170. How Speaking On Stages Opened Doors They Never Thought Possible

Today’s episode is a BONUS episode replay from an Instagram Live I did, bringing a couple of our clients from The Speaker Co to share their journeys of how leveraging their message and their voices in the last year has made a bigger impact with their business.

Remember, there are people who are waiting that you know you can help but until you take the bold move, you pick up the microphone, you turn on the camera or you pitch that opportunity– how are they ever going to hear your message?  So this is your reminder to be a little more brave, be a little bit more bold and start making progress. Sure, you might be a little crappy to start but you can't get better until you get started. 

I hope that these stories fire you up and give you some ideas around what's possible when it comes to leveraging your voice and your message as a marketing tool in your business.

In this episode, you’ll meet:

• Lindsay Yaw Rogers - a storyteller who helps entrepreneurs, small businesses and brands build powerful stories to fuel growth, connection, and impact.
• Krystalore Crews - Lifestyle Coach and Consultant with a mission to have everyone in the world show up and share their gifts with the world.

Episode Highlights:

• How as an expert we struggle to own our expert status
• What does speaking looks like in their business and how  it evolve
• What they have gone through in the process of crafting their talk
• Navigating imposter syndrome and the feeling of overwhelm in stage (and life in general)
• The importance of having a community that will support you on your speaking journey
• Plus some tips to know when’s the right time to get serious about speaking so you can make a confident decision in investing for yourself

EPISODE  SHOW NOTES👇

https://heathersager.com/episode170/

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Transcript

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Heather Sager  0:01  

Well, hey friends, we are here live coming at you with a round of of speaker success stories. Today I'm going to bring on a couple of our clients here from The Speaker Co to share their journeys of how leveraging their message and their voices in the last year has made a bigger impact with their business. I'm gonna bring them on live here in just a moment, you're going to hear from a few of them. If you've been keeping your eye out on our launch over the last week here at  The speaker Co we are in the launch right now for the Speaker Society, which is our program to help online business owners better articulate their message by creating a signature talk and leveraging that talk as a marketing tool to drive qualified leads back in their business. 

Heather Sager  0:45  

So you've ever been thinking about, okay, maybe I need to be a little bit more cohesive, and clear and concis when I spea,. if you've ever had a moment on a podcast or on a live stream, where you're rambling through things, and you don't know if it's making sense, or if it's adding value to the ideal person or whether or not you're actually getting leverage from that opportunity. It's actually paying off with all that time and effort, then this is going to be the right live stream for you. I'm going to interview Lindsay and Krystalore today, and then we're going to drop the audio from this on to the podcast on The Heather Sager show so you'll be able to come back and listen to this. I know I can see some of you popping in here that I'm sure you'll pop in pop out as we have this conversation. So the audio from today will go up on the podcast. But hey, I see you here live. I'm gonna bring on Lindsey here to join me, so let me go here and get this thing figured out, accept you up.

Heather Sager  1:43  

tell y'all a little bit about this. Okay, hopefully this will work. This is a new adventure. Oh, there we go.

Heather Sager  1:51  

How are you doing? Good. Good. How are you? I am good. Y'all in the chat. I can see you guys here. Can you just confirm that you can hear both Lindsey and I right now. Hang on real quick. I'm gonna get myself situated. Now that my bottom half is cut off. Let me make my head nice and large. At the top here. Y'all just for the people listening. If y'all haven't gone into Instagram, live with another person. This is a really great way to test getting comfortable on camera. There are some techy things to figure out. So go live with someone who is going to be gracious with you and figure it out. And Lindsey this is your first time going live on Instagram. Yeah,

Lindsay Rogers  2:23  

this is my first time going live. So Oh, thinking I'm not going to do this right. I don't I don't know what to do. I don't know what to. Thanks for. Thanks for bearing with me. You're welcome.

Heather Sager  2:33  

I just popped your Instagram Live cherry. So here we go. In real time. We're gonna have some fun today. Alright, so formal introduction. So y'all Lindsay and I met a few years ago. She's a storytelling. Storytelling coach is like not the right term, but you help significant brands tell, like craft their story and tell them in a compelling way to get better brand longevity. So get better brand loyalty, trust all those things. You're really, really good at storytelling. So I remember when you reached out to me and said, Heather, will you help me with speaking? I'm like, sure storyteller. And we have the conversation and got into it. So why don't you just give people the quick synopsis around what you do in your business? And then how speaking has fit in prior to six months ago?

Lindsay Rogers  3:15  

Sure, sure. So right now I. So I came from the journalism world. And so yes, storytelling is sort of in my background, and the craft of storytelling is in my background. But there's a difference between, you know, knowing the mechanics of storytelling and actually telling stories on a stage and then lots of environments. So generally speaking, what I do is I work with athletes, entrepreneurs, and now a lot of leaders within a corporate environment to use daily storytelling as kind of a leverage point to position themselves for growth. So anything from creating really powerful messages and really powerful stories that they can use in a variety of environments. So it could be anything from an Instagram Live, like we're doing to a stage to just in an office environment, when you're like having having meetings with other people. So it you know, when you think about the idea of storytelling, it is actually a really helpful communication tool in so many different environments. So when I came to you, I had been working with a bunch of different types of clients in two of those clients came to me and said, Hey, we have these events that we have coming up. Can you speak at them? And I said, yeah, yeah, totally. But what I didn't totally prepare for is kind of the onslaught of emotions that come with doing like a really big talk in front of a lot of people. And I think what really threw me was that I was putting so much pressure on these talks because I knew that there was huge potential for growth beyond that. So when I reached out to you, it was sort of on my knees kind of begging, like, please help me like I want this to be Amazing wants to be great. I see a lot of opportunities from it. So that's that's where our journey began.

