people coming out of your talk, getting really fresh feedback, getting really great candid insights that you can then use as marketing, but also getting, you know, the high level execs after the event to, you know, write a testimonial, have something like that. Again, it's just another piece of credit, credit credibility. People want to see where you've spoken and it just adds to kind of the, the status quo of, you know, what, what most speakers have as far as what they can share to, to, you know, verify that they know what they're doing.

Yeah. And people are going to come providing you do a good job, which you should. Like I said, content's the main thing. Having great content, whether it's a book, video, this, this conversation, especially your stage talk. But they're going to come up afterwards and oh my gosh, I really enjoyed your presentation. Did some variation of well done. And I came up with thank you so much, I appreciate that. Would you mind saying it on video? Yeah. 9 out of 10 will say yes unless in honestly 10 out of 10 want to do it. But there are people who just literally don't want to be in. I don't know, I should test this out. This is going back a while. I don't want to date myself. But over a decade. I think people are more comfortable on camera now as a whole.

I think so too. I mean, I think zoom pandemic again, just the proliferation of cell phones and getting a little more used to that.

People aren't like, why are you spying on me? And it was like, whatever, this is useful. I still understood, you know, it never fazed me. But it might not be 9 out of 10. I hope it's 100% now. But even over a decade ago it was 9 out of 10. So good batting average.

And I've heard of like, you know, I've heard of software like I don't know if it's testimonial IO or something like that. That makes it super easy. It like, you know, you load up email addresses. Yeah, exactly. It's so it's, it's really simple. I think it's, it's like asking for referrals though people are afraid to do it. But I will tell you as a speaker and if you really want to do more speaking. Those are two things you can't be shy about, because so much of your speaking will come from people who've already heard you speak and can be your best source of referrals, of course. But also, like you said, these testimonials are bold. Like, they, you. You do need them. You don't need 100, you know, but at each time, there is a new opportunity, because what if, you know, a healthcare company wants to know about another healthcare company you've spoken for? So a lot of clients and speakers will actually really categorize their testimonials and have stories that maybe they align with different industries and have testimonials that align with different industries. And they're really good at, you know, either sharing with speaker agents or with those clients to say, yeah, and by the way, I've spoken for these companies. Here are some testimonials. And so they know very specifically that you understand what, what they're doing, you know, as well, not that you've just spoken at a different type of sales team in a completely different industry. And, you know, you might have to, they might really have to teach you kind of like the, the jargon. People really want their speakers to be speaking their language. They want to feel like they understand their audience. So if you can, you know, kind of get past a few of those hurdles already by having those testimonials teed up, it's, it's definitely great.

Yeah. Because I, I would venture to say these organizations and meeting planners, they want the best people and they want you to do a good job. It's not this gatekeeper that, oh, they're trying to keep me out. No, no, they're just make. They're just trying to, they want the best person for the job. So just show them.

Yeah. And especially if you are, if they're already coming to you, you know, for assets or resources, like you're, you're probably on a short list already, you know.

So it's, it's ten times easier when they come to you. And it's just a logistics. Hey, we'd love to have you. Can you make it work? That's the real way to do it.

Exactly. And that's why the crux of my coaching, I will say, is not how do you just do a bunch of cold calling and how do you find your right audience and then find all the right meeting planners and, you know, follow up to death? My, my coaching, I think, is all about what is the strategy to bring more people to your Website. How are you out there more? Because that's where you're going. Always be in the driver's seat and have that leverage. And it's a lot easier if they're already interested. You're. It's not a sales conversation so much as a scheduling conversation most of the time, you know, so you, that is, that's it. You want people coming to you and asking about your speaking, whether they, whether they know what you charge or not. That's always going to be obviously the best opportunity you have to get to get a booking.

How do you get out there more?

