Success Secrets Exposed - The Leaders Leader

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Welcome to Success Secrets Exposed with Sally A. Curtis, where we share stories of challenge, success, and inspiration, along with practical tips and strategies to move you forward to your your success. And now here's your host, Sally A. Curtis.

Good evening, good morning, and good day to you all. Welcome to another episode of Success Secrets Exposed. This week's episodes, we're going to be talking about the leader's leader. And for those that, uh, know me well and have been listening to the show for a while, I love nothing more than being the wind under— seen underneath somebody else's wings. In other words, I like shining the light more than anything on other people, and it's not normal for me to take the limelight as such. So today we're going to have an intimate conversation with Gary Prigg and myself. He's actually going to be interviewing me and discussing the ways in which I shine the light on other people and why I like being in the background of other people's success. Now, Gary Prigg has been on the show before, so many of you may remember him. He is a transformational strategist for business and personal self-mastery. So without any further ado, I'm actually going to bring him into this arena and we're going to have that great conversation today. Good morning, Gary.

Good morning, Sal, and good morning to all of your followers. It's great to have you here. And how are you feeling, Sal?

Yeah, I'm really great, thank you. Keeping well and truly out of mischief. A little bit cold and a little bit chilly today in Adelaide, but good, thank you.

Right. It's interesting, so often you're the one that does all of the work for everyone else, and you're in the hot seat today because we're gonna have a talk about you and who you are. And how you change people's lives.

Yeah.

How do you feel about that?

Excited and apprehensive.

Isn't it interesting? So often leaders are the ones that go out there and they're the ones who will help affect change, be transformational masters in their own way. But as soon as the light is put back on them, they just seem to withdraw back.

Yeah.

And because I've, I've seen what you've done and how you've changed people's lives, I just want to acknowledge your courage that, uh, you're the one that's going to be asked the questions today because you've got an amazing story to sell. You really have. Well, to sell and tell.

Yeah.

So, um, there are no holds barred today, you know, Sal.

Yes, I was a bit fearful of that and excited at the same time, and I'm very aware that that's the space you're going to come from. So we will see where it ends up and goes.

Yeah. And look, the outcome though, is that, that this will have an awakening effect on some of the things that you're doing yourself and in business. But also, there'll be a lot of terrific information you will pass on to other people that they can take into their personal life or into their business life to assist them to become more successful. So One of the first questions that I'm always interested in is, who is, who is the person I'm talking to? So who is Sally? Who is Sally Curtis?

Okay, so long story short, and I was pondering on this this morning, actually, and remembering some of the childhood scenarios, because I was typing to a girlfriend the other day, because she was talking about birthdays and my birthday coming up. And it's like, oh, I don't like birthdays. And she actually asked me why I didn't. So of course, that became very reflective. So Sally Curtis is actually the person that for many birthdays as a young child actually hid underneath the dining room table when people sung me happy birthday. So this gives you a bit of an insight as to why I actually like being in the background a whole lot more than I do like being in, in the foreground. In saying that, obviously I'm a professional speaker as well, so I am also a lot in at the front of the room. And I like being at the front of the room, but I actually like being the success, the success instigator behind other people. My greatest love is shining the light on other people. So Sally is both extroverted and introverted. I've loved nothing more through COVID than wearing my UGG boots and tracksuit pants and dressing from the desk up. Um, which was a phrase coined by Warwick Merry. Um, but I'm, I'm, um, I'm very— I've always been driven, but I don't see myself as being driven. I don't see myself as a leader, but my community tells me I'm bossy. Um, but that's for their own, uh, for their own good. Um, and I know some people on the show, in the background of the show, are actually going, yes, she's bossy. Oh yes. And so I've been a serial entrepreneur since I was 12, um, starting— I had horses back then, so I started with riding lessons. I've had side hustles right the way through my life. I've been employed, um, and self-employed a lot of that time. Um, the side hustles enabled me to, to find my feet for self-employment, which I've been in for many, many, many years now. Um, but I'm a Um, a single mum, uh, and with a wonderful 17-year-old son Rory, who I dote on terribly and love every minute of it. Um, and I'm, um, yeah, very much a connector, love connecting people. Um, again, that's all about seeing the giftedness in other people and going, oh, actually you need to connect with that person because I see together. So I see that, you know, the inner geniuses and how they can work together.

