Get Speaking Gigs Now: Turning Your Voice Into Clients with Leisa Reid

🎙️ Get Speaking Gigs Now: Turning Your Voice Into Clients with Leisa Reid

Episode Summary

In this episode of The BOLD and Brilliant Podcast, Tracie sits down with Leisa Reid—speaker, author, and founder of Get Speaking Gigs Now™—to talk about how public speaking can become one of the most powerful ways to grow your business. From her early days in communication and higher education to building a thriving speaking business and community, Leisa shares how she turned her natural love of teaching into a scalable client acquisition strategy. This conversation is a refreshing look at speaking not just as a stage—but as a pathway to connection, confidence, and consistent growth.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

•  Why speaking is one of the most effective ways to attract aligned clients 
•  The difference between speaking for fees vs. speaking for business growth 
•  How community makes getting booked easier (and more fun) 
•  Why your path into speaking doesn’t have to be perfect to get started 

Actionable Tips from This Episode

•  Start thinking of your speaking as teaching—it makes it more natural and approachable 
•  Build relationships with other speakers to create referral opportunities 
•  Focus on getting your talk “ready to rock” and getting it in front of real audiences 

Memorable Quote

“It doesn’t end with having a talk… you actually have to go give the talk.” 

Bold Moment of the Episode

Leisa’s bold decision came when she finally said yes to what others had been seeing in her all along. After multiple attempts in different directions, she embraced speaking as her true path—quickly building her business, booking engagements, and creating a thriving community of speakers. That moment of clarity—choosing to fully step into her expertise—changed everything.

About Leisa Reid

Do you want to capitalize on the power of public speaking to market your business, but aren't sure what to talk about, where to go to find gigs, or how to offer your services from stage? As the Founder of Get Speaking Gigs Now™, Leisa mentors business owners who want to use speaking as a strategic client acquisition strategy.

Clients who work closely with her build their speaking skills and confidence through the Speaker's Training Academy. They get their “Talks Ready to Rock,” and learn how to STAY booked as speakers through easy-to-implement strategies.

As a speaker herself, Leisa has successfully booked and delivered over 600 speaking engagements. She is the CEO of The International Speaker Network™, a community of heart-centered speakers who value collaboration, relationships, results, and fun.

In her book, Get Speaking Gigs Now™, she shares her 7 Step System to Getting Booked, Staying Booked & Attracting Your Ideal Clients Through Speaking.

Connect with Leisa Reid

•  Website: https://GetSpeakingGigsNow.com
•  Free Resource: https://GetSpeakingGigsNow.com/tips
•  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leisa.reid.2/
•  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getspeakinggigsnow/
•  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leisareid/
•  Email: Leisa@GetSpeakingGigsNow.com
  
  

Join The Gather Community

If you’re ready to take your next bold step, come join us inside The Gather Community—a space for women leaders and entrepreneurs who are building their businesses through connection, collaborati

Transcript

Tracie Root 0:00

Are you ready to take bold action and live a life of brilliance? Welcome to the Bold and Brilliant Podcast, where women leaders share inspiring stories about daring decisions that shaped their businesses, their lives, and their careers. Today I am with the fabulous and amazing Lisa Reed. Lisa is an international speaker, author of nine books, and the founder of Get Speaking Gigs. Now she's also the CEO of the International Speaker Network. Lisa teaches entrepreneurs how to use public speaking as a sole fulfilling marketing strategy to attract their ideal clients. As we talk, you'll hear Lisa share her journey of entrepreneurship, including one bold decision that created her path of what was next. Her story of resilience, risk taking, and transformation will inspire, encourage, and support your personal and professional growth. Please join me in welcoming Lisa to the Bold and Brilliant podcast. Lisa, I am so excited to have you on the podcast. Welcome.

Leisa Reid 1:07

Yay. So excited to be here, Tracie.

Tracie Root 1:09

Yay. Me too. Okay, so I love interviewing other women who've been in business for a while. Uh, you have been, you know, we've met over the years a few times, and, but you've been on my radar for a long, long time, and I am really. Interested to, to kind of hear what stories come out of our conversation, because I think that there's a lot of women out there who are entrepreneurs, who are in business, who really get a lot from just hearing about the journey that we've been on. And I can't wait to hear more about yours. So kick us off by going back and giving us a little bit of origin story like, like. Before you did what you do now, what, what did you do? What? What was your situation like?

