Unfiltered Sessions

Crafting Self-Advocacy and Professional Storytelling with Tara Gooch

• Philip Sessions • Episode 203

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Join Tara Gooch and me as we explore confidence, leadership, and the power of self-belief. Tara shares her journey from childhood insecurities to the TEDx stage, highlighting how vulnerability can unlock new possibilities. We discuss the balance of competence and confidence and the importance of purposeful action in shaping success. Discover the impact of personal stories on inspiring others and building your brand. Tara's insights provide a roadmap for navigating the speaking world and enhancing your digital presence. Tune in for actionable advice on self-worth, action, and storytelling to redefine your path to success.

NOTABLE QUOTES
"A lack of confidence is what holds people back."  – Philip
"If you don't have the confidence, you're not going to change anybody's mind. They're not going to believe or trust what you're talking about if you don't have the confidence in yourself." – Philip
"Trust leads to growth." – Tara
"To be a leader of many, we first have to be a leader of one." – Tara
“When I say confidence, that is someone else's ability to trust in you and believe that you are competent." – Tara
"A leader [who] is more confident, is more trustworthy, has higher retention rates, trains their people better, is more emotionally intelligent, more empathetic because they want others to succeed and bring them up together." – Tara
“Action eradicates self-doubt.” – Tara
“One percent improvement every day.” – Tara
“Stacking of behavior… builds confidence.” – Tara
“If you can help change one person's life or save someone's life, then you have a moral responsibility and obligation to share [your] story, and you need to share it with a sense of urgency.” – Tara
“As speakers… be the wise counsel for the audience is by sharing a portion of [you]” – Philip
“Our story helps us be unique and be different.” – Philip
“The thing about failure is we've all been there.” – Tara
“Show the bumps in the roads so people can relate with that more and feel like it's something a little bit more realistic, but also show the good side too, because you want people to strive to be better also, so you have to blend both of those.” – Philip
“At the end of the day, what people need is [a] leader who shows them what's possible for them based on their… actions.” – Tara
“If you don't have gratitude for yourself and how far you've come, how could you be grateful for anybody else?” – Tara
“Express gratitude first.” – Tara
“Gratitude is attitude.” – Philip
“Be ready, so you don't have to get ready.” – Tara
“You are made for more than you could possibly realize.” – Tara
“Believe in yourself. You're worth it.” – Tara

RESOURCES
Tara
Website: https://taralafongooch.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taralafongooch/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-lafon-gooch/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tara.lafon 
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTXN57YGfMOMJdkphzr2PoQ

Philip
Digital Course: https://www.speakingsessions.com/digital-course
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamphilipsessions/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipsessions
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-sessions-b2986563/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealphilipsessions

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Speaker 1:

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Speaking Sessions podcast. I'm Philip Sessions, your host here with Tara Gooch.

Speaker 1:

She went from being a poor kid in rural Maryland that no one believed in to what she is today. For years of her life, confidence was a struggle and for years it weighed on her Back then, she didn't understand that she had the power to change her reality. Back then, she didn't understand that she had the power to change her reality. However, in 2022, she hit a turning point at a rock bottom moment and realized she wanted to truly live, not just survive. But in order to do that, she needed massive confidence and equally massive action.

Speaker 1:

At the time, she felt stuck, but jumped anyways. Then this choice to bet on herself led her to face her biggest fear, public speaking, and wrote her first book how to Grasp Confidence and Own your Power. The moment she stepped on stage to deliver her first keynote, she knew it was part of her calling. In that moment, she no longer had fear. She had purpose, and today we're going to discuss how to gain confidence, the power of your story and presenting yourself as a professional speaker from day one. But without further ado, tara, welcome to the show.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. Thank you so much for having me today.

Speaker 1:

Of course, I'm excited to get into this. You have so much energy. I know we've only been this is the second time really being on a call, we've been in some DM conversations and everything but so much energy comes here and so I really want to just jump right into this because, as you know, as a coach for leaders and everything, you see that confidence is probably the first thing that holds most people back, and then, once they get through that, of course there's other things, but a lack of confidence is what holds people back. So I want you to dive into that from both your story but then help the audience understand this importance of having confidence in yourself and your abilities.

