Transcription
****Please forgive any and all transcription errors as this was transcribed by Otter.ai.****

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Shark 0:16
Welcome back and thank you for joining A Shark's Perspective. I am Kenneth "Shark" Kinney, your host and Chief Shark Officer.

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Shark 1:13
And now back to the show.

Shark 1:15
So I made a friend some time ago on Clubhouse and then I met her in person at the annual National Speakers Association's conference. Had heard a lot about her being held in high esteem by other speakers. Read one of her books, which I thought was a great read, and then really started thinking more about my own speaking business and the mechanics that go with it. But I asked myself often does the speech begin and end at the keynote? Or are there more ways to simply book more business and make money speaking?

Shark 1:40
Lois Kramer is a speaking coach and recognized expert in the speaking industry; the author of "Book More Business, Make Money Speaking"; and she works with speakers, consultants and experts who want to book more business and make more money and fully monetize their intellectual property.

Shark 1:54
And on this episode, we'll discuss the speaking industry, how many different vehicles we can use to drive your intellectual property to the marketplace, the National Speakers Association Influence conference clubhouse, the great Cesar and hotel Wi Fi, hybrid events, streams of income, narrowing your topic niche, the arch, and a lot, lot more. So let's tune into a book more business coach with an obvious choice for a favorite shark on this episode of A Shark's Perspective.

Shark 2:24
Lois, thank you so much for joining us today on A Shark's Perspective. If you would tell us a little bit about your story, your background, your career today.

Lois Creamer 2:32
Well, just a fascinating tale. I run a company and have for 20 years called book more business, working with speakers, experts and consultants that want to book more business, make more money, and monetize their message. And I've been doing this for quite a while, never had planned on starting my own business. Kind of totally came into this accidentally. And I was staying home with my daughter, I had a corporate career that I left when I adopted my daughter stayed home for a number of years, and then got a call from a professional speaker who lives here in St. Louis, where I live, inviting me to come and run his business. And we had some conversations and I said I'm not a fit. I don't want to work full time I I you know, this, that the other? And but I said you sound like a great guy. And how

Shark 3:27
dare you say that? Why don't you reinvent yourself as an expert, and go appear on clubhouse every day?

Lois Creamer 3:33
I'll tell you, I'll tell you. And I told him Best of luck to you. He called back 10 minutes later and he said would you have lunch with me? And I thought well, I've been out of the marketplace for a while it'd be good for me to have lunch. So we had lunch, I ended up working for him. We came to turn to you know, we came to a like mind about what I needed and what he needed. And it was the start of working in the professional speaking industry on the business side. And a number of years later and many opportunities later I decided to start book more business. So that's what I do. That's it, you know, kind of I've made it a long story, but that's how I got into this totally by accident. But I absolutely love love what I do.

Shark 4:23
Yeah, but you never really aspired to be the person directly on stage speaking.

Lois Creamer 4:27
No, no, I you know, I never did. I am the person who when a speaker has a program, knows their expertise, has a program and has the presentation skills. I don't do any of those things. They come to me to monetize it. And I used to do some programs for corporate sales teams and sales programs. I don't do them anymore. The only speaking I do now is to groups of professional speakers. And so you know who knew who knew shark I shared it, I shared it.

Shark 5:01
Well, to your credit in most of the people I know that know you will talk about well respected speaking coaches in this business and your name comes up often Oh, you got to meet Laura, she got to talk to Lois. And I've heard that quite a few times. But also, to your credit, you're not somebody who's also a speaker. You know, there's a lot of people who are speakers and speaking coaches, many of them are honest. But there are also a lot of them that are also trying to build their business as speakers. At the same time, they're trying to coach people, and there's sometimes a conflict of interest. So to your credit, as well, it's good to hear something like that. So I get to meet you on clubhouse initially, in various professional speaking rooms. But then I get to meet you in person at the 2021 National Speakers Association influence conference in Vegas. So a couple questions. One, what did you think of the event now that we've had some time to look back on it? What did you learn in 2021? Compared to other years events?

