9,000 Ways to Share Your Message Today with Jackie Lapin

Jackie Lapin is a leader in helping leaders, authors, coaches, speakers and entrepreneurs connect with their next followers around the globe. An expert at aiding them to GET BOOKED, she provides strategies, guidance and direct leads through her SpeakerTunity® programs, tip sheets and regional directories that get changemakers booked for speaking engagements, radio shows, podcasts, virtual summits, TEDx events and virtual networking across North America. SpeakerTunity® also offers a speaker-one sheet graphic design service, booking systems and training to fill up your speaking calendar. SpeakerTunity® is The Ultimate Speaker’s Tool Box.

Her internationally acclaimed Conscious Media Relations Radio/Podcast Tours have helped nearly 200 luminaries, leaders, filmmakers and authors grow their businesses, sell more books, create viewership and change more lives by introducing them to up to 9000 radio shows and podcasts, including such clients as Don Miguel Ruiz, Dr. Joe Vitale, James Twyman, Denise Linn, Arielle Ford, Hay House and more.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

There are over 9,000 opportunities to speak in the U.S. and Canada, every day
How to get yourself booked on stages, real and virtual
Three ways to make money from speaking on stage
When to contact an event organizer who isn’t responding to you
How to pitch yourself for podcasts and radio shows
The power of a virtual summit
Start local, grow national
Getting booked as a TEDx speaker

In this episode…

So, you’ve got a message to share with the world. But, how do you get it out there? Jackie Lapin, of Speakertunity, has helped thousands of experts do just that.

In this episode of An Unconventional Life, Jackie Lapin reveals to Dr. Russell Strickland how experts can get their message out to their ideal audience by appearing on stages, summits, podcasts, radio, TV, and more. She shares insider secrets on accessing the 9,000 professional speaking opportunities available in the U.S. and Canada each day and navigating often confusing process of getting chosen for the spotlight.

Appearing on summits, podcasts, TEDx stages, radio, TV, and more can get your message to thousands of right-fit customers, clients, and patients, expand your authority, and grow your business.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Dissertation Done, America’s #1 authority in dissertation completion for working professionals.

Founded by Dr. Russell Strickland, Dissertation Done serves people in two ways:

If you’re struggling with your dissertation, getting ready to start your dissertation, or just plain wanting to get your dissertation done as soon as possible, go to www.dissertationdone.com/done and Let’s Get Your Dissertation Done
If you’re busy living your Unconventional Life and have a message that you want to share, maybe you should join our Expand Your Authority Program to become a published author. Go to www.dissertationdone.com/book and let me know that you’d like to talk about Expanding Your Authority.

Visit www.dissertationdone.com to learn more about our other services and leave a message or call them at 888-80-DR-NOW (888-803-7669) to schedule your free 30 to 45-minute phone consultation.

Episode Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript is here for your reading convenience. It was created by machines and may (a-hem) contain some errors. If you email us about these errors, the machines will undoubtedly find out. I hope they won’t get angry.

Intro [00:00:03] Welcome to An Unconventional Life, a podcast where we share stories about the crazy one percent out there who earned their doctoral degrees and then went on to use them in crazy, cool, unique, and unconventional ways. Here’s your host, astrophysicist turned teacher, author, dissertation coach, and more, Dr. Russell Strickland.

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:00:28] Hello and welcome to an Unconventional Life podcast. I’m Dr. Russell Strickland, your host and also founder and CEO of Dissertation Done today. We have with us Jackie Lapin. This is going to be a wonderful, hopeful episode for all of you authors out there, because what Jackie does is she helps leaders, authors, coaches and speakers and entrepreneurs to connect with their next followers from around the globe. She does this by helping you get books on stages, both live and virtual, TEDx, radio shows, podcasts, virtual summits and virtual networking as well. So this is a wonderful way for those experts out there that coaches, consultants and and counselors that we work with so much and extend your authority to really go out there and make your mark in the world. Welcome, Jackie. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Jackie Lapin [00:01:17] I am delighted to be here. So thank you for the invitation. We love supporting people who are making a difference in the world.

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:01:25] Well, I appreciate that and all of our audience. I will tell you this. One of the things that inspires me, they really are making a difference in the world. I’d like to let folks know that today’s episode has been brought to you by Dissertation Done. So if you’re one of our doctoral students, is either facing your dissertation coming up soon or kind of stuck in the middle of it, reach out to us at DissertationDone.com/done. And we’ll see if you might be a good fit for our Fast-Track Your Dissertation coaching program. But if you are in that expert space, and that’s a lot of what we’re going to be talking about today and you’d like to get your book out there because there is no better thing to do when you’re up on stage and tell people that you are a published author will take you from a blank page to a published author in less time than we thought possible with our Expand Your Authority program. And you can find out about that at DissertationDone.com/book. So check us out there again, Jackie, welcome. And tell me, how did you get started doing this? This is a wonderful thing that you’re helping entrepreneurs and experts connect to their future audiences.