Speaker 2:

Wow it's. You know what requires more confidence than I don't know. Being an entrepreneur in general, speaking on stage in front of people, I guess, being a rock, even something that you know, you just have a passion in and decide to do. It's a career, it's a calling, and I want to emphasize that because when you find your alignments in life, when you find your strengths, when you align with your purpose, you gain confidence. Even if it's something that's a little scary at first, even if it's something maybe you've never done before, it's through that action and just aligning with something that is naturally fitted to you.

Speaker 2:

And this goes with speaking, it goes with anything in life. Sometimes those things are a little scary, sometimes you don't want to do them, but you do them and you feel like a transformed person. That's what speaking was for me, and sharing that story was a big part of that, and I did that in my TEDx talk that I recently delivered as well in England. It took a lot of confidence and self-belief to make that happen. So that goes with any profession, but I feel like speaking is definitely one of those professions where it requires just a tremendous amount of confidence, don't you think?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I completely agree there that if you don't have the confidence, you're not going to change anybody's mind. They're going to question the whole time Do you even know what you're talking about? Do you even believe in what you're talking about? And so knowing and believing are huge things that people need to see in you and that confidence is what helps bring that out. I mean, I like to relate this with sales, because we think about that a lot.

Speaker 1:

A lot of people also fear sales and feel like they're not great at sales. Well, if you don't have confidence in your product or your service and you're trying to sell somebody on that, or you don't know, you don't believe in that product or that service, most likely people aren't going to buy from you. And so the same thing they're not going to believe or trust what you're talking about if you don't have the confidence in yourself, if you don't know what it is that you're talking about and you don't believe in what you're talking about. And I know we could go actually, let's go into this, because I'm sure you've had to work with leaders and one thing that just kind of comes to mind with leaders when you're working in a corporation and they talk about core values and they'll bring up these different core values and you can just tell that they're just saying them because, oh, this was some training.

Speaker 1:

We went to HR told us we should talk about this, and so I'm going to bring them back and talk about them, like this is some new, great thing that nobody knew about and then nobody buys into it and they're probably scratching their head. They can't understand why I went to this training. I'm talking about it. Why aren't people following what I'm talking about? So let's go into that. I think this all kind of ties into that confidence, that belief in what you're talking about, and then really kind of going into leadership and starting to talk about something.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. I have a keynote presentation. I've also turned it into a five-week workshop where I go into corporations and teach them confidence. It's five steps but I break it apart into not just here's your core values talk about them, to not just here's your core values, talk about them. This is like a deep dive into one personal development and then we work on that first and then we work on being a leader of a team. So it's built on a foundation of trust, because trust leads to growth In trust in business. What is more important in business than trust?

Speaker 1:

I can't think of much much else right Now, even in relationships like my intimate relationship, there's not trust there. What do you have? There's no good.

Speaker 2:

Nothing right? Yeah, that's the power of confidence, and it's not just, it's not just someone in your, on your team's perception of you as a leader.

Speaker 2:

It is but it's also the external stakeholders right, everybody within the organization. Stakeholders right Everybody within the organization. If the leadership team lacks confidence and they do I promise you this, because why else would we have toxic leaderships, why else would we have high turnover rates? Why else would we have a lack of training and education for new hires and up-and-coming managers? There's a lack of confidence and it starts from within, and you know this. In order to be a leader of many, we first have to be a leader of one. So I focus on that thorough personal development and really challenging people's perception. It's again this is not confidence, is not an external showy behavior of some bravado. That's not what I mean when I talk about it. When I say confidence, that is someone else's ability to trust in you and believe that you are competent, but it's also a feeling that they get. It's a residual, resonating thing. It's an energy.