Heather Sager  5:06  

Yeah. And you know, it's so interesting that you say that it's, it seems kind of silly to think about, but this is probably you experts, this most likely with your clients too, right? You when you work with people who are really good at what they do, who know their expertise, like they know that the quality of their work is really, really high. Do you use the word pressure, you put a lot of pressure on yourself? I think this is really indicative of a lot of people who are probably listening are gonna come back and watch this on the replay is that we know we're good at what we do. We know what we do, like gets results, but we put this pressure that what if we show up and start speaking whether it's on a podcast or on a live or on a stage like that in front of a really big audience? What if people think that we're like, dum dum, or like that they don't see how good we are. So talk me through that. What was kind of a disconnect for you around like, what would happen is if you didn't have your shit together on that stage?

Lindsay Rogers  5:56  

Yeah, you know, there's that catastrophizing thing that we all do, where you catastrophize sort of the worst case scenario, and I think there was a couple of things going on. Sorry, I have a sick kid, you'll hear him behind me coughing, I'll just. So I think that catastrophizing for me wasn't so much worried about, like getting on the stage and like, totally freezing, although, I think that's that's like a thought for everyone. It's a fear for everyone. Yeah. But I think it was more like, what if I'm not amazing? Like, what if I don't get the reaction from the audience? What if I don't get the hands going up? What if I, you know, so I kind of get this feeling of like, I don't get the feedback that I need to kind of keep the energy on stage. So that's more what I was catastrophizing about, versus kind of like, I'm just going to freeze and freak out on stage. So you know, in what, what I was really surprised by was sort of the emotional element and the emotional rollercoaster. It took me through that, you know, saying, yes, it was speaking engagement. I mean, just to be totally honest, you know, this, this level of speaking was totally new to me. And so, being thrown to that degree was shocking. And so when I gain when I joined your program, I think what was unexpected is like how much emotional support you need, and you get, and it comes from you undoubtedly, and it also comes from that community element where I mean, you notice but people showed up for like a practice session, just like five or six people were like, Yeah, Linds. All, all help and I'll help you. And that was just because they're, they're like, supporting each other. So that was, it was most surprising from I can't believe I reacted this strongly, emotionally, and I can't believe like people just like threw up their hand to support everyone. So

Heather Sager  7:47  

yeah, it's a good feeling. It's a good feeling. Can you talk about you mentioned the term like speaking at this level was new to you? Can you break down what that means? For someone listening? Like, what what does that mean to you speaking at this level?

Lindsay Rogers  7:58  

Yeah, I think for me is, you know, I do a lot of talking, you know, just like talking in my programs and talking to people over zoom and talking to people in like a small setting. But when I'm on a stage lights on me, miked up, there's like, you know, hundreds of people, the audience staring at me, and only me waiting for these, like, huge bombs to drop on them that that'll like, you know, quote, unquote, change their lives, or at least that's what I'm expecting myself. That was, I think, where the pressure came like that I just hadn't, I had never done that kind of speaking, where it almost was like, if I, if I did this, well, then there's a positive consequence to it. Versus like, all the other stuff is like, I know, I'm gonna get an outcome and results for my clients on Zoom and all that stuff. But this felt like, it just felt bigger. It felt like if I do this, well, the potential for other things to come down the pike are much greater.

Heather Sager  8:57  

And remind me when you when you join the program in March, I know you'd had a speaking engagement books. Was that your first like, paid speaking gig?

Lindsay Rogers  9:06  

Totally. Yeah. Yeah. And I wasn't, it's funny, like I was, I was remembering this with my husband, like a week or two ago, where I put out to him, like I would love at some point in my future to be on a stage because I know, it'll be a place where I can impact more people. But that was like, down the road, a vision board somewhere on my vision board that I don't even have down the road. And so when it came, it was just like, it actually was thinking about this right before we hopped on that, you know, these these programs that I have individuals and groups go through. I thought that's that's what it was just going to be it's going to continue to be those things. But I would tell people like when you're doing your program, if you do it well enough, people are going to ask you to do other things. I mean, you know, you get asked to speak to you People are gonna ask you to do other things, and then that will start to grow your business. So like when I got asked to do those speaking things, it was like, Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm doing. I said yes to this. But now I kind of got the high from it a little bit. So now I want to do it more and that now I have other those two than I have one coming out. That's a keynote. And then I have three more the end of the year that I did not seek out it was all it's all just kind of from programs and clients and past. Yeah, that's referrals. So yeah, that's good.

Heather Sager  10:35  

That ripple effect, you know, it's so it's so funny. One of the number one questions I get anytime I open up a q&a or pay dog is a doggy, doggy.

Lindsay Rogers  10:44  

Oh my gosh, just so many

Heather Sager  10:45  

noises. Like I asked where y'all do need help, like anytime there's a q&a of any sorts on Instagram or on on the podcast. Everyone's always like, how do I find speaking opportunities? And well, that's always a well and great question. You've discovered the secret which you I mean, you experience once you start doing just spilled my coffee all over my arm, that when you do a gig and you do it well, opportunities, then come, somebody the audience notices, or client notices that or people see that you speak and are like, oh, I want you to speak. But it's the Domino, but you have to have a really good talk to get that dominoes started. So why don't we talk a little bit about about that when you when you joined the program back in March, you'd had a gig book. So you flew through the curriculum, and started building out a talk? Can you talk a little bit about what that experience was like for you crafting a talk? Because it was you spoke before but this was a relatively new process.

Lindsay Rogers  11:37  

Yeah, I had never gone to the process of creating a talk like this. And so for me, I'm very much like if I if I have a system in front of me that I can follow, I would like head down, follow it to a tee. And so I think, you know, in that moment I needed like your, your framework of, you know, here's, here's what you need to open with. And here's why. Here's the middle section, and the what, and then, you know, here's how you can, you know, bring the audience in, like all these little tips and tricks that I never even thought about before, that I think truly changed my talk. I mean, I the talk that I went into your program with was nothing did not resemble anything, or did not resemble the talk that I came out with, like nothing. So I think the experience was that I had to, I feel like I had to, like disassemble everything first. And then like reassemble it, like, I'm going to spin my camera around, because this is still a risk to

Heather Sager  12:39  

have it on your back from you.

Lindsay Rogers  12:43  

So I keep it up because I, I there's so many things that I use just in my program and stuff. I'm like, I gotta remember to do that. But so I think I think it was kind of like breaking it all apart and putting it back together in the format that had like a really nice cadence that like brought people in it, like integrated them into the talk more than I was doing. And so yeah, it just, it just felt like really organized and felt like I could I could move through it and have this very package talk at the end of it that I had full confidence in. So

Heather Sager  13:17  

yeah, oh my gosh, was so good. I love it, you still have to post it notes up. That's one of the okay, you know, how we all have our things about us that we think are common knowledge where we think that people just get it and then you realize that people don't, that thing that you're describing. So if those of you watching, hey, we're talking about we're talking with Lindsey sharing her speaking story, in a moment, I'm gonna bring on Crystal Laura, she's going to talk about her experience with speaking, doors are open right now for our signature program, the Speaker of society where we teach you how, what exactly what we're talking about here, how to craft your signature, talk and go out and not just find speaking engagements, but leverage those to create more opportunities and drive leads back in your business. But what Lindsay's talking about here is as experts, what we struggle with oftentimes is talking about our expertise in a way where audience gets it and understands it, we're so close to it, you've heard the expression, he can't read the label from inside the jar, when you're an expert, you're inside the jar. And you can't necessarily see how to talk about your stuff in a way that attracts people into you just talk about it like an expert. And that doesn't work when you're leveraging speaking as a marketing tool. So what Lindsay described in all those post it notes on our wall is an exercise that we do call the bucket typing exercise, where essentially we flip your jar, I eat your brain upside down, we broaden it out and get all the things out. And then we actually organize your expertise in a way where you can say definitively, these are the kinds of things that I don't actually need to talk about on a stage because they're overwhelming to my audience. versus these are the messaging points that I'm hammering on over and over again, to attract people in my program. So that's a little bit of what we do inside the program. And that's what Lindsey is talking about around getting things organized. So let's talk about a little bit about the results. Or actually, I want to ask you, Lindsay, before we get to results, you hit on this piece that it was a little more. It was a little more of an emotional journey. We don't have to get to all those pieces. But can you talk about you are a person who was comfortable speaking in front of groups, yet, when you had this pressure to put it in a structure, it kind of unraveled that like, oh my gosh, like, what if I don't get it right? How did you navigate that? Unexpected timidness with the stage?

Lindsay Rogers  15:17  

You know, I think, first of all, having a talk that I was confident in from a structure standpoint, knowing, okay, I'm going to I'm going to move through all the essential elements, and then I'm going to practice the daylight. So I would go, I would go on walks, and like, have my notes in my pocket. And I would literally, like talk out loud, but I stick headphones in. So if I walked by people just talking

Heather Sager  15:44  

to I'm talking to no one I'm talking to myself, but I don't think people thinking that I'm talking to myself.

Lindsay Rogers  15:49  

Exactly, exactly. But yeah, I mean, I think I think for me, when I get that feeling of overwhelm, and in life, generally speaking, which happens more than I'd like to admit is, I try to stop and just ask myself, like, what's the one next step? Like, what's the one next step you need to do? And then what's the one next step? What's the one next step? And I think, like going, it's funny, I just brought out all of your notes earlier, because I'm getting ready for this next, like keynote, and I, and I kind of got that feeling of like, Oh, God, kind of freaking out again. And then I was just like, what next step lens. And so I think what's nice about your program is that has like, again, you'd like break it all down at the beginning, and you just slowly build it back up. So I just, I would do like one step. And I would complete it 100% of the way. And then one step, I complete 100% of the way. So I think by the end, I just had more confidence that like this was, this was good. Like, this was the thing that I needed to do. And then, you know, once I once I like, practice that enough and got all those jitters out, then I, I felt like once I got on stage, it was like autopilot. It was like, Oh, this, I can totally do this. And all the nerves sort of calm down after that

Heather Sager  17:05  

they melt away when you're there. You know, I think this is one of the big differences around. So how we teach speaking, versus I think how other people approach it in other programs is, it's not about having a script, it's not having like this specific thing where you have to do things a certain way. And if you don't, like you're gonna miss something, but what we're doing is fundamentally teaching like persuasion and communication skills, and how do you layer in a message so that you're confident in the structure, but also, if you get thrown off track, you can recover because you understand how to navigate your audience on that journey. So it's really teaching you that that framework. So let's, let's talk about the results. So since you've gone to the program, we deliver that first talk in May, here we are five months later in October, what speaking look like for you right now you can take to some speaking gigs coming up.

Lindsay Rogers  17:48  

Yeah. And again, it's so it's so interesting, because I I just hired someone and I was like, just so you know, this is like a place, I think I'm gonna start to put more energy because I have not really intentionally put any energy into it. And so it's just come this way. And so I actually was thinking about this to where you talk about your signature story is like that accordion where it's like, you want to have the longer version want to have a shorter version, it's I think it's the same with whatever you're delivering, like your program where you want to have like the signature talk version of your program where you can go in and you can kind of give people the like, what of your entire program and an hour, kind of like a webinar. And I think because I looked at my talk that way, where I delivered like a lot of value right up front, people started to kind of come back. So like the first talk I did was in front of, like several 100 athletes at the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, they do like a Team USA event back in DC, and then they go meet the president. So that was the first one and I so now I have do like multiple cohorts with with Team USA athletes. So that's like continuing more than I was anticipating. The other talk was from is this like big insurance company. And now multiple groups within that insurance company is hiring me both for talks, but also for programs, I mean, to the tune of, I mean, I don't need to like lay down a ton of numbers, but it's, it's like a giant extra revenue stream in my business, that it was totally unanticipated for 2022 and then hopefully more for 23. But I mean, in 22, it's like doubling my income. So it's Shinsei double, almost doubling the income. But I think with the programs that I've booked, in addition to the speaking events, because the speaking event, for example, at the insurance company, I've had two subsequent speaking events, but in addition, because they saw that they're like, oh, we need you to teach this way. A large swath of our kind of brokers within sight with within their company. And so, you know, it's not just that I'm getting more speaking gigs, it's just that I'm getting a lot more clients and they're way higher value. And I think that's the thing that surprised me is that, you know, when people see you on a stage, they have a really different perception of you than if they just see you doing stuff, you know, on Zoom. Like they think stage they think she's got like more impact or she's more in demand. So there's, there's a little bit of a mindset switch that other people have in terms of your perception out in the world, when you get on the stage. So that's been a little bit surprising for me, too. 

Heather Sager  20:41  

And yeah, I think I think that was so powerful to talk about, because I think oftentimes we talk about quantity, get more eyes on our staff reach more people. And that's important, but we talk a lot about intentional visibility in that quality piece. And one of the things that you've been a really great example of is you get on the right stage. And it's not just about the people in the room in terms of potential clients, the individuals, it's also the organization who hires you, there's potential in that relationship deeper with higher level corporate consulting contracts, which is what you're doing, there are other variations of workshops. So opening up people's minds to think about it's not just a get on a stage is my prospect in front of me, can I convert them to my $500? To $2,500? Program? Yeah, that's all well, and great, we can do that. But think broader, higher level contracts for consulting, we think, multiple workshops series, client, Michelle, who was on the podcast this week, where she talked about how she took her yoga class, it's normally $20. Ahead, she turned that into a corporate mindfulness program, and she booked a five figure contract with Johnson and Johnson tastes amazing. It's a crazy, right, same same group. So it's one of these things that shifting minds of people who are watching, it's not just about the stage, just the opportunities, the stage opens for you. That cloud, the cloud and credibility that you talk about. It's awesome. So okay, I can talk to you all day long, Lindsey. But I want to respect your time, and your kiddo down there on the floor. So for anyone who's watching who's considering this right now, the time for me to step up speaking, do you have any words of encouragement or advice just to help them we're in that mode, where people are really making decisions of whether or not they're going to invest in the speaker society? Or they're going to start raising their hand to speak any advice or thoughts for them? So they can make a confident decision? Which, whatever that is?

Lindsay Rogers  22:26  

Yeah, can I swear on here? Yeah, yeah, go for it. There was, so I was, I will just say, I was scared shitless of this, okay, I was totally scared. shitless. And through like, a huge process, it has like, blown my mind what doors this opened. And I will say, I mean, you You saw me like tears and like a complete disaster working through all of this. And, and I think through that whole process, it not only like changed my business, but it's sort of like give me a lot more confidence and like standing in my message. And because you do a lot of messaging to which by the ways you're very good at. And so I think when people are wondering, should I do this? Should I not like it? Does it have all those other elements, or I'm just being taught to speak? It's way more than just seeking, it's more like, who you are standing in front of other people, how you present yourself what confidence you have? And can I nail My message to such a degree that you really impact people's lives. And so that's where I think your your special sauces is that you know, how to, like do these really powerful, potent individual messages that kind of sink your talk and to be like, this is the one thing I am delivering to you. You really help with that. But yeah, I guess I would just say, if you're wondering if this is going to help you, it'll help you and far more ways than just getting speaking gigs.

Heather Sager  23:57  

Whatever you like, Would it be fair to say that you got a return on your investment in the program?

Lindsay Rogers  24:03  

I mean, I think it's like, I've been I can't I can't do math on on the spot right now. But what was the investment like 2500, or whatever it was, and I mean, by the end of the year, I'll probably have booked like, probably 80,000 speaking gigs. So yeah, definitely.

Heather Sager  24:19  

I think that's pretty incredible. That's not even thinking about the impact of speaking gigs will create and other contracts and opportunities. So yeah, that's pretty incredible. All right, Lindsey, where can people connect with you? I know you're here on your personal Instagram, but where's the best place? People want to learn more about storytelling and all the great things that you do with athletes and entrepreneurs?

Lindsay Rogers  24:36  

Yeah, thanks. So I would say go to my website is raw strategy dotnet. And then my Instagram is at Raw strategy. And that's where you can find me.

Heather Sager  24:46  

Yeah, perfect. And if you guys want to hear a little bit more about Lindsay's approach to storytelling, she was on my podcast a year and a half ago. So sidenote, we'll make sure that we grab a link and get that somewhere. When we put this audio on the podcast. We'll link to that too. But Lindsay joined me and this was like a long I mean this long time ago and 2020, where we started talking about storytelling. So you'll actually even hear in Lindsay's voice just the change around how she talks about what she does over the last 18 months, which is pretty cool. All right, cool. Thank you so much for everybody here that sick kid, I will talk to you real soon.

Lindsay Rogers  25:17  

Okay, sounds good. Thanks again. All

Heather Sager  25:19  

right, bye. Okay, now what we're gonna do, I gotta figure out how to get Lindsay out of here. This is always the awkward transition. But y'all we're just gonna embrace the awkwardness. Here, I don't know how I believe in you, I gotta find you. This is the awkward everybody look away. But don't go anywhere.

Lindsay Rogers  25:37  

Maybe I leave the live. Oh,

Heather Sager  25:39  

the live leave the live and come back. I'm gonna bring closer. Alright. Hello, are if you are in the house, you're up next baby doll. We are here we are talking all about speaking and how speaking is one of the best marketing tools that you can use to share your message, share your story, but better connect with your ideal clients and attract those people that you can actually help. You can do that through speaking speaking on stage speaking on podcast, we can live streams like this, the better you can articulate the value of what you do and what you have to offer to your ideal client, the more likely they're going to see you as a trusted resource that can help them and guide them to the results that they want. So hey, Kristin, Laura, I see you there. She's requesting to join me. I'm going to figure out how to bring her up. Here we go. Go Live. Here we go. Wait for it. And it's happening. It's happening. All right. So our next guest that I am bringing on here is Krystalore Crews. Hey, girl, how you doing?

Krystalore Crews  26:37  

I am great. How are you?

Heather Sager  26:39  

I'm so good. We're having fun. I saw that you here were chatting, seeing your cohort me, Lindsey on talking about her success. And I can't wait. It's been a hot minute since you and I have connected. So I'm so excited to talk to you all about speaking. But just real quick context of crystal Laura is an empowerment coach, a coach for women. My favorite thing is she's got this like incredible, unique way that she supports people, she helps busy women put themselves first in just 34 minutes a day. And I'm gonna let her tell you all about that in a moment. But we're here to talk about how crystal or has really turned her mass into a message and she's out there all the freaking time. If you follow her on Instagram, you're gonna see her in all of the places leveraging stages all the time. But crystal or why don't you just give a little context around around your story? And what and what you do and a little more detail.

Krystalore Crews  27:25  

Yes, hi. Oh my gosh, so great to be here. It's so great to see you. And I'm so grateful for your program, it has changed my whole life, my business, my confidence. And a little bit about my story. I have been in the military for over 20 years, as I was transitioning out of the military into retirement as a full blown entrepreneur full time this year. Most of my goals was to get on stages, right. And I've been a former former NFL cheerleader, I have been a professional dancer since really since I could walk. And for many, many years, I didn't think I had a voice. And so as a marathon runner, and if you can see on my medals, but I'm a marathon runner, and I don't use my voice, I don't use my mouth, right i don't i It's a very internal process. And it's a it has been a very kind of independent and lonely journey. Right? And so what I found is through my resilience story, people kept asking me, why are Ron so much and telling me that I need to slow down and telling me all of these limit limiting beliefs that I started to believe, right? And, and so what I found is answering that question over and over again, I realized I had a voice and I had a message that I needed to give, after spending several months in a wheelchair severely, you know, basically down and out with not being able to walk, let alone run marathon. So I had to tell that story over and over. And what I found is over the years trying to build my business and my brand. I needed to keep telling it, but I didn't feel confident telling it. And so when I got presented with opportunities to speak, it got scary. I was like, I don't know how to do this thing formally. And I can Google all the things, but I need a community and I need support. And I've been following you for years. And just like you teach us in our program of speaking on stages on stories, people might follow you for years before they before they actually send you a message and say yes, and then you're the person for me and you were that person. So I just want to thank you so much. You're welcome.

Heather Sager  29:37  

I'll be that person. I think that's a good reminder. I think oftentimes we're looking for instantaneous feedback, right? We're hoping that like if we get it right then the people will just show up and a lot of times it takes a long time so maybe you meet someone on stage we're gonna get speaking gig and maybe they just follow you but they just wait on the sidelines. They'll come with a ready you gotta keep showing up. So when we when we connected formally Late last spring, I think it was in March, you joined the speaker workshops. And talk to me a little bit about how was speaking showing up for you at that point in time, you were already out there, you were already doing some big things. So tell me about what looked like that. Yeah, so

Krystalore Crews  30:13  

I was getting, you know, requests for podcasts I was on, I was a guest speaker at different summits, virtual summits throughout COVID. And what I didn't realize is I was already on a lot of stages that I didn't give myself credit for. And that was the one really awesome kind of confidence booster that I got, almost instantaneously for joining your program. Because I thought I needed to start fresh, I needed to like, assemble this whole thing, which was overwhelming. And I didn't want to start a whole new business for my speaking business, if you will. And so what I found was, I was able to capitalize on the stages that I was already on, which was really cool, because I just got to find to my message, and recognize that, hey, my group fitness program, like I streamed live three times a week, at least in my group fitness program for 30 minutes, like, this is where I do it on this yoga mat in this room, or wherever I'm at with a tripod, and a yoga mat, and just me in front of the camera. And I didn't realize that that was a stage. And I have over 400 recordings in this group on demand for women all over the world now. And it just was really cool for me to kind of see what stages I was already on that I could capitalize on, and then just kind of see what else was possible. And really fine tune my message of what, what I what I thought my business was going to be and what I'm open for the opportunity now. So it's really cool.

Heather Sager  31:39  

Yeah, that's cool. And you had you had booked a speaking opportunity. And that was really the catalyst of you going, alright, I gotta take this shit, seriously, I gotta do something about it. So take us back a little bit in the spring when you had booked an opportunity. And then I think another one came along. Talk a little bit about how that how that worked out?

Krystalore Crews  31:55  

Yeah. So I made a commitment this year, to really get my message out there more. So I said yes to an opportunity to speak in front of 50 entrepreneurs. And I had never spoken on the stage to 50 entrepreneurs before. But I said yes. Because I connected with this woman. And she's like, You got to tell your story. Can you please speak at this event? And I'm like, Sure, yes, open for opportunities. And then I'm like, Oh, crap, I guess I gotta get this together. But what I didn't realize is that you taught the accordion method that I already had, of course, I have several courses that I built, I had the message set, but I just didn't have the right in the right order to be able to organize it in a way that is sustained, succinct, and that my audiences prepared to hear in, in a journey. Right. And so back then I just, you know, as a competence coach, I liked so much confidence going into that and starting your program, because I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. And so it really kind of kept me from showing up, even on my own platforms, because yeah, I thought I needed to re define all everything that I did. And I didn't have to, I just kind of took the pieces. And I want to show you because I know Lindsey shared hers. But it's still there.

Heather Sager  33:15  

Oh, y'all, y'all are giving me posted for

Krystalore Crews  33:21  

you over there. But you know, all the posts are like losing their stickiness and they're like falling down. But I like smash up back up on the wall. And like it's staying there. I'm talking about that tomorrow. But it's just it was it was such a kind of an overwhelming space. For me, it was a vulnerable space. Because as a dancer and a performer like I'm, I'm used to being front and center, right and being the energy of the room. But I didn't have the competence in my voice and my message. And I think that hurt more than anything. Because I knew that I needed to reach my audience so bad, because I knew that that is that. That's the key that unlocks everything. And I just didn't have the tools to do it.

Heather Sager  34:06  

Yeah, you know, okay, let's, let's talk about that word, confidence, your confidence coach. But this, this comes up a lot. And it's one of those things that confidence can feel very fluffy. But it very much can be the thing that holds people back even if they're not afraid of stages, there's something right that's holding them back from maybe being more authentic or creating better content to share on a stage whatever that looks like. So I'm curious, your your confidence was shaky for a variety reasons at the start. What do you say? What would you say really attributed to you getting that confidence quickly out of the gate so that you can start getting back on the path of traction?

Krystalore Crews  34:38  

I love this question because I was on a workshop. And it was Susan. I was in a workshop with her. We did a work we do like co working sessions right? And it was so beautiful because I read her my mic my outline, right? And I kept saying 34 minutes today. It's just 34 minutes, right? And she's like, there's something with that. 34 minutes Now I wasn't consistent in that message. And that literally unlocked everything. So I have been saying it every single day since then. And that's part of my main message. Everyone's like, 34 minutes, I could do that. Right? And it's just, it gained so much clarity, not only for me, but for my clients where it's like, yes, you can do this, and not only gave me confidence and clarity, but it gives my clients confidence and clarity. And that's really Yeah.

Heather Sager  35:25  

Okay, I love that. So I'm going to reflect back what you said. And I'm gonna elaborate on that for those that are listening or watching. So one of the things that we do inside the program, we used to do co working rooms, what we're doing in our new cohort of the speaker society, is all of our calls have a breakout function, which we call the ramble room, where essentially, you have space with two to four other business owners to talk your ideas out loud, because what crystal are just described is so often as entrepreneurs, we hold things in our head. And it's similar to what we were talking about with Lindsay earlier that we're still in it. We don't even realize our magic, until somebody else reflects back what we just said and said, Hold on, Did you just hear how good that sounded? We wait, I don't think you're giving yourself credit for that one thing there until you have that reflecting back from another person, or you're just hearing your own words out loud in front of other people. There's this click that happens where you're like, hold on, that's the gold. I shouldn't be saying this more. Or you realize that you're rambling about things that don't actually matter. You're spending all your energy on something that's not important to your audience. So that ramble room that that word vomiting time, as we call it, there is magic in that. And the challenge is most people don't have space for it. They're on their own with their cell phone, which is great. But actual real humans real ears, real eyes hearing and seeing your message. That's a game changer. So can you I'm just curious, is that provoke something for you? Can you talk a little bit more about that value of getting feedback from either a coach and or other community members?

Krystalore Crews  36:52  

Yes, absolutely. I think it's gold. It really is because I even published a journal. And that helped my confidence, right? As a business owner, as an entrepreneur. And I journal write, I write things out. And and that was, as far as I could go without that feedback. And when you think about confidence, and especially as entrepreneurs, like, yes, we want to get our message out there, we want to tell people about about our business. But we don't want to hog the mic. We don't want to hog the room. We don't want to bother people, or burden people with you know, Hey, can I work this out for you for hours on end? And, you know, and just make it all about me, we don't want that, right. And so at least I don't. And so it was an awesome space for me to just have unbiased friends very neutral, saying, Listen, I'm hearing these, these themes. They saw things in me that I didn't see, you saw things in me that I didn't see. And I was able to just be in that community and get picked up when, you know, when we're feeling down. You know, even hearing Lindsey and being there for Lindsay, and everyone else in the group. It inspired me to just keep going. And I learned so much just from hearing other people and being in that even if I wasn't speaking, if it wasn't my turn yet. I just learned so much just from all the other members of the group.

Heather Sager  38:10  

Yeah, this has been one of my favorite parts about building a coaching program and a coaching community is oftentimes the person who's not in the hot seat, ie everyone in the peanut gallery, right, who's watching and we have a process where everyone has a role on a coaching call, even if it's listening to paying attention and being ready to get feedback, but being able to observe someone getting coaching, I think a lot of people maybe you can speak to this. I think a lot of people think group coaching programs and they're like, Oh, am I gonna get a turn? Am I gonna get like how many people are gonna be on the call? Am I gonna get my question answered? Are you gonna look at my story, my feedback, and it's kind of hard to explain how maybe not being the hotseat is valuable. So can you actually talk about that just for a moment?

