From Spotlight to Strategy: Authentic Speaking that Sells | Marianne Hickman

Welcome to Wickedly Branded: Marketing, Magic, and The Messy Middle, the podcast where real conversations meet real strategies. I'm your host, Beverly Cornell, founder and fairy godmother of brand clarity at Wickedly Branded. With over 25 years of experience, I’ve helped hundreds of entrepreneurs awaken their brand magic, attract the right people, and build businesses that light them up.

In this powerful episode, Marianne shares how she climbed out of financial struggle, discovered her mission to “make good people crazy wealthy,” and built her framework for magnetic public speaking that converts without feeling salesy.
We talk clarity, confidence, monetizing your message, building authority, and why speaking, from stages to podcasts, remains one of the fastest ways to grow your business.

If you’ve ever feared visibility, questioned your voice, or struggled to turn your brilliance into bookings, this conversation will reignite your courage and give you practical steps to step boldly onto your next stage, physical or digital.

Three Key  Marketing Topics Discussed:

1. Audience-Centered Speaking & Authentic Visibility: Marianne explains how focusing on the audience, not yourself, removes stage fright and creates deeper connection.

2. Monetizing Your Message Beyond the Speaker Fee: She breaks down the two revenue streams of speaking, fees and backend offers, and why relying only on the fee leaves 60% of revenue on the table.

3. Brand Activation Through Personal Story & Repetition: Marianne shares how clarity evolves through repetition, repurposing, and practice, including why messy first drafts, imperfect early podcasts, and continued refinement lead to powerful brand alignment.

Follow Marianne:
Marianne | LinkedIn
Marianne Hickman | Instagram
Marianne Hickman | Website

Dare to be Wickedly Branded

Transcript

Beverly: 0:11

Did you know that only one in 10 people who speak on stage ever convert that spotlight into actual income? Today's guest knows exactly how to change that. I'm your host, Beverly Cornell. I am the founder and fairy godmother of brand Clarity. At Wickedly Branded, we have helped hundreds of overwhelmed overachieving consultants, creatives, and coaches awaken their brand magic and boldly bring their marketing to life so they feel more confident and attract their absolute favorite and most profitable clients. Today I'm joined by Marianne Hickman. She's an international speaker, personal speaking mentor. And the founder of Marianne Hickman. Marianne has been featured in over 2,400 stages worldwide and is on a mission to help business owners transform their story into actual revenue, teaching them how to monetize their message with confidence and authenticity. Her motto says it all make good people crazy wealthy. I'm so excited to have you here, Marianne. Thank you for joining me today.

Marianne: 1:08

Beverly, I just love what you bring to the table.

Beverly: 1:10

I love it. Marianne, I wanna talk a little bit how you got to here. What led you to start this business and what did the early days look like for you as the founder and as a speaker, in your business?

Marianne: 1:22

I find myself talking about Mrs. Wilson more than I ever thought I would. She was my seventh grade teacher. She taught English, she also taught drama, and she was the first one. She said, Marianne, I reserved this word for probably two or three people a year outta my class, but you are a scholar. And as a seventh grader, I was like, oh, I feel so smart. She told me to compete in a speaking competition when I was 12 and being the youngest of 10 kids, I thought a speaking competition meant an argument. That was just a fancy word for it turns out. I went and spoke at an optimist speech club where they brought kids in and had them compete. And when I got on stage at this event I was surprised, but also when, this is gonna make me sound really egotistical, I promise I'm not this way all the time. But when I won first place, I was like, oh, that felt natural. I wanna do this more. Wasn't a one time thing. So then I went on to regionals and competed there and I went on to state and I lost. And I was so grateful that I did because I got to see. People that beat me and what they did and how they were better than me. And I was like, wow, okay, now I can learn. And then I promptly forgot about everything. Kept going to school and I kept listening to the societal. Go to college, get a bunch of debt go get a good job, quote unquote, and fall into the system, fall into the machine. And it wasn't until I was fast forward, married with five kids at the time. My husband really struggled to hold down a job. We went through 11 jobs in the first 10 years of our marriage that he held. I stepped in and went to work, and I remember when the 11th job failed. I was like, okay, I think I just need to go and make the money for the family. Is that what I need to do? Because I'm willing, I just need you to say so. So I did, and I became a conference junkie. I went to speech conferences about speaking. It was like inception, right? And then I go and learn all about this. And I'll never forget this one event that I went to and I got a hats off to Kirk Duncan, he gave us almost no time at all, but 30 seconds on stage. And he said the point is not to. Absorb the spotlight. That's not the point when we speak, the point is to look at the audience and shine the spotlight from the stage on them. They are why we are here. You've already got some level of credibility, but the point is that the audience, they are the rock stars I was like, oh my gosh. You're right. And that's the crux of everything that I do when I train public speaking. And I'm not gonna say it was glamorous. Once I learned enough about how to communicate, how to speak, how to do a really good call to action, we started climbing outta this money pit that we were in. The reason I hesitate to say that is because that's not a permanent thing. Anyone that's ever made any money in any entrepreneurship journey knows that it's like riding a rollercoaster. You are spending a lot of time white knuckling it, which is why most people hop off the ride or they take the exit before they even get on. I'm not gonna sit here and say, we've achieved a permanent financial freedom, blah, blah, blah. No. But what we have achieved is a permanent way to generate it whenever we need to.