Speaker 2:

It's a vibe, you can feel it either way, and I promise that. A leader that is more confident, is more trustworthy, has higher retention rates, trains their people better, is more emotionally intelligent, more empathetic, trains their people better, is more emotionally intelligent, more empathetic, because they realize that it's outside of them as well and they want others to succeed and bring them up together. That's a confident leader.

Speaker 1:

And you brought up a word that I wanted to ask you about. So it's funny, we're right in line here. But you brought up competence, and a lot of times when we think about confidence, we feel like we need to have that competence, but then sometimes we see these people that somehow they are just so confident in themselves but I'm more competent than that person. Why are they getting all that credit? Why are they the ones that are moving up the ranks in the corporate ladders and everything? Because they don't know that much, even though they do have the confidence. So let's talk about this.

Speaker 1:

I think this is an important thing because, yes, you should have competence, but confidence can elevate you so much more and so much faster. You so much more and so much faster. And I think a lot of times what happens is the competence we have, and I'm guilty of this too, where it's like the more I learn, the more I know about and the more I know what I don't know about either, which kind of can bring my confidence down, because I'm like, well, I don't know all these other things that I probably should know, versus not having the competence. Your competence is a little bit higher and everything. So I would love for you to kind of dive into this on the comparison between competence and confidence and how we can marry both of these to help us be able to grow forward as a leader and as an individual.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. You know, the funny thing about competence and being an expert is we think it takes a lifetime. The thing about being an expert is it's a lot of consistency and it's more habit. It has more to do with habits than it has to do with almost anything else. If you don't have a genius IQ, it's okay, you don't have to. Don't have a genius IQ, it's okay, you don't have to. It's not necessarily people that are geniuses that get the most amount of money, the most amount of whatever it is, the most amount of success, but it's the people with the habits, the people that put in the action, and that's why I'm a big believer and proponent in action as well, because action eradicates self-doubt, eradicates it.

Speaker 2:

We can think ourselves into oblivion, and a lot of leaders do and a lot of companies do. No amount of thought replaces action. It just doesn't. And you know when we put in that action, it just doesn't. And you know when we put in that action, guess what happens to our level of competence? All of a sudden, it increases, and this is inarguable.

Speaker 2:

If you go to the gym, for example, and you're a beginner, because you're just starting out and you're just learning, it's going to take some time.

Speaker 2:

Right, it's the long game, but eventually after a year you could be so far advanced that you could potentially be drawn to personal training someone, for example. So it doesn't necessarily have to be a huge long gap in that process. It just takes a lot of consistent effort and activity because, again, we can think ourselves to oblivion or we can put in the action and the work and we're not going to be an expert in the beginning. But I promise you, with enough action and repetition, that eventually you will be. And then you pair that with confidence, because you're building your confidence while you're putting in your action and all of the sudden you are that expert, you are that leader, you are that authority and people look to you as that person, as that guide. So I really think that's a huge secret to success, and a lot of people talk about habits, and it's true. The thing I want to specify is it's it can be 1% improvement every day. What's the difference between any? We've talked about sales before making one more phone call a day.

Speaker 1:

Not a lot in the day.

Speaker 2:

Not a lot, it's not, but one call could change your life.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know, again, it's the stacking of behavior and that's what builds confidence. And it doesn't matter what industry you're in, it doesn't matter what company you're in. It doesn't matter what company you're in, it doesn't matter what country you're in. This is something that's a universal language, but it starts from within and we have to have that self-advocacy and accountability as leaders that we want to make that change and we recognize that it requires some measurement, that we want to make that change and we recognize that it requires some measurement.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that action is so important. And I think about, like, getting ready to run a marathon, like you're preparing, and yes, you need that preparation, but if all you do is you go and research and what are the best shoes or the best little mill, the little slush things or whatever those gooey things are that you're supposed to eat throughout because of your body basically breaking down because you're exerting so much energy and all these things, and all you do is continue to prepare, prepare, prepare, but you never take action. You don't know what things you actually need, because you may find something that's bizarre that you would never thought like I would ever need this, oh, maybe I will need it, and then come to find out like you really didn't need it. So you really have to go, take that action to learn what it is that you do and don't need. But then through that you know, through that action, you're going to learn.