Leisa Reid 1:58

Well, I probably need to mention that I grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Tracie Root 2:03

Oh

Leisa Reid 2:04

yeah. Which is a, you know, small town, far cry from where I am now in Southern California. And I literally moved to Southern California when I graduated high school. And that was my dream. And the dream was to move to California. Period. Like not come back.

Tracie Root 2:20

Yeah.

Leisa Reid 2:20

cause I love Alaska. I was really ready to be warm. And I decided to go to Cal State Fullerton and got my bachelor's and Master's degree in speech communication. And I mentioned that, not because you need to know every single little detail about me, but I ended up, it was like I knew what I wanted to do when I was 18, but I didn't have a name for it and I didn't know what I could do. And so I ended up teaching at Cal State Fullerton when I was 22 years old. I taught interpersonal communication only to then. Start speaking when I was 40 years old. So it's like there's this like really clear, like this is my jam, this is what I should be doing, and then adult life happens and things happen and I get taken on another path. Then here we come back.

Tracie Root 3:12

That's so at age 40. Okay. That's really interesting. So let me ask you a couple questions. A first of all, my youngest is thinking about going to Fullerton, so we'll talk, talk about that offline. I'd love to hear your take. Um, but so leaving Alaska to come here and, and knowing, like you knew you wanted to be in communication, but you didn't really know what that meant or like what made you choose communication as an area of study that, that you can like. Identify from back then, actually

Leisa Reid 3:44

even more detailed than that, it was speech communication and I was in a class or inter interpersonal communication, which either most college students have to take, either that class or public speaking. Public speaking. I happened to be in interpersonal communication and it was a study of like actually people communicating one-on-one with each other and having healthy communication versus. The communications that major that I understood at the time was more mass communication. Like marketing, advertising. Yeah. Public relations. We called it

Tracie Root 4:12

Marcom back then, right?

Leisa Reid 4:13

Yeah. And I wasn't really, that did not appeal to me, but when it came down to like, oh, us communicating together and. How can we be more effective in that? How can our communication change our relationships?

Tracie Root 4:29

Almost like a psychology.

Leisa Reid 4:30

Yes. Very similar to that.

Tracie Root 4:32

Okay. Okay.

Leisa Reid 4:33

I was, and like the classes I got to take were interpersonal, or excuse me, I already said that one. Conflict management, negotiation. Um, nonverbal communication. I was like, I'm in, I'm in. I love it.

Tracie Root 4:47

Okay. Interesting. So which isn't where you ended up obviously being a public speaker and, and all of that. It was that, but that was the interest. Like how do people understand? How do you understand each other?

Leisa Reid 5:01

Yes. And I've always loved teaching. Like when I was little, I wanted to be a kindergartner teacher, kindergarten teacher. Then I wanted to be a gymnastics teacher, which I was actually during college, I co, I coached gymnastics. So teaching was really the thread. Mm-hmm. Um, so speaking is very similar to teaching and I have a teaching style when I speak, and a lot of times I find that people who. Sometimes they're afraid of public speaking, quote unquote, but I'm like, well, but it can you teach someone something about what you do? Because if so, you can definitely, you know, move into the public speaking speech, move

Tracie Root 5:35

into speaking. Mm-hmm.

Leisa Reid 5:35

Yeah, it's a lot less scary when you think of it that way.

Tracie Root 5:38

Yeah, that's a really great comparison.'cause it is, as someone who speaks and knows how to teach people things, I, I can completely see that relationship. So that makes a lot of sense. Um, okay. So. So we started with this interpersonal communication one-on-one, but then you became a speaker at 40. Yeah. So there's a, there's a gap and you know, there's a big gap. Maybe a family gap, a personal gap, all of those things. But, you know, one of the things that we were talking about was kind of before we became doing what we're doing, we all have a, before I have a corporate girly history, you know, we've, we've got all these different things. Tell me about where you started, kind of in the work world, that wasn't what you're doing now. Like what did you have to change from where that was to coming to where you are now?

Leisa Reid 6:29

I would say no matter what job or career I was in, I would always find a way to train or teach or lead in some fashion. Whether it was working for someone else or working for myself, I would still really value that piece.

Tracie Root 6:45

Mm-hmm.

Leisa Reid 6:46

And. I started most, a lot of my career, I'll just say, I'll sum it up, a lot of my career was in college admissions and, uh, higher ed.

Tracie Root 6:56

Mm-hmm.

