Donna: Public speaking, love it or hate it. Is something that you can only avoid up to a point as a business owner, as the face of your business, speaking to the public, to market your business, to network and to let the world know what it is that you offer is really important. So regardless if you're really comfortable with speaking in front of audiences or not, be it on stage in a networking space, or even in social media, in the form of video.
Today's chat with Jaimie Abbott will be inspiring for you. Jaimie Abbott is an award-winning media professional author and international keynote speaker and she spent the last two decades in the industry working as a radio and TV journalist. She's been a political media advisor, managing director of her own public speaking and media training company and a communications advisor for the Royal Australian Air Force.
Jaimie teaches entrepreneurs, coaches and industry experts, how to feel more confident when it comes to speaking in front of any audience and also she helps you to get paid for it. So today we're chatting about public speaking tips for small business owners and entrepreneurs.
Welcome to another episode of the She's In Business podcast. I'm your host Donna Hann and today I am joined by the lovely Jaimie Abbott, welcome Jaimie.
Jaimie: Oh, thank you, Donna. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me on.
Donna: So, today I always open podcast by asking you to talk to us and share with us, what your journey has been thus like as a mum in business, because many of the ladies listening are all mums in businesses and they have that juggle between building their business and evolving their business with the season of life as goes with the season of being a mum and as our kids grow and change.
So, first of all, would you mind telling us about yourself, introduce yourself and then, uh, share with us your business journey thus far.
Jaimie: Yeah, for sure and look, it really is a juggle. I'm almost 40. I've got a two and a three year old and nothing has prepared me for motherhood. So I guess I'll start from the beginning. So I was a journalist. I started out in television and radio in, um, regional New South Wales and then Sydney, I worked at two GB radio, which is like the number one, uh, radio station for news in Sydney.
It was at the time I think it still is and so that was great and I spent many years as a journalist, then I got into politics and I've run as a federal and state candidate myself. I've been a, yeah, yeah, I didn't win but, um, in the middle of that, I did run for council in port Stephens.
So, if you've ever holidayed in Nelson Bay in New South Wales, you may know port Stephens and so I was a local counselor there for the last four years and, uh, throughout this, I'm in the air force reserves and I spent six months in Afghanistan where I set up the very first media training package and that was like 10 years ago now.
And so I've had lots of experience being on the stage. I've made lots of mistakes being on camera, doing sort of public speaking events, everything from community events to really stage keynote presentations and every time I would get off the stage, I would sort of do a bit of an analysis and think, where could I have done that better? Where did I stuff up? Where did I not quite master my message?
And so, I bottled all that up and I created my own company where I now teach business owners how to feel confident on stage or in front of a camera or if they're going live on social media and I really feel having had that experience behind the camera as a journalist, as well as on camera as not only a keynote speaker, but as a politician, I've had a lot of experience to tell people what to do and what not to do.
Donna: Yeah, a hundred percent. What a journey! That sounds just fascinating and how do you juggle that now with kids? Like, did you do obviously two and a three year old? Did you say?
Jaimie: Yeah, my youngest just turned two and the oldest is three and a half. So, they're 18 months apart, two lively boys.
Donna: I have two lively boys as well.
Jaimie: They're full on. I see friends of mine look at them, the mums who have girls maybe shaking their head when they hear this but I feel like my friends who have girls, they just sit there and have some placid doing everything they're meant to do and my boys are just running around crazy. It's uh, I feel there's a real difference there between boys and girls from my observation, anyway.
Donna: Yeah, I agree. Yeah. I have very boisterous boys as well, who are totally action orientated and I used to always say, oh, I've got runners as little ones like the age that your kids are at mine are now, um, six and nine when they were little. I just couldn't sit still like going to mum's groups and things like that in the park was just like it was not fun because I, the... I was just running after the kids all the time, but yeah, it's, it's an interesting juggle being a mum in business that's for sure but you briefly mentioned it in, um, how you became a public speaking coach, but I wanna sort of talk more about this idea of having the confidence to actually step forward and speak in the public arena, whether it be on stage or on a virtual stage.
Like we have social media at our fingertips and being on video or doing lives and things like that on social media can be really challenging for people and in my zone of business coaching, I will always encourage my clients to be the face of their business because I know from experience in running my businesses and also as a consumer that, humans like to buy from humans.
They like to see who is the person behind this business or behind this product or service and so I'm always encouraging my clients to tell their story and let people get to know them a little bit, but I have a particular client in mind that I know she gets. I know that she needs to be showing on social media, more with her videos and she understands the benefits of that and why she needs to do it, but she's really shy and so, it's really well beyond her comfort zone at the moment.