Speaker 1:

But the other side of that is that now, because you actually have trials and errors and tribulations, if you will, those are stories that now you can share. Once you learn how to run that marathon, once you learn what it's like to go from not being a leader to being an excellent leader. You can talk about that journey that you had, and now that's your story that you can share with an audience. So let's dive into stories, because your story is obviously different than mine and we have some similar topics that we talk about and we're passionate about, but the people we connect with are different, because you and I are different. Our stories are different. Our upbringing there's all sorts of things that makes us uniquely us. Our upbringing there's all sorts of things that makes us uniquely us, that makes us capable, competent and confident to speak to a crowd, even if it is on the same subject. So let's talk a little bit about the power of our own personal story.

Speaker 2:

Oh, one of my favorite topics. You know, I will say this. I was afraid to share my story for a long time. I think a lot of people are. You know, we fear judgment, we fear ridicule, we fear what other people's opinions are going to be of us, and it can get you stuck in that pattern of thought.

Speaker 2:

But you know what I've learned? This one powerful thing If you can help change one person's life and I want anybody who's listening to this episode right now to ask themselves this question could my story change someone else's life, yes or no? Okay, so let's just say it's yes. Could my story save someone else's life, yes or no? If it's yes, then you have a moral responsibility and obligation to share that story, and you need to share it with a sense of urgency, because if you just said to yourself I can change somebody's life or save someone's life, then you better get the courage to share that story, because your story is an urgent thing at that point If somebody else out there in this world is praying, maybe, for that exact story to be told, so they feel less alone, maybe so they have the tools, you know, to see that they can surpass whatever obstacle they're in in their lives.

Speaker 1:

So I want to point out real quick you said somebody, not everybody, and I think, especially as beginner speakers or even people that have already spoken a little bit and they want to speak more in front of more audiences, they feel like they need to impact everybody. No, it's just about one person. Hopefully and most likely, you will impact more than one person, but focus in on that one person.

Speaker 2:

So Absolutely yes, for sure. And you know what one person. So absolutely yes, for sure. And you know what. There's always one. Anytime you give a keynote presentation, even if it's a virtual presentation, you give it and you share a bit of your story, which you should do have storytelling in anything that you do, because that's ultimately what ties someone else, that somebody else, to you and it's felt on a human level, a heart level, almost a soul level. And you get that one person afterwards who runs up to you and says, oh my God, I just bought your book. Or oh my God, your story was so powerful. They may have forgotten everything else, but they remember that one thing because you know what, Since the dawn of humanity, we've been gathering around the campfire and listening to the wise people of the village share stories of their ancestors, and it's something that really binds us as people and makes us going back to trust.

Speaker 2:

trust that person.

Speaker 1:

It's so powerful and a lot of times we don't have that symbolic fire, the campfire we sit around anymore, especially here in the state. So it's hard for us to remember that. But you're exactly right about that and that's how we, as speakers, can position ourselves. To be the wise counsel for the audience is by sharing a portion of us, and it's not to share everything, because I've gotten that question I'm sure you have as well. Well, what do I share? I've got a lot of story, I've got a lot of life, I've lived and everything.

Speaker 1:

You share the part of your story, the part of your life that makes sense with what it is that you're talking about, or you're trying to share and explain and, using that story, creating that emotional buy-in. It's like what you talked about, with the person coming to you afterwards relating with your story. They relate it with your story because it was an emotional trigger for them. It had nothing to do with the fact that, oh my gosh, this was groundbreaking information I've never heard before. No, it was an emotional tie-in for them that made them feel connected to you. So it's about creating emotion and not necessarily facts and figures and data.