Jackie Lapin [00:02:23] Well, I started out by the last 12 years we’ve been doing radio podcast tours for authors where we introduce them to nine thousand radio shows and podcast is the very same time with a minimum 30 guaranteed interviews. And and we’ve done that for really great luminaries in the personal growth and spirituality and wellness space. Anybody whose work improves one’s life, one’s business, the planet. And in the course of that, some of them would say to us, well, can you book us for speaking engagements? And we just said, you know, we don’t want to do that, but we know where they are. Why don’t we just tell you where they are? And so that’s how Speakertunity was born. And Speakertunity is a speaker and leader resource company where we provide direct contacts that gives leaders opportunities to book themselves without having to do any of the research. So for me, it was kind of like, OK, let’s start with this. And then, my goodness, it was like, let’s add this one and let’s add this one and let’s add this one, because we saw a need. We saw the fact that people were struggling and they wanted more radio shows and podcasts and they wanted more virtual summit. So we just stepped in and said, OK, let’s expand this brand and do more than just speaking live in virtual speaking events. And that’s how we evolved.

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:03:40] Yeah, that’s amazing. And like I said, you know, speakertunity, there’s so many opportunities out there. The numbers you provided, I mean, I knew there were a lot of opportunities, but those are staggering.

Jackie Lapin [00:03:50] Well, you know, there are actually nine thousand now since the pandemic. There are now nine thousand speaking gigs in America and Canada in any given day. There used to be sixty five hundred, but it went to nine thousand because so many events went virtual and just found that there was an opportunity that they could take advantage of without any limitations of geographic geography.

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:04:16] Yeah, that is that’s amazing. It is something that. The pandemic has certainly changed things. I’m honestly surprised to see the numbers went up by that much, but I know a lot of people did pivot and they are starting to do more virtual events. I see that in my own space around kind of friends. I know folks in my own mastermind and things that I’ve done. So I guess it makes sense. A lot of people are doing that. So tell folks then, I think you mentioned before, the place to start is this is talk about was the radio appearances or the stage is the

Jackie Lapin [00:04:48] Let’s talk about let’s talk about stage, because today what’s happened is so many of the meetings, venues and associations that were in room situations have gone virtual. So it gives you an opportunity to take advantage of let’s say that you’re an expert in a particular subject and you have an association that has national chapters. Well, at one point, if you wanted to keep your costs down, you could just go to your local meeting. Now, you can actually go to any one of their chapters anywhere in the country and be a speaker as long as you have the credentials and qualify. And in some cases, you have to be a member, but not always. And so what this is done is it enables you to take advantage of all kinds of things and things that you might not have been willing to travel to before because, you know, there was costs involved. So maybe you pitch something that’s a new organization a little off the beaten track. There’s no liability in doing that right now. And you’re just open up more possibilities. So, yes, some of those meetings will come back. Some of them will never come back. And I know a ton of organizations have said we love this, we’re growing because we have gone virtual. So we’re not going back to live in room. So but when when when some of those meetings do return, people are going to flock to them because they’re so excited at the possibilities.

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:06:13] I was wondering about that because I think that they might find that right now they’re doing a wonderful job with it. But I and maybe it’s going to be a pendulum swinging back and forth and we might end up in this area where there’s a lot more virtual. But I think there’s going to be a lot of people that really want those in-person meetings as soon as possible. I our our mastermind right now, we are planning on doing our meeting in June live and everybody’s got their fingers crossed. It’s going to work out because it’s been like a year since these folks get together. We usually get about three times a year and now it’s just virtual. And that’s not to totally discount virtual. We can get a lot done there. But actually seeing people and going and breaking bread over a table at night, things like that,

Jackie Lapin [00:06:56] There’s a lot to be said for a hug.

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:06:58] Yeah, yeah. Absolutely, absolutely.

Jackie Lapin [00:07:01] But yeah, I think it’s so the possibilities are out there. And one of the things we did is we created a couple of resources that are going to be really valuable to people. One, if you do want to focus on your region. Speakertunity, we have something called Speakertunitiy Cities, cities where we give you regional speaker directory with up to two thousand leads just in your market alone. And we all have 72 markets. When we’re all wrapped up, we’ll be have 60 by about June all over the US and Canada. And there’s divided, subdivided four sections, business, which is subdivided into fifty five industries and ethnicities and gender service groups, which is everything from rotary cities, are optimistic. And clubs in Canada to all the places you touch, the consumer, moms groups, seniors, parenting, health and all the support groups, military, LGBT, other special interest groups, bookstores, libraries and hospitals. And then the last category, spiritual unity centers of spiritual living, faith based groups. All that comes in one directory. Seventy five percent of the directory is the business directory, however, and it really gives you a direct ability to saturate your market and especially works for somebody who wants some in every one of those categories or a variety in the business category.