Right.

that natural skill of being a connector has always shone through for me, which is probably why I do so much around teaching people how to network and grow their businesses. Right.

Now, we'll come into that, we'll come into that a little bit later. That's a pretty broad description. What I find interesting is that the little girl hides under the table at her birthday celebrations. And I just wonder, kind of historically, Um, you know, we're all influenced by our, um, environmental background. Can you trigger anything that would have caused you to want to hide under the table?

Um, it was probably— it was probably my brother. Um, and I don't know this.

All those damned older brothers. I

know, damned older brothers. He's probably said something to me. Um, and I, um, when I was reflecting on it this morning, he's probably said something and I've probably gone underneath the table. And then that I got, I sort of got teased about it, which was a different form of accolade. So I sort of rather liked it. So that was all that became a bit of a habit. But I actually thought about the birthdays that I really, really loved. And the birthdays I've loved is when I've been in control of them. So I think that probably says I'm just a control freak, which I know I am anyways.

Well, it's interesting though, that, you know, that influence at such a young age of being under the table to hide Was that in the space of you fearful or attracting attention?

Attracting attention.

Okay. It's really interesting, isn't it? So at that young age, that has already started to be embedded in who you are. And if you go along in your life, has that played out on a regular basis?

In different ways. Yeah, very much so. So I can— I will do the whole front of the room. and do the presentation and all the rest of it, but don't like the applause at the end of it or feel very uncomfortable at the applause at the end of it. So I'd rather get on to, you know, the next bit. So there's those little demonstrations that I've had to relearn as a speaker where you've actually got to, you know, accept the claps and, you know, the accolades and actually stand there and, you know, give them the gift of expression for, you know, what they've experienced through you.

It's really interesting, though, that so often successful people literally get onto the stage of their life, but they do like to extricate themselves from it and go into a sense of real peace and tranquility, or no, don't talk to me. Now, that's an interesting factor as well, because a lot of times when people do that, they start to give away their own power and their own energy. Yeah. And I call that, that energetic sieve. So they're out there giving to everyone else, but can be at their own expense. And what I've loved in our conversations over the last year or whatever has been how more and more you've stopped being self— not that you've been selfish, far from it, but you become more self-full, focusing on yourself. And by doing that, your power has become more exponential. Yeah, it's fascinating. Yeah. But you've got a great heart and you're very compassionate and you just love giving to others. So we're just going to shift gears a little bit here now. Having had so many years of business experience and in a diverse range, you bring together for business people some actual, not theoretical, but practical experience where I'm sure along the way you've made some mistakes.

Yeah.

But as we learn from our mistakes, that gives us a more, a more powerful or an insightful way of how we deal with the next challenge. So If we apply what you've learned to business, what are some of the mistakes that you've observed business people actually bring upon themselves?

I think that from my reflecting back on my own, and a lot of these examples are ones that I've done, so I sort of try to help people mitigate them as quickly as possible. I think the biggest one is that not trusting yourself enough to do that. And the reason I say that is because most people have a fear of failing. But one of my signs that's just up over the top of my computer is, you know, failure is success. To be successful, you do actually have to fail. So there's a number of different things that I think people hold back from. So if we use the example of holding back like I did, or hiding under the table like I've done, there's a number of things that people do. And the first one is, because I work with speakers, speakers, coaches, and consultants predominantly, they're often told the tale to create a signature program, which is true in an essence. Um, so they have— they create the one program, which you can always have that signature program eventually, but you don't just start with one. Because I see so many people as they launch their business for the first time start with one program that they want to deliver and that they think is going to be— the marketplace is going to want, and it doesn't actually sell because something's quite not quite right. And so I think the biggest lesson that I've learned here, which was from Jane Anderson, was to launch multiple programs in a 12-month period. An example is launch 20. Jane often will launch 20. I've launched up to 17 in a 12-month period, but 3 of them have only stuck. And so it's the ability to go, let's the market sounds like it wants this, let's give them this program, um, and then get feedback on it. And then if it, if it flatlines, um, you get rid of it, and then you create another program that's similar to the one that you first started with, but you have now got the lessons from that, the learnings from that one. You've gone, right, well, now let's do that. And you, you get to fail forward faster and and you actually find the great equalizer of what your market is actually needing. And for me, that's really what's contributed to my growth in the last probably 3 to 4 years is that ability to feel comfortable in failing programs and going, yeah, that didn't work. Or, and it's just transforming. It's the evolving.