Speaker 2:

Exactly exactly. And people do business with other people. People buy from other people. There could be a lot of other speakers out there, maybe a lot of other leadership speakers. Let's just pick leadership speakers. But it doesn't matter. If you share your story, that's your card, that's what people remember you as they don't necessarily remember Philip or Tara as a leadership speaker they remember Philip or Tara. That's when you get that real fan base, I feel like, and that real loyalty. Do you see what I mean? It's beyond the stage. At that point You're into their hearts and minds, I feel.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I like to use an example of ice cream. You don't hear about people being passionate vanilla ice cream lovers. You hear like Rocky Road or pistachio. You hear these things and you hear some passion through that, but most people they don't say oh, vanilla is amazing, I just love it so much because it's just a basic flavor.

Speaker 1:

When you add additional stuff in there, you have ice cream obviously as the core, but you have other things in there. It becomes this unique thing that people can attach to. So us using our story helps us be unique and be different, be differentiated from the rest of the speakers that are speaking on leadership, let's say, or whatever it is, and I would love to hear an example because I can hear some of the leaders now that are listening in. They're like well, I get that when you're on a stage and like an entrepreneurship event or a business event or some kind of conference. But what about when I'm there, whether it be a boardroom or just a team meeting or something, and I'm leading a team right now, whether that be in person or on something like Teams or Zoom or whatever, how do I bring some of my story in in order to get that buy-in from my team members?

Speaker 2:

Oh, I love this question. You know so many team members. Again, if you're a leader and you're speaking to your team, let's say they're looking up to you as a leader and maybe they have only seen you at this one position, maybe they've only ever known you as a CEO or as a VP or as a other C-suite member right. But you can share stories about your past failures in your career. You can share. It doesn't necessarily all have to be personal, but you can talk about some of these failures that you've had and it makes you appear a lot more human to them.

Speaker 2:

Early in my career or when I was in college maybe a brief example of that I changed majors three times. My parents were going to cut me off right. Something funny, something with a joke. Make yourself appear more approachable, more human, because they've had failures too. And the thing about failure is We've all been there and if anybody says they have never failed, I just don't believe it.

Speaker 2:

It's another thing. It's a sharing of a story, but not getting too personal, and it's still in a professional setting, right. So you can talk about these things and it makes people view you as more approachable, more likable, more trustworthy, because you're sharing not only the good stuff, and I think anybody can apply that. It goes with personal branding, it goes with content creation on social media. It's not all about sharing the best highlights of every moment. It's about sharing what the whole package is. And the whole package has some bumps along the road. The whole package has some trials and tribulations, but you know what. That's, what makes it what it is today. So let's embrace that whole package kind of mentality and not just all the highlights. What made us get here is just as important.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and talk about building up confidence in your team. If you show some of the scars that you have, it builds up so much confidence. And I think of two different scenarios. One we see the highlight reel on social media all the time from everybody, every influencer out there, and if you're just comparing that highlight reel to your life, that's not a highlight reel. There's all these bumps in the road. You're going to lose your confidence. And so the same thing for your team. If all you're showing is the great things you've done and talking about how great you are, they're going to lose confidence because in the back of their mind they're thinking man, I've messed up before, I've sent out an email before I should have, I've had typos, I've failed on a project, whatever it may be, they've done things that didn't work out, and so now they feel like they can't ever achieve where you're at, because you're the leader, and most people want to emulate their leader, and so showing those bumps in the road will help out with that.

Speaker 1:

And then another example is the life of a billionaire or a trillionaire. I guess we're not quite there yet with people being trillionaires yet, but billionaires and the life they live, it's just like whoa you decided you wanted to like. There's a guy actually local to me, he was talking, it was, and he's not a billionaire. But it was bizarre to me that he's like, yeah, he was talking and he's not a billionaire, but it was bizarre to me that he's like, yeah, I took my son for breakfast in Columbia, which is probably about an hour and a half hour drive from here, but he flew there. He's like we went there for breakfast one morning and I'm like just blown away, that concept is crazy. Or maybe it was Charleston. Anyways, he went several hours away by plane real quick for a Saturday morning breakfast and I'm like what? Like I'm just getting up and making some breakfast for my daughter in the morning and calling it special because we had bacon or sausage or some pancakes and stuff.

