Karen McGregor is an international speaker, author of two bestseller books, and founder of Rock the Stage program. Her passion towards speaking ignites her life purpose. She coaches many business entrepreneurs to overcome the fear of speaking on stage. Nevertheless, Karen will share her knowledge and tactics of what it takes to become a successful speaker. Speaking skill is essential for business entrepreneurs. The techniques of speaking will trigger their business income and influence the people around them. Business owners will understand the importance of speaking skill on the stage through Karen’s seminar.
Speaking: The highest return on investment
Karen believes becoming a professional speaker is the highest return on investment career. Professional speaker is required little or no money up front. Due to this technology generation, internet is filled with many potential topics. Therefore, there is low investment of time because there is no need to reinvest the topics. In addition, there is on-line duplication strategy, such as webinar, can be used for speakers to increase their publicity and revenue.
Referrals welcome
Many professionals are looking for speakers and professionals treat speakers as experts. This creates credibility. Professionals will refer speakers if they like the delivery strategy. Through speaking, Karen emphasizes the best way to receive referrals is the organic way, which is face to face. Therefore, speaking will get high quality referrals in any professional businesses.
Connection Matters
Many professionals spend half of their career in life working in front of the keyboard. Instead of spending time on typing, speaking can help them escape the isolation and feel the energy through live event.
Your audience wants to feel
Many people are busy with their lives, working in the environment, and chasing their hopes and dreams. Speaking will make them alive. It will ignite their enthusiastic and create opportunities and motivation for people who are desperate on facing endless life cycle. Karen believes speaking can give people desire to live.
One to one experience
Karen believes speaking can create connection with audience. Audience will feel the one on one connection with the speaker. Professional speakers can engage one on one experience with all the audience and it will gather everyone together as one.
Why aren’t more people doing it?
People are afraid of judgment, failing and screw up. In fact, many people have a lack of confidence to speak on stage. They are afraid of no results.
Karen believes if speaking is in the system, people can follow the predictable steps. This will help people distress and proceed to the next level in their profession.
“More freedom in structure”
The turning point for Karen
Karen has been an international speaker for many years. She has also published many books. The problem is Karen is not receiving the result she wants in speaking. She believes she did not do the job correct, which results of no outcome from her speaking career. She begins to realize someone needs her help but she is not reaching them. She needs to find the missing piece, so she takes a leap of faith by learning everything she can. She understands speaking is out of her heart.
Things are changing in her life and her income has triple.
Invested in the missing piece
Karen shares her key to success is to learn something new, implement it, and see the result. Teaching people to develop intuition is her direction. Karen will help professionals to be ready to step up the stage and speak.
Who is building their business through speaking?
Here is the list of common professionals who are building their business through speaking:
Coaches
Authors
Trainers
MLM Leaders
Workshop Leaders
Physicians
Health & Wellness
Accountants
Artists
Financial Advisor
“If I am not comfortable up here, the audience will not”Every industry has a speaker. It is important to keep open mind that speaking works in every business. Not many people who become entrepreneurs and speaking at the same time.
3 mistakes that keep audience uninterested & unwilling to invest
Mistake 1: Understanding what the audience is buying
Many speakers will promote themselves with elevator pitch during their speaking. However, Karen suggests speakers to start the story the same, and share the transformation. It is important to understand that people are not buying products from speakers, but they are buying the transformation that the product can do for them.
People want to improve their lives in some ways, so people are willing to buy from either the speakers’ stories or speakers’ expertise. People want to know how the speakers go through their lives, and not their education or credentials. Therefore, speakers need to show them the progress.
Karen recommends speakers to provide testimonials during the presentation. They should pick the testimonials that share others who have done the transformation, so the audience will be able to relate to their experience. The inclusive “so much more” testimonials can also be effective. People are looking for extra content or new things they are not experienced before. The “doubtful to dynamite” testimonials can capture doubtful audience.
Doubtful audience is the best clients for speakers because they will have the biggest transformation.
Why your clients hesitate?
Karen believes the primary reason clients hesitate is that the speakers’ stories have holes or missing links. If speakers did not even accomplish what they ask from clients to do, it will fail. For example, if speakers never want to spend money on charity and they ask clients to donate, clients can see through that and reject speakers’ requests.
“If you want something, do it first. Do what you ask people to do”
Mistake 2: Sharing too little
Many professional speakers never hold back on any relevant information. They tend to share as much as they can to the audience. Karen believes if audience does not feel the outcome, they will not refer. People can search on the internet for all kinds of information. Therefore, the content is not their focuses, yet it is the mindset and personality that capture their attention.