So, can you share with us, whether you think that you can learn, how to be a public speaker or do you think it's something that you're born with?
Jaimie: Yeah, that's a great question because I honestly believe you can learn to be an amazing speaker. Sure, some people are born with the gift of the gap. There's no doubt about that, but there's nobody I can't train. So, you can give me someone who's extremely introverted and so scared to even open their mouth in any situation, right through to someone who is over confident and egomaniac. I can train them as well, how to really make it about the audience, because sometimes they get wrapped up in themselves and it's a really great point that you bring up a couple of things there.
So firstly, as a mum, I think our confidence gets a bit knocked, even my own confidence.
I've always considered myself fairly confident and never shy to jump on stage. Gimme a microphone anytime, but becoming a mum, you really do go through this amazing life transformation, but it does knock your confidence because you're sleep deprived there's hormones going on your, running after kids who are just full of life and it can be hard to show up and then put yourself out there not only in real life, but also in a virtual sense.
And actually what you've said there about, um, people getting shy to go live, perhaps on say Instagram, it's, it's a whole Kettle of different Kettle of fish because I've got clients who are really confident to jump up on stage in front of say 500 delegates at a conference, but you put a camera like a phone in front of their face and say, go live on your Instagram now and they can't.
So, it's like a really different mental space when you go live virtually and so what I will say to that is start doing it. Just go live at any time, don't announce it, don't publicize it and do sort of advertisements in advance. Just get your camera, go live and you can always delete it afterwards, but just start getting comfortable with putting that phone in front of your face and just speaking and look one or two of your friends might jump on and you can have a conversation.
And the next time you do it, it might get a few more and you will find the more you do it, the better you get and the more it comes just so natural to you, to go live and then before you know it, if you just sort of get into a routine of doing it, maybe once a fortnight, once a week would be great.
Just any all impromptu time, you can then start promoting it to your Instagram followers and say, I'm going live at this time, feel free to jump on and ask me any questions and the next time you might get 10, 12 people and it'll just get much more easy and you'll see people giving you likes and saying, hi, Donna, hi, Jaimie, great to be here and then you can sort of interact from those comments and it really, once you start, it just gets so much easier.
Donna: Yeah and I think too, I know myself when I'm feeling prepared, when I really know my content, when I have a depth of understanding about whatever is that I'm gonna go live about and talk about, that really helps as well.
So, I would definitely recommend as well in what you've just said too, is that it does get easier but in the first instance, in the first few times that you do it, definitely having few post-it notes or dot points, um, to help you keep on track as well. That's worked really well for me.
Did you have any other tips that are specifically for people who are nervous when they're speaking?
Jaimie: Yeah, absolutely. So, rehearsal and even my most experienced speakers are clients, I say to them just rehearse. So, it's when I say rehearse, it's not just a matter of speaking your presentation out loud. It's the matter of being prepared for like the worst possible left field question that could come your way.
So, what's your worst nightmare and how would you prepare for that? So if you're jumping up on stage, that might be forgetting your lines falling over, having a memory blank and getting completely what I'm talking about, where I'm going next, maybe fear of the audience rejecting you. What would you do if the audience were talking and weren't interested in what you had to say, how would you handle that?
So, being prepared for that and then also maybe being prepared for some tough questions. So some left field questions coming your way. Some irrelevant questions, some controversial questions, because sometimes that is the source of why we get nervous. We think, oh, what if someone asks me a really bizarre question that I can't answer?
And so when we rehearse, we think, oh, what do I not want to happen? And how would I respond if that did happen and then when you do it, and of course these things nine times outta 10, don't actually happen. It's just so much more of a confident experience, relaxed experience for you but then taking that a step further, I always tell people to have a bit of a plan going into a public speaking situation, whether it is online or in person and you think, what am I trying to do here?
So what's my aim? What am I trying to get people to think, feel or do? So, you might just be raising awareness, reinforcing a perception or reassuring your audience of something and then when you've done that, you really get some clarity on who your audience member is.
So, obviously what you would say to a mum, a brand new mum who might have to say even a one year or going back to the workforce, going back to their business, their child's going to daycare for the first time. What you might say to that particular person, would be different to what you might say to an older male CEO.
So, if you can get some real clarity on who your audience is, that will then help shape the next step and that is your message. So what is the top thing you need to say? The who, what, when, where, why and how to reach that particular audience member and that will really help as well, because then when you go live, you are talking to that ideal customer avatar as they always call it, rather than thinking, I'm talking to the big wide world, because they always say as well, if you try and market to everyone, you will market to none.