Speaker 1:

But he's got this whole different life and so when you're showing this, this life, that's super special. You're showing these things that are beyond what most people, most quote unquote, normal people do. That makes it hard for people to relate and really just goes back to sharing only the good things about you, only the highlights. People can't relate with that. So show the bumps in the roads so people can relate with that more and feel like it's something a little bit more realistic, but also show the good side too, because you want people to strive to be better also, so you really have to blend both of those together, but that really breeds confidence when you're showing both sides.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, and you know you have to. That's why it starts with self-leadership, because you have to lead from within, right? Nobody will follow a leader. Just like I wouldn't necessarily hire a personal trainer that has always been fit, I want them to know a mentality of what I'm going through yeah Right, so that when I talk to them they have an empathetic understanding. This same thing applies here. So in leadership, in speaking, writing a book, just being on social media, whatever showing that whole journey and being vulnerable and open enough to do that does require some confidence, but people will follow that energy and be guided by it and inspired by it, and it's about showing others what's possible for them. At the end of the day, that's what people need is that leader who shows them what's possible for them based on their own actions them what's possible for them, based on their own actions.

Speaker 1:

And so, besides your book how to Grasp Confidence and Own your Power, what are some other things that you would give that leaders can use to build up some self-development within themselves, to grow as a leader and individual?

Speaker 2:

You know, for me the first foundational step is gratitude, and that's why it's my first acronym in my book Gratitude. It's so foundational but it'll change your life In leadership. If we don't appreciate our employees, if we don't express gratitude for them, how long are they going to stay? Probably not long. Now, leadership is not just about being a leader at work. It's about being a leader at home and in all aspects of life, but also being a leader of yourself. If you don't have gratitude for yourself and how far you've come, how could you be grateful for anybody else? If you're not grateful for your family and appreciate your family at home, why would it be different at work? And vice versa.

Speaker 2:

So this is like a holistic approach, starting with a gratitude mentality, and it's it's really transformative because you know, when we talk to someone else, for example, information goes into the ear of that other person, goes from the base of our brains and travels through our limbic system. Now, the limbic system is an area of I feel here, so it's emotion felt all the way through before it gets to our prefrontal cortex, which is the I understand here. I think rationally here. So, in other words, when we talk to somebody, everything is felt first. What if? What if? Instead of saying Philip, when is that project going to be due, we say Philip, I'm so grateful to see you today, how is your life, how are things going? And then you interweave right. Let's express gratitude first. What would happen? Just a case study out there. Try it with your employees, try it at home. Instead of going home and asking your wife what's for dinner. I'm so grateful that you're in my life Now. When you say that and it's felt, she immediately has a perception of something good coming.

Speaker 2:

So it's our choice as a leader to start a conversation with gratitude and make someone feel and be perceived as good, first or not. And I promise you, if we start and end every conversation with an expression of gratitude, that other person is going to be a more productive person, that other person is going to be more appreciative of their job, that other person is going to be more of a team player. Why? Because it's a resonating power and it starts with how we start a conversation and it's also through our actions and behavior. So this is a. It's a lifestyle change.

Speaker 2:

It's not something that okay, I took a course on gratitude and that was a nice check mark. Absolutely not. It's about putting it into practice, and I actually don't want to work with companies that just want to learn about this method to check a box for HR Absolutely not. We're not a good fit. This is about putting it into practice and you will get homework, so expect homework, and then in 90 to 120 days, I expect results back saying decreases in employee sick time, increased employee satisfaction, increased employee productivity, improved happiness at work, more collaboration. It's actually not possible to not have those things when it's put into practice.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, as I say, gratitude is attitude, or is your attitude something like that, and it's so true? Yeah, as I say, gratitude is attitude, or is your attitude something like that, and it's so true. When you focus in on gratitude, what you're grateful for, focus in on positive things, it's really hard to be negative and can really change and impact in a great way the culture within your team, within your company, for sure. So, yeah, that simple thing as gratitude for yourself, thinking about it for yourself, personal life, business life, if you will, and then this is something actually I'm getting ready to start implementing with meetings that I do as well as like, hey, let's one thing of gratitude. You know, get a couple of people what's something you're grateful for today, just to just do it, see how it goes and everything is.