Sharing excessively unfocused content will lead audience confused. Moreover, confused audience will not buy.
Mistake 3: Winging it!
Karen believes many speakers can do well even if they are not fully prepared. However, Karen believes speakers who rely on luck will not always be able improvise the result. It is suggested to go through the system structure to improve the fundamental to ensure speakers are comfortable with their speech.
Best writers or authors do the best speeches. Instead of selling their books on stage, they should tell the story in the book that demonstrates the transformation.
Stage Fright
Karen emphasizes stage fright comes from a lack of system in place. If speakers follow the structure and prepare every step in the system, they will have the understanding of how each process is executed in their performance.
What is selling from the heart?
People care about speakers’ transformation, and speakers must have attitude, but not ego. It is important to work on the transformation and not focus on the money. Therefore, there are 5 steps will help speakers to sell from their heart.
Focus on the feeling of knowing how audience’ lives will be better as a result of speakers services and products.
Put extra efforts in the speech structure to show speakers care about the audience.
Expand audience’s vision of what is possible
The invitation is constant
Deliver the solution to the main problem
Traditionally, people assume speech and sales are separate; however, they are not. If speakers do well, the audience will notice and they will be ready for your sale.
“Instead of chasing, you should invite”
There is always a primary problem among the audience. Speakers need to know the big problem the audience have. If speakers can provide the solution, audience will buy.
Foundations of successful talks
There are 3 foundations of successful talks: educate, inspire and sell. Speakers need to educate the clients or audience by providing extra content. Learn the system behind the talks, and inspiration will gradually come when speakers deliver the speech. Moreover, Karen indicates people do not have to be perfect speaker to have inspiration.
In order to sell from speaking, speakers need to invite the audience from transformation or something audience wants.
“Speak, dream, live”
“Every day do something that makes you feel alive. We need more people to say “I choose life; I choose to live””
“There is a silent urge. When you listen to it, pulsates the truth of your path. It is passionate, alive and relentless in the invitation”
Presentation: Video Interview – Frank Yang, CMA (Certified Management Accountant)
Thanks to MediaKreaters for scheduling the interview.
This video interview presentation is focusing on the accounting aspect of start-up companies. Many new business owners never realize the importance of financial aspect of business. Moreover, many business owners are struggling to invest their resources on accounting. Accounting is the core of any business and new business owners should not discard the impact of poor accounting system. Bookkeepers and accountants have different roles in the organization and it is important for business owners to distinguish them apart. In addition, business entrepreneurs need to understand how to receive the best investments from accountant to avoid any financial crises in the future.
The interview is within 30 minutes
The Strategy
This video interview is using Skype as a broadcast tool. The interview questions are prepared in advance. Since it is on Skype, questions can be view on the same screen. However, during the interview, questions are asked based on the flow of the interview. It is important to work along and keep up the flow with interviewer.
In this interview, since it is on skype, the delivery strategy needs more improvement. The eye contact is wondering on the screen instead of on the webcam. The tone of the voice should be adjusted. The major issue in this interview is the flow of the answers. Moreover, answers could have been smoother and less of the filler words such as “err” and “hmm”.
Overall, the interview has met the primary objective. Most importantly, thanks to MediaKreater for the wonderful experience and the opportunity to learn.
The Publish a Book boot camp is a three day program that consists of five main phases of “Plan it”, “Write it”, “Publish it”, “Fund it”, and “Move it”. The program focuses on how to use book to market business entrepreneurs’ recognition. Gerry Robert changes the traditional publisher techniques to adapt the upcoming trend of business. Nevertheless, Gerry will share his experience and procedures to help new business entrepreneurs to go above and beyond. Gerry has a different perspective and he has demonstrated his different perspective will lead to a different result. Gerry has inspired many business entrepreneurs with his amazing ideas and creativity, and this boot camp provides many effective strategies for all business entrepreneurs to become effective authors.
Gerry Robert recognizes the probability of success is low for business entrepreneurs if they partner up with traditional publishers. Moreover, traditional process of publishing a book will take up to 18 months. Business entrepreneurs should focus on outside of the book sale because money is not in the book, it is around the book.
In this generation, it is difficult to sell books. Business entrepreneurs need to understand it is how the book gives them the opportunity for other than the book sale.
Gerry Robert emphasizes business entrepreneurs should not follow the traditional process of publishing a book. There are two main statements Gerry Robert wants all business entrepreneurs to learn:
Do not sell in bookstores because it is not worth the effort and it is too slow
Hard copy will open doors instead of eBook
Business entrepreneurs reject good ideas when they are fear of leaving their comfort zone. The intensity will change and motive business entrepreneurs. Gerry Robert will provide the resources in the back to ensure entrepreneurs are focused with their work on the book.