Beverly: 4:18

You have a replicatable system of sorts to be able to do that. You said something that caught my attention, what's really important I think that I hear over and over again with my clients is we always position them as the hero and us as the guide. It's always about them. And how do you help them get to where they need to go, right? And so you focusing on the audience, I think is huge. You're up there. Because you have the medicine that they need and you're there to deliver the medicine in some way. One little taste. Maybe it's like a drug. You're like a drug dealer. Marianne.

Marianne: 4:52

Here's some dopamine free. No, that's why I put the serotonin molecule in my logo.

Beverly: 4:56

I love it so much. Maybe that was subconsciously why I chose that as a metaphor today. But yeah, I think when you do it for the right reasons to serve others, that creates more authenticity, creates more connection than if you do it for yourself. And it's some kind of egotistical thing. When I remind myself it's about them, it takes the pressure off of me.

Marianne: 5:16

All that stage fright is just gone. And that's the thing, when we have a conversation, just you and me, or you have a conversation with your best friend and they ask you for help. Stage fright is so self-centric. When we have stage fright, it's because we're nervous about what we look like or what about me? But it's not about that. It's about what can I do for you? That it is the magic wand that says, how do I eliminate being full of stage fright, which is different from nervous, by the way. I think there's a healthy amount of that. Am I gonna do. A good enough job serving. I care.

Beverly: 5:44

I care. I want to make sure that they get what I want them to get out of this. And if I do this well, I know they will get it. It's that kind of excitement that I have, nervousness that I have for sure. When we talk to our clients about getting their messaging right for their website and for who they are what do they deliver, the transformation they offer, who they help. When we get that right Marianne, it creates confidence.

Marianne: 6:09

It does. And that's what takes us so much work. To get that right. There's like phases to it. It takes tweaking and it takes refining and it takes work. That's when the magic happens.

Beverly: 6:18

There's so much to say here because we work on messaging all day long with our clients. And understanding them is one of the most wonderful, amazing things. I have found that I've been in their shoes. I remember what it felt like to feel burnout. So it's real easy for me to get in touch with those fears, the realities of their life.

Marianne: 6:38

I don't think as entrepreneurs, we give ourself enough credit for this to try things. And the process of elimination, the same thing came to speaking. At first, I worked with all kinds of speakers, but I knew this process of elimination, and now I'm like, oh, I love working with accomplished business owners who are already in their business, but they've been asked to speak and are what do I do? So now I work with them. When you're in the process trying to figure out what you like, first of all, there's that. Second of all, how do we figure out what our audience wants? And there's two keys here, and I'm sure you talk about this all the time. Number one is remember where you were five years ago, what were you praying for five years ago? And then if you're ever confused about what your audience wants or needs, don't be afraid to just ask them. A lot of entrepreneurs think that makes them look weak or like they don't know anything, but your audience loves it. I open every event with asking my audience, and it's not rhetorical. I said, raise your hand and tell me, because I might throw away my entire slide deck because it's not what you need.

Beverly: 7:31

That's brave. So one thing that I have found that has really helped me as a speaker is obviously doing the podcast, but also being a guest on other people's podcasts. And I have done this for about a year and a half now, and I have a master's in communication, when I talk to my clients, we talk about visibility and authority building, and one way you can do this through podcasts to being a guest like you are right now. There's lots of ways to build authority. There's all kinds of things you can do to get out in the world and share your messaging. I was not good at the beginning.

Marianne: 8:01

join the club

Beverly: 8:02

and people expect themselves to be perfect the first time. And I say no. If you look at my very first podcast, it's a train wreck. And it's not me at all. But if you look at myself now and how I run a podcast episode, it's very different. Then I started to have these phrases like that's me. After a year and a half, I have quite a few of those I can pull out as examples and metaphors. And they're much more natural and they're totally me but it is an art. You must practice. I think you have to do it more than just a couple times to be really good at it.

Marianne: 8:35

Oh, of course. So this is what's really important. Conversely, as important is the message that we will spend our lives talking about. Because how we spend our time is how we spend our life. And that's why when you get so clear on that, you become so emboldened by it. Speaking of communications, you no longer care about all of the fluff. You no longer care if it's quote done blah, blah, blah. Of course, you're welcome to feedback. Where it's so important that this comes out of me, that I don't care what the wrapping paper looks like anymore.

Beverly: 9:05

So I think when you get to a certain age, and I also believe a certain level in your business where you have some safety and comfort that allows you some breathing room to be bold. I just wrote a blog post this morning about good marketing versus wicked marketing and the difference of that. And I want Wicked.'cause Wicked is more authentic. Wicked does all the things that you want it to do. If you're of good marketing, it's your playing it safe. You're blending in, you're doing all of that. So be more wicked.

Marianne: 10:45

Yeah. And whatever that looks like, the thing that you're scared to say, it should probably be the thing that you say.

Beverly: 10:49

Here we go. I have a question about your brand. When you first started, how did you come up with your logo and how has it developed over the years and really how does it feel like you?

Marianne: 11:01

Okay. So I wanted something that I could own forever and I learned that there have been really three waves. Of industry over the last couple of centuries. The first wave was the industrial revolution where now we have assembly lines and companies are being built because we have a process. Then we have the 1950s golden boom of the corporation where all of our high-rise buildings were built and all of our downtown cities and the corporation. Now we're seeing this third wave, which is the rise of the personal brand. Social media has really made that possible for us because anyone can do it. There's no excuses. Anymore. You don't need a multimillion dollar high rise building.

Beverly: 11:37

Even if you wanna be a VP of marketing somewhere, or you want to be a tech director, you need to have a personal brand. You need to build your authority.

Marianne: 11:47

Absolutely. I went to an event with Ryan Pineda, who's a big guy in the real estate space. Huge event. We're talking like 1200 people there, and he said something so well articulated, he said, nobody can do business with you if they don't know who you are. And there's a trust factor that unfortunately does get abused. There's no doubt about that. But there's a trust factor when it comes to working with people. I think we miss as a society, which is why the rise of the personal brand solves that.

Beverly: 12:13

Oh, and AI is only making that more apparent that we need the human connection.

Marianne: 12:17

I'm not against ai. It's really fun. But don't lie to me. Just don't tell me it's you.

Beverly: 12:21

Agreed. You talked a little bit about who your favorite people are. Small business owners who are pretty established, they wanna build more visibility and authority? Talk about who they are and then what your process is, the transformation that you offer.