Leisa Reid 6:56

Whether I was on the education side or the admission side. And so I learned a lot about sales and management and executive leadership through that track. And then there was a time in there, a few years, about five year period where. I had a day spa. Um, yeah, which was, which, that's a twist total u-turn in my career. Like that's the one that doesn't quite make sense, but, but we were able to do all the branding and decide on everything and the hiring and the inventory and the, it's like all the things that a business owner would need to learn. Yeah. I definitely learned in that capacity and started networking.

Tracie Root 7:35

I would, it was like, I know I wanna work for myself, do something on my own. I love a good day spa. Maybe I'll try that.

Leisa Reid 7:43

No, actually that's not my story at all. Lot of or just

Tracie Root 7:45

an opportunity?

Leisa Reid 7:46

No. You know, at the time my ex-husband, he would always get massages and he's like, why don't, I was preg, I was pregnant. And he was like, I can't remember if he just said no. It was, it was af Maybe it was after we had. The baby. I can't remember the exact time I was pro probably'cause I was pregnant at the time, but, um, or having a baby or whatever. But we decided to open up a day spa and it was, I think it was right around when I had had a baby and it was like, are can I go back or not go? I go back to

Tracie Root 8:17

work.

Leisa Reid 8:17

Whatever that was situation was. Got it. And he, I said, okay, you know, I, I'm open to that.'cause then I could have flexibility of having my own business. So it was actually his idea, but I wasn't opposed to it. And I was like, okay, I'm, I'm along for that ride.

Tracie Root 8:30

And you said you did that for a few years, but at some point you're like, this is not for me or maybe the husband

Leisa Reid 8:36

for

Tracie Root 8:36

you. We,

Leisa Reid 8:37

we sold it and at the time I had fun doing it and I absolutely loved doing it. I, one of the things about me, Tracie, is if I don't love it, I'm probably not gonna last very long doing whatever it is, whether it's working for myself or somebody else, but I, there were a lot of things I absolutely loved about it, and it became clear that it wasn't going to be. I, I was falling out of love of it with it for various reasons. And so we sold it and then I went back into, uh, university Life and became, and eventually the director of admissions at university.

Tracie Root 9:11

Okay. Awesome.

Leisa Reid 9:12

Yeah.

Tracie Root 9:13

So you were, maybe this is the, I'm working for a company that I love, but I need to do something different. We were kind of talking about that earlier. It sounds like that kept drawing you in, and I would imagine that. That seeing the results of that work is very, very apparent and fruitful. Uh, every year, year over year. Right. New people come in and the university is very bustling and, and lots of energy. And is that, like, when did you decide to make the bold decision to go out on your own doing something else?

Leisa Reid 9:48

Well, with that, it, it's interesting. I had a another safety net in between that and going out on my own, although I was always. Interested in dabbling in, like, like

Tracie Root 9:57

toe, toe dipping a little

Leisa Reid 9:58

bit. Yeah. Creating different things. They're coming up with different ideas. I just wasn't sure how to like really replace the income at that time. Mm-hmm. But I was taking, by now I had been divorced and I started doing a lot of self-development work. I was raised with that type of, uh, childhood with, you know, my dad being a hypnotherapist. We were always talking about self-development and, and just how can we be better and evolving. So I started. Studying that, um, with a company and eventually they decided they were going to have a train the trainer program and you might end up working for them. I thought, oh, well, I've always interested in training. Again, it comes, comes back to training and I'm like, I really love the work. I had already been in, involved with them and couldn't hurt, you know, couldn't hurt to try this program. So I did the program and at one point, throughout that process I realized, oh, actually I do wanna work for them now. Uh, long story short, I did end up working for them. Only two people were hired out. Well, maybe it was three people were hired out of, you know, maybe 20. And because the job was. Go out and speak as many times as you can and bring in new clients to the organization. Okay. And it was experiential and it was super fun and I loved it. And I love the family environment of the, of the company. I love what the company stood for, stands for, it's still around. And, um, to me that was just perfect for the time in my life needing some flexibility with being a, a mom.

Tracie Root 11:29

Yeah.

Leisa Reid 11:29

That was really important.