“Action is the antidote of anxiety”
Many people believe they need to be fully prepared to publish a book. Gerry believes business entrepreneurs do not need to be an expert to write a book. Moreover, Gerry will show business entrepreneurs his techniques to publish a book effectively.
“What you argue for, you get to keep”
Plan It
Gerry wants all business entrepreneurs to figure out what they really want to write about in their books. Therefore, Gerry has created a system called “The Gerry Robert Book Planning System”.
The system makes up of three steps:
Primary Object (PO): What do you want your book to do for you
Target Population (T POP): Who is your ideal prospect
Needs, Desires, Problems (NDP): What keeps them up at night?
“A book is not written, it is engineered”
Gerry points out business entrepreneurs should write a book that is generic than specific. The book should do something for the author. The book should go wide in content than narrow.
Here are some examples of primary objectives for business entrepreneurs.
Leads 15 – 500
Give away a book as a tool
Create a lead generator
Become a speaker
$1,500 per talk
Increase clients
Increase extra payment
Increase Target population
20% to 80%
Open doors of opportunities
Speaks for CEOs
Publicity
Separate than everyone else
Job
Sell their product
Gerry Robert has generated some common examples in the market for business entrepreneurs to focus on their PO, T POP, and NDP.
Primary Object
Get on Radio to builds a database
Do TV interviews
Create more free time
Get on Radio to book appointments
Become an expert
Travel
Get on Radio
Get better clients
Become a speaker
Get radio to sell seminar
Sell products or services
Create awareness
Speak for a fee
Make money from book sales
Influence your industry
Build credibility
Tell your story
Get a position in an association
Meet People
Get a job
Get consulting contract
Open doors
Get a better job
Speak at conventions
Improve advertising results
Create MSI
Educate people
Impact others
Open a new niche markets
Meet famous people
be taken more seriously
Become more visible
Position yourself as an authority
Change live
Write newspaper columns
open new markets
Build my brand
Target Population
Age
Any trauma
What do they do for fun
Sex
Medical History
What makes them buy
% Male
live
How many of them are there
% Female
Net worth
Where do they
Occupation
Education
In the city
Level
% College
Rural
Children
% High school
How many friends do they have
% Married
Where do they like to eat
What organization do they belong to
% Divorced
Where do they shop
Do they take vacations
% Single
How much do they spend on
What makes them mad
% Students
What political party
Needs Desire and Problems
Stress related
Economic
Feels like failure
Self-esteem related
Family related
Wants to make a difference
Vocational
Future related
Is tired
Relational
Negativity of industry
Tired of conflicts
Financial
Wants more time
Lack of sex
Feels confined
Desire to succeed
Wants to stop struggling
Feels not being heard
Needs customers
Got bad advice
No time
Confused
Needs to stat over
Boss pressures
Unsure about change
Economic Uncertainty
Speed issues
Feels stuck
Distrustful
Fear
Tired of Rat Race
Angry
Hates Government
Skeptical
Gerry Robert suggests business entrepreneurs to stay away from children’s book, biography, and novels because these are difficult to monetize. The best ways to monetize is to write books that are “How to” and “Show them the money”. This is the fastest path to the biggest cash.
Business entrepreneurs should write about audience’s needs, desires, and problems. Therefore, they should understand audiences’ problem and what they are afraid of. Finally, business entrepreneurs will give the audience what they want and they will give business entrepreneurs what they request.
Plan the book not more than six months. Business entrepreneurs should never apologize or be ashamed to sell their books. They should be confident.
Gerry mentions copying someone’s idea is called plagiarize, but copying many people’s ideas is called research.
“The only thing they can grow is the thing you give energy to”
Write it
Gerry believes there are significant money opportunities outside of the book. This includes new clients, speaking, seminar, coaching and advertisement. The return on investment is phenomenal. Business entrepreneurs should look at this as financial asset. Writing a book is used to be daunting. People always have to think about it. However, anybody can write a book. As long as people can get it down first, they can edit it until it is right.
“People do not know the steps to their dream, so they kill their dream.”
“You can always edit a bad page, but you cannot edit a blank page.”
Gerry invents “The Write it System” that will help business entrepreneurs to set their blue print of the book. It forces to use both sides of the brain. The system will also help business entrepreneurs to write a book in 40 hours.
Step 1: Write 15 chapter title
Gerry wants everyone to write down 15 topics in any order. The reason for 15 is to help business entrepreneurs to exceed their limitation and get the best idea out of their mind.
Step 2: Your major topics in sequence
After 15 titles are done, Gerry wants everyone to cross out 5 topics and put the remaining ten into sequence. This will help business entrepreneurs to understand what is important and what is redundant.
Step 3: 18 chapter ingredients
Gerry wants everyone to brainstorm 18 ideas or ingredients that they can write about in one chapter. These 18 items will be the content of the chapter.
Step 4: 15 chapter ingredients in sequence
Gerry wants everyone to put eliminate 3 ingredients and put the remaining 15 ingredients in sequence.
Step 5: 15 significant statements
In this step, Gerry wants everyone to take each ingredient and ask themselves “What is significant about this ingredient?” Business entrepreneurs will need to make a very brief statement about each ingredient. Gerry wants everyone to put emotional energy into statement.
Step 6: Turn each significant statement into a question
By taking the statements from previous step, Gerry wants everyone to turn each significant statement into question. All questions should come from “Why?” or “How?” or “What is the best way to” or “How can I”. Moreover, questions that will elicit some answer are important.
Step 7: Come up with 3 answers for each question
For each question, Gerry wants everyone to write out 3 answers. They should try to make a very brief statement on each ingredient.
Repeat the steps for all topics. If business entrepreneurs write 5 minutes for each answer word, they need to write 15 minutes per ingredient. There are total of 15 ingredients, times by 10 chapters will equal to 40 hours.
Many business entrepreneurs will eventually run out of ideas. Gerry suggests to some ideas that will help them generate ideas.
File System
Speak, transcribe, write
From speeches and seminars
Teleseminar, transcribe
Blog posts
2 pages per day
Hire ghost
It is always a good idea to put free quiz. Audience loves free things and it will become a magnetic. Business entrepreneurs should optimize the white space as well.
“It always seems impossible until it is done”
Publish it
Book title is the main attraction to all audience. It needs to capture the readers’ imagination or curiosity or desire in that short moment. It is important to sell them what they want and give them what they need.
Any book needs a title and a sub title. The main title is generated by your left brain and the sub title is generated by your right brain.
Titles can be shock, controversy, borrow, well-known and bold. For shock, it needs a strong statement that shows an important fact. For controversy, it needs a strong statement that is opposite from the reality. For borrow, it can be similar to other titles in the market. For well-known, it needs to use the words people are familiar with. Lastly, for bold, the words must have a strong image that can trigger readers.
Cover is very important because people in the target population will judge on the book based on what the cover shows. In average, readers will spend the first 8 seconds to look at the front cover and 15 seconds to scan the back cover. The important thing is readers will only care about their NDP, so the cover needs to show them the book can solve their NDP.
There are some components to make an awesome cover.
Eye-catching picture
Need a picture to get attention
Pain point
Remind or highlight people about pain
Gain point
Create promise on the cover
Ultimate promise
Strong statement shows confident
Ask question
Question help people lean towards the book
Humor
Say something funny
Strong author picture
Impact on creditability
Reader-appropriate colors
Color shows different personality
Raise curiosity
Capture readers thinking
Do not be ambiguous
Simple and straightforward terminology
Use second sub title
Focus and narrow the main message
Consider using numbers
If you have numbers, readers expect more content
It is important to get endorsements. Business entrepreneurs should create a template letter to ask sponsors for testimonial. It is essential to figure out who are the important people in the target population.
In the binding phase, Gerry suggests the first time publishing books should be soft cover and 100 pages. As for copyright, the main rule is the content of the book can borrow up to 300 words without any permission; otherwise, it must have properly quotation or credit them on the back of the book. It is illegal to use image without permission.
Every book needs the International Standard Business Number (ISBN). The number can be registered free on the ISBN website.
The suggest price markup margin of the book should be around $2 to $4. Therefore, the soft cover should be around $34 and hard cover should be around $44.
Gerry recommends putting a QR code to attract audience for call to action. Moreover, Gerry also recommends do not put any blank pages. If there are blank pages, business entrepreneurs can utilize those pages for advertisement to a charity.
“It is not the book, it is the hook”
Fund it
Business entrepreneurs can provide the last chapter to a “resource author recommend” chapter. This will help the book generate some money for funding.
Gerry invents “The Fundit System” for all business entrepreneurs to start their funding. The foundation of the system comes from “Preparation”, “Attitude”, “Interviews”, and “Action”.
Preparation
Business entrepreneurs should find companies that advertise to target population. Gerry suggests not going for big company; instead, business entrepreneurs should go for small or medium companies that can write the cheque immediately. Big corporation have slow procedure due to legal checking. The important thing is business entrepreneurs need to get the money as quick as possible.