Marianne: 12:35

Okay. So this is perfect because I'll give a prime example. So my friend, she lives in Miami and she has done astronomically amazing things. Her husband sold their company for a couple billion dollars, i'm not exactly sure how long ago it. But she came from nothing. And so when she was given the responsibility and the blessing of this affluence, she took it very seriously. She said, I've got to do something impactful. So she started buying schools. She bought an elementary school, gutted it, changed out the staff, changed out their curriculum and made it something brand new. And she's revolutionizing education for kids. She gutted the entire lunch system. They only feed lunch from a farm that she now owns. She now owns a regenerative health clinic down in Miami. She's been targeted, especially in 2020, by news organizations for her stance and for her beliefs, which asked her to speak last year at Turning Point USA on her message,'cause it dovetailed with their mission so strongly, she called me, she said I have this big speaking engagement. I need your help. We worked together I didn't write her speech for her, but I gave her the framework of the speech. I have this formula for all of this, and I brought this to her and said, our job is to fill this in for you, put your ink on this framework. And as we worked together for the course of six weeks, we rehomed the speech, I delivered it for her a lot. She delivered it back. And then she took the stage at T-P-U-S-A last year. And just I watched her speech and my jaw hit the floor. She did so well. It was so amazing. She moved the audience. And the best part about the way we construct speeches is to give the audience something substantive that they can take. It is a free resource that then this is the cool thing about combining marketing with public speaking is when you do it right, customers knock on your door and they're like, I know that you mentioned this, but can you help me? How much do you charge? I need this problem solved so much. And then we, as entrepreneurs, we say, now hang on just a second lemme make sure I can actually solve this for you before we have a transaction here. You would be much more benefited to whisper into the ears of your audience members than you are screaming on the house tops when nobody can hear you. That's the process.

Beverly: 14:37

I love it so much. The idea of a framework. Is there any particular tip you wanna give to our listeners today of how they could get started in doing this within your framework?

Marianne: 14:47

Oh, absolutely. So I, like you said, get the reps in. So what I tell people to do, when they're very first started getting into the world of public speaking, it's simply podcasting. It's a digital stage, but it's still a stage. And people are like, okay, how do I get booked on more? So I've aggregated a list of over a thousand podcasts. You can keyword search it by topic. And I just give that away. And if you go to marianne hickman.com/guest, you get access. Find the shows that your audience is listening to. The last 50% is split into two categories. One of them is your niche not that I'm talking about your niche market. I'm talking about your interests. Chances are there's some crossover there. And then the other half of that 50% is authority figures. Get on shows with people who are authorities in your space. Beverly's an authority in my space, so I'm stoked to share what we're talking about here because she's talking marketing and you have to have marketing. I used to just. Have such a wedgie when I thought of the word marketing,'cause I'm like, oh my gosh, I suck at this. But you know what it's no different than a beautiful presentation of your food at a restaurant or lovely wrapping paper on a gift or picking the nice outfit that just makes you feel like a million bucks when you walk out the house. It's the thing that makes people look at you and say, Ooh, that was tasty. What more do you have?

Beverly: 15:59

Yes, it should show up. So I don't know if you can see in, but I actually have pink hair. I have a lot of things, like even my water bottle is sparkly. I was in a lunch line at a networking event with probably about a thousand people and immediately they knew it was me. And that's what good branding does, is helps people see you exactly across the room. That is how it's supposed to be. It can be so powerful for recognition and connection. So this season's big question is all about activation. I know that in a speech you're activating your brand and your marketing at probably the highest level. So what is the biggest challenge that most of your clients face to get that message and that brand to feel and look like you?

Marianne: 16:42

It first comes from a lack of clarity, like we talked about before. But the unfortunate part of that is that when people aren't clear, they tend to not do anything.

Beverly: 16:51

Okay. So how do you monetize? How do you monetize the speech?

Marianne: 16:54

Okay, so this is the symptom, and the reason that this is so important is because we can will often get on stage and altruistically want to give. It's a great thing to want to do, but unless you're being nourished, you'll burn out. Unsustainably,

Beverly: 17:08

hello. Raising my hand.

Marianne: 17:09

Right. We give and we, which is a great thing. I'm not saying stop giving. And if you lack any faith in this, look at all of the people who are, oh, what's a nice way to put this riffraff in the world who are not doing good things with plenty of money? How much more than do you deserve to be funded? Okay, so let's just get that mindset issue outta the way. At first, you deserve to have your mission funded. Okay, so let's talk about how it's done as a speaker. There are two ways that you get paid to do what you do. Number one is through your speaker fee, and I'm telling you right now, increase your speaker fee. Number two, if your speaker fee is the only way that you're getting paid, you are leaving 60% of your revenue on the table. You're not able to take it home. All right. which brings me to the second way to get paid to speak. You speak, you take a check, and then you leave and you're done. However, that is not sustainable because you have to be working in order to bring in the revenue. If your speech has anything of substance to it, then people are going to want more of what you gave them already. People are going to want more of you. They're going to want more of your knowledge, they're going to want more of your expertise. They want more actionable steps. Which then leads us to, you're not just a speaker, you're in some ways a trainer or a coach or a facilitator of some kind. That's the difference between speakers and facilitators. You're making things easier for other people and that doesn't end with the stage. You have to have something, whether it's an ebook or a database or a resource guide or a quiz, not just something gimmicky, something that's actually going to make lives better. I'm going to continue to give. And we live in a beautiful day where you can continue to do that digitally all day long. You take this email list and you give so much value and then you ask. But you don't ask for a take. You ask for more ideas. So I just did this week. I said, I'm hosting a speaking competition. If you were to come, what would you expect to see there? What would be really fun for you? And then you get the input and they help you build it. They help you build your product. And then you launch that product. And if you follow the formula, then you create a sustainable income. And if you do it right, you can even put it on autopilot to where now in your CRM, which you better have if you're in business, if you don't have one, call me. you create so much value that they are on the edge of your seat for release day. Imagine having customers. That form lines around your business like they do around an Apple building when a new phone comes out. They want it because it solves real problems for them. Imagine having an opening launch day with a product and a digital course, an evergreen product that solved the problem so well that you sold out. That's what we're creating, not just gimmicky courses that you can get for a dime a dozen. We're talking about real problem solving, real testimonials, real people knocking on your door and saying, I dunno what I would've done without you.

Beverly: 19:45

I often share with my clients that when you are on social media, you are leasing your space. But when you own your list, that's the investment in your you can message them anytime you want. There's no algorithm present for preventing it. that is the thing you want to be able to have at the end of the day. Yes. So that when you launch or when you need feedback or when you need the things, you have this list. So if you could put your information into one bucket, one strategy. Email marketing is so much more powerful and can be used from the stage, can be used from a podcast, can be used for many things to be able to grow and give value all day long. So if there's one thing that I would say to piggyback on what you're saying is build your email list.

Marianne: 20:28

Yes. Yes. You own it like you said it. A lot of people will look at that and say, oh, email is dead. It's not. It's so far from that. And there are people that don't check their email. That's fine. But your people do.

Beverly: 20:38

And if you are sharing a message that they want to open, they'll actually look for your emails. They will wait. For your emails.

Marianne: 20:44

No, I have a couple that I'm like, I'm not deleting that. I love it.

Beverly: 20:47

So there are people who do this really well, and you can be one of those people for sure. Absolutely. 100%. But yeah, build your email list. It is the one thing. And even if you were to sell your business, that's something that has the value, especially if you're working from virtually, you don't have an office, don't have inventory, those kinds of things. That is something that can be a really important part of your business for sure. Oh,

Marianne: 21:08

100%. We. Close the doors. We still own the business. And the thing that makes this business valuable is the email list. It's a 30,000 person email list that we actually can right now, even though the brick and mortars closed, we can continue to nurture. We can continue to provide value. And so when our doors open again on this side business that we have there's a line around the building. Because we have created so much value for the client base.

Beverly: 21:31

Yeah, I agree completely. Okay. This is the magic hat. And there's tons of questions in here, and I'm gonna let the universe just decide what we're gonna talk about today. How fun is that? So it is rapid fire. A little bit more fun. How do you want your customers to feel after working with you?

Marianne: 21:49

How do I want my customers to feel? I want them to feel like they are the light bulb that turned on. I want them to feel like, not that just they have the light bulb, but that they're like emitting it. I want them to feel like they are in their zone of genius, that they are having fun doing what they're doing. That they are just energized by being on stage. I hope people are having fun.

Beverly: 22:10

I love that. How do you keep your entrepreneurial spirit alive? What do you feed it?

Marianne: 22:16

Ooh, that is an interesting one. All you gotta do is just go to Indeed and look for jobs and then say nope. Actually I really enjoy what I'm doing. Thanks.

Beverly: 22:24

No. Absolutely. I can't imagine If your brand had a theme song, what would it be and why?

Marianne: 22:30

The name of my company on paper is, this is me, LLC. I'm a Greatest Showman super fan.

Beverly: 22:34

Exactly why we're BFFs,

Marianne: 22:36

right. Bearded lady and all. That is our theme song.

Beverly: 22:40

That's a great song. I love it. What's something in your business that brings you pure joy?

Marianne: 22:45

Podcasting. I get to meet the coolest people. And you know what it does when you start a podcast for your business, you get to have the best excuse in the book. To get someone's attention. And I've had the most incredible people on my show because of the podcast.

Beverly: 22:58

Yes. I would a hundred percent agree. What's a common misconception about your industry that you'd love to debunk?

Marianne: 23:05

Okay, so this not only is it a common misconception, but is the number one question that I get is, how do I get more stages? You are not going to be sitting in your house one day. Have some recruiter knock on your door and say, Hey, we wanna pay you$10,000 to appear on stage. It's not gonna happen. This is what I tell people. If you wanna speak more, quit waiting for the TED stage. Quit waiting for the 10 x stage. Just quit waiting for that and go out and produce your own stuff. Start your own podcast. Get on as many podcasts as you can simultaneously. Use that resource if you need to start your own event series. So stop waiting for the stage. Stop waiting for the recruiter to call you.

Beverly: 23:43

Oh my gosh. It's like the build of the name will come, no. I used to think the work would speak for itself, that I just would keep my head down and do the work. And that would be it.

Marianne: 23:53

It's tempting to think that it really is, and you do have to do the work,

Beverly: 23:56

You have to do the work, but you also have to show up and be visible to have those opportunities. Last question from the magical hat. What was the moment you realized your business was successful?

Marianne: 24:07

This came at the end of our first year as freedom from W2. And when the company started tanking, I got cut. And so I said, now it's time. I can't go back to a W2. I just have to make this happen on my own. And my husband was, I love this man. He just said, game on. Let's go. And he had so much faith in me and I had so much faith in him, and we built this together. At the end of that first year, we were doing our profit and loss sheet together. And as we looked through the numbers we're like, oh my gosh. Our first year in business, when we closed six figures, I was like, okay, let's go. We know what doesn't work to some degree, based on this first year, we know what does, let's focus on what continues to work. And we've just been doing that ever since. And we just continue to do more of what works and less what doesn't. Then that's how we'll spend the rest of our days,

Beverly: 24:47

and that's how you should look at what is working, do more of that, what's not working, do less of that or tweak it and see if it does work differently. That's why analytics are so important.'Cause you need to know if it's working or not. I'm bringing out the wand. I'm going to waive the wand and we're going to go back let's just go back to 12-year-old Marianne who did her first speech. And give her a piece of advice that you wish she knew then that would help her throughout her life.

Marianne: 25:10

I wish I had told her to keep speaking. I wish she had. I didn't think speaking could be a career. When I was 12 and I did that competition, I was like, that's cool. And then I went back right into the school mill. I went right back into the find a good career and, I remember sitting in my Italian class as a pregnant mother of soon to be five kids studying the, because the GE or the class requirement needed to be fulfilled somehow. Everyone's 10 years younger than me and way less pregnant than me. And I'm like, what am I doing here? If I had just pursued a speaking career at that point, whether it's to lead a speaking chapter, whether it's to get into debate in high school, I wish that I would have kept with it and gotten a decade and a half ahead of where I am now and just kept talking. I wish I had done that.

Beverly: 25:55

What would she say to you of where you are now?

Marianne: 25:58

She would be like, wait, that's all you do in addition to being a mom, which is awesome. I didn't think that what I said mattered. I didn't think that my voice had any weight to it at all. People listen to you. Are you kidding me? What happened? That's what she would say. She would be dumbfounded.

Beverly: 26:12

I love it when our younger selves are proud of ourselves. Like they're shocked at like where we've come.

Marianne: 26:16

We owe it to them where we are with the magic wands. We are the fairy godmothers. Like you said, that the younger version of ourselves we're counting on

Beverly: 26:23

Yes, absolutely. And dreams can change and what we want can change, and my dreams have shifted. But it's interesting how the things I believed in then still matter now. Those things haven't changed. It's just how they come to be now is a little bit different. Okay. So I'm waving it again, and we're gonna go far into the future. People are at your funeral and someone is giving your eulogy. What are they gonna say about you as a business person and how you've affected the world?

Marianne: 26:50

this sounds, again, ordering on egotistical, and I don't want that because I want to be known for the good that not just happened at my hands, but here's what I want at my funeral, I want the people that listened to the speaker that I trained to be there. I don't need the credit. My funeral can actually be very small, here's what I really hope for is that as I'm looking down at the funeral, I'm somehow able to see the, maybe they'll become visual'cause I'll have the right celestial tools or something. But the ripple effect, so the people that I trained to speak, they're better off because I was in their lives. And then the people that they spoke to, they're better off because that speaker was in their life. And then the kids who went to school with the kids of those people didn't get bullied because they became better parents. So I hope to look down and somehow see. The ripple effect or the golden threads that said, okay, this person who will never know your name this person was healed, or this person became a better teacher. Yeah. Because you taught the person that taught them. That's what I hope to see.

Beverly: 27:55

When I think of the ripple effect, it's not just the business owners that I help, but it's their teams that now are stronger and then they're able to do more work in the communities, which makes the community stronger, which gives opportunities to people who maybe never had the opportunity. I want that as well. And you're right, I don't need the credit. Like I just want people to have the magic and make the world better.

Marianne: 28:15

what I stand before God accountable for.

Beverly: 28:17

Yes, absolutely. I did what I did with my life and this life you gave me has to have meaning and impact in that way. I take that responsibility very seriously in my work. So yes, I would absolutely 100% agree with you. Okay. The last question is, what does being wickedly branded mean to you? How do you show up wickedly branded and what advice would you give to our listeners to be more wickedly branded?

Marianne: 28:43

Be nice to the garbage man. I worked at a big venue and I had events there. It is as often as twice a month sometimes. And then once a month and then we did once a quarter. I was there a lot. I'll always remember Thomas, he was the backstage guy who made sure the trash cans were emptied and he made sure the chairs were set out and he made sure the parking lot cones were in the right spot. And Thomas, he had a beautiful voice. I caught him singing in the parking lot one day. But you should know the name of the person that pours your coffee. You should know the name of the person that takes out the trash. And how you treat those people should match how you treat your dream celebrity. That's just integrity. Just, and that there's gonna be a chapter in a book I write someday called Know their Coffee Order, know them that well. There was a man who emptied the garbage, and he was such a sweet man and I always made it a point to hold the door open while he brought the trash can inside. And it is reminiscent of Esther in the scriptures when she helps the people who really need it. Same with Mother Theresa. She helps the people that really need it. She's kind to the people that we usually pass right over. That's the thing is just be person of integrity. That is the same to the people who empty your garbage as the people whose hand you would be wishing to shake one day.

Beverly: 29:54

And that's the way your brand and marketing should feel too.

Marianne: 29:56

Yeah.

Beverly: 29:57

That's exactly the way it should feel. your story is so powerful to me because there was a gentleman in my last job, who was an immigrant to this country who took care of our trash for us and he would come in every day and I was always working really late'cause I'm. We do. I have a problem. I love my work. That's the problem. And he came in and the office is quiet. He'd come in and I'm like, oh, hello Ola. How are you today? And he's I'm very fine Ms. Beverly, how are you? And he was so sweet. And I would ask him his family and ask him what he is up to. And just, he was a person, and every once in a while I'd come in the next morning and he would have a chocolate on my desk he was so incredibly sweet. And I just think that nobody really saw him. These are people who are working very hard. He took very great pride in his work too. I do believe that there's so many people around you that has a story that you should be and you will learn something and you'll gain something. And like I said, like he leave me a little chocolate or like a little note saying good morning or something. It was just so incredibly sweet. And he was much older, probably like older than my dad. So he was much older and just incredibly sweet. And you just never know what you're going to find if you ask some questions and get to know them.