Well, podcast is one way and like I said, thinking about that, ideal audience. So if you really want to speak to business execs, a lot of the events that might bring them together are not paid events. They might be media events. They might be events that you, as a business owner, sponsor and get stage time because of it. Because you really want to be in front of all of the presidents of the insurance companies. And so you're going to be strategic about where you spend your marketing dollars. And it might not be on, you know, meta ads and Google Ads and SEO. There's a lot of that. But what if you were in front of a hundred CEOs and you paid fifty grand to do it? So there's a lot of different ways I think that you can approach that strategy. But you, it's. I think it, again, it comes back to that audience. For most keynote speakers, that's the differentiation, though. They'll speak to anyone who has the money. And the strategic speakers, the ones who aren't on the road all the time, the ones that can demand, you know, six figures or more, because that's what they know that, you know, they can generate from a speaking event. They're not on the road for dozens and dozens of events every year. So that kind of comes later, I think, too, as you scale. And like you said, when you, when you make the choice that you want to be there and you're not just trying to book and show up to every single thing you can possibly, you know, get.

This all sounds good to me. What five events would you suggest that I should be keeping on my radar?

Oh, boy.

Because I know this is specific, so I could ask for everyone, but obviously we're going to have to say tailored down, pinpoint it. So I'm willing to be the guinea pig here. So is everyone taking notes like, okay, what are the me.

I mean, well, you know, I guess your audience probably is. Is super broad, you know, so you could probably Reach authors, successful entrepreneurs.

It's not for beginners and it's not for people just trying to get started. And like it's for established already successful entrepreneurs. So it's.

Yeah. So like things like Inbound, like HubSpot's big event, like obviously there, you know, there's large events, there's all sorts of different like create and cultivate that are very for entrepreneurs or you know, a lot of events in Austin or, or in Vegas that cater to entrepreneurs that are ticketed events. Those are more the events that have business models that allow you to either sponsor and speak or do a revenue share model. So those are things that it might be interesting for people like you that are either tied to a big company like HubSpot because the customers they serve are similar types of customers you might be looking for. Whether they're like a vendor like that or there's just these bigger events that are very entrepreneurial focused, like 10x that's for grant Cardone and all his companies. So I don't know, I'd have to do a little more deep dive to give you some really good recommendations. But I do know that a lot of the people who don't think about the corporate side of speaking and think about where they want to be and the stages they want to be on in order to grow the type of business that they're trying to grow, it's that same. It's those models in those types of events that I think, you know, are really attractive to a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners.

Yeah, there's so many. And it's kind of a loaded question. I mean I really want to know because my goal is to impact 10,000 businesses. So I'm always keep my eye like if someone's listening to this, you want me to speak, let's talk. And same thing for you like this. I do a lot of guesting also. And if you really do have a mission and you do want to make an impact and it's not just, you know, and I think that's why you should be doing it. Why would you turn down stages? But like you're saying, you know, I can't tell you how many people even apply for our show. It's like there's a difference from a one sheet that's professionally done versus a word doc and there's no image and now we have to hunt down people. I'm just venture. I'm just giving betting that if you're making life harder for the meeting planner than easier, you're probably not at the top of the list, right?

Yeah. If you can't give them everything they've asked for, if you're not prompt and ready to, you know, get back to them quickly, you know, these are all things that can count you out. You know, it's a. Things move fast. People, people want to know that they can count on you, that it's going to be quick and easy to work with you, that you're excited and that you're grateful. Like, I can't even, like, no one wants a speaker that is going to be there. Yeah, everyone that you know. How many people would dive for these speaking slots. And like, the people who sometimes are so ungracious about, oh, they want me to also do this. Like, there's so many things that you can negotiate and that makes sense and don't make sense and don't have to do everything they ask you to do. But if you're starting out like this, just like Hollywood, you got to be, you got to be ready, you know, and willing to, like, over deliver.

Somewhat flexible.