Lois Creamer 5:58
Yeah, good question. Um, you know, the thing that I learned first is that hybrid can work, hybrid meetings can work. One of the other things that I learned, they work better if you're not doing them from Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

Shark 6:16
That Wi Fi

Lois Creamer 6:17
Caesars finds itself, in the same space of a lot of hotels, and you and I travel in business, and we know that rarely does a hotel have good Wi Fi. It's really rare. And sadly, Caesars was not good. The good news, I think, for our industry, especially the speaking industry, is that people are stepping up and committing to getting better, because if we don't have good Wi Fi, hybrid meetings aren't going to be very effective. And both Hilton and Marriott are pledging to put in millions to upgrade their Wi Fi platforms. And so I think that this is good news for us. So coming out of the bad news of Caesars and their bad Wi Fi. I think that that we have things to look forward to.

Shark 7:13
Yeah, I agree. So question two, what do you think is the value for professional speakers on clubhouse? And the reason I pivoted is this, because that's where we met. But sort of a twist on that question. How should a speaker looking to get more business use clubhouse as some sort of social media platform compared to other platforms where they can leverage video or video plus audio or just the written word with blogging?

Lois Creamer 7:38
I don't think every speaker needs to be on clubhouse and have their own show. I think it depends upon your expertise. And what do you want to accomplish by doing it? I, you know, I am on clubhouse every Monday night for two hours, six to eight Central. It's been great for me, I've sold a lot of books. Really? Yes. And you know, but I think that you have to answer that individually, depending upon what you want to accomplish. I think that there are so many rooms on clubhouse that I think are a total waste of time, that are more fun for people who want to kind of make a hobby of using the platform. But for business, I think that there are several that are really good. But as I think I was, you know, I was asked this question by someone who speaks on leadership. And he said, Do you think I should do a clubhouse show? And I said, No, I don't. Because I think that he can better use his time writing and speaking and promoting himself than on clubhouse. I just am not yet convinced there are a lot of buyers on clubhouse for speakers

Shark 8:54
100% that couldn't cannot agree with you more. I think if anybody can go into a clubhouse room, actually with a goal, which most rooms do not, it's just an endless POC. Yeah. You know, unfortunately, most people don't. So who is the ideal customer for you? At what level are they that typically come to you for their speaking business? You're not a performance coach. From a theater perspective.

Lois Creamer 9:20
Yeah, I don't do anything with presentation skills. I don't do anything about content formation. I don't help you write a speech or tell you what to speak about. But once you know your expertise, you have a good speech, and you're ready to take it to the marketplace and you've got the presentation skills to do it. Take it to the marketplace, then you're ready for me. So as you can imagine, lots of people who come to me or people who have been speaking for a little while, curating content, practicing their message. But I've also worked with some people to jumpstart a business if they have those key things. But most of the people who come to work with me are looking to take their business to the next level. And it's, it's something that I really enjoy. In fact, I have clients who come back to me year after year just to kind of take it to the keep taking it to the next level up leveling their game, maybe raising their fee and doing fewer events. For example, I just worked with a gentleman who's already a great presence in the speaking industry in demand does well, he's looking to raise his fee and speak less. And it's kind of the opposite of what you would think right now coming out of a pandemic. But he's, he's had, he's had very good, very good fortune so

Shark 10:43
far. So let's assume that we're back to some sort of new normal. Yeah, whatever that is, whatever that is give you a grain of salt, though, because nobody's got a great crystal ball right now. That's right. But we do feel like it's gonna be positive. If somebody knows their content, and they want to step up that game. Yeah. What is that define what you think that typically is, from a either a fee perspective, or maybe an annualized income? What are people typically expecting, when they approach someone like you from taking it from X dollars to two y dollars in a speech? Or from 100,000? To 500,000?