Yes. Yeah. And that was, I got to say that word failure is something that's got a really It's a diminishing energy around that word. But I'd like the word finessing. So as you're doing things and they're not quite working, what do you do? Some people either stop and give up, others will keep flogging a dead horse, or they start finessing. And it's that finessing that starts to bring a real sense of excellence and using that expertise. And I love reflecting back. Who was I, for example, 3 years ago? Like, were you 3 years ago? What have we learned on that journey? And the longer we stay in that space, it's just not the skill, the expertise that we have. With time goes by, we get a thing called wisdom.

Yeah.

The intuitive kicks in. And that's what I've loved about you is that you have an intuitive— you can listen to a conversation, you don't prejudge, but when you've listened, the intuitive kicks in. And that's when that moment of Wow, this can work to help this person. Now, you can give that information to the person, you can give them as much help and nurturing and encouragement. What happens when someone just doesn't buy into it? They're not ready for it, or they're giving you a block. How do you overcome that for them when you know it's in their absolute best interest if they get on board?

And that will— the line I often say to my clients, it's not about me, it's about them. So the bottom line is until they're ready, they're not ready.

Yeah.

They're not. But certainly being the sounding board and, you know, the person that they'll come back to and say, I've just done this. And it's like, well, yeah, okay, have we thought about that yet? So we sort of, we do the loop and that's where the bossy comes in, you know, where we go, you know, we've discussed this before. So let's just loop back to what we're trying to get to. Let's just loop back. And eventually those loops join for the person. It's not about, um, what I want, what I want for them. I can often see a path that's 6 steps, whereas their path that they need to take is 12. And I know in my own case, um, frustrating the— uh, what he said, frustrating the crap out of other coaches is because my process has been a 24-step process and they've seen my process to be 6. But, you know, my— We have to have the level of evolution that we need to be able to get to that point of finessing. And until we're ready, until the penny drops or something lands for us as it relates to us and as it relates to the audience that we serve, it's not about my timing. It's always about the other person's timing.

What about if I come in from a slightly different angle on that, that we are all again products of our environment, our genetic inheritance, So people in many cases are stuck. Do you occasionally think it's worthwhile to challenge people, literally challenge them to see if they can step out of the old habits, beliefs, and attachments they have?

Absolutely. I have. That was Peter. Peter's experienced the Sally bossy. I do think it's very important to challenge people, but a lot of people are uncomfortable with challenge. Mm-hmm. Um, so again, it's meeting them where their level of challenge is. Usually part of my process of, of getting them to, to seeing something is by asking them, um, different questions to get them to see something. And I do spend a lot of time mapping stuff out on whiteboards with clients so they can actually visually see what, where the progression is. So it's not sort of of theatrical in their head. They actually get to see the sort of the steps and then they come to their own conclusions. And I think, yes, you can challenge people, but if you challenge them too much in the wrong way, then they back off and you don't get them forward enough to be able to take them through that conversational challenging.

Yeah, I think in that space, and everyone's journey is their own, But part of that journey may have been that you've been manifested into their life to actually challenge them to a degree, to get them to go forward or to break out of that lockdown space that they're in. And I think one of the great questions in life, whether it be your personal life or in business, is to ask that question, are you happy with where you are now? And really play with that question. Are you happy with where you are now? Okay, well, what's not working in that space? How would you feel if we were able to get rid of that particular block there? So it becomes that small dismantle the fence, so to speak, to then clear the— just clear that space and start with a new foundation. But I always like to leave people with a challenge rather than say, okay, that's fine if that's where you sit. But I always like to leave them with a challenge. And embed that thought. How would you feel if you didn't have that happening now? How would you feel if you had an extra 5 clients per month? How would you feel if you were taking 8 weeks off a year in holidays? And it's by asking that question and planting that seed that it starts to then germinate. And invariably, people will come back and say, hey, I haven't had a holiday. I want that 8-week holiday. Can you show me how to do that?