Yeah. That doesn't mean sacrifice your values and morals. That just means over deliver as a professional and as a, you know, and do your homework, Be, you know, on top, be prompt and on time and don't give them any reason to have any stress. Like you said, they don't want more problems or headaches. They don't want to have to do more work. So especially once they've booked you, you want to show up and be a rock star and not make the meeting planner at all anxious about what, you know, because you're running late or you're asking too many questions or. I don't know what the case may be, but I think you get the idea.

And don't be ungrateful if they want you to do a book signing after buying all the copies of your book.

Yeah, I, when I, when I talk sometimes to, I mean, I've. Traffic convert and conversion, that's an event. So, you know, that's, that's a good one for entrepreneurs. And I did a talk there once all about, like, all the different types of stages, whether you're not getting paid, whether you're getting paid, whether you've, you know, bartered and what you can ask for, when you're getting paid. Obviously you can't ask for them to just give you all the email contacts to everyone in the audience. You can't ask for a lot of things that they generally wouldn't, you know, offer. But what you can do is volunteer for things that maybe other speakers aren't willing to do, hey, would you want to do an article or an interview with me in advance? Like could I do you have like a magazine? Could I help promote? Like be the speaker that actually adds value and doesn't just try to extract more things from them, but you know, is willing to do those things that other speakers might not find as enjoyable or because they're where they're at in their career, they don't feel like doing another sit down interview in advance or they don't care about promoting, you know, an event. But if you're willing to be a partner to them in their event and some are more private and they don't require a lot of promotion and whatnot. But if you could say still be as much of a partner in helping get their people excited about your content, get people excited about your session. And it only serves you well if you are speaking at something like a traffic and conversion. Participating in the pre activities and the marketing is what drives people to your session. And if you want to get booked again, you certainly want to fill that room. They're not going to book you again if no one shows up for your session. So it's not always on just them in order to make a speaking event success. If you're invested in your own success, there's plenty of things that you can do to influence to make it, you know, better than what they may have planned. And you'll find, as I'm sure you've experienced, Mario, some meeting planners aren't that great and aren't that buttoned up and don't produce great results all the time. And so as the speaker, you know, you, you're still there, you're the one on stage. So the only thing you can do is control how you show up, what you deliver and you know, and as much value as you've tried to bring. So hopefully that that helps.

Yeah, it does. In that lasting impression is so critical because I never, I never care. I don't want to say, I don't want past tense. It's. I still whether there's one person there, a hundred or a thousand. I remember one of my favorite events. There was supposed to be a room of 75 people. The person didn't have. It didn't happen. I think there were six and they were kind of backpedaling this and that and either and I go, you know what, I appreciate you thinking of me because there was literally nine others they could have picked and I literally was the first. And I go, this is actually a blessing. So I turned it into a workshop instead of I'm going to present to everyone, it's like, what is the benefit in that? And, and everyone, you know, when you go in and the goal is to. And there's other ones that I was expecting 15, there was hundreds. You know what I mean? So it's. But every time I've went in going, how can I add value? How can I, you know? And again with the book, when you were talking about that email list, they might not just give it to you, but if you offer a free copy of the book to everyone via email.

Yep, it does. Yeah, there's, yeah, there's a lot of value you can add to them that also in turn drives value to you because now you've added X number of emails to your list as well. And, and you know, that just helps you. And they get, they get that.

If the goal is to just get more names, that's one thing that I believe that's just an intent you're putting out there. But when it's like, I'm really just looking for more people to help.

Sure.

Here, take the book, here's the audio, here's the video, here's this, here's the behind the scenes, like, God bless, have fun with it. Like, if I can help, by all means. It's why I create the other stuff. So I love everything. Go ahead.

Anytime. I was just going to say, anytime I had a speaker that was nervous, I would just remind them, like, you're here to give a gift. You're, you're, you're, you're not being judged and critiqued. You are like, you are giving your gifts and that's what you're here to do. And that seems to help, I think. And I, and I think people that, like, you have that intention and want to, and want to add value and go to stage with that in mind are usually the ones who do well and who get booked again.