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:08:22] Those numbers are huge. And when I hear that, it brings to mind there was a movie many, many years ago where, you know, some defense lawyers have just taken on a new case. It was against the government. And so there’s a discovery process and you have to bring in all the evidence. The prosecution has to bring in all the evidence they have. And they brought it in by the truckload. And the lawyers were like, you know, there were like two lawyers or something like, what are you going to do with this? And that’s what comes to mind when you talk about numbers like, what are we going to do with that? How do that directory to

Jackie Lapin [00:08:55] And that’s why it’s divided into various different sections. So let’s say you just want real estate people or health care professionals or lawyers or construction people or hospitality. All of that is broken down. So you can find your your peeps, so to speak. And then, you know, then you’ll know if you want to do your your civic organizations, your service organizations, you know, you can pick and choose which of the ones that are closest to you. You don’t have to do everything in the region. You’re going to find the ones that are right for you. But what if we’ve made it in such a way that it’s it’s not all thrown into one big mess. It’s very well organized. Now, the other thing that we’ve got. That is more to what you’re speaking to, is coming in late may speakertunity is introducing speakertunity, speaker specialties and what that is, is that you can buy your directory for your nesh. Let’s say you just want women’s meetings across North America. You’ll be able to buy that list alone and or entrepreneurs or whatever the category is that you want. And you’ll be able to get it either all of North America or to say, of course, you can do it in one mega regions, either north of either east, west, south Canada or Midwest. And and so that’s not on our site yet. But if people are interested, they should go to the bottom of the page and there is a form there. Just tell us that you’re interested in being notified when that product is available. But all of this is designed so that you can find exactly what you want easily, whether it’s locally or whether it’s nationally.

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:10:45] That sounds awesome if you have a launch date for that.

Jackie Lapin [00:10:48] Yet the third the third week of May.

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:10:52] Third week of May. OK, so we’ll probably be able to listen to this by late April or early May and then by the third week of May, they can just head over to speaker community dot com and check it out. That sounds awesome. All right. So now we’ve got the list. We think the list is fairly concentrated or focused on what we’re interested in. What is someone do with that list now to actually get on stage?

Jackie Lapin [00:11:16] So the next step is to prepare the proposal letter and what you’re going to send with it, the proposal that there shouldn’t be more than about six to seven paragraphs and it should speak to what you are going to present that is going to change the life, the business, the health of that audience. So it needs to speak to the problem, the pain point that they’re suffering with. And when you can identify that in your proposal letter and then identify the solution that you have, that’s what you’re proposing. Your credentials are secondary to presenting your solution. And so all of that. And you don’t want to pack that pitch letter with with credentials because that’s what’s going to go in your speaker one sheet. And that’s the next thing I’m going to talk to you about. Now, the speaker one sheet is a two page document that really gives a lot more information about who you are. And this is what you’re going to attach with that letter. And it should have a bio and a headline that speaks again to the problem that you solve and then in that bio will be more your credentials. You want to have a couple of testimonials, preferably from people who booked you in the past. If not, then you can put in either people have heard you or your clients, but you try to work yourself up to the point when you can actually substitute in the ones people have booked you then you want to have and you want to have great graphics, you know, a good headshot or stage shot out of yourself. And then on the back, you want to identify three presentations because if you only have one presentation and so if you have one arrow in your quiver, it had better be a bull’s eye. But if you have three different options, that’s going to give people an opportunity to say that what’s right for my audience or, you know, and you can do it in different ways, different skill levels, high the skill level, low skill level. You can do it in three different topics. You can do it the same topic, but rewritten for two or three different kinds of audiences. You can do it in such a way that one is a keynote, one is a workshop, and one is the lunch and learn. So give people options. And and so you’ll want that on the back side. And by the way, then that’s one of the services that speakertunity does now is we will design your speaker one sheet or your podcast introductory sheet. You pick the template, you pick the colors, you submit the information request in the form. We’re very specific about what to submit and you can get it back in days. So you want to attach that. And the last thing that you want to attach, if you have it, is or included in the letter is some video of you presenting now in the world pre pandemic. You had stage video and that’s the optimum kinds of video that you can have. But you don’t want to give them a twenty minute long version of what you presented on stage. You just need three to five really good, powerful minutes. That’s it. And it doesn’t need to be a sizzle reel either with music and voiceover and all that other kinds of stuff. They just want to know how good a presenter you are. And if you can give them three to five minutes showing that you’re dynamic, that you engage with the audience, that you know how to. You know, really present. Well, that’s all they need. So you want to have put that on YouTube, include that little link right there in the pitch. So that’s basically what you’re sending the cover letter by email along with this speaker, one sheet and your video.

