In today's episode, I'm sharing with you my interview on the Power Your Purpose podcast with Megan Accardo. I share some of my best speaking tips, strategies and insights. Plus we get personal talking about my hearing loss and how that's affected my career, and core elements of my signature talk.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the topics we cover:

• Why setting your intention before any important conversation will guide you toward greater success in communicating your message
• How to use video to accelerate relationships, especially in this virtual working world (and how to get out of your own way and not focus on your own fears and insecurities while using said video)
• The importance of practicing conversations, but why you should NOT write actual scripts (hint: use only bullet points!)
• Why using storytelling is an incredibly important tool to show possibility and evoke emotion in those you are speaking to
• And so, so much more!

My hope in sharing this conversation is...

When you picture a “speaker”, I bet you picture a conference with a big stage. Well, besides the fact that conferences are a no-go in a pandemic, even if the live event world were open for business, you’d still have choices for sharing your message.

Today, I’m sharing with you 5 kinds of stages that you could be speaking on as a guest speaker to grow your authority.

Episode Highlights

Before you jump to opportunities, make sure you have your strategy. Here’s a few questions to help:

• Are you speaking to grow your business? 
• Are you speaking to grow your list? Are you speaking to grow your authority?
• Are you just looking to grow your confidence so that you can show up on stages with more confidence?

For more on developing your speaking strategy, grab my 5 step roadmap for speaking on stages here.

The power of positioning yourself as an expert

(03:40) I do think there's something to be said about identifying with this expert...

Do you ever feel like you’re talking to an empty room when you present virtually? You’re not alone, many speakers have found the transition from in person speaking to virtual stages a bit rocky, not anticipating the lack of audience engagement.

But is it really possible to get virtual engagement or should you have to just accept the lackluster zoom stares?

In this episode, I’ll show you that it is totally possible and teach you how to drive engagement from your virtual platform. 

Episode Highlights

I often hear from aspiring speakers that they “thrive of off live engagement”, this made the transition pretty jarring when it came to transitioning to virtual. 

Ultimately, you should never rely on your audience as your source of energy.

So it starts with ensuring that you cut ties with that above narrative, and replace it with “I BRING MY OWN ENERGY”.

As Brendon Burchard often says, a power plant has to GENERATE its...

As the popular marketing saying goes: facts tell, stories sell.  

Stories are incredible for connection and engagement, but what if you just don’t have any good ones? Or everytime you need one, you go blank? 

You need a bank of stories to pull from that you can use over and over again. In this episode, I give you my 3 step process for documenting and organizing stories so you’re never caught trying to think of one on the fly, or worse, omitting it all together.

Storytelling should be fun, not stressful. Get ready to add more personality and power to podcast interviews, weekly content, emails and more.

Episode Highlights

MYTH: Your life is boring and you have no stories.

(04:46) How we see the world is based around our own beliefs. If you tell yourself you have no stories, you're going to make that truth.

The reality is our whole life is a story. Every memory we have from our childhood, from our work experiences, waiting in line at the coffee...

If you plan on speaking on virtual or live event stages, you’ll inevitably face tech issues. The question is: will you handle them in a way that adds credibility to your brand or harms your reputation?  Will you roll with the punches or waste precious time with a deer in headlights look?

Today, I'm sharing some real examples of speaking hiccups and teaching three specific steps to help you navigate them with grace, leaving your audience thinking, “dang, if she can do THAT, what ELSE can she do for me?”

Good content, delivery and adaptability is essential to your brand.

(09:39) You have to have good content. You have to have a level of presence about you that elevates your brand. It's got to get people to connect to it. If you have poor delivery, it doesn't matter how good your content is, people are not going to remember it. They're not going to be engaged. You're not going to hold their attention. Your delivery has to be there, but your...

 I love shiny objects. I love a little glitz, a little sparkle. 

When things become hard (aka every day as an entrepreneur) it’s easy to lose focus and want to move on to the next shiny thing. Yes, THAT NEW THING will become the secret to our success.

False. 

We both know that pushing through the hard stuff leads to break throughs.

The question is, how do you actually determine if you're getting caught up in shiny object syndrome, or if it's actually an incredible opportunity that you should say yes to that is going to help you further along in your business?

You must have a filtering system to keep a clear head and not get caught up in the marketing hype.

Say no to FOMO and hello to real growth.

I do this with 5 simple, yet powerful questions. So simple, you might laugh. 

But remember, all you need is a good prompt to get your brain and your gut working in sync.

Here’s 5 specific questions to ask yourself when you're going through shiny...

Welcome to the Heather Sager Show! Yep, that’s right, new name, same great content & same terrible jokes ;)

Sometimes life serves up unexpected curve balls and you decide how you handle them. Today I’m sharing the WHY behind the podcast name change along with 4 secrets that I use to navigate twists like this in life and business (like a total re-brand in 36 hours).

I often say that a stage is simply a platform to share your message. In this online world, especially during the pandemic, most have been surprised to learn just how many stages are readily available and are ready to start exploring.

Today we’re talking about live streaming, however the secrets I share are absolutely relevant to pre-recorded video or any other stage that you find yourself speaking.

Before we dive in, if fear of the camera is something that you’re struggling with, grab my Confidence Booster: 5 Hacks to Shake Your Fear & Kickstart Your Confidence. It’s a simple PDF guide to help you press LIVE, plus you’ll also get access to my recommended tech list, including the cameras, tripods, lights, streaming software and other misc tech I share with my clients and students. Grab it here.

Making the decision to start showing up on live stages can often be an emotional decision rooted in FEAR.

What will others think of me?

What if I make a...

Imagine this:

It’s 2 weeks after you delivered your best presentation at a virtual summit. The high of the event is wearing off and you check your Kajabi dashboard to see your sales numbers.

You’re greeted with the stark realization that all the energy and time you put into your talk created ZERO real leads into your business.

You don’t understand. 

What happened?

You were charming, made them laugh, delivered some of your BEST tips.

Yet, barely anyone signed up for that freebie and those who DID aren’t converting into customers.

Sadly, I see this happen every day.

Passionate business owners muster up the courage to put themselves out there, just to be met with disappointment that their energy and effort isn’t paying off.

They know that a strong online marketing strategy should include a visibility plan. Theoretically, when you show up on podcasts or speak on virtual stages and get more eyes on your business, the revenue will...

It’s the “can I pick your brain” topic I get most.

It typically comes from someone looking to leave their 9-5 or take their business online. They want to know, how does this whole online business thing work? How did I do it? How could they do something similar?

Today I’m pulling back the curtain to share with you how I've structured my online business and how it's evolved over the last two years because just 18 months ago I was still working in corporate full time.

I’m a firm believer that when you have a clear pathway (ie menu of services) for how people work with you through different revenue streams, you make business easier on yourself and for others to work with you. 

Inside this episode, I’ll share my 4 primary revenue streams:

1. Paid Speaking
2. 1:1 Coaching
3. Group Coaching 
4. Digital Courses & Workshops

Episode Highlights:

Importance of having a strong business framework

(06:21) When you have a really clear pathway, like...