Yeah, it's interesting. I've noticed a through line in doing hundreds of these. And regardless of what the topic is, the expertise this and that, there's common threads of like, treat people nice, don't be mean, add more value. And it's so often we forget the simplistic stuff. I actually posted something earlier about simplifying. You know, I think most people just left in a room, everyone just shuts up and leaves them alone for a week. I think they could just figure out, here's what I probably should be doing. What do you think?

Right.

Like, they don't really need 58 training courses and all these, you know, I need this, this, this. I think there's this point where it's like, at some time, at some point, you got to go into your own confidence and just go, I think I'm going to do this for the next step.

Yeah, yeah. And I think you, you know, reflect on where you've been, and, you know, then that might give you some perspective on, like, okay, now this is what's next. And, you know, when you go out to then teach that to others is to remember what it was like to be at step one. You know, oftentimes people get to step seven and they're still teaching people who are at step one, and they. The distance starts to grow. So, you know, especially if you're leveraging, speaking as a way to get clients or customers, you're, you know, promising to teach them to do what you've done. You know, just keep in mind about where they're at. And I think a lot of times it's easier, easy for us to think that, you know, either with imposter syndrome or that people know what we already. That everyone knows what we now know, and that's not the case, and that's why you're there, and that's where the value comes from. But you have to make sure that you can bring it to their level and continue to. To know where your audience is at. If that's kind of, you know, I'm.

So glad you're bringing that up, because I hear. I remember hearing that 10 years ago, there was a group of us that were kind of all in the same boat, and I wanted the people furthest down the road just because I thought, you know, they have more experience, this and that, and they do, by all means. But a lot of them were like, I can't even imagine being at that level. Why couldn't. But I'd venture to say 80% of them went with the other coach and trainer because they were closer to that gap.

Right.

But you know what I mean? It's an interesting thing. I'm glad you brought that up, because I go, you know, as a matter of fact, I think there was one or two times early, early, early on, I was like, I can just relate to this person more because they were here a year and a half ago versus, like, you know, but that's the great thing. And why I think it's great that you offer coaching and people should get it, because there is a point where, okay, yeah, you might know what you need to do on your own, but if you don't, even if you know what you need to do, you might not know all the steps because from doing it myself, it's like, yeah, it definitely helps. I love hiring people. Like, you can get me here in two months versus two years. Like sweet.

Yeah.

I mean, one thing when you're 22, but when you're not, it's like I, I, I have this much time extra. Like I don't want to.

Oh yeah. You know, you can go slow and alone or fast and together or you know, all the different metaphors there. But I agree, you know, it's like you bring a lot of experience to an hour long conversation that can really just short circuit someone. That might take years of deliberation. You know, for some of my clients, they're like, I've been working on these topics for so long and you just, I hopefully can help bring clarity to this. To me feels like what is both unique to you, what value resonates in the market and you know, we can figure out kind of together, like how it all works together, you know, based on your goals.

But yeah, having that board just to go, hey, I'm testing even three new talk titles.

Right.

What do you think is the best? Well, these two are good, but how about we combine them to make this one?

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. A lot of it is that and a lot of it is this. People assuming that either they have to use their own creative language, which other people don't know because they've probably words that they've invented.

Stand out from everyone. No one knows what you're talking about. Like, don't be.

Yeah, yeah, you know, or, or yeah, they just have invented a word and they want to use that as the title. And I'm like, but no one knows what that means.

So I do that all the time, but I'm not done with enough to try it. Like if someone doesn't know me, like, be unique with your results. Stand out, add more value than anyone else so that you can't deny it. You don't need to be creative with what you think you need to be creative with.

Do it with the, yeah, the reveal can be the creative solution, the creative term. But to get someone hooked, to get them interested, to get them to book you in the first place, they have to, they, you have to speak their language and that you, they have to know that you understand the, their problem and that you can help solve their pains. So yeah, that could be a whole nother hour just spent on that.

