Incorporate Generosity Into Your Speaking Business
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Practicing generosity in business can change the arc of your career. That’s what Ellen Rogin and I recently spoke about. She wrote the New York Times bestseller on turning your vision into reality, Picture Your Prosperity. She’s an acclaimed speaker, TEDx presenter, blogger, a 20-year veteran of the financial services industry, and a Certified Financial Planner®.
Ellen realized that giving is a great way to build your business when she started her financial services business in her late 20’s before transitioning into the speaking arena.
At the time, networking was new for her. A friend invited Ellen to join a leads group. Her friend was the person that stood up at each meeting and said that she gave the most leads. She also taught Ellen “What you sow you reap.” Instead of a give to get, it was a give to give environment.
This helped Ellen conclude that generosity was the new currency in business; and one of the best ways to become prosperous is by being generous.
Generosity For The Speaking World During Tough Times
The pandemic is negatively impacting many speakers’ businesses, which is leaving them in a bad personal headspace. If a speaker is in the mindset of worrying and thinking “I really need this…” the potential client on the other end of the conversation will pick up that energy. People pick up a lot subconsciously that most people don’t even realize that they’re communicating.
Instead of thinking “I really need this, I’m not going to be ok” speakers should be thinking “How can I serve the people that need me right now?” and be in the mindset of “They really need me right now.”
Instead of thinking “I really need this, I’m not going to be ok” speakers should be thinking “How can I serve the people that need me right now?” and be in the mindset of “They really need me right now.”
One of the things Ellen loves about NSA is that most of the speakers involved are very generous, which reinforced what her friend told her back when she got started.
If you’re not busy right now, think about who you can speak for. Who can you help for free or a reduced fee? It could be a not for profit. It could be an association. For example, when everything shut down Ellen offered generosity in business by doing webinars about mindfulness and how to reduce panic for the financial services industry, which is her target market. She did that without an ulterior motive of making money. The benefits: 1) It truly served that audience, 2) It had Ellen creating incredible new content, and 3) It got her name out to a lot of financial advisors who didn’t know her before. Five months later, that new content became a new offering: A seven-week course for financial advisors. By giving without the expectation of getting anything she ended up getting something back.
If you’re not busy right now, who can you offer to speak for to keep your skills sharp? At the very least you’ll make new connections. It will help the audiences that you’re speaking to and it will help you as well. This doesn’t mean that you advertise that you speak for free or that you’re never going to charge again. You can privately reach out to current clients and organizations that you want to get in front of. You need to assess every opportunity, especially in these difficult times, and ask who are you serving and does the opportunity at hand make sense for you or not to do something for a reduced fee or no fee?
How To Practice Gratitude Marketing
In addition to sending a thank you note to clients after speaking, Ellen likes to make a charitable contribution on their behalf, especially if she knows that a particular cause is important to them to demonstrate generosity in business. Even if you don’t know of a cause that’s important to them, you can pick a unique cause that’s important to you. There’s an organization called Prosperity Candle that sells candles made by refugee women. When you receive one it includes a note with the name of the person that made it and where they’re a refugee from. Ellen likes to send gifts like that to people in her network.
If you want to get more business and referrals, you should be out there offering more generosity in business and referrals. This includes referrals to people outside of the speaking industry. If you know that the other person is really good at what they do, then sending referrals their way benefits everyone. There’s something called the “law of reciprocity”; if you’re helping other people build their business you’re also creating the opportunity for them to return the favor and do something nice for you down the road.
"If you want to get more business and referrals, you should be out there giving more business and referrals."
If you spoke at an event and you know that they’re not going to ask you to speak again, you can offer to refer them to other speakers in your network. It helps the meeting planner, your friend and everyone involved with the event. You can also be interviewed on podcasts, which helps you, and you can refer guests which helps the podcaster.
If you’ve seen one of your friends speak, go on LinkedIn and write them a testimonial. You can share friends’ social media posts, share their articles and comment on their posts. Those are little things you can do that are helpful to the people in your network. The little things like that build up what one of Ellen’s friends calls “relationship capital”.
It can be easy to feel scared and fall into scarcity thinking with what’s going on in the world now. It’s really hard to think creatively when you’re telling yourself negative stories. It’s also difficult to find new opportunities or think about who you could be calling when you’re in that mindset. Generosity can help shift your mindset. When you’re being generous it takes the focus off of you and puts it onto other people, which naturally helps you feel happier and healthier. This helps you because generosity precedes prosperity.
When you’re generous good things will come back to you!
To learn how to further increase your speaking experiences, explore Kevin E. O’Connor’s Strategies To Create Successful Speaking Experiences.
Guest Writer
Ellen Rogin, CPA, CFP® and Abundance Activist® has made her life’s work educating, counseling, and guiding people to grow their prosperity and to use it as a force for good in their lives and in the world.
She is the co-author of NY Times best-seller, Picture Your Prosperity: Smart Money Moves to Turn Your Vision into Reality.
Ellen consults and speaks across the globe on creating success and abundance.
Ellen is a TEDx presenter, and her work has been quoted in such national publications as The New York Times, Money, Time.com, Forbes.com, and The Huffington Post.
As SIY Certified Teacher through The Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, Ellen also teaches the mindfulness and emotional intelligence leadership program which was developed at Google – Teaching leaders tools for focus, self-awareness, and resilience.
You can learn more about Ellen at www.EllenRogin.com