Tracie Root 11:30

Yeah. I love that. So, you know, the, the. The path toward being a speaker was kind of fertilized there because that's what they wanted you to do. Yeah. And, and, and you also got to have the stability of employment. Of course back then, there's probably more stability in employment than maybe we talk about these days. And also like using your super talents as a speaker that were, you know, flourishing from teaching to admissions to, to where you are now. Absolutely. I love it. Roadmap. Yeah, I can see how clear the path of of growth happened for you, knowing where you've ended up, which is where you are now. So talk about how you created, you know, coming out of that, how you created working for yourself and your. Community in this speaking business and all of

Leisa Reid 12:21

that? Yeah, so I, so I started speaking my very first year. I, I gave over 83 presentations. Awesome. I booked them all myself. I did not know what I was doing. I mean, I, I knew how to speak, I knew how to deliver the thing, but I didn't know, like how the speaking industry worked. I didn't know where you would get speaking engagements, uh, none of that. But I was not afraid to

Tracie Root 12:41

are, are we talking about a combination of paid speaking and everything, or Everything paid everything free.

Leisa Reid 12:47

Pretty much everything free because that wasn't my goal to become a paid speaker. My goal is to get clients.

Tracie Root 12:52

Okay.

Leisa Reid 12:53

Which is actually, um, a lot of times people think one way's better than the other. Um, I think it really depends on, on who you are on your goal. Your business model is Yes.

Tracie Root 13:02

Yeah, absolutely.

Leisa Reid 13:03

But usually when you speak to get clients, you end up getting a lot more than, than a speaker fee. So I, that was my goal, but about six months into that process I decided I didn't wanna do it alone anymore. And I started a Speaker network, which is now the International Speaker Network. And so we've been, you know, it's over 10 years now that, that I've been leading a network of speakers and that really helped me. Not feel so alone made the, made it a lot easier because at that point I was just cold calling, cold reaching, outing, I call it cold, whatever. And that wasn't very fun, but I was willing to do it and I'm good at it. And then I started to realize, oh, when I hang out with other speakers, it's a lot easier to get those beautiful introductions. You're more matched with the audience. It's a win-win for everyone. I love win-win, win. So it really felt, um. Easier and more fulfilling to do it that way. Yeah.

Tracie Root 14:06

And we're fun to just do it in. Yeah, we're fun. Yeah. To do it all in community. I love that. Yeah. I mean, I've been to your International Speaker Network events. I mean, that's honestly why we ended up pairing up for today because I came to to experience your community. I. And I think it's so fantastic. I love that you're bringing different speakers together and everyone has their own goals. Mm-hmm. And some of them are gonna align with what you're teaching as far as marketing, speaking, and, and with the value of community. And others are gonna have a different plan or path, and they may or may not adjust. I mean, there's, there's so much opportunity for all of us as speakers in whatever category we're all looking for that. Every time that you can bring a group of people together, I think we're all gonna get so much out of just connecting and understanding how big an opportunity there is out there in the world for speakers, especially women telling their stories and sharing expertise.

Leisa Reid 15:05

Absolutely. Yeah, and I, I think there just wasn't really a space like that at the time. This was, you know, back in 2013. It was,

Tracie Root 15:14

yeah, it was on the early

Leisa Reid 15:15

side, kind of some judgment around, it was some judgment around people speaking, quote unquote for free, which I don't usually say it that way, but, um, and, and yet it's ironic because you can make so much more money doing it that way. And, um, it's easier to get and there's all, there's all these benefits to it.

Tracie Root 15:32

Yeah.

Leisa Reid 15:33

But I have clients who do both. I have clients who mix. I, I call it like find your own combination. Yeah. Sometimes people are really well suited for. You know, the paid speaking model and also the waive your fee model or somewhere in the between, maybe even pay to play model. There's lots of different models, so it's about like, really, I call it eyes wide open decision making, like, what are you gonna, what makes sense for you, your personality, where you are in your business or your business model, your, your lifestyle. All those things come into play when making those decisions.

Tracie Root 16:05

So important. I, all these people, different people are coming to mind and, you know, and gather community. We have kind of a paid or play thing, but I also myself do wave your fee speaking. Mm-hmm. I'll use your terminology'cause I do like that. Um, and then I know, you know, other folks who are doing paid speaking because their audience is kind of that corporate world that brings in people to, you know, there's, yeah. There's so much opportunity. I just love it. Um, so, so tell us about like. The decision, that point where you decided to, okay, I'm gonna create something that is my creation.

Leisa Reid 16:42

Yeah, so I had, I had a, we talked about this a little offline. I had several starts, I don't know if they're called false starts or just kind of didn't go the way I thought it was gonna go.

Tracie Root 16:53

Little couples that you might have tripped over along the way

Leisa Reid 16:56

over the years. I mean, I'm not gonna talk about every single one, but I did. Start my own business while I was working for this company. And I did all the things right? I did the branding and it looked beautiful, and I had videos and I had audios, and I had programs and flyers and all the things, every, every single thing you could think of to, to be a success. And it just, after I had finished creating all those things that just didn't feel right and I, so I kind of took a pause, I thought, huh. That's interesting. I'm not really excited about going to get clients. I'm just not really feeling it.