Speaker 1:

I think it's something that'll be really beneficial. It's something that's different, not like, oh, let's just jump right into the meeting. Oh, here we are, business, business, business. Like, no, let's talk about something, and it can be anything. It could be what you're grateful for as far as the job goes, the project, or it can be something with life, I don't really care. Like, let's just have something to be positive, to get started, which, when some kind of contention comes up in the meeting, that'll help keep the emotions a little bit lower and everything. But we've talked a lot about confidence, we've talked a lot about leadership and everything.

Speaker 1:

But I want us to get to the last thing that we want to talk about here, which was being professional, or being professional speaker from day one and speaker, whether that literally be on a stage, which is what we think about, or be there in the conference room or boardroom. How do we start to present ourselves and maybe even before that, because we were talking about this a little bit offline like, how do we make sure that, if it's giving information ahead of time or whatever, how do we make sure that we are professional from day one on all aspects of what public speaking is all about?

Speaker 2:

Oh, love this question, so passionate about it. You know there's a saying be ready, so you don't have to get ready. That's become almost a mantra for me in speaking, because TEDx is a great example. A lot of professional speakers apply to a TEDx opportunity and have no idea about the brand of TEDx. They have no idea what they're even going to talk about. They think they can get in based on credentials or experience alone, and it's not the case.

Speaker 2:

So being a professional means doing your research. It means aligning yourself with the appropriate people. I'm not everybody's speaker. Everybody is not for me. I want to speak to the right audiences so that I can have the most amount of impact.

Speaker 2:

So from day one, you have to align with a real intention. Who do I want to serve? Who can I serve from my highest position? Who can I add the most value to? What do I want to do? What am I passionate about? What makes me differentiated in the market? Because it's not about just being one of a number. It's about differentiating yourself from day one. What are your special characteristics?

Speaker 2:

And then creating, you know, a digitization of your personal brand that exemplifies that professionalism from day one. So you have an updated website that exemplifies that professionalism from day one. So you have an updated website, your marketing collateral is up to get through that first barrier with somebody, and then they ask you for, let's say, a highlight reel. But you don't have a highlight reel. They're not going to think you're ready. So that's why I said at the beginning be ready. So you don't have to get ready, and the best thing you can do is make sure you invest in your brand as a speaker, make sure you have things already in place, and if this is something that you're serious about doing, then you're going to make that investment. Otherwise, you're going to be speaking for free for a very long time, if not ever, and you're going to wonder how other people are living their purposes speaking on stage and you're not. Don't waste your time. Take it seriously. Take it very seriously.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and what are some common things that you see? I'll give two here real quick that I see. Most people one they don't have a professional headshot and it blows my mind that you don't have anything, that you look even semi-professional I get. A lot of us aren't going out and taking professional headshots, but if you're trying to get on stages, podcasts, whatever, you need to have a headshot and you need to have a bio. Those are two things that are very important, very basic. But what are some other things that you've seen from the stages you've been on and the corporations that you've been to to speak, that they tend to ask you for these list of things. So our audience can take that list and hopefully start working on that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely so. If you're applying to a speaking bureau or anything like that, they're going to ask you for a couple of things. They're going to ask you for a celebrity speaker kit. This is like your full menu. So it's got your bio in there. It has a lot of pictures, proof of performance, so ie pictures of you on stage interacting with an audience, for example. A variety of pictures. It could be press releases as well. So have you been in the news? Have you been in a magazine? Putting those collateral in there as well.

Speaker 2:

It should also have your contact information, your speaking programs, the full menu. So think of it as as your full page, everything with everything that you've got. Maybe it's about it could be 10, 17 pages. It could be a long thing. 17 pages, it could be a long time. So a book, right? Pdf? Then you're going to have something called a speaker one sheet. This is a condensed menu. So it's your speaking topics, contact information, a brief bio, a picture of you on stage. Potentially you can have press feature icons. So condensed.