Lois Creamer 11:21
Well, you know, that's, that's really hard to answer shark, of course, it's very, it's very hard to answer. It depends upon the person, their expertise, their target market, what is their market experiencing at the time, and, and what their calendar looks like, what the speaker's calendar looks like, all of these things are a function of fee. And, you know, contrary to many who may think so there is no fee schedule that speakers should be following throughout their business. It really is an individual decision. And I'll tell you something interesting. Growth looks different to different people, depending upon where they are. Some people growth means getting more speeches. Some growth means, as I just mentioned, my client who wants to speak less, but make more for many growth has met in the last year or so adding income streams, ancillary income streams to a speaking practice, which I think is always a good idea. I thought it was a good idea before the pandemic. So obviously, I think it's even better idea at this point. But all of these things that we do that we add, to a speaking practice, have to all fit in within our area of expertise, and make sense, and they have to be marketable.

Shark 12:51
So I think we may have even spoken about this on clubhouse. But one of the things that I struggle with, I think, when thinking about professional speaking, other than just being on stage, and this was obviously a big part of the conversation at influence, and it's an ongoing conversation is different streams of income, which we're all working to attain, yes. How much of that? Does it concern you? If somebody comes to you? Should they come to you looking to be a speaker that sells products? Or is it just a grab bag of books, speaking engagements, got an online course and everything else? How do you help them to find that business? Because it can be a variety for a lot of different people?

Lois Creamer 13:31
It can be in so different, I look at how many different ways how many different vehicles can we use to drive your intellectual property to the marketplace. That's what I'm looking at. And certainly a book is a great way to do it. A recording of a live program, another great way to do it, of course, a great way to do it, consulting, small group consulting, mastermind classes, membership groups, all of these are great ways to drive additional income. A lot of it has to do with, again, what target market are you working with? And how do they like to work? Because I think that a speech shark should just be your first step. And after a speech, I want my clients to be able to say, what would it look like? If we took the ideas, tactics and techniques that I talked about on the platform, and made them actually happen within your organization, I can help you do that. Take a next step with me. And I can work with your leadership team or your sales managers, or your customer service supervisors, whoever that group is, to make sure they're actually going to implement the ideas that I talked about those. That's money in the bank.

Shark 14:56
I know a big part of what you do is help people position themselves For that business growth, yeah, and we hear all the time that speakers in particular have to narrow down to a specific, say a topic or a focus really to help them find that niche and position themselves. And we know people that speak about resilience about connection, collaboration, all the different topics, do you think that speakers who also do courses or books that they always need to continue to follow in that focus?

Lois Creamer 15:27
I do. Here's why I'm saying the deeper you go into your expert, the deeper you go into your expertise and into a target, the more money you'll make. The market right now does not want to generalist, someone in other words, someone who speaks on customer service to anyone who is interested in customer service. Markets now are looking for people who have a depth of experience, and a slim area of expertise, and they're willing to pay more for it. So if you do present to, in a present your expertise in a target market, I think that you have you create traction, you create momentum for your next speech. But you also create traction and momentum for other ancillary services that you may offer that will help drive that point home. And I think all of the things that you do, besides giving a speech, lend an element of accountability to that client, and a lot of companies, corporations and associations are looking for that accountability, how can we make sure that paying 1000s of dollars to bring you in to put you in front of our people is going to pay off for us ultimately? That's the question.

Shark 16:49
So I think through this example, a lot and I'm glad Jesus said customer services is one area. So a better way to niche that down away from being a generalist is maybe they speak to customer service in the home insurance industry, or is insurance broad enough? Or Yes, in your opinion, do they need to narrow down even further to life insurance, for example,

Lois Creamer 17:11
you know, for in this area, I call this financial services insurance as part of the financial services industry. And I think a target would be financial services. Now you might specialize in an insurance company that might be a big area within your expertise. But targeting it doesn't have to be quite that narrow, sharp, but it should be narrow enough that you can say financial services manufacture and that's a huge market on its own. Yes, it absolutely is.