Krystalore Crews  38:54  

Yeah, and I actually thought about this. When I was in my retreat last week, I now host retreats on the top of mountain in Costa Rica. And I had six incredible women, right that I was coaching. And and I'll tell you, I had them do video testimonials at the end of the week, just one on one in their own space. And the one woman that had the most impactful, the most impactful testimony, the the one that really made the most change, and the most moves was the one that was never in the hot seat. She was the one that kind of sat back, she was kind of quiet. She wasn't always speaking. And for a couple of minutes there I thought or, you know, for a couple of moments throughout the week. I was like, I hope I'm connecting, you know, I would check in with her. But really at the end, it was so powerful and she shared things that she didn't share throughout the week at the end of the week that brought me to tears like

Heather Sager  39:48  

it's kind of smile as a coach, I think let me let me hit on that for just a moment because I think Okay, so we're talking about speaking we're talking about being in front of audiences. I want everyone to hear this loud and clear. A lot of times we can rave that instant feedback, we want the claps, we want the praise, we want the Holy crap, you're amazing. And those things feel really good. And we do want those, right, because it lifts us up. But oftentimes our message is going to land with someone who isn't that verbal, in your face person. And it does remain this whole, like internal thing in your brain are like, do they like it? Did they not? Like I don't know, did it land did it not part of being a commanding speaker and making a career out of this is one of the revenue lands in your business is you have to, you have to grapple with that you're not necessarily always getting feedback, and actually that quietness of the people who don't tell you, you have to trust that you are helping and serving them. And you got to be your own hype person a bit. So I'm glad that you said that, because I think we think that it's going to be instant praises and claps and that might come to, but you also have to get comfortable in the quiet.

Krystalore Crews  40:50  

Yeah, that takes a lot of patience. And that, yeah, actually, it goes towards the competence to right and just trusting in your own competence and your own gifts. And that if your mess if your message if your message turns into your message, and your audience needs to hear it, they're going to hear it in their own way. And not everyone is like a cheerleader, front and center like, Yes, I'm resonating like this is a man. And, you know, I think COVID really helps me with that. Because I'm speaking into a screen. And if I looked at the numbers, like you help us really not worry about the numbers, we look at the numbers for data, but not worry about the numbers, because you can tell if your energy dips, if someone Oh, no, someone's topping off my life, you know, and I went through that. And so me speaking into a screen, and recognizing that that's a stage without that feedback. I had to grow up through that, too. So that was, that was really powerful.

Heather Sager  41:46  

Okay, that's so good. All right. So let's talk a little bit about one of your big wins that you have inside the program. Was you booked that that states right in front of the 50 entrepreneurs, so take us to that moment around? You worked on your talk, you rolled that event? And what happened? Like how did you feel how did it go? What's happened since?

Krystalore Crews  42:04  

Oh, my gosh, it was a lot of things. Oh, words to that experience. The one thing that I did not do that I was kicking myself the night before is I didn't do slides. Because I was like, I'm gonna speak off the cuff. And then I went, Oh, crap. I think I need slides. So the night before I'm typing on my slides, and they were beautiful, because we had that amazing slide workshop. And

Heather Sager  42:32  

who was taught by my new business partner who will teach you all how to do this all the speakers society.

Krystalore Crews  42:37  

Amazing. And I actually spoke at another event today. And I use those same slides. So I was able to rinse and repeat that same, that same keynote, which was really cool. And I use the slides and it was awesome. But what it was really cool. It did the slides, I was so confident. I showed up in a white dress. However, I got no sleep the night before I was I didn't know anyone. I met a lot of people on clubhouse that a couple of these people from clubhouse so I met all of them in person for the first time. And they actually ended up partnering with a couple of them. And I've gotten tons of speaking engagements since then a lot of partnerships, a lot of beautiful relationships and friendships. I now host my own show on clubhouse on Mondays in the breakfast of champions group. It's called health as well. So Mondays at noon Eastern, I'm on there every Monday now. And I'm running rooms and moderating rooms, which is like so wild. I've also so from that, from that particular engagement, I also started a blog from all of my, the challenge, the first challenge that we had was to go live on our own stage. And so I started Coffee Chat. So I started their careers beyond the limits Coffee Chat almost every day in my free group, my free community, and I turned them into blocks, and now they're on YouTube. So now I have a blog, a YouTube channel and repurposing content. I do more with less and I'm speaking on stages and rinsing and repeating and using your accordion method that 45 minute keynote. I did it in 20 minutes yesterday, so that was pretty cool.

Heather Sager  44:21  

I'm not from talking faster, just knowing how to condense it down for the timeframe. Right. Exactly. Okay, that's that's friggin amazing. Okay, I want to highlight one of the things that you just said earlier around how that speaking opportunity opened up partnership opportunities, collaborations, more stages, and then you went into repurposing there were like so many gems in what you just said there. So sidenote, y'all rewind that when you listen to this audio replay on the podcast because she just gave you a masterclass on how to turn one opportunity into a ton of them. But what it comes down to it's all double down on what I talked about when Lindsey came on. We think that Oh speaking is a I share a message and it connects with ears. And eyes, and hopefully those people by, but remember, there is another audience we are after when it comes to speaking. And it's the host of the platform who allows you there. And the other speakers, there's that network that you build those relationships that those then open up more doors, more stages, more opportunities, they can be collaborations, it could be future speaking opportunities. It could be joint ventures, it could be more content, like so many freaking opportunities. But we haven't talked about those a lot here so far in this launch and speaker society, because that's what's waiting for you on the other side of creating a damn good talk. And so I just love like, love frickin listening to you. I'll ask you the same question. I asked Lindsay. If anyone who is listening, and they're still on the fence trying to determine whether or not now's the right time to double down on speaking or whether or not they want to learn inside our community? Do you have any words of advice or encouragement to help them make a decision? Either one way or the other?