And then, then you can map it out.

Yeah.

And that becomes a very different question with a very different evolutionary intent.

Yeah. And, and I think that, that one of the things I love about what you do and the process is that you are a great asker of questions.

Yeah.

And, and the, the secret of asking questions is when you ask it, you shut up.

Yeah.

And you let the person sit in that space. Because that's when they start to really tap into what their past is or what the creative juices are that are waiting to be released.

Very true.

So we've talked about what challenges people face that are limiting or restricting who they are as a business person. Let's share a couple of examples of what you actually do to elevate people And a couple of examples of, you know, in your avatar of who you are, the businesswoman, the successful businesswoman, what is your avatar client and an example of who you've been able to assist in that space?

So typically my clients are very much in that speaker consultant coaching space. So they're generally somebody that's got a community that they want to serve. They're very clear on who their community is. They're very service-driven. Very community, community orientated, and they're there, they've, they've got to the point where they understand what their impact is for the world or for the community that they serve. Often what's happening for them is they're wanting to be able to do more. Sometimes that for some of them, that does mean an increase in revenue, even though they're very, very service-based, service and heartfelt driven. But they're just wanting to be able to get to that next income level because that income level ties them into the capacity of what they want to be able to give away. So there's that really nice circulation of both income-driven and outcome-driven for their community. And often what happens for them is they— it's 2 scenarios. They're either at the starting point where they're about to get a team, or they're about to expand a team. So, um, and getting a team member is often just a VA or, um, a virtual assistant or an executive assistant or a business manager into their business. Um, and a lot of the things that they don't re— um, they don't realize is that they actually have to slow down and stop to actually be able to bring somebody in. And this is often because they they've been doing, as we all do, their business intuitively and instinctively, and they just go through the motions because they know it inside out. But what they haven't done is built some simple systems along the way that actually help them to duplicate themselves. And that's ultimately why they're bringing another person into their business is because they need to duplicate themselves to be able to do some of those, get some of those tasks done. So that's something that is really relevant is to, as you're growing, try to get some simple systems in place because I see the end result of that is where, and I've done this myself, is where they're fatigued. They're fatigued in trying to grow their business. They're fatigued because their marketing is not quite right. And they're stuck behind the computer way more than they want to be. And there's There's a couple, there's many layers to why that occurs. One, as I said, is the support staff and not realizing that they're going to have to slow down to be able to bring somebody on, because most people want to bring somebody on to speed up. The other thing is that they're often not consistent in both their marketing and their business development actions. And this is where the team member comes in, that they're wanting the team member so they can get back to doing—

Can I ask, what do you mean by that? They're not consistent.

Not consistent. So consistent, I mean, for me is they, they've got lumpy everything. So they've got— they're on the roller coaster ride. Often their income can be lumpy in that it goes up and down. And their posting to social media is up and down. They're not doing their e-newsletters on a regular basis, or, or then, and they're not having regular conversations the right clients on a consistent basis. Because we all know, and everyone will go, oh my God, she's gonna say that again. And, and for those that haven't heard me say it, will go, yeah, that's so true, is if you're having consistent conversations with your right ideal target market, and again, that comes down to defining your ideal target market intimately. When you're having consistent conversations with the right ideal target market every week, this, you know, a consistent number, then you don't have the lumpy income because you've actually got the consistency of leads coming in. But what happens is we have leads come in and we get clients on board, and then we pull back because we've got— we've just had all of these clients come on board, which means we stop doing the marketing. And then as—

Really, really busy. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. It's balancing that busyness and the busyness and delivery. So that's where systems will help with the busyness and the delivery. You can then keep the delivery consistent and the business growth as well as the marketing in there. So if you've— and the key here with the consistency, and this is something that I'm always saying to clients because every social media guru will say, hey, you need to be on whatever platform you want to be on All the time, 2 times a day, blah, blah, blah. But the bottom line is, if you can only be consistent and it's 3 times a week, then be consistent 3 times a week. Just develop that habit of consistency. If you can only ring 3 customers a week or connect with 3 customers a day or whatever your number is, just plan and plot it in your calendar to do that consistently. Find where your numbers are and just do it consistently.