Tracie Root 17:30

Yeah,

Leisa Reid 17:31

and it was right around that time that someone said. In my network. They said, oh, Lisa, tell me about your speaking coaching business. And I said, oh, I don't have one, but thanks for asking. And you know, finished the conversation. And that night I went home and was like the come to Jesus moment and I was like, Lisa, you know, talking to myself, Lisa, that's the last time you're saying that. And really took it seriously, I thought. And I, he was not the first person I had.

Tracie Root 17:55

That's what I

Leisa Reid 17:55

was gonna ask. Have there been other

Tracie Root 17:57

people? Yeah.

Leisa Reid 17:58

And coaches had who I had paid. Thousands of dollars to, were like, why are you doing the speaking thing? And I'm like, oh no, no. And I just didn't feel ready yet. I guess I, I wasn't ready to receive that, that calling until that day. And I, once I said yes to myself, I got the URL, I started writing my webinar and I had that up lickety split. Got clients. My very first networking meeting, I stood up for barely 20 seconds, had this man running outta the parking lot, you know, wait, no, no, I need your help. I'm like, okay. So I'm like, okay, it's working. You know? Something's working here.

Tracie Root 18:34

I love that. That's so funny. That. I think that story happens every now and then, right? Someone says, oh, what about this? Oh, I don't really do that. I do this and this, and you say it over and over, and eventually it's like, wait, well people keep asking me about this. Maybe there's a sign here, there's a message that I'm not, haven't been receiving. And all of a sudden it was the day to receive the message.

Leisa Reid 18:57

It was the day, the day I was ready to check the mail.

Tracie Root 18:59

Yeah.

Leisa Reid 19:00

And so I had the luxury of being able to create that business using all the knowledge that I'd had in the business. That quote unquote didn't work.

Tracie Root 19:09

Yeah.

Leisa Reid 19:09

I was like, oh, well I already know how to do, you know, I know how to do videos, I know how to do audios, I know how to set up a website. I know how you know, all these things. Yep. Um, and that was created really quickly, swiftly. I still had the other career with the company that I absolutely adored and loved and was still out there speaking for them and would kind of manage both and do the business stuff for my own on, you know, in the evenings and weekends and such until one day, um, it shifted and COVID had something to do with it. I honestly don't know if it would've been an easy, I wanna say it was an easy decision. COVID helped kind of push it more into this is the right path for you, for, for me, because I worked for a company where we did everything in person and we had to do a lot of adjusting.

Tracie Root 20:00

Yeah.

Leisa Reid 20:00

And so the joy that I had for what I was doing was, was sucked out a little bit because what we were all figuring it out. I mean, it was no, no one's fault obviously.

Tracie Root 20:09

Right.

Leisa Reid 20:10

And I it, but, but it made it really clear'cause people kept asking me to speak about. The get speaking gigs now business. And then I started to feel, okay, this isn't, you know, I, I, I'm very above board and of integrity and I'm like, I feel like now I'm pushing my business aside and I don't feel right about that either. So I was like, okay, the balance isn't working anymore. And that's when I decided it was time to, to go.

Tracie Root 20:36

Yeah. That makes a lot of sense, right? That all of a sudden you're like, well wait, I came here to talk to you about this, but you want me to talk about this?

Leisa Reid 20:43

Yeah.

Tracie Root 20:43

And like I don't wanna like just throw that under the bus'cause they're paying me and I like them and you know, we have years of experience. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Well, what I love about all of this is how, how willing you were to listen to your own intuition. When the time came to make that shift, it's like, this is, this is why this feels weird and it's time to change it.

Leisa Reid 21:10

Yeah.

Tracie Root 21:10

And I think that there's so much value in that for so many people out there working for themselves, trying to figure out kind of how to. Change and adapt as they move along. You mentioned COVID. I mean, that's a huge part of, you know, my story and every year since COVID, we've been readjusting and readapting and what's the right way to ha, you know, there's no straight lines. What's the right way to bend left or right? When you see something coming or you have this kind of intuitive hit of. Which direction you're meant to go in and serve people in, in a way that is that that much more aligned every time you make a decision.'cause every decision is a little jog in the past.