So, I think it's really great for you to get your message across, to really go into some planning as to who you're talking to.
Donna: Yeah, a hundred percent and it really is about, like you said, you can then really be talking to that person. It kind of removes that whole self-consciousness when you are speaking and you think, oh, people are looking at this or they're judging me here, or what are they thinking?
But when you are really speaking to one particular person and your whole aim of being up there is to help or move that person through whatever journey that they're, they're moving through or help them in some way, it kind of changes that. I feel like I know when I'm on stage, it's not about me, it's about them and that can really be helpful in that way.
You mentioned that fear of forgetting what you're saying. Do you have any tips to keep you focused to help retain. You're, you know, obviously you've practiced and rehearsed and you've sort of written whatever it is that you're gonna speak about, but when you're in the moment and you're delivering a speech and you have a mental blank or you have that fear of, oh my goodness, what if I forget what I'm talking about?
Do you have any tips for that?
Jaimie: So many this, I could talk for an hour on that particular topic alone, because that's why people come to me mostly because they are nervous and it's often people who used to be confident in all, either they've had kids or they've got a promotion at work, and I have a lot of male clients as well and they say, oh, when I was in my twenties, I used to be really confident and now I'm 40 and I've become the CEO or I'm 50 and I've become the CEO, I've become really nervous and self-conscious, so it can happen at any time.
So, there's a couple of different tips. Obviously, rehearsing is going to help you feel more confident and you'll know your material better, but there isn't also a one size fits all.
So for you, Donna, you may find if you have a couple of dot points, that's enough to help you jog your memory, if you do have lost your train of thought, you can go, oh, that's where I'm up to.
For years, I used to write my speech out word for word and just have it there as like a little comfort blanket and in case I did forget, I could look down and, and re-read where I was up to. Um, now I just have dot points, but also I have a couple of other tips and this is something I've had to use before.
If your worst nightmare happens and you do completely lose your train of thought, it's important to have like a little line up your sleeve that you can just blurt out and this will help because as opposed to just standing there going, ah, I've just lost where I'm up to, um, oh, and it's so awkward for not only you, but for the audience.
So, what I tell people to prepare is to say something like, I've just lost my train of thought. I was going to say something, man but if I remember it, I'll come back to it, but for now let's move on and then you keep going.
And I have had to use this once, actually, uh, this is a tip I got a couple of years ago from someone else in the industry and I thought that's a great tip and, uh, I just have it in case my worst nightmare happens and I've got it ready to go, but it's just a matter of knowing what's going to get you out of that situation.
So, whether it be dot points, whether it be some slides that can prompt you and you can turn around.
Whether it can be that little, I've just lost my train of thought, whether it's your whole speech written out, knowing what makes you feel comfortable if that was to happen, is going to help you in case it does.
Donna: Yeah, cool. I think the other thing too, I know for me, I've been in situations where I've been public speaking and I, in general, I'm a quite confident in that space and I think I'm one of those people who would just like you were saying, pretty comfortable in having a microphone in hand and speaking, particularly if I am all over my content, like that's totally fine, but I have been in situations where you're looking at the audience and you're delivering your speech and you are like, are they getting it? Or like, there's just no expression coming back.
And that can sometimes lead you overthinking and going, oh my God, should I deviate from what I planned? Is this, is this landing, is it not? Should I change what I'm saying? Or are they enjoying it? I, or the other thing is I've done a lot of presentations on stages where it's really highly lit and so the audience is quite dark and then in that case, you can't see anything , you can't see their faces at all.
So, do you have any tips in staying grounded in the moment? And trusting the process rather than overthinking when you are in that situation?
Jaimie: Yeah, absolutely. Great question and what you're talking about, there is almost a fear of rejection from the audience, they're not going to like me.
And I see that a lot, people will go into an event and think, oh, they're gonna hate me. They're not gonna like me. They're gonna be bored. I'm not going to reach them what they need at that moment in time and therefore they're just going to look at their phones and that can happen.
And at the end of the day, you're never going to please everyone anyway. So, if I go to say a women's networking event, not everyone in that room is going to either yell with me or find relevance in what I'm talking about and I guess at the end of the day, it's important to remember that, but you do have something to share with the audience.
And the audience has come along to learn from you to be inspired by you to be motivated, educated, all these different things and there are people who are lapping up every piece of content that you share with them and so I think it's important to focus on that.