And that gets back to allocation of good— of your own personal management of your own time in doing that. And again, whether it's 3 or 5 phone calls a day, if you add those up, you know, 25, you know, 5 phone calls a day, that's 25 for the week, that's 100 contacts for the month. And then with that 100 contacts, you know, then your figures are going to wash out. you may end up with 4 or 5 new clients out of that percentage. Now, excuse me, sorry. One of the things that I wanted to get into there in more detail, in mapping out a program for someone, is it over a 3-month, a 6-month, a 12-month period? Because one of the— I remember talking about this a while ago— was that, you know, you can design, have tiles designed for people that you just roll them out every week or every, you know, twice a week. They're already preset to be rolled out through their social media. Can you explain how that example works?

Yep. So that's— so I'll just explain those 2 things. And this is where, from a business perspective, my whole philosophy is around helping people to leverage what they've— their existing resources. Which is their inner genius, their content that they've already created, the conversations and the connections they already have. And that my core action within my business is around this consistency piece. So to explain what Gary means by the social media tiles is, as a content repurposing agency, we help people turn their book or their article or their ebook into visually stunning graphic tiles. So if you think a hardcover book into a beautiful photograph with your inner genius on it. So just for those that are listening in that can't, can't see the hands waving. And so a visual graphic tile is literally like receiving a postcard from a loved one overseas that you haven't seen for, for a while. And you get that postcard in the mail and you go, oh my God, isn't Isn't that picture stunning? That they clearly look like they're having a great time. So there's emotional connection to a graphic tile. So that's what we do is we take people's written content or spoken content and turn it into visually stunning tiles that they can then roll out on a consistent basis within their social media. We also— so that's the marketing element. We also, from a business development perspective and a strategy perspective, look at, okay, what programs are you selling for the quarter? What events have you got coming up? And those sorts of things. So yes, we create the tiles based on someone's inner genius. But we also choreograph it, the conversation and the rollout of that, to align with what the conversation is, or the steps are taking them to something that they're selling or program that they're launching or whatever the case may be, um, or whatever change they're trying to make within their community. The other thing, um, from that consistency piece is, um, because a lot of the clients that I work with are on, on LinkedIn, we actually also help them create those business conversations on LinkedIn with their LinkedIn connections, uh, new, creating new ones as well as, uh, re-engaging the existing ones. And again, we have that consistency of building the right conversations with the right people through our LinkedIn lead generation. And then that marries into the, um, the consistency with the social media posting and those sorts of things. And those 2 products really, um, although I could refer to them as products, came about because I saw, saw the gaps in the marketplace, because I saw the frustration people having in that ability to actually be consistent. Because I remember going back to myself 5 years ago, I hired my first VA who's actually still with me. And I— and this is part of the power thing. And I literally said, here's, here's my, here's my inner genius. It wasn't very much back then. Here's my inner genius. Go do my social media. I'll see it in a month's time because I don't want to touch it. Off you go. And I think that's how many people hire their first person to help them is that they can't— like, like when you go to the accountant in the old days with your shoebox full of receipts, you hand it over to the accountant, all of your power and all of your financial well-being, you hand it over to the accountant. And you get this beautiful, you know, report back, but you don't look at it, you just file it away. So you've sort of not had any acceptance or acknowledgement of the shoebox. And that was exactly what I did with my business, my social media scheduling, as well as the strategy, as well as the conversations. Because back then, I thought that, you know, I could, like many, I thought I could put a social media post up on— sorry, I could put a post up on social media, and everyone was going to come running through my door, which is not the case. It's about having that combination of marketing and conversations to actually create the right conversation. So you actually get leverage, you leverage into the right conversations at the right time, and you end up with consistency in your business.