Well, you're sharing so much Value. I, I appreciate it. This is, this is fun. I do have to ask you a couple more things before we go, but one of them is my uniqueness. This, this little baby's been around. Yellow or black?

Yellow.

Okay, let's stop it there. It's amazing how after hundreds of episodes I always get it on the right one. Might not be as random as you think. Just like business if you weren't doing what you're doing. What is a hobby of yours that you have considered pursuing full time?

That is an interesting question. A lot of my, I guess volunteer pro bono work and boards and alumni boards and stuff like that has been, you know, around creating other events around creating, you know, working with the university. I'm, I went to UCLA Anderson Business School. So I've been working on that board for a while and thinking about like why am I not just employed by this, this university already? I feel like I'm delivering a lot of value and I could be figuring out better strategies of how to engage alumni, but that's not really like my highest calling. So I've been a writer my whole life in some degree and working in publishing from day one and getting into this industry, it's just, you know, it's been a long, a long deferred career that I hope to like yourself actually get, get a book out there and not too distant future and do more speaking on, on different topics in that respect as well. So you know, I try to live what I'm doing for my clients and what I tell them to do and that's why I'm here on this podcast.

Very good. Practicing what you're preaching. That's important. We're going to thank our sponsor and come back for the imperfect action round.

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I would have been able to do this with somebody else again. I've attempted it in the past. It didn't serve me. As a matter of fact, I ended up more frustrated than anything. So this has been a very seamless process.

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Are back with the imperfect action round. Blair, you ready to take imperfect action?

I guess so. Why not?

All right, I got three questions for you. Rapid fire answers. The first one is, what is the fastest path to the cash?

Well, that is speaking, my friend. Yeah. You're growing a business and you want to get clients and customers. Finding your ideal audience and speaking directly to them as an authority, I think is a lot faster way to get high tickets. You know, whether it's your services, Usually you're a solopreneur. I think that's the fastest way to make some money Rather than ads and marketing and all sorts of different things. Going straight to the source and, you know, doing that work yourself is definitely the fastest.

I've heard good things about this. I would have to agree. And the other thing really is until you have a team of people to help and refine it, every single thing. People like that. You said it. The ads and this and this. Email alone is a science. And art ads alone. And then how dare we break apart the platforms? That whole thing in itself, I think people get enamored with, oh, I can just spend money and get clients. If it was that easy, don't you think every company in the world would be pumping millions of dollars in, like. Yeah, every single thing you could spend a decade learning. And I'm in full agreement. You know, start. Start with what you know and just call, call, pick up your phone. It's what I did for the show. I had 4,100 people. You know, it didn't suck being an author and speaker, but I'm like, who's going to be the first 10 guests on the show?

You gotta ask.

Oh, I don't need to put out an ad campaign with a funnel to have people apply and, oh, my gosh, like, there's quicker ways to some of this. So I love that you said that. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way for them to fix it?

The biggest problem is they're waiting until they have everything for their, like, the speaker package we talked about, like, until they have the perfect footage, until they have every little piece before they start getting out there and speak. And if you were listening to the rest of this conversation, you know, I'm a big advocate for getting out there and speaking. The more you're out there, the more people will be coming to you, and the faster it's going to help you accelerate both your skill at this and help clarify and get you clarity on really what you want to be doing, what you want to be speaking about. So I just can't encourage you enough to just go ahead and make those first steps and get out there and. And start trying it before you have. Before you then figure out all the different topics and strategies of how you're going to grow it. You know, you got to. You got to start.

I love that. You definitely do have to start, and then you're going to fail a whole lot and then figure it out.

Yeah, you know, just like those. Those comedians, right?

Yeah. But test your material. I love testing out jokes. I've been real behaved this episode. I got a few in, but. Okay, what's next? 3. The best way to maximize customer lifetime value.