Shark 17:41
So when they've narrowed themselves down to that specific niche that everybody's happy with, where do you typically see the fees, at least from what you hear, increase or the likelihood to book increase? Is it twice as many bookings or double the fee because they've niched themselves down I mean, not necessarily they're deep, they're different for everybody. And I'm trying to put some sort of X Factor on you know,

Lois Creamer 18:06
I can't put an X Factor on it. And you know, I'm sounding like I'm being squirmy, I am being squirmy. And this is why the amount of bookings you get is in direct proportion to the amount of work you put into it, per speaker. There is no big surprise about this. But I think a speaker who, who narrows their vision from being a generalist into a certain target industry, and markets within that industry has a likelihood of greater interest, much greater interest, realizing this, if financial services would be my target market, every time I speak to a bank, a credit union and insurance company. I entrust other banks, credit unions and insurance companies in having me. Now, it's up to me to make sure those other credit unions, banks and insurance companies know that I recently spoke for let's say, I spoke for Bank of America. I am the one who needs to create the publicity around what I just did, to leverage the event that I just did into others within that industry. So to say that you can double your interest. If you'll put in the work, you can triple your interest. If you'll put in the work you could. But so much of this is about am I willing to do the sales work, the daily grunt work, doing outbound marketing every day, to interest those people in my target market and to keep them apprised of what I'm currently doing.

Shark 19:50
What are your thoughts on whether or not somebody is a professional speaker when they niche down to to a topic industry specific industry, even it's fair to say customer service and financial services. How much of that do you think they can do to pivot to something else? Or do they basically need to build that career? Not necessarily in that specific industry, because they may serve travel hospitality next year, and then they start working on that pretty heavily. But maybe they're not talking about resilience, or connection or customer experience, I guess, can a seeker reposition themselves successfully over their career with a variety of topics?

Lois Creamer 20:35
Yes, you can reposition yourself. Now, let's say my expertise was in customer service using this example that were going on. And let's say my marketplace might be financial services, I can go out to as many different markets within financial services as I want to, I can also massage my topic, customer service into customer service, and great communication, customer service for leaders, customer service for frontline employees, you know, there's a number of ways you can do it. I think, though your expertise is your expertise. And so I would probably be the one encouraging someone to look at different spin offs that have a lot to do with their core expertise. I think, for example, if I'm in customer service, and I decided I want to speak on time management, suddenly, it's something that I can offer. But it's so different from what I've been doing, it's going to be a harder, harder sale. So I always say, go back to the point of least resistance, and it's going to be expertise and experience every time.

Shark 21:49
So in your book, book or business, make money speaking, you contend that even if you have the most interesting and important message in the world, it'll go unheard. If you don't have a platform, illustrate, if you will, what you mean by that, how to get that platform and how to be well paid for your work?

Lois Creamer 22:06
Well, what I mean is, you can have the best program in the world the most meaningful, you can be a terrific presenter. But if no one gives you the opportunity or the privilege of getting on their platform, it doesn't matter. So this is all about each person wanting to speak, to grab ahold of the reality, that the only person who is interested in furthering their career is going to be themselves. And so it is our responsibility to take that great program we have out there and have others see it, position it well, so others can see the benefit of bringing us in. And so when I say you can have the best speech in the world, but it will go unheard. It just means if you aren't the one digging up opportunities, you know, shark one of the things I tell new speakers. And boy, if I had a buck every time I said this in Las Vegas, I could have bought us maybe a slice of pizza. But a lot of people come up to me and say, Look, I really want to speak, I think I've got something to say, and I really want to speak and I tell them Okay, get your message, get the ability to deliver it well. But then comes the hard part. really realize that your first year in business 98% of your time will be spent selling and marketing and 2% will be presented. Are you willing to put up with that? Because it's you know, it's a great barometer. Because this is really true. And then those figures start to change, with experience with deepening expertise, and opportunity. But a lot of people don't realize how hard it is. And I'm sure that you've had people come up to you and say, you know, after a speech of your shark, this is really great. You get paid what for an hour, and they have no idea what it took to get the opportunity in the first place. So that's what I'm talking about gaining opportunity.