Yeah, and it really is in hand, it's establishing a relationship, but then it's like a courtship, you continue to enrich, continue to enrich some of the— and I love the idea of those tiles. And just having, you know, you manage that. It can be once a week, so there's 50 tiles, or there might be twice a week, 100 tiles for the year. But a business person doesn't have to worry about it. And what I like what you've done is that if there is a slight shift in the dynamics of where that business is going, we can try that. You've created the pathway to get there, but you can then recalibrate it and your tiles can change. As that business is evolving as well.

Yeah, very much so. And that's the whole, um, fluidity, consistency— it's going to sound a bit strange, but fluidity and consistency go hand in hand. So you need consistency, which is something that's there all the time, but you need the fluidity to be able to change that consistency or adapt to the marketplace or take advantage of something. So It's that adaptability, fluidity, and consistency.

And that's a smart business. Again, it's being agile.

Agile. Perfect.

Yeah. And like you and I have seen it many times, we've got someone with a great product, but they are so rigid in what they're doing, they don't step out of it. And newbies come onto the market that pass them, nowhere near the knowledge, skill, or expertise. But these people are stuck and the newbies go past them. And they kind of think, how come they're driving that faster car when I've been on the circuit for longer than they have?

Yeah, and that I'm going to touch on that because that for me is, uh, when people get— and this is a marketing, uh, a bit of a marketing piece— when people get stuck in their own special words, and I'm going to use the term they get stuck in their, their geek words, which mean something really relevant to them and they're really excited about it. The easiest way to explain that is when somebody's— I've got a couple of clients that are science-based and doctor-based, so they're really in that scientific doctor space and they know the information inside out and they're absolutely brilliant at it. But unless they can be the sensemaker or the translator of that information back into their community's everyday language and say it how they their audience needs to think about or hear it, they're toast. And, and it's telling those—

and a lot of times people, as you say, are in that space, they create their own dialect and they're in that bubble and that's the only dialect they hear.

Yeah.

And, and I, I see you, and a couple of times that it's really— I thought has been brilliant— you actually, while they're in that bubble, you actually are the person who has the pin to prick that bubble and to bring some freshness and clarity into what they do.

Yeah. And I see a lot of, um, a lot of— so I often say geek speak and coach speak. Coaches are notorious, notorious at speaking in NLP bubble language, um, or conversation language, and the lang— or very esoteric language. And it's, um, and it's okay, we'll bring that back to the everyday person. What is their transformation? What are that— what's the transformation that they're looking for? And how do they say it? Because unless you say it how they can hear it, they're not going to hear it.

Yeah, it's like a courtship, isn't it?

Yeah.

You know, if, if, um, you know, a fellow is really interested in a woman and they sit down to have a nice dinner, all he does is talk about football, There's not a connect. And one of the great lessons is always asking a question and giving that person the chance to be able to articulate what they're thinking. So rather than us lay our beliefs necessarily— not beliefs, but our way of speaking— by asking the question, the clients actually will tell you what they're seeking.

Yeah. Most people don't ask.

Yeah, yeah.

Or they do ask, they don't listen because they're preparing to say what they wanted to say in their geek speak and they've completely missed the point.

Correct, correct. So let's just move that forward then. We've talked about what doesn't work and what can work. Let's just take it now where you see the market going There is a changing market, you know, this whole COVID thing that's taken place, how that's impacted on business, how people are responding to that. Well, there's many people still seeking, I feel, to get their feet on the ground of what do they do now that there is this always constant uncertainty because of COVID Are we in lockdown? Are we able to go out? Are we able to do that? Are we able to travel interstate? What are some of the things that you would consider would help people to recalibrate their thinking in this suffocation that's come out because of COVID Interesting. Can I just preempt you on that as well? One of the things, again, from our conversations previously is let's just do a stop and do an assessment and analysis now where we are and who we are.

Yeah.

So if you can get people into that space, how would you then evolve them to see themselves differently?