Leisa Reid 21:56

Yeah. Yeah, it was. It was a really cool process looking back now, and I am so grateful that I had the courage to go for it, and I'm also grateful for. The opportunity to build my business in a really safe environment in which I was able to, you know, take my time. There was no pressure necessarily, and I think sometimes. There's pressure for people to just, oh, quit your, quit your job and do your own thing. And it takes time sometimes to figure out just what's your message and where you land in that and, and it's okay to take some time to figure it out.

Tracie Root 22:36

Yeah, I totally agree. I've been telling people recently who are like, oh, well I can't do that because I don't have this and I don't have that. I'm like, what you are doing doesn't have to be anything. Right. Doesn't have to be what you are told. It's supposed to be what you think it's supposed to be. What you assume you know, like it doesn't have to be anything. What feels right and do that, like

Leisa Reid 23:00

agreed.

Tracie Root 23:00

It's that whole alignment and living with ease as much as we can. I think that this is kind of the season of ease, I think for a lot of us, and maybe it's a post COVID reaction, right? We're finally six years out and. Actually know what we wanna do. I don't know. You know, we, we kind of didn't have a lot of choices. We just made things happen those first couple of years, three years. And, and now it's like, okay, well where, where are we going now? And you get,

Leisa Reid 23:29

well, I think it's generational too, like

Tracie Root 23:31

mm-hmm.

Leisa Reid 23:31

We are in, as Gen Xers, we are in a place where we're. Influenced by the generations before us and the ones after us and we're like, oh, the world is changing so fast and

Tracie Root 23:44

true.

Leisa Reid 23:44

We're still in this. Like, wait, doesn't it take a, like, I wanna wait in line. I want a person to take my money. I don't wanna have to, you know, make everything so order from my bed and, and it arrives on my door and I never see anyone. But then sometimes we're like, well maybe that is kind of easy. Like, I dunno. So we're, we're in this like. Which one do I pick?

Tracie Root 24:04

Yeah, I totally agree. I totally agree. I think that, you know, there's a lot of comfort in knowing that we know exactly how to do things based on the way our parents did them and how we were raised. But you know, I have teenagers.

Audio Only - All Participants 24:17

Yeah,

Tracie Root 24:17

my kids are still 17 and 19, so I've got a lot of Gen Z influence in my life that is very exciting and interesting and and fascinating to see how different. Separate it is from how things were as we were growing up. And yeah, those poor millennials, they kind of, to me, the millennials are like the lost ones. But that's just'cause I'm in Gen X. Like I don't have millennial people so much in my life. I have people that are my age and I have my kids and they're friends. Um, but to, yeah, my

Leisa Reid 24:49

daughter's 22, so I have the same where like,

Tracie Root 24:51

yeah,

Leisa Reid 24:52

that experience with her and, and just the, the fluidity of what life can be and how you can learn and how you can. Um, grow and evolve. We were just talking about this the other day where, you know, you can do a lot of self-development just through TikTok videos and who you're finding and following and learning. And we didn't really have that. That wasn't like if you went to a therapist, it would be like super rare in the eighties or nineties. Yeah. Or you were really wealthy or you know, there was these different stigmas around it. And now you can learn without, I'm not saying get a therapist or not get a therapist. I'm just saying there's now more. Opportunity to learn about growth and And evolving.

Tracie Root 25:32

Yeah. And that's a huge thing for those of us who are working for ourselves. I think the personal professional development, you know, industry, but the opportunity that is there, I mean, that didn't start for me until, well, I guess technically maybe 20 years ago, but until I started coaching 14 years ago, I never read a personal development book until I. Found the coaching world. Um, and it's, you know, and it was life changing. And here we are, you know, 14 years later and the whole world is different, and especially my world, um, the, the opportunities, like you said, to make those decisions and to, to look for the messages that are coming our way. Like, it just, it's just a mystery of, of what's gonna happen and we get to decide what it looks like. So good. Okay. So give me. I know we're, we don't wanna go too long. I know. I warned you that we could easily go very long because we're both gonna like, tell stories, tell it's all over. Tell me a little bit about. The details. Forget speaking gigs now and how you're working with clients now and what that looks like. Of course, this is a Evergreen podcast, so nothing too timely, but, you know, talk a little bit about, and talk about international speakers Network too, and how people can not only learn from you, but learn from being in your community and, you know, connect with you and all of those things. Of course, we'll put things in the notes, but give us the, the description stuff.