Shark 24:26
Yeah, the time away from family time traveling, the time you spent building relationships with those people that are paying you It's totally different than most worlds. I remember a specific conversation we had when I was thinking about joining NSA, I asked you what do you think somebody should do? Should they spend more money on coaching or should they spend money on the NSA and I just use the, you know, a lower level fee, you know, a lower level that it costs NSA, NSA doesn't think goodness costs $10,000 or anything like that, but yeah But your first reaction out of your mouth was NSA. And as a speaking coach, I thought it was very interesting that you didn't say, you know, give me the money, I'll help you get this, that or the other. And obviously, you know, that's part of it. That was a big part of it. But I really admire that you said NSA, thank

Lois Creamer 25:15
you. And I truly believe that because I am part of the equation. But I think that I like clients who have a broader knowledge about the speaking business, about presenting about product content, curation, and selling. So I am a big part of that, because I'm the selling part and helping you sell what you do. But I like people to really get themselves into the culture of this business. And I think the way you do that is one of the ways is what you and I did, we went to Las Vegas, to our national convention. And we see great people on the platform, we get to meet people, we get to hear what's working. And what's not. The speaking business is very bizarre when you think about it. When I was in the corporate arena, I worked for a little mom and pop called United States Steel Corporation. And we did not meet up with our competitors in the country and share what worked for us and what didn't work for us. So this was a real culture shock this industry to me. And you know, the good news is that we do share these things willingly. I think that a lot of people know that one of the best places to find great resources and expertise is National Speakers Association. That's why I am a big believer in it. I don't get a finder's fee if you choose. But I do believe that. If you want to do this for a living, you ought to align yourself with the only national association that aligns itself with certain ethical practices of doing business in our industry. And I think it means something to buyers. And so I'm, I'm a big, I'm a big believer in NSA, and I've been very active with them for a number of years.

Shark 27:13
I'm newer to it, but I couldn't agree more the relationships that started out of that, and the ones that have continued in seeing a lot of people that I've known for years, just there was it was fantastic. So what was your experience? And percent? Absolutely, though, another thing we started to touch on earlier, two decades ago, when I first got into speaking professionally, at most people were selling books or CDs. Right now this is but really, right before social media took off. Yes, now everybody's got a kajabi course, which seems to be a really important part of the conversation right now with other parts of that income. And I started to mention this earlier, but I'm wondering, and I don't have a crystal ball for this, how many people are going to occasionally speak just to push more products that are passive, rather than speak a lot just to keep moving more books? And I think it's interesting that everybody's got a unique path. And and it's not that courses are overtaking, but it really became super strong and prevalent from 2019. And onward.

Lois Creamer 28:20
Yeah, and then what's the pandemic, there will always be demand for people meeting in person. And it has as much to do about learning as it does about employee engagement. And getting everybody on board with what we're trying to accomplish. Meetings can do can handle that on so many different, so many different ways. A course cannot, a course is a one on one thing. And you know, there are many different speaking. What's the word I want to use is ways that people use speaking to grow their business, some it's a big income source, some speak for free just to promote their business. And that works out really well. Some have a speak to sell, they will speak for an opportunity to sell an offer big back end offer that they might have to an audience. But for people who speak for money, creating other ancillary ways that we can further develop our clients I think is a smart thing. Here's the big difference. In the years that I have been in business, I'm having a number of ways to have income coming in is the only way to go back years ago in the 60s 70s and 80s. Before I was involved in the speaking industry, speakers really made their money shark by getting on a plane going speaking, getting on a plane going back home and looking for the next opportunity. And that's a terribly hard way to make a living. It's not a good way To make a living. And so being able to mix up a media to, to pass along your IP, I think is what smart, one of the things that we have learned is that different people like to learn in different ways. So if we can take our expertise and offer it in a number of ways, then we're meeting a lot of needs. And we're also deepening our expertise, and deepening the perception of our expertise by the buyer.