Speaker 2:

You also need a professional website with speaking offerings. You also need brochures. Would be helpful so that when you go to a speaking presentation, everybody gets a brochure. They have something to take away with them. There's a lot of marketing that goes into this, but you also need an online presence, a professional brand. Linkedin is a great resource for that Spending time just engaging with people, building up your network. Again, your LinkedIn profile is a landing page too. It can be, it should be. It only acts as a landing page if it looks like it could be. So, again, this professional brand.

Speaker 2:

When we approach a speaking career, just like anything else, we only get a couple seconds at a first impression. If an event organizer or meeting planner is wanting to hire a speaker, they're going to look you up on Google. What results will they find? Are they going to find any results? Then? Why would their answer be yes, have respect for them, have respect for yourself by putting yourself out there as much as possible yourself, by putting yourself out there as much as possible, appearing in podcasts Again, various different types of SEO that you can build that Google presence on as well. So there's ways to do it and not spend a ton of money, but you have to be ready and get some collateral ready so that you have this digitization of a personal brand that they would know like trust and buy from.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and this obviously isn't the. I mean, this is a great list for sure, and I'm sure there's other little things you'll find along the way. But to go what we talked about near the beginning, you have to start taking action. Yes, start preparing these things, but you also need to take action on the other side of actually going out and asking to be on stages so you can get the opportunity. But through that as well, you'll see oh, they need this, this, this and this. Okay, well, that's probably my priority to get if I don't have it right now. But, yeah, definitely go through this list and start doing those things. Like I said, very first thing, I'll add a website to that. So have some kind of website landing page that people can go to. Minimum Headshot and Bio. If you do not have those two, it's going to be very hard to get on stages because having those things and being able to send them over very quickly One thing I do from a personal perspective.

Speaker 1:

I have it in Google because I get on a lot of podcasts and people will have like, hey, share anything we need to know. Here's a Google link. Has all information you need Social media links, my bio, my headshot, anything else that you're going to need. It's all in there. And then I usually share my website as well, because it's got a lot of information there also, but it gives everything there in one spot using one link. Can't tell you how many times I've had people I have to hound them and get this and get that and the other just to get all the information, and it's in so many different spots.

Speaker 1:

Make it easy on the event host or event coordinator as well when you are sharing that information also, and be proactive. Take that action ahead of time and ask those questions too. Hey, is there anything else you need? Can I help you out with anything else? What else are you looking for? I've got all these things for you, but just be proactive and communicate. Tara, this has been a lot of great information. I appreciate all that you've shared, and I want to get to our last question here. I think we've already kind of hinted around this, but if you could only share one message for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Speaker 2:

You are made for more than you could possibly realize, and it doesn't matter what circumstances you've had in your life, what your past looked like, what your present looks like. If you believe in your heart that you're made for more, then you probably are, and if you believe it, you can achieve it through this self-work, this action and with enough sustained confidence. So you know what I want to instill confidence in people, because I believe that there's a lot of great people out there not living up to their fullest potential, not living up to the lives that they could and should be living. And I believe that when we align with that, with our true selves, and surpass what we've been through, the challenges we've overcome, that we can absolutely become anybody who we want to be, and I think I'm living proof of that. So if there's one message I have is just believe in yourself. Please believe in yourself.

Speaker 2:

And you're worth it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that is a great message, and you're so right. Having that confidence will change your life tremendously, and I can speak from experience as well. Tara, appreciate you coming on and sharing this value. If people want to get to know you want to see what's going on in your world, where's the best place for them to go? Do that.

Speaker 2:

Yes, so you can visit my website, Tara Lafon, Guchcom or I'm on LinkedIn basically everywhere. But check out my website. It's got all my social media links on there as well, and my TED talk. Check that out because that's a good one.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. So just basically Google you and you're going to come up with the first thousand searches. That's right.

Speaker 2:

Awesome.

Speaker 1:

Tara, this has been great. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. We really appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

Thank you.

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Philip Sessions

Host