Leisa Reid 26:56

With get speaking gigs. Now, the reason I talked about getting gigs is because there were a lot of programs that would help you create your talk, but to me that is just Basecamp. It is. You can't, you know, it's very difficult to be a speaker if you don't have a talk. That's why I help people get their talks created. I call it Get your Talk ready to rock. But. It doesn't end there. You need to actually go give the talk. And so there's this whole strategy and business behind that. Like, what does my stage look like? Who would I be speaking to? How would I practice? Do I need slides? Do I not need slides? How do I get people to sign up for my stuff? How do I get clients? Dah, dah, dah, dah, da. So there's all these other questions that come up in that realm. So that's what I work on with people, uh, entrepreneurs, business owners, in the get speaking gigs. Now. Programs in the International Speaker Network. And ironically, I've had that group long before I even had my, my company, um, which is just my heart and soul. It's so beautiful to, to lead that community. It is a group of entrepreneurs and business owners who want to use or are currently using public speaking as a way to attract. Their ideal clients to grow their business, and that looks different for any of the members. Everyone has their own, you know, configuration of what that looks like. But what I have found is that it's so much easier to get booked when you are hanging around, you know, the birds of a feather flocking together. You're hanging around other speakers who are in the same game as you all of a sudden. You're like, wow, I'm, I was just got a warm introduction to this place that I didn't know about, and I can easily get a yes and get booked without having to do the whole cold reaching outing, which most people do not like to do.

Tracie Root 28:45

Talk a little bit about, um, the idea of competition when you're talking about so many, so many people. Mm-hmm. And there's, you know. In my view, an unlimited number of opportunities. Yeah. But a lot of people have a limited thought process around, there's only so many conferences or networking groups or whatever that are my personal, ideal client, whoever that person might be, who's having that opinion,

Leisa Reid 29:11

I think. I think the competitiveness comes more from the paid. Speaking model because they're thinking, you know, okay, if there's five people considered, I wanna be the one chosen or whatever. But the reality is you don't usually know who they're choosing between, you know, they don't really tell you that anyway. It's a longer sales cycle. What I'm talking about, um, and is just more open. I, to me, it's like the good news is there's tons of speaking engagements. The bad news is there's tons of speaking engagements because. You can easily get overwhelmed. So there's definitely no scarcity. There's no scarcity. How do I know? I mean, I have been speaking for over 10 years, and I usually speak 40 times a year, sometimes 80, 70, 60. Like, I mean, I, there's so many, a lot, so stop worrying about it. If you're, if you're listening and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm worried about it. Just stop. There's plenty. The other thing is a lot of like, say associations or chambers or chapters or whatever, they have a meeting once a month. They're not gonna have you speak 12 times a year at the same meeting. They're gonna have you speak one time. Maybe if you're amazing, they'll have you come back the next year or a couple years later.'cause they need some variety. They don't. Yeah. Even if they love you, it might not make sense for you to come back until a couple years have gone by.

Tracie Root 30:27

Yeah.

Leisa Reid 30:28

So that

Tracie Root 30:28

means you have to kind of think of the long game a little bit more

Leisa Reid 30:30

than you

Tracie Root 30:31

might think initially.

Leisa Reid 30:32

There's 11 other spots that whole year. Why not have it be your colleagues and trusted friends in the industry, because then they're gonna share that group that they spoke to who needs those 11 other spots filled. You know what I mean? Like

Tracie Root 30:50

Yeah. So it's building that community of referral. Partner speaker, referral partner, yeah. Kind of situation.

Leisa Reid 30:56

Yeah.

Tracie Root 30:56

Yeah. I love that. I love that. And it's, it's, it's so true. You know, I, I do find that sometimes I'll go to different groups, not your group, not my group, but other groups. Where it's like people will share, some people will share different things that, places that they've spoken, oh, I'm speaking here. But it's almost like you have to say, well, are they looking like you have to prompt? Are you looking? Are they looking for more speakers? Can I get their con, can I get an in? Like you have to be so proactive and asking for the introduction where when you're really in a community, it's like, here it is. Everyone's willing to share way more. Yeah.

Leisa Reid 31:36

We set it up so that it's safe to share in the sense that I always say, all of you are adults. Like you decide who you wanna give that introduction to. We're not just posting it in the chat. And then that meeting planner gets inundated with. 50 requests, 30 people that

Tracie Root 31:51

are not their people maybe

Leisa Reid 31:52

too. Yeah, no, it's all about like intentional matchmaking and creating win, win, win. So it's like if, if I, oh, Tracie would be a great speaker for X, Y, Z, where I've spoken, you and I would have a conversation and I, and I would already know about that organization. I'm like, oh, this would be great. They would love to hear your. Talk, um, you could really provide value. They need somebody. So it's, I already see the win, win-win that makes it an easy

Tracie Root 32:16

Yeah.

