How to Land Speaking Opportunities and Boost Your Credibility

It all came together because these are the kinds of things that you could do. You build relationships, you leverage those relationships, and it's a win win for everybody involved.

This is the Entrepreneur School Podcast where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey from solopreneur. To CEO, while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under 3am, a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing things that burn you out. On this show, you'll hear inspiring stories from other business owners on their journey, and learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to entrepreneur school.

Okay, I am so excited to share some amazing news with you that I have been sitting on for far too long that almost like I've already had my little celebration and like internalized it, and then realized, I haven't told anybody yet about this, because I was waiting for it to all be official and everything. And before I get to the juicy, exciting announcement, I want to share a little bit of a backstory with you. So you can understand why this is so incredibly exciting to me. Like I mean it is at face value, amazing. But the subtext of it all really is what makes it extra amazing for me. So for those of you who don't know, I grew up a rural kid on an acreage, and outside of Calgary, Alberta, and I am a country girl. So I raised cattle and sheep, and did all that stuff, and, you know, built forts in the bushes and those kinds of things as a kid. And I have always loved country music. And so when I was a kid around age 10, I wanted to be a singer, I want to be a country music singer when I grew up. And so my parents got me some vocal lessons. Spoiler alert, they didn't work. Mackie cannot sing, that is reserved for me in my car by myself. But I still have this passion for being behind the mic and for using my voice. And I'm so glad that it has helped like that, that interest. And that skill set for me, has really been what has infused this entire journey of me going into public relations and trying to figure out how to use public speaking as part of what I do. And I think that's really what landed me into the position of now being a podcaster for over a year, and getting to use his platform, create this platform and use my voice to share a message to who I want to reach. And to be able to connect with people in this way. It's so powerful and amazing for me. So when I was 10 years old, I wanted to go to a concert. Like, let's just pause for a second because I currently have an eight and 10 year old daughter's. And my younger one is obsessed to beyond with Taylor Swift and all she wants is to go to the era's tour. And I'm thinking, No, first of all, if I could get tickets at like a reasonable face value price, okay, that's one thing. But she's not coming anywhere near as we have to get on a plane and do all that. So it's it's an effort. And the tickets are so expensive now, my first concert that I wanted to go to was 50 bucks. And I had to save up half the ticket price myself. So I saved that $25 And I went with my dad to Reba McIntyre. And it was a childhood dream come true.

And so now what I'm gonna share with you is that this whole like vision of me being a country singer, and wanting to be like on stage, Nashville has always been like, that's the go to right if you want to be a country singer, you go to Nashville. That's where they all move. They just go live in their cars and they sing in the bars and someday eventually get discovered that's what happens right? So I'm so pumped to let you know that I have just been selected to be speak at an event in Nashville, Tennessee. Cheers, cheers, Brittany, I'm so pumped. It is called the podcasting moms conference. And it is hosted by a two awesome women who works specifically with mom podcasters. And the whole event is just for mom podcasters not just any podcasters if you're a mom and a podcaster, and you get that, you have to figure out times to record podcast episodes when your kids are not home or your dogs are not barking, like I'm trying to manage right now. That is who it's for. And I'm going to be there speaking about PR for your podcast. So talking specifically to podcasters, about how to grow your show using PR. So some of the strategies that I have implemented, and had been successful for me, with respect to getting local media coverage and how that has grown. My show landed me some amazing guests. And I actually just also got an email that I was selected. My podcast is now listed on Feedspot as one of the top 30 In Canada, for CEOs, which is awesome. And actually at number two, so that's super cool as well. So this whole thing coming full circle is like a childhood dream come true. Like I'm like onstage in Nashville is on stage in Nashville, okay. I don't care if it's in the Grand Ole Opry, I will be going there as a guest and watching a show. I have never been to Nashville.

So this is super exciting opportunity for me to get to go there. And you're invited as well. If you are a podcasting mom, and you want to attend this event, I will put the link below where you can grab a ticket. There's also a virtual option. If you want to attend virtually and experience the amazing day of top 1% podcasting, moms sharing all of their strategies on how they've grown their shows, and stayed consistent with podcasting. Some of the things that people get kind of hung up on when it comes to podcasting was like holding on to create content every single week, for all this time, then I tell you, it can be intimidating. But once you get in that flow, it is so good.

So that is the exciting opportunity. But I wanted to share like how I landed this opportunity as well. Because behind the scenes into the way that things are working is hadden always wanting to share with you. And you know that I talk about social media as an important tool for relationship building. And this is how I primarily use social media, like I love my Instagram, but I am not creating, you know, brand new content for it all of the time, and trying to get found on that platform. Because I just think that it's worth my time and energy is better spent elsewhere when it comes to visibility. But what happened was, I saw a friend of mine was speaking at this event. And it was announced quite a while ago, a few months ago that she was speaking. And so I started following the event hosts connecting with them, of course making sure that I felt like in alignment that they we shared similar values, that kind of thing. That's really important when you're looking at collaboration opportunities. And when you want to pitch yourself to something when you're able to speak to how you're connected from that values, position, and how you can support the audience that you know that they have. So getting an awareness and doing some research around what they're all about is really important. And so I was connecting with them sharing about their event. And then all of a sudden, they did a call for more speakers. And I was like, Yep, I am applying for that. So I connected I applied, we reached out, I tapped my friend, who was already speaking to let her know that I had applied and say, Hey, since we have a relationship, and you know, what I bring to the table? Would you be willing to, you know, give me kind of a recommendation, which she did. And then it all came together because these are the kinds of things that you could do. You build relationships, you leverage those relationships, and it's a win win for everybody involved. So I just wanted to share the sort of the behind the scenes of what's happening there. Because this is happening in like less than a month. The conference is on April 15 and I will be down in Nashville for a whole week enjoying the Nashville scene, and like soaking it all in all the country music, all the country music, and the Alan Jackson bar was I'm gonna go to for my brother, because our Jackson's his favorite. Also, he's a legend. So there is that.

So this is just one an exciting opportunity. And two, I just wanted to like, share the entire behind the scenes of how you can land an opportunity like this, using relationship building visibility, and really focusing on that because it's about people and connections and awareness as to how you can bring yourself into the fold. You see, as a podcast hosts, we get pitched all the time for guests, people like multiple times a day, actually, I have to like set up a whole separate email account to manage those requests. But so often, they come in so generic, and so like, they don't tell me why I would want this guest on my show. They tell me why their guest is great, or why they are a great guest, but not how they can help me not how like help me help my audience, not how they're aligned with my values. None of those things, those are, the important thing when it comes to pitching is that you see that alignment, you can create that connection, you can connect the dots for the person that you're reaching out to, as to why you would be the right fit for their stage for their opportunity for the collaboration with them.

So that is what I wanted to share with you today. The exciting news. And if you want to join me in Nashville, yes, please. That sounds fantastic. Check the link in the show notes below For ticket information. So you can get there one way or another, or just find out more about the event and follow the amazing hosts and connect with some of the other awesome speakers who are going to be there because the kind of people who show up to events like this are the kind of people who really want to give and support and build community. And I am so all about that. And so I'm really pumped to be part of it. And really proud to have been selected for this my first international speaking opportunity. Because you know, I'm in Canada. So it's a big deal to get on an airplane and fly like what is it like four or five hours away to to do this, but it's going to be so fun. So amazing. And opportunities like this totally exist for you too. So I hope you found this inspiring and encouraging and give you some ideas about different ways that you can reach out and connect and find opportunities like this to get your visibility up as well. I will see you next week. Bye for now.

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