Rather than getting up in what? Oh, what if I stumble? If I don't like me? Think actually people have come here for a reason to get something from me. I've got a job to do, and that is to share this content and I think if we get, we become focused on that, that will help and not trying to please everyone.
And then also, if you are worried, they're going to be bored, there are some strategies that you can also use and that can be storytelling. People love stories. In fact, I think I saw a stat that people are 22 times more likely to remember a statistic if it's wrapped around some sort of story and that's a statistic in itself it's a statistic and so we can sort of inject some stories into our presentations quite often, that will be all people will remember. Is a story that you've shared and that's going to stop people from being bored as well.
So, the first thing is to not get hung up and trying to please everyone, to be more focused on what your job is and then look at some strategies to make your presentation as engaging and inspiring as possible and stories are a great way to do that.
Donna: Yeah, hundred percent, hundred percent.
So, I just wanna recap on what we've covered so far before we move on. So, you shared with us about your business journey and I loved just hearing, like I'm fascinated by the fact that you went to Afghanistan for once. So, maybe if we've got time at the end, you can talk us through a little bit more about that.
But in terms of like talking about whether one can learn to be a good public speaker, we talked about tips for people who are maybe nervous, uh, when it comes to speaking and how to stay grounded in the moment. I'd love to talk about, you mentioned in preparing, so, as you are in the space, you're about to get up on stage or perhaps if it's on the virtual stage, you are preparing to go live or something like.
Do you have any kind of rituals that you recommend that people do before they step onto that space in delivering whatever that content that they're about to do?
Jaimie: Yeah, for sure. Actually I'm laughing because I worked with the client last week. I asked him this question and he said, oh, I have a shot of vodka or something, a bit of beer.
I don't recommend that necessarily and I also, I don't recommend having any milk. So, people will often have a cappuccino or something before they speak, but it's actually the experts say, I think I saw Delta Goodrem said this once before she jumps on stage, she never has a Milky drink and I looked into it and it's the same if you're speaking, because it just doesn't make you as clear as possible.
So try to have any milk, but a couple of things and once again, what works for me may be different to what works for you, but I generally find if you can try and rehearse just the first 60 seconds. That's going to help you, not only have an amazing opening where you've got your audience captivated from the minute that you start speaking, but once you've sort of got through that first 60 seconds, you can really relax into it.
That's when people get the most nervous and stumble at the very start and so by kind of, I don't really encourage people to rehearse their whole speech, because it just sounds too rehearsed and robotic and not as natural, but the first 60 seconds, if you can just really try and nail that content, that's the best thing.
Also, what I try and tell people to do is never walk into a room cold. So, this is very relevant if you're jumping up on stage, try and get there early, stand at the front where you actually will be doing your presentation. Visualize how it's going to feel, where you walk to, where your hands will be, where your clicker may be and also try and command a situation that makes you the most comfortable.
For example, Donna, you may like to have and I'm just guessing you might like to have a little lapel microphone, which is attached, like the little Madonna red ROE McDonald's drive through headset. Where you can have your hands free. I don't like that because I feel very vulnerable with a lapel and I also have seen a lot of times where it's failed on stage and some technicians had to jump up on stage and adjust that person from their belts.
And I just feel more comfortable with a handheld mic. I like to have a lectin up on the stage with my notes in dot point on the lectin, even though I won't stand behind the lectin, I just feel comfortable with that, with a click up with a PowerPoint, with a light, slightly dim with my audience, sort of seated in a certain way.
So I like that. I've done so many speaking gigs that I know what makes me feel the most comfortable that other people have certain other requirements. They may like their audience to be in a lecture sort of seating that makes them feel the most comfortable or in round tables or the lights bright, no lectin, because they're likely to then stand behind it.
So, all different things like that, but if you can just get to the venue early in a troubleshoot check that your slides are working, visualize standing there it'll make you feel so much more comfortable as opposed to just getting in there and jumping up on stage cold, without sort of visualizing how it's going to feel.
Donna: Yeah, hundred percent. I think breathing is really important too. Do you practice breathing? But like we all breathe of course, but that really intentional breathing to kind of get that sympathetic and your parasympathetic nervous system really working well, so that you are really doing some belly breathing.
So, when you're going onto stage, you are not, I know because it's like this nerves, right? Sometimes nerves rise up and it actually changes our breathing pattern and then as we are speaking, especially in the first couple of minutes, it can sound like we're panting and a little bit out of breath and that's our nerves coming out.
So, I have found and this probably comes from years of being a performing artist. Is that before you step out onto the stage, making sure that you are taking some moments to take some really deep breaths and kind of calm the system down before stepping out there, have you found anything in particular that works well in that space with breathing?