Shark 30:32
What's the most important thing you think someone needs to be a successful speaker 2021. And going forward?

Lois Creamer 30:41
I think that they need to have great expertise and have a depth of expertise. I think that's the most important thing, shark. This, by the way, has not changed, my answer would have been the same five years ago, and it will probably be the same in five years. I think what has changed are the number of ways we provide that information, we drive it to the marketplace. And there

Shark 31:03
were a lot of people, though, that I've known that gave some fluffy speeches without the expertise, I think the audiences have changed. their expectations are so much higher.

Lois Creamer 31:14
Listen, content rules. It did before the pandemic, it will after the pandemic content and engagement. Those are the things that rule.

Shark 31:26
So another tip that I want to ask you what's the most important thing someone should do before they come to you or any great coach like you to position themselves to do better before they come to you?

Lois Creamer 31:39
You know, I think that Toastmasters is a fantastic organization, you and I got to see influence. 21, Toastmasters was presented with the master of influence award, which is a big deal. And I thought, Oh my God, we didn't give it to them years ago, was kind of my thought, but better late than ever. Because I think Toastmasters is a perfect starting off point. For someone who thinks that they're interested in this industry. It's a great place to go and get presentation skills training, for next to nothing to rub elbows with a lot of experts, other experts who have something they want to say, or are wanting to be more compelling in the way they say it. It's a great place to practice stories. It's a great place to practice material. I have a friend who has been speaking for 30 years. She's a good friend of mine here in St. Louis. She does very well. She will never miss a Toastmaster meeting, she has been a part of the same club for 25 years. And if she's in town, she goes and I said, Why? You were just out of town? Why are you beating feed over to a Toastmasters meeting. And she said, because it's a great place to try out material and get well considered feedback. And so I think Toastmasters is a great place to develop your expertise, pump up your presentation skills, and then visit an NSA chapter, we have chapters all over the country. Many of us are going to be virtual for quite a while, if not forever. And so you can take advantage of of that. But you know, the main piece of advice I give shark to somebody who says you know, I want to speak what's your advice? My advice is to get the hell out there and Speak. Speak to anybody who will listen to you. Any group anywhere, anytime. And every time you do it, ask for a testimonial letter or email saying if you liked what I had to say, could you let me know, I'd like to use it to promote myself. And this is a great way to get started in our industry, testimonials are the economic capital of a speaking practice. When I started speaking, I spoke everywhere I couldn't St. Louis, and I got testimonials all along the way. And the people who read those testimonials, did not assume I wasn't paid, they assumed I was paid, and that I did a good job. So I was able to leverage those into paying opportunities. I was conservative with my fee at first because opportunity was the most important thing. And and then just grow, start asking for more money and less than your expertise, narrow, narrow, narrow down, don't widen your area. A lot of people think you know, you'll love the fishing metaphor. Sure, but, you know, casting a wide net. That used to be true, but it isn't anymore. People want expertise, information that challenges and changes the way that they behave in their organization. To that

Shark 34:54
point, do you think that's changing the types of speakers that need to be created where They're not necessarily the entertainment driven content speaker, but more of the industry expert because those speeches often are very different. Tactical versus

Lois Creamer 35:11
Yeah, theory. There will always be a market for that after dinner speaker, the more entertainment speaker who is doing employees Appreciation Day, and and there are some people who do very well in in this niche. So I think you've just got to pick your niche. What do you want to do? I had a client that I've worked with for a number of years, off and on for a number of years. And he always spoke on leadership. And a couple of months ago, he said, I'd like to book some time with you. And I thought, great, so we got on, we start talking. He doesn't want to do it anymore. what he wants to do is he wants to do after dinner speeches, stories, he wants to be a storyteller. He's a great storyteller. I know, because I've heard him present. And he, you know, communicates through stories as we hope we all do. So it doesn't have to be one thing fits all. You know, there, you could be a high content speaker who offers a purely entertainment after dinner speech. This is not one size, you know, you're not constrained. It's it's what do you want to do? How do you want to do it? And is there a market? That's the thing that you've got to ask yourself? Is there a market for what I want to do and if there is jumped in?