I think the biggest— what, so there's 2 sides to that. I think people need to have their own, create their own opportunity to have a look through fresh eyes. So I think business owners need the ability to be able to think with fresh eyes. Now, that's not often something we can do for ourselves, but reflective processes certainly help with that. But I think the reflective process is usually after somebody like me has tipped somebody else out of their apple cart, is the way I say it. So when someone's poked and prodded or given you some suggestions, or you've sat down and sort of had a bit of a fresh eyes discovery, wherever that takes. So have that fresh eyes approach with somebody other than just yourself. Yes. And then have that reflective process with yourself. And then you actually see a different set of insights that come out of that. So it's work with somebody to create some fresh eyes opportunities, and then have a reflective process with yourself where you ask yourself some really good questions. find out what the insights are from there. And then that'll help to directionalize. Then when you've got a bit of clarity around, hey, I really feel I want to do this and this and this, then go perhaps loop back to the person with fresh eyes and sort of help create a strategy and a plan, a plan for that. Just coming back to the COVID scenario, I'm actually seeing more opportunities than not coming out of COVID both personally and within the communities. I think the opportunities are for many speakers, coaches, and consultants. The opportunities have gone from trying to be that expert in our own backyard, which we're often, often not in Australia, to be the expert in a very large backyard now where people are way more curious they're way more collaborative. So I'm seeing for those, those that are actually creating their own opportunities by going into other people's large networks and listening and contributing, then I think some significant opportunities are coming out of COVID for a lot of people because we are very much global now for those that have the capacity. And I believe all speakers coaches and consultants have the capacity to have some growth from just being in their local state backyard to having a national presence, which was, was easy. But we didn't tend to do it. We tended to hide underneath the table when people sung Happy Birthday to us, where we could have very easily gone national. And the jump from national to global is exactly the same process. So I think people need to look for the opportunities that are actually there because I'm— I am absolutely convinced they're being smacked on the head by them, but they may not be quite ready yet. Yeah. And so maybe going through that fresh eyes approach, the reflection approach, and then the strategy, and then actually, okay, well, where, you know, where really are my opportunities? What are the possibilities? And to discover that for yourselves, I'd say suggest jumping into some phenomenal networking groups that are in other countries that are actually global, that have the right sort of audiences and just see really what's happening from a collaborative perspective because there's some fantastic collaborative and some fantastic growth going on in the industry.

Okay, now that's a really interesting, like, little— I want to get off into that space. So when someone joins these groups and the international groups, And I actually, I think one of the greatest things that happened out of COVID was we all learned to Skype. We could take our story just not to the person, to the cafe next door or down the road to the office. We actually can take our story global. So if there's a little cohort, for example, in Adelaide or Melbourne or Brisbane or Los Angeles or London, there's a little cohort in our little area. If people are interested in that message, Doesn't it stand to reason that people across the globe are interested in that message?

Absolutely.

And then the technique through— and this is what you do— is through LinkedIn, connecting those people. Now, when people join a particular group, what are the protocols that they should observe when they become members of that group? Because I could just imagine that some people would jump and say, hey, this is who I am, and this is what I'm going to sell you. What are the protocols?

And I think that most of the community leaders will actually set the protocols. And I know we're going to run out of time really quickly. And so the biggest thing, the biggest learning I'll say that came out of me going into other people's networks and networking, particularly in the States, the biggest takeaway lesson that I've got for everybody is here in Australia, we are so stuck on the 30-second pitch. It's not funny. In the US, and most of the networks I've been involved in, they do a 2-minute pitch.

Wow.

And it's a very, very different process. It's— let me calibrate that. So it's, my name is, I'm from, I work with clients in these areas, these are the things that are my problems that my clients have, here's the types of solutions that I've got, here's a little bit about me and what I like to do. This is the sort of collaborative partner that I'm looking for. Again, my name is XYZ, and if you can help me in this way, I look forward to helping you in that way. You get some really phenomenal insights as to who the person is and exactly who you need to connect with within that networking opportunity to create and discuss your own opportunities.

So, okay, that's, that is as good a description I've heard ever, ever, ever. However, in going in there, what you've just defined is that When you go into that group, you need to have your own 2-minute story. Yeah. So that's again, I've seen you do this before with people where you create that 2-minute message of who I am. And you know, they all think, oh, that's the elevator pitch, but it's more profound now. It's got to be more finite.