Leisa Reid 32:16

Opportunity. But when people pounce on other people like, oh, you have a podcast, I wanna be a guest. You know, how do I, and you're like, whoa, I don't even know you, you don't, have you ever listened to my show? I, right. Um, we don't know each other yet. Just hold on a second. It, it feels weird.

Tracie Root 32:32

Yeah, it does. In fact, I had someone today. Se fill out my guest interest form, uh, fill out like a sign up for a summit that's coming up, and gather community and get on my calendar. Uh, and interestingly enough, in our system, they're in our system under three different email addresses. And I was like, well, that's weird. And so when the appointment came today, I am like, let's see if they show up. I don't know who this person is. I've never, I don't think we've ever spoken. I don't know if we've even been in the same zoom room together and as I thought, they didn't even show up. And so I don't know who this person is, but I can just file all that stuff away as random. A random person who I don't even know and, and you know, we'll see what happens in the future if they ever come back again or if I see them as something else. But it's so interesting. You know, I think that there's a lot of, sometimes there's misunderstanding. If you're in a community, people think, oh, we're all here to share with all of us. Where really it's about building relationships. Right. Finding the people who vibe. If, if your energy matches my energy, then your audiences probably match my audiences. And, and, and we could really do some, some forward motion together arm in arm in a lot of ways because we, yeah.

Leisa Reid 33:54

There's like a, you're gonna promote your show to your audience, so I get that exposure. I'm gonna promote your show to my audience, so then you're gonna get that exposure. Um, and it helps the people who are in our audiences,'cause they're like, oh, I didn't know that Gather Community was out there. I didn't know Tracie Root was out there. How cool is that? And it, it, it just, to me, that's a beautiful way to do business. Like,

Tracie Root 34:16

yeah,

Leisa Reid 34:17

we're all just giving and we'll see what happens.

Tracie Root 34:20

And there's no promises and there's no, there's, it's all just magic. Like it all just is gonna show up. However, it's supposed to show up and, and it's not anything we can force, let's just. Be ourselves and, and go have a good time.

Leisa Reid 34:35

Agreed. I love

Tracie Root 34:35

that. Awesome. Well, I love that. Well, okay, so do you have any kind of wrap up, final words that you'd like to share? It's time for us to close down. Of course, we have lots of things to put in the notes, including, you know, some other, uh, you know, ways to connect with you and different, you know, programs, opportunities, et cetera. But how would you, like, how do you wanna leave people with like a magic, don't forget Lisa Reed moment.

Leisa Reid 35:02

Uh, should I offer a free gift now?

Tracie Root 35:04

Well, you can. Yeah. I mean, I'm happy to, as long as it's an evergreen situation. Yes, absolutely. Who knows when people, it's March, 2026 right now. I don't know when you're listening, but hopefully it still exists.

Leisa Reid 35:15

Oh, well, you know, you and I are cut from the same cloth. I, I always leave an evergreen gift because that would be crazy. You could be listening to this in 2030 and be, and still go get that.

Tracie Root 35:25

Can you imagine? Wouldn't that,

Leisa Reid 35:26

oh my gosh, that's so exciting. Um, so you can get five top tips to get more speaking gigs now at. Get speaking gigs now.com/tips and that will give you some tips to get you started. They're free and we'll probably have some other goodies in there for you too.

Tracie Root 35:45

Amazing. Well, and I love that, so your slash tips, obviously whatever tips you feel like giving out is always gonna be at your slash tips. I do the same thing. I have a slash links, so yeah, we're, we are cut from the same cloth, my friend and I just looked and I do have all of that in my, like stuff that you've already sent me, so I have that for the notes. So that'll work out great. Um, any last final words?

Leisa Reid 36:05

I would just say do what makes your heart sing. You know, that's what my dad always said. It still rings true.

Tracie Root 36:12

I love it. Thank you so much, Lisa. I'm so grateful to have had you here on the podcast, and I can't wait for the world to get to hear this conversation. Thank you again. Thank

Leisa Reid 36:21

you, Tracie.

Tracie Root 36:22

Bye. Thank you for listening to the Bold and Brilliant podcast. I'm your host, Tracie Root, and I wanna invite you to check out the show notes, find out where you can connect with our guests, find out more about what I and the Gather community have to offer you, and be sure to subscribe to this podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks so much.