Marianne: 31:02

Yeah. And you never know if they're gonna be nicer when they go home. Cause they met you

Beverly: 31:05

and they got appreciated at work. Okay. So Marianne, you talked a little bit about 2026 has some pretty cool things coming. What is coming in 2026 that you're doing a little different, that you're nervous, excited about?

Marianne: 31:17

Yeah, very nervous, excited about this. Okay. In this year, I do a lot of group work right now and it is so fulfilling. The calls are so fun. We create a lot of transformation and I wanna do bigger stuff. So I'm morphing that group work and what we're gonna continue to book people on podcasts like crazy. That is so fun to do. We're gonna continue to teach public speaking, but I'm taking it on from group and putting it in one-on-one because I find that's most effective. Okay. And we're doing a bunch of travel. I've been to over 17 countries, physically in person. I've got a list of podcasts digitally. And you know what I really wanna do? I wanna take a group of really cool people and go do podcasting in Iceland and go do podcasting in Costa Rica and record episodes with this beautiful backdrop. Because I am such a better person when I travel and I immerse myself in the cultures of strangers and other people, I become more understanding. I become more. Curious. So we're gonna take tours starting next year. We're gonna be taking more tours and we're gonna see more places. We're gonna create stories worth telling from the stage. We're gonna create transformation and we're gonna do it with a group of people that loves to tell travel stories without sounding braggadocio about it because it is just it's so fun. And you know what? We're gonna be sending a lot of time nurturing marriages as well. Especially for the entrepreneurs, and this is the part of me that's nervous sizes because it, it is as is shift in branding for me. It is a shift in, in focus for me. Those people that are running businesses in a marriage face challenges unlike any other. Your marriage is the most important relationship other than your God. And you know what it's like to want to report your husband to hr, but he is HR and what it's like to not see eye to eye on an email that needs to go out and to have this three day long argument where you give each other the silent treatment because someone ruffled their feathers the wrong way. And we have got to get back to our marriages being the safe haven. Or everything that we are building as speakers, as entrepreneurs. So some of our retreats we're of course gonna talk about the process of speaking, how to make money from stage and how to do it sustainably, but built on a foundation where your marriage is safe and. And that's what we're getting into next year.

Beverly: 33:18

So exciting. Thank you for sharing with us today to be the first to know.

Marianne: 33:22

Yeah. I haven't shared it with anybody yet.

Beverly: 33:24

Where can listeners connect with you and your work? Where can they find you? Marianne?

Marianne: 33:27

I'm most active on Instagram, but if you wanna just text me and get real and have a conversation, just text me. It's 8 0 1 5 0 9 5 4 9 5. I just, I'd love to just chat with people and connect with them. I'm all over. If you wanna keep your distance and still be a voyeur, just go on social media.

Beverly: 33:41

Awesome. I just really enjoyed our time together. So for my listeners, I really hoped that you enjoyed this incredible conversation with Marianne. I just love her energy. I love what she had to say. I think really what we say all the time from our perspective, from Wickedly branded, you just reinforced everything Marianne, so thank you. But to the listeners, I really hope that this episode lit a fire under you, gave you a lot of new ideas and most of all, inspired you to take some. Action. Take a step to do something for your business, whether it's to get out there and be on more podcast, to maybe go speak in your local chamber, whatever it is, but to start doing those reps to show up, because here is the thing. Your message matters, your work matters, and the world needs to hear what you have to say. Marketing isn't just about visibility. It's also about that impact, those golden threads that Marianne talked about. It's about connecting with the right people in a way that feels absolutely 100% true to you. So show up or keep showing up. Keep sharing your brilliance and keep making magic in the world. And hey, if you ever feel stuck, know that you don't have to do it alone. You've got Marianne to help you. I'm here to help you. We wanna turn your spark into the wildfire it was meant to be. But until next time, I dare you to be wickedly branded.