Jaimie: Yeah. I personally do the breathing exercises in the car before I get out, because I don't always have the opportunity while I'm sitting down. If I'm a keynote speaker before I get introduced, but if I can, I'll suddenly do it at the table, absolutely and there's just a deep breath in and out and I'll do that three times.
But I really do that in the car before I get into the venue, because sometimes once you get into the venue you are at, if you are the keynote speaker, you are it and you are speaking, you are performing, it's almost like a performance. I've got a performing arts background, myself actually as a singer and once you're there, it's the same thing you're on.
And so I just try and take that time in the car and breathe. If I'm on after the main meal at a dinner or something, I'll go to the toilet as well and just really take that time. To just breathe to myself as well and then when I'm sitting down, if I'm not talking to someone, if I'm, there's another speaker on the MC, I'm just going through the first 60 seconds of my presentation to myself and just doing that breathing exercise as well.
So, absolutely and you're right. So often when we get up on the stage, I've noticed that I'm out of breath and so there are a couple of different things you can do. You can try and walk up if you, if the MCs introducing you, try and walk up a little bit early and if they said, as a stage, you can stand off to the stage.
And that way you're on the stage. You can just take that couple of moments to take some deep breaths. Then you can go onto the stage and be less out of breath because it does happen even to the fittest people. They'll walk up the stairs and go straight on and they are out of breath because the nerves couple with walking up the stairs cold, uh, just brings that on.
Donna: Yeah, exactly and it is surprising like sometimes you're not even walking anywhere, like you're there and I've seen it in other people and I've certainly at moments had it myself, like if you put feeling particular, if it's a big audience or if it's an audience that you haven't spoken to before and you're wanting to make a really great impression.
That it can just be that little bit of shallow breathing, which really comes down to your nerves and then it does, you're like, oh, catch my breath. So let's talk for a moment about getting paid to speak as a business owner, because I know this is another area that you feel really passionate about.
So, why should business owners look at getting paid to speak?
Jaimie: Because, A there's hundreds of opportunities and B there's a lot of money to be made and so the, you probably know, I created a course called Pay to Speak this year, but the reason I created it for years, I was getting paid to speak a thousand dollars here, $500 there maybe $2000, if I would go to Sydney and back for the day from Newcastle, which is a two hour drive each way.
And then I would tell my clients I'll charge a thousand dollars here, $500 there and then last year in December, I got offered a speaking gig, well, it was a slash speaking gig slash workshop for about 50 managers, uh, for a client and I literally couldn't fit it in. We had the council elections in New South Wales where my partner was running in December.
I had a lot of client work on and I had nowhere in my diary up until Christmas to fit it in and so I quoted the client six times more than I would normally charge because I just knew I couldn't do it. Six times, in fact, probably more than six times it was probably 30 times more than I would normally charge for a full day locally.
Anyway, I put the quote in and I came back 45 minutes later and accepted it. So, that was a bit of a wake up call for me that A, I had been under quoting for years and B, I'd been telling my clients to charge a lot cheaper than what they were worth and so from that moment on, in December for the next couple of months, I started charging five times the amount that I normally would charge and it worked, people would accept it.
And so then I'd get up on the stage and I'd speak for 45 minutes on usually communication skills or whatever they wanted me to talk about and I'd get back off the stage and they would say, Do you know anyone else that wants to speak at our next conference? Our budget's $10,000. All they need to speak for is 40 minutes and questions.
Uh, we, we don't care who it is. They can talk about leadership or something inspiring. We don't care and so I kind of realized, wow, there are so many opportunities out there which people just don't know about and so it's amazing what people are happy to pay to hear from whether you have over overcome some sort of adversity in your life, whether you just have something inspiring to share, some stories to share, you are a success in your business, the juggle, the juggling of motherhood and how you can have it all.
Can women have it all? Or how can you have it all at the same time, all those sorts of topics. Once you put yourself out there, it's amazing. The world of paid speaking and I'm very passionate about showing people. I don't really wanna be an agent. I'm very passionate to show people how they can do that themselves.
How they can come up with topics that sell, how they can pitch themselves and how much to charge as well.
Donna: Mm yeah and do you think that there's the same opportunities for regionally based business owners. I know you mentioned that you are two hours away from Sydney. I am about six hours away from my nearest major city and I know there's a lot of regional business owners who tune into this podcast.
So, in regards to pitching, to be paid for a speaking gig, when you're a regional business owner, are there any strategies around that that you found have worked?
Jaimie: Yeah, absolutