345: The HOW of Becoming a Speaker with Emily Perron

Hey movers, it's Sally Z with Be Moved. Let's go create some talks that will move this world. We're going to talk with amazing speakers, share tips, tricks, resources, and we are going to be moved so that our audience can be moved.

This moved me.

What is moving You. Hello, hello. Today we are going to, in just a minute, bring in the awesome Emily Perrin, who is one of my speakers. She is a delight. She has been speaking in particular with creative entrepreneurs. She's a productivity expert. She is a go-getter. She joined my Movers Lab. A few months ago, at some point this summer, and she has just gone all in. And when Emily goes all in, big things happen. So it is so fun to be her coach. It is so fun to be her coach and watch her as she just explodes on the scene as she's developing her stories and refining her message. And I wanted to bring Emily on with us today because Emily is going through the journey of really truly becoming a speaker. She's done speaking before, but there is a new intention and focus around it. And there are a lot of people I'm talking to who are, are thinking about that shift. Like, how do you make that shift? How do you go from This is a thing that I like to do sometimes too. This is a part of my identity. I think of all of us in the Be Moved community, people who are really wanting to leverage speaking to move their audience, which is a different, that's a different goal than we wanna leverage speaking to make lots of money, which I'm all about too. I love that. That's But when the intention is to move your audience, it shifts things around a little bit. And I tend to draw people in, like you, Emily, who have had a delightful experience speaking. It was better than they thought it was gonna be. They're like, oh, there's something here for me. Just tell me a little bit about your origin story with speaking. Like, where was the moment where you decided I think this is something I wanna do. And did it surprise you?

Yeah, I, I was super surprised by it. I was basically forced by a client to speak at a food blogging conference back in 2019. It was Melissa from Bless This Mess. Bless, just bless her soul. She is the best. And she was like, no, Emily, you really have something here with hiring freelancers and like the ways you're approaching organizational strategy and productivity and Working in your zone of genius, she's like, this is really special and food bloggers need to know about this. And so she just forced me to make a description and email the conference and they just happened to have a cancellation 2 months before the event. I mean, we were really close and this was a huge event. I think there were around 1,000 people there at the full event. Wow. Yeah. And so she said yes, the organizer said, yep, we had a cancellation. We'll slot you in. But that was it. And then, and then it was just amazing. Like I met all these amazing people and I got new clients and I still like, I'm friends with people from that conference that I met there and they still tell me like how helpful my perspective was and my tips and all of that years later.

They're still, they're still using.

I mean, it's so meaningful. Yeah. How can I not?

Yeah, it's such a potent form of connection, isn't it, with your audience? Because they're experiencing you, they're hearing you, seeing you. Even virtually, there's a different level of connection that gets created when you show and speak, uh, other rather than some of the other ways of connection that we are doing a lot. So I think it's potent and, and love it. It turns something on in you. I can agree a lot, but that doesn't necessarily— for some people they're like, oh cool. And then they're like waiting for the next person to invite them. They're like, I, but I'm not a speaker, right? Mm-hmm. Speaking and becoming a speaker are two different things for most people. So where are you on that journey of really becoming a speaker and owning, yeah, identity.

Yeah. So I think the identity shift came for me this year in March. So I was speaking in Chicago in person and it was just so different. There was something about this speech and actually it was the first, so I'd spoken then. So after that first food blogging conference, I spoke over the next couple years virtually and in person. On hiring and that was like my very close niche, right? I was just always talking about hiring and organizational strategy. But this year at the Tastemaker conference, I put myself out there to speak on productivity and mindset shifts. And then I was like, oh my gosh, I really was. In October, I remember being like getting accepted and thinking, what was I doing? What was I thinking writing this description? Now I have to deliver it. And it was just, it was amazing. I, I think seeing those mindset shifts, it's when I knew I had to be a speaker. It's when I knew I had to pursue it and, and I needed some help because I was like, there's some gaps here. I don't know what I don't know about this. If I want to really professionally do this, right? Because in the past I'd just been speaking, you know, to generate some business, speaking kind of more as a lead magnet. But now it's like, you know, I want to more embody being a speaker. I want to be a speaker. And like impact more people. Okay.

So you make a decision, an internal decision of like, no, actually I want, I, I wanna do more of this and I want to be this. So what were some of the things that you have done to help you step into that space and actually live it out?

Yeah. Well, the next big step for me was I needed a speaking coach and I hired you. I joined the Movers Lab and then I went into a 2-week panic attack, like self-doubt spiral. I mean, it was terrifying. I was like, what was I doing? Like, you didn't have to do this, Evelyn. You could have just stayed in your comfy, your comfy little zone over here and just kept speaking at blogging events and just like stay in your comfort zone. But, but it was through that process then of just stepping into it and getting more feedback, getting exposure to more people that I was able to shift through the self-doubt. Pretty quickly. I think one of the big things that helped too with like the doubt around speaking was thinking about other areas where I've been successful. So I obviously didn't always recruit for food bloggers. I mean, that's part of my background. I hadn't always been a career coach. I hadn't always had an amazing corporate career, like all these things, right? And so I just had to kind of tap back into the parts of me that had done, had had success in other areas, and that has really helped me the last couple months. Yeah.

Yeah. You've done it before, so you can do it again.

Oh, yes.

That's my friend Jen Whitmer. Like, I just got to say, I can do it again. Now, now I cannot get that out of my head whenever I'm talking about looking for the evidence of having done this before and done it like, well, even we're like, I don't know if I can step onto this bigger moment, right? Oh, there's 1,000 people. Like, when have you talked to more people than you had before? Like, we're always all doing that. So we can look back and say, you've done it before, you can do it again. Ah.

Yeah.

Okay. So your experience of the panic, like I joined, I, I took the leap, I committed to it. I decided this is high priority enough for me. Speaking is, is I'm gonna do something with this. I'm gonna do something real with it. I'm not just gonna kind of throw content spaghetti at the wall. I'm really going to. Intentional story-driven strategy so that I can leverage speaking.

Yay.

You brought in a coach and then you have the panic moment. Yeah. Story I've heard so many times. That is real. What do you think that is about? That moment of I took a leap. I'm believing in something that's possible for me. And then we have this moment of, what am I doing? Like, who do I think I am?

And I, I think it's just about making that next step upward, right? That I was ready for and I knew, but then it's, you just have to adjust. I think it's an adjustment period. And I think about that with so many changes, right? Just think of any change. I'm becoming a parent. Is a great one, right? It's like, that's a huge adjustment. So this is like nothing compared to becoming a motherhood or becoming a mother, right? Like those are such different experiences, but I think it psychologically, it triggers the same, same response. It feels big. And so anytime things feel big, it's gonna trigger the warning bells. That amygdala in our brain is just really good at this, you know, keeping me safe from the tigers that are not chasing me right now. And so, you know, those warning bells go off. I think that's really, really what it is about. It's just that our brains are so good at triggering fears and yeah. And, and so it felt like exposure, right? Even though I wasn't even speaking anywhere more yet, right? Like I had no, it's not like becoming, getting a speaking coach and starting the program meant more, but it did, right? It just, it felt like additional exposure. So that felt. Scary and frightening.

Vulnerable. To, to, yeah, to speak out loud that a wish, a hope, a dream. And I don't know if I really can, but I want to. And put effort and intention and energy around that is powerful cuz that's how it happens. We know this, that's why you did it. Because you know that that would happen. So you joined the Lab and I would just love to hear from you, like what parts of that has helped you get more comfortable with this identity and, and own it and start to really make things happen in your business. Tell me about what the, what the experience has been like for you in the Lab.

Yeah, I think, I think how I think about it, and I think the biggest difference that it's made in my life so far is that when you want to become a real speaker, right? You really want to embody being a speaker. There is still this gap of like, what do the, what do the real speakers do? Like, what do I need to have on my speaking page? Because I put one together and I look at it now, I look at the original version and it was just So sad, but it was a start. I mean, I knew I needed a speaking webpage, but I didn't know what to put on it. And so, and I don't need to reinvent the wheel. I, I feel like there are people in this world like you, Sally, who already know all these things. Like you are a speaking expert. I don't, I don't wanna be a speaking expert. I just need the information to execute on so that I can uplevel into this and, and meet people's expectations because I have the skill, I have the experience, but I wasn't doing a great job of portraying that online very well, and so that has been, that has been really helpful. I'd say the other thing that comes to mind too is just some of the physicality of it, right? So my attendees can ask questions, they can tell me what they love, but they cannot physically tell me what I'm doing that bothers them or is distracting. And so that was the other piece of the feedback that I've really been thriving on and I notice and I hold onto and work on because I feel like this is the like speaking coaches that are really the ones who can see these things.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you came to the retreat. So a few times a year we do these in-person retreats. And I think about you in that moment and how brave you were in that because you hadn't been a part of the lab for very long. And basically it was in the deep end of the people time, of the, we're going all in on your content. Yep. You're going to get up on stage. Yep. We're going to take all the pictures and the videos. Like you went for it. But what was that like for you?

Well, I felt really calm and grounded by the time we got to the retreat, but I think those Like I said, those first couple weeks in July were pretty intense until I'd had a meeting with you and I got kind of grounded in and, and finally realized that, oh, in this retreat we're all workshopping our presentations. That took me a while to get there. Or, oh, we're all learning. Like these other beautiful, amazing people, they're not better or more or anything like that. We're all at just different places in our speaking journey. And so I really liked that, that we could each come in at where we're at. It was just so helpful. And then to see, to see that many keynotes workshopped, I got so many good ideas. I, I swear I'm a way better storyteller after watching some of those people because again, I'm just figuring out as I go. And so to actually see it happening live, I was like, oh, I can do that. And I can tell this story this way. I, I can see the mechanisms that were happening for how other people were speaking. And how to integrate that into my business because I was carving out time for that away, right? To work on, to work on speaking.

And it's such a gift to be able to have that sort of time and focused energy together. It's, it's a richer thing and it was intense. I mean, we, we really dug in and we had fun, but, but there was a lot of digging in, but it is so transformative and powerful. To see each other's stuff because it's not just the person up there doing it that benefits. It's all of us watching and seeing the transformations and the change happen. So it was really, it's so rewarding for me as a coach to see it, like, you know, have that exchange between me and the speaker, but then watch everybody else go, Oh, like light bulbs about how they're gonna turn around and work on their own stuff in a slightly different way. It's just really amazing. And we hadn't been able to do that in so long. So to be together like that was just awesome. And I'm so glad you got a lot out of it. Okay, Emily, one final thing before we go. I'd love to know, tell me about the speaking dream for you. Where are you going and who are you speaking to?

What's—

describe for us your speaking dream.

Yeah, well, I think it's to be— it's really to be the lead. Like, I want to be the person at, particularly at business conferences for entrepreneurs and creatives or creative entrepreneurs. Like, I want to be the lead, one of the lead people, right? I want to be the top build. 3 to 5 people that people, that other people are excited to hear my perspective from. That's what I really, really want.

Thank you for speaking that out loud. That, that's how it happens. And we're getting you there. You're doing it. You're doing some beautiful work. It was so fun to watch you up on stage, light up on stage. You absolutely do. And you have really important, powerful insights. For me, as a creative entrepreneur, I picked up what you were saying. I was like, I know I'm coaching you right now, but I'm also picking up what you are saying, so, which is major bonus for me and my work. So congrats to you on everything that you're doing. Obviously, people can find and connect with Emily on Instagram, but where else where would you like to send people if they want to learn more about you?

Yeah, I'm also at emilyparan.com. My favorite giveaway right now is a Zone of Genius worksheet where I help you uncover your zone of genius and, and really all your zones of work so that you can live a happier, more fulfilled, more successful life at work and in business. So that's at emilyparan.com. /theog.

The OG, Zone of Vision. Love it. All right, great job, Emily. So glad to see you here.

Thank you. Talk soon.