All right, well, I'm a big, you know, proponent of when you're speaking, trying to convert as much of that audience as possible so that. That audience, that customer, potential customer, can stick with you as long as possible. So if you can influence them with, you know, a talk or something that they might see online and. And continue to deliver value to them. I know people who've been on email lists for years before they ever book. You know, one of my clients as a speaker who saw them on a podcast or saw them at an event, it's a very long tail, you know, so if you're intentional about getting as many people to continue to follow you and you're consistent with your content and you're consistent with, you know, growing that audience, you'll be surprised that some. Sometime down the road, yeah, all of this does really pick up momentum and a lot more leads and interest coming your way from the groundwork. But if you go into these events and go on to shows and you just expect people to go find you and to continue to follow you and you are not intentional about what you're delivering to them. Like you you mentioned in in value, then they're going to forget about you and you're not going to get that long, you know, benefit of the. The long tail of speaking.

Yeah. Kiss of death. Death in any industry. Like oh, he or she was so unforgettable. No, they were so forgettable.

You can't remember their name. And then it's hard to book a someone else if you can't remember what their name was.

Yeah. Okay. As a publisher, I gotta ask you about books. Which ones would you recommend to Expert Authority World?

Great question. One of my clients just came out with Better decisions Faster. So I'm a big fan. That and Trust Yourself by Melody Wilding the Great. If you are someone that finds yourself a little more emotional at work. What are my favorites? Never Eat Alone. I worked with Keith Rossi for, for many years and I think it's a great guide to building your people plan. You know, like with speaking. Getting anything in life requires relationships. So having a plan around that, oh my goodness, you really put me on the spot. There's so many. I'm, I love, I love reading and there's so many business books and great, great books out there. You know, I don't know if something resonates with you. I don't, I don't really prioritize one over the other. I think everyone, you know, just should continue to grow and read and be curious because a lot of people are not doing that.

Yeah, it depends on the person. And I know there's different points in my life where I'm like, I'm focused. Like 2010 was like I was reading everything I could on sales because I've always been a proponent of high quality product, adding value, this and that. And I was like, I just need more people to know about me. And it was like sales. And then it was like, once we nailed that, it was like, okay, how you know something else? Probably the paid ads. Truthfully. Yeah. 2011 12. It was like paid ads and everything. But I appreciate the six you mentioned. We only need 14 more before I let you go.

That'll be in the show notes. It'll be in the appendix.

Yeah, it's interesting because I really just expect one or two. Or maybe I think the show notes have room for three. But there's people. I've literally said, okay, let me ask you about books. What are the top hundred books you've read in your life? And they're like some of them try some of them don't just depends on my mood for that day. I'm in a good one today.

Like most we've got time. Don't worry, I'll but that was good.

I'll you're good. But where would you like people to learn more?

Well, you can find me on LinkedIn Blair Bryant Nichols or check me out at BBN Creative Management and if you check out my services page, you can sign up for a free 30 minute consultation. And I promise if I can't tell you what next step to take in 30 minutes then your money back.

I like that. And I We are connected on LinkedIn now so I anyone listening? Be sure to connect with them also. But Blair, it's been great. Thank you so much. I appreciate everything you shared.

My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

All right, Expert Authority World, we have another great episode here today. I'll see you on the next one. Have a great day. God bless. You're already the expert, but have you.

Transformed your expertise into a tangible asset that will generate qualified leads while increasing profit for you 24 7? And if so, how well are you promoting it? With my new book, the Expert Authority Effect Publishing Method, I take you through.

My process step by step.

Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction, lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com to get started. Now once again, that's eapublishing method book.com thanks for listening to today's episode. I would love to know what you enjoyed most from it if you haven't done so already. I invite you to connect with me on my new LinkedIn. You can go to it directly at eainterviews.com LinkedIn Once again, that's eainterviews.com LinkedIn lastly, check out the full eainterviews.com site for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I'll see you on the next one.