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:14:53] OK, so is this something that you do that you use a rifle and you target very specific stages that you want and go after them? Or do you use a shotgun? Are you sending these things out to many, many, many people and stages that would be on your list?

Jackie Lapin [00:15:08] Well, I would start with just being a rifle just to and don’t start high on your on your food food chain. Start local so that you

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:15:19] Can slow down for that one, because that’s true for anything that you do when you’re starting out. Don’t go after your dream. Whatever. First practice some people talk me, I will go practice with friends or family. That doesn’t really count. It might help with it. But you want to get out there in a live situation so that you’re not practicing. But you’re actually doing the real thing. You’re getting questions from the audience you’re getting. It was a sales presentation. You’re actually dealing with a client and you’re kind of understanding them and reading with them and interacting with them. You want to do that with the smaller fish first so that you don’t waste the opportunity with the big fish.

Jackie Lapin [00:15:53] Exactly. And you want to do the nice thing about starting locally, even virtually, is it locals like to book locals. So, you know, start in. And so you gives you two things. One, to see if your pitch is working and to to see to get comfortable in your stage presentation. And when you know that it’s effective and it’s achieving what you wanted to do. Now, you know, when you’re speaking from stage, you’re doing one of a couple of things. You’re either just simply inspiring people. Next, you’re going to make them a paid offer of a program that’s technically called selling from stage. I like to call it enrolling from stage or inviting from stage. And the third one is you make a free offer that will encourage people to get into your opt in or have a consultation with you and then follow up and build that relationship with them, because some stages are not going to let you do a sales pitch. So you need to be basically to do all of those things. You know, if you’re a motivational speaker, that’s one thing. But and and that’s when you get paid to get on stage. But frankly, those are harder to get. And you really have to have established yourself in the industry to get those kinds of bookings. You’re better off if you’re doing this for a living, being able to make sure that you can enroll from the stage and make a really irresistible, compelling, free offer. And by the way, if you are looking for a list of really incredibly irresistable free offers over and above an ebook or a free consultation, I have an ebook that’s called Forty Four Ways to Seduce Your Next Client from stage podcasts, radio shows, virtual summits and virtual networking. And if you go there and get it, which is at Speakertunity.com/seduce, then you will be able to it’ll really open up your eyes to the all different kinds of ways that you can induce people into your opt in list.

Dr. Russell Strickland [00:18:06] That’s that’s great. That’s one of the things that we tell folks to do when they’re writing their book, is that you don’t make any money selling a book unless you’re like James Patterson or Grisham or somebody like that. It just is not going to happen. What you make money from is helping people in a more intimate and impactful way after they’ve read your book, get them to know, like and trust you get them to to see you as a bit of a celebrity. Get them to want to be in your circle of influence. Get them to want to spend time around you. And when you do that, then you’re on your way to building a relationship. And what you have to do is capture while they are in that state of wanting to be around you, you need to capture their name and email address so that you can have conversations with them. So being able to tell them, give them an excuse for giving you their name and email address is excellent. And I think that that forty four ways is a great thing for people to look over, because I know people all the time. I talk to them like, what am I going to do for my lead magnet and what am I which is the thing, the gift that you give to to people call it an ethical bribe. Sometimes it’s not free because they’re pay with their name and email address. But you’re going to use that responsibly and they’re going to enjoy hearing from you. So what do you do to start that ball rolling and forty four ways sounds like a great way of brainstorming that process. All right. So what is the process going to like? You send in your information, someone reaches out to you to get in touch with you. How does it how does the process even there?

Jackie Lapin [00:19:36] Most of the time, you know, on. Revocations, they will respond back the most of the time, you’re going to have to do a little bit of chasing. My rule of thumb is three, the rule three, you either call them twice and email them once or email them twice and call them once. And the next thing you do is you go to LinkedIn or Facebook Messenger if you have not heard from them after those points of contact. Forget it, move on, but that’s the best way to reach out and see, but you also want to track what you’re doing, so keep a record of who you’re reaching out to when you’re doing it, what the response has been so that you know who to go back to, who not to go back to, et cetera. Some people are going to say to you, hey, I don’t have any bookings now, but I will in three months, call me back then. And so you want to make sure that you record all that and stay on top of it. So that’s really the process.

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