Attitude
Business entrepreneurs need to have a positive and confident attitude. They need to show them it is affordable and the book can market for them. However, most people will refuse, so keep trying.
“Some will, some won’t, so what? I will do it anyway”
Interview
Business entrepreneurs should find people who can create synergy with their book ideas. Gerry emphasizes all business entrepreneurs to quote everything in the interview. It is important for all business entrepreneurs not to mention their occupation; instead, they need emphasize they are business author. Gerry suggests the interview should be a maximum of 20 minutes. In any urgency matters, business entrepreneurs should blame their publishers if their interview is at risk.
Action
The funding process could take up time, so business entrepreneurs should book off the time in 24 hours. It is important to measure the results to ensure mistakes are recurring again in the future.
Gerry suggests 6 techniques in the system that will help to fund the book
Buy Now Cards
Keep the audience engaged and keep them warm
Sell Ads
Plant people in the book for exchange the presale
Feature profile
Goes within chapters to help them create recognition
“Bonus” Chapter
Increase the value of the book by sell more content to exist customers
Sell Speeches
Create opportunities to do seminar speeches
The order form close
Ask for the order and proceed goes to charity
“Complimentary, but not competing; informational, not commercial”
“Forgo your fee in exchange for them buying books”
“Blame your publisher for being pushy when asking them to buy”
Move it
The hardest part of publishing a book is to market the book. Gerry believes by giving out the ideas to the market, they will eventually see opportunities. When people make decisions, they will see attract more opportunities.
When people build or plant “thoughts” in their brains, there is a vibration from their brain to the things they desire. They will notice the surrounding that attracts their desire. Moreover, the process is very similar to business entrepreneurs and vision board.
“10% content, 90% market”
The easy part is to get the book published, yet the hard part is getting rid of the books. Based on statistic, 99% of people are still using 2004 or earlier market strategies. In this new generation, people will do their research, and they are less trusting and less royal. Therefore, it is important to understand the current target population’s mindset.
“If you do not know how people these days act, you will struggle financially.”
Business entrepreneurs can use book to break those barriers. In this generation, consumers are offended towards manipulation strategy, so their defense mechanisms are high. Instead, appeal their defense mechanism by respecting them.
The reticular activation system (RAS)
This reticular activation system acts as a filter in people’s brain. It will prevent new information going inside of their brain. In this generation, the RAS is increasing significantly.
In order to penetrate RAS, people must feel pain and gain while they are receiving new information. For example, business entrepreneurs can create introduction video to activate consumers’ pain, and then provide contact information to activate consumers’ gain. People are hungry to solve their problems and they are searching for their content.
Interview Campaign
Business entrepreneurs can use their book to get free publicity with media. Based on consumers’ psychological behaviors, they will come back if they receive something free. This is a strategy to plant seeds in consumers’ brains. Every time they come back, business entrepreneurs should increase their value. In addition, Gerry believes something away can change people’s behaviors.
During the interview, Gerry strongly suggests mentioning the book. The book will lead business entrepreneurs more media exposure.
“People are like moving parade. If they might not be ready to buy today, they might buy it later in the future.”
Speaking Campaign
The objective of speaking campaign is to sell to the group. Business entrepreneurs need to be good at speaking in public. The best way is to attend Toastmaster events, study other professional speakers, and mimic others. By changing tones and change different position while speaking will get consumers’ attention.
It is important to get feedback form audience. The best technique is to create demo videos and capture audience feedback to modify for future speaking content.
Book Launch Campaign
The objective of book launch is to celebrate and sell books at the same event. Gerry emphasizes book signing at the bookstore is a waste of time; unless people are famous like Donald Trump. Instead, business entrepreneurs can create a book launch event. They can invite sponsors, testimonials, and everyone that are involved in the book. Moreover, it is important to invite councilors to do short speech because they will spread words around to invite other councilors.
During the book launch event, business entrepreneurs can give away swag bags. In the swag bags, business entrepreneurs can put other people’s business contact to promote other people’s businesses. Before business entrepreneurs do the speech, it is important to invite charity first. They can pitch the book sale again by connecting publishers on Skype for more creditability. Nevertheless, Gerry suggests not doing any self-promotion.
Medias will reconnect with the society with the book launch and it will increase business entrepreneurs’ publicity.
There are other campaign strategies that will help business entrepreneurs. All campaigns are created by Gerry Robert.
“The fastest way to be successful is when everyone is going one direction; you go to the other direction”