Krystalore Crews  45:54  

I say what do you have to lose? Right? I mean, you're robbing the people that need to hear your voice that need to hear the right message at the right time. And the more you wait, the more you procrastinate, like so the more overwhelming it's going to get. And it is an investment of you and your future self and the in your clients. So and everyone who needs to hear your message. So I say go for it. Because there's there's nothing like it, just knowing that the confidence and the work that you do on yourself. It's there are no words.

Heather Sager  46:31  

Would you say that you have made a return on your investment in the program? Absolutely. For sure. But that would that be from speaking engagements from other things? Books? You don't have to give the numbers on that. But can you give a little bit around financially? How have you made that return back? Yeah. So

Krystalore Crews  46:47  

I think it's not so much financially because I don't book a lot of paid speaking gigs yet. But I'm getting out there more. I'm getting confident being out there. Every single day, no matter what I'm getting asked to speak. I'm getting asked back, I was actually leading a an entire summit for Lewis house, like I was one of the lead volunteers at his event. Like, that was huge, right. And so there's a lot of opportunities that come just from showing up and investing in yourself so that tenfold already, and I'm open for what's next. Never No, I

Heather Sager  47:23  

love that. I love that. All right, where can people further connect with you to learn more about what you do and follow your work and cheer you on?

Krystalore Crews  47:30  

Yeah, so my website is Chris de lor cruz.com. And my Instagram is the Cruz coach. See our AWS COA ch so yeah,

Heather Sager  47:40  

you're amazing. I appreciate you so, so much. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to share your story. And we'll include all your contact information on the replay when we post it on the podcast. You're amazing. And I'm cheering you on always.

Unknown Speaker  47:51  

Thank you. Great to see you again.

Heather Sager  47:53  

You too. Bye. We'll just hit the leave button. Okay. All right. I hope that these stories of Lindsay and Crystal Laura have been inspiring to each of you wanted to give you some ideas around what's possible when it comes to you leveraging your voice leverage your message as a marketing tool in your business. You know, so often, you hear these really big stories of keynote speakers or I don't know, like we think of speaking and we thinking about these big iconic motivational speakers. But as business owners, we are the best advocates and ambassadors for our brands. So the more that we can get ourselves out there with the right message in the right places. This is where that ripple effect of opportunity start happening. Not only do we attract our ideal clients, but we create really quality relationships. And I don't have to tell you that the quality of relationships in your network is going to be the thing that's going to sustain your business forward. That's the difference between the businesses who maybe have a hot blip on the radar, that maybe they have a good launch, they can sell their coaching programs, but those who actually last are the ones that have quality relationships so that they can find more opportunities. So if you want to learn more about that you can get all the details at the speaker co.com forward slash society. You get all the details around our program, the speaker society. Side note spoiler, those of you who are on our email list, you are going to be getting an email tonight with a special bonus that is dropping tonight available for everyone who joins a speaker society, including the 41 souls who have already joined us inside the program in the last week. We're very happy we're celebrating you all already in the community. But we have another bonus dropping all about being a guest on podcast. So keep an eye on your inbox. If you're not on our email list, just drop me a direct message down here and I will send you all of the details that's available for you. The speaker society doors are open until Thursday at 6pm Pacific. Again, you can get all the information at the speaker co.com forward slash society. If you have any questions whatsoever if you want to know is this the right time for you? Does this fit with your business model? If you have a certain type of offer and you want to know is my message going like being on stage this is going to work at all offer whatever your questions I'm available in the DMS. So just send me a message, send me a voice note, tell me your story, say words out loud, and let's have a conversation. We want this to be a slam dunk for you, we want you to feel really confident making a decision. Even if that decision is wait. This is not the right time you need to do something else first. So we can talk through what that looks like. If you want to hear other speaker success stories. If you go to the link in my bio down here, the third or second button on that links page, we just dropped eight different videos that are other graduates of our program that are telling their speaker stories ranging from Michelle who told her story around going from as a yoga instructor how she booked a corporate mindfulness program for a five figure contract. We have Jess who's a food blogger turned copywriter, how she's leveraged speaking in her business showing up consistently she's now doing cooking shows on Instagram lives. To echo who I saw here is live. She's an advocate for the deaf friendly community helping other business owners make their content more accessible. Echo is deaf but still uses her voice to speak on stages was one of the most courageous things that I have seen. So you can hear and watch her sign her story on that page too. So you get all of those speaker success stories. The link is in my bio, you can grab that. If you have any questions, just head on over to my DMs and we'll talk so thank you all so much for joining me live here today. I hope you've enjoyed this. I hope it's fired you up and inspire you to share your message in a bigger way. Remember, there are people who are waiting that you know you can help. But until that you take the bold move, you pick up the microphone, you turn on the camera or you pitch that opportunity. How are they ever going to hear your message so this is your reminder to be a little more brave, be a little bit more bold. Start making progress. Sure, you might be a little crappy to start but you can't get better until you get started. So we're super excited to welcome so many of you this weekend to the speaker society. Thanks again for watching this speaker Spotlight series to the end of the podcast for the replay and or to listen to the other speaker success stories and we'll see you soon. Bye friends