Yeah.

Just talk about that 2 minutes just for a moment.

Yep. So for me, To give you a bit of context around that, a 2-minute pitch is literally an A4 sheet of paper of words.

How many?

A full sheet of A4 paper. Yes, at least a full sheet. And so on average, got a calculator handy, if you're doing a 2-minute pitch, that's usually 240-ish words. So it's quite a lot of words. And I'm sharing this because the very first time I went on, I was used to doing the 30-second pitch and I had all this time left and they're looking at me like, well, who are you? This isn't enough. You know, we want to get to know you.

Yes.

And when I experienced and witnessed, and I think that was the key, I witnessed other people's stories in that 2 minutes, I felt considerably connected to them. It's the difference between, if I go back to what we talked about with the postcard with the tiles, it's the difference between getting a bill in the letterbox And the postcard from the loved one.

Right.

We are just about going to run out of time, Gary. Right.

So how many minutes we got left?

About 2.

Okay.

Oh, no, 5. Rebel's just told us we've got 5 left. Thanks, Rebel.

Thank you. So as we start to wind this up, I think this has been an amazing experience for you because I know you. You're one of the most beautiful people I've ever met. You have got the most extraordinary business brain, and yet you hide who you are, as in the, the person behind that's under the table.

Yeah.

And that person that's under the table is who we see on the screen, who we see walk into the boardroom, who, who we see walk into our business or through Zoom. And everyone who watches this video, I've seen this lady work and perform. And I've seen her change people who have got great skills and expertise but hide under the damn table. So stop hiding under the table and get out and talk to this lady. You know, having a, having a 5 or 10 minute conversation, you know, with Sal can open up your business. It can give you more profit. But I also know it means you don't have to work in your business as much. So, Sal, as we close down, I just want to say thank you to you for creating this because your messaging is a gift to business people. And when your gift to business people is making their life easier and more enjoyable, they then take that part of their life into their private life. So this is just not being, oh, I'm helping people in business. This is their whole of life plan that you're working on.

Yeah.

So what's the one last message That Sally, who's not under the table, who's standing on the bloody table now, what's the one message that you would like to finish off on?

Um, I would say, um, come out from the, uh, come out from under the table, stand on that table, find some, find some new networks, go into, go into discovery and curiosity mode, because through doing that, A, you'll discover more about yourself. You'll certainly discover some more opportunities and collaborative opportunities, and you'll also find that people are actually incredibly supportive and they actually do want to do work with you. And I think that's been the biggest thing that's come out of COVID for a lot of people, and certainly what I've seen personally myself. The level of collaboration and humanness that is out in that marketplace is actually waiting there for you. You've just got to get out from underneath the table.

Yeah, it's that compassion and empathy.

Yeah.

And people are waiting to embrace who we are. So rather than have the fear of failure, let's have that real passion of success. And that can be in our own way. So Sally Curtis, this has been an absolute delight. And you've done yourself proud, young lady. So I wish you well. And to all of your audience, right across the world, they're blessed to be in your space.

Beautiful. Thank you. And Rebel, I'll just key you up if you can maybe play the video for the content repurposing for those that aren't familiar with what I mean by a graphic tile, as we've used that postcard scenario. That would be great. And I would just say, you know, through that discovery process as it relates to finding people and getting into other networks, You'll actually find and discover your own depth of inner genius. And you'll also have your inner genius reflected back to you through other people's witnessing of that. And you'll actually find your everyday language in the way that they talk back to you. So if you're needing to help with your everyday language, there's a little tip that it will be reflected back to you if you are out from underneath that table. Thank you, Gary, very, very, very much. Um, for today. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I want more. Um, and we will talk to everybody very much so next week, and I look forward to sharing with you very, very soon. Thank you very much.

You're welcome. Thank you.

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That's it for this week's episode. Thank you so much for joining us. I trust you got some inspirational tips to move you forward. See you next Thursday at 7 PM Eastern for more Success Secrets Exposed.