Shark 36:36
So last year in the St. Louis area, did you know that a shark was once reported as caught across the river in Alton, Illinois, in 1937?

Lois Creamer 36:47
No, I didn't know that. But I might not look at but I wasn't born until I

Shark 36:52
can neither neither side and I didn't assume that they've been reportedly seen twice. bull sharks has only two types of shark that can live through freshwater that we know of today. bull sharks being one of them. But that was what was found. So I asked this of everybody that's been on the sharks perspective, because I'm a fanatic about sharks. Yeah. What is your favorite kind of shark? And why could be a good favorite shark story?

Lois Creamer 37:18
What is my favorite shark? Besides you?

Shark 37:22
Besides, it could be me. That's also a good answer.

Lois Creamer 37:26
You know if it were my podcast, I would say that's my favorite to

Shark 37:30
go. Alright, well, Lois, it's that special time of the show. Are you ready for the five most interesting and important questions that

Lois Creamer 37:36
you're ready? I'm ready. Number one,

Shark 37:40
some of your friends are coming to. again one of my favorite towns St. Louis for some touristy fun. Are you taking them to the arch? Or to a game at Busch Stadium?

Lois Creamer 37:52
A game at Busch Stadium for sure. I don't like heights. Even the new Busch

Shark 37:56
Stadium? Yes is the old Busch Stadium was pretty awesome. The new stadium still good to

Lois Creamer 38:02
the new ones even better. Yeah, new ones even better. Yeah,

Shark 38:05
the arches. If you like being trapped in an egg, rotating sideways for about 30 minutes.

Lois Creamer 38:10
You and I are kindred spirits. This is exactly what I think you know, put me into a capsule shut it tight. And her ob to 630 feet in the air. It's not my jam.

Shark 38:24
I don't know. Alright, number two. better place to be a professional speaker. Talking about stages. Las Vegas or Orlando?

Lois Creamer 38:36
Oh, I can't answer. I think they're both you know, look. Oftentimes, I've had clients who have moved, moved residences, because of their airport and the city and the number of meetings that they're having. One of my clients actually moved from Bozeman, Montana, to Las Vegas. Las Vegas is the biggest meeting. center of the universe, the world as we know it. There are a hell of a lot of meetings going on in Vegas. And the airport is pretty crowded, but it's a good airport. Lots of lots of available flights. I would say the same thing about Orlando. So I'm going to have to say it's really a toss up. If you're looking for more meetings, I would probably say Las Vegas. If you're looking for more other qualities in life, I'd say Orlando.

Shark 39:38
I know quite a few Kevin award winners who live in both cities. But I will tell you that I would probably say Orlando because I for two reasons. One, it's only about a two hour drive to one of my favorite shark diving. places in Jupiter, Florida and two, I don't lose as much money because I'm not putting Money. I mean, Disney is its own slot machine, but I don't lose as much money. When I go to Orlando, I'm with you, and I don't pay $45 for a piece of pizza. So

Lois Creamer 40:12
there you go, I only paid 64 for a pizza. That was the size of my queen bed in my room. And when I answered the door, I asked the guy will that really fit in this door?

Shark 40:22
Oh my God actually get

Lois Creamer 40:25
to come in.

Shark 40:27
Alright, number three. Better for getting more speaking gigs. A large social following. And we're not talking Kardashian, but a decent sized social media following or a well known book. And it doesn't have to be in New York Times bestseller, but well known maybe they're in an industry or just well respected,

Lois Creamer 40:47
well known book every time, every time because I want you to consider that that well known book is in a niche marketplace, only certain people are going to be reading that book. The odds of people on social media if you have millions of followers actually being a client. Little

Shark 41:05
exactly what's it's like arguing LinkedIn follower connections versus somebody on Tick Tock. Yeah, I think so. I think so. And I'm sure your books have done the same for you as a coach, as well, rather than just having a exorbitant amount of files down, hands down. Alright, number four, if you had a choice, and you were helping somebody to become this as a future trophy that they would someday have, would it be an NSA Hall of Fame speaker or TEDx? Speaker?

Lois Creamer 41:40
A Hall of Fame speaker, listen, TEDx, I think is great. I think TEDx has a lot of benefits going for it not the least of which you can get some good film but it is so watered down now that now it's you know, you're more unique if you haven't done so that's kind of the way I think about it. However, let me just say this I am not putting down TED Talks I think that they are great for a lot of people for someone who really wants to be a professional speaker though. And not so much.

Shark 42:18
I think I would be comfortable with a Fred x or something like that and just you know cut the video out where the where the EDI is there you go so Alright, number five and the most important question that you're going to be asked a is biscuits or cornbread.

Lois Creamer 42:34
Ah, biscuits you know, I Southern roots. I got to go with the biscuits.

Shark 42:41
Good choice. So take either Yeah, that's true. And thank goodness She didn't say gluten free or something like that. So no, I didn't know Lois where can people find out more about you follow your thoughts on speaking get the books the the coaching advice and more.

Lois Creamer 42:56
Well, I suggest people go to my website book more business.com and it has more information than you'll ever want to know probably about me. You can read about my books. You can read about how I work with clients. Probably everything you need to know or just email me Lois at book more business calm, and I'm on every social media platform. My engagement is heavier on some than others. But I'm pretty easy to find out there.

Shark 43:24
Lois has been an honor. Thank you so much for joining us today on A Shark's Perspective.

Lois Creamer 43:27
Thanks, shark My pleasure.

Shark 43:35
So there was my conversation with Lois Kramer, a speaking coach and recognized expert in the speaking industry; the author of book more business, make money speaking; and she works with speakers, consultants and experts who want to book more business make more money and fully monetize their intellectual property.

Shark 43:50
Let's take a look at three key takeaways from our conversation with her.

Shark 43:53
First, we talked about the market for speakers and this takes for many parallels. Let's use a problem at your home as an example. Let's say the problem is with your pipes, the water is bad and you need that fixed ASAP. Would you rather call upon a general contractor to take a shot at it or a licensed plumber who has expertise on fixing pipes? The answer is obvious to the owner of the home. However, if you're the fix it person, then you'd probably want to be a general contractor because you believe that opens up the whole world Eve. Well, she said the deeper you go into your expertise, the more money you make. It will also help you target your marketing because we have a finite amount of time to focus that directive. And I would rather look for people with pipe problems and charge war as a plumber. Happy to give a keynote on it. But just don't ask me to ever fix or unclog a drain. Yeah.

Shark 44:39
Second, met Lois virtually on clubhouse we were talking about whether you as a speaker, need your own clubhouse show. Not really, if you can utilize that time elsewhere to do something better, to make more money rather than just talking all day long on this channel that do that focus your efforts on where there's a return and not just a pleasant distraction.

Shark 44:57
Third, think about how many different ways Can you drive your intellectual property to the marketplace? That's what she asked him points out great questions and thoughts on focusing on the audience's we serve and where they will buy and buy again, could be a speech could but can also be a mastermind book sales, consulting and so on. It would be crazy for me to ever rely on just one income stream again. By the way, I highly recommend lewis's book more business book. It's fun and easy read.

Shark 45:24
Got a question, send me an email to Kenneth at a shark's perspective dot com. Thank you again for the privilege of your time. And I'm so thankful for everyone who listens. Thank you to the amazing sponsors of open drips. And would you please consider writing a review and letting me know your thoughts on the show? I'm always honored when you write them. I read every one of them and it helps me create better content for the both of us. Time to book more business and dive a little deeper. And please join us on the next episode of A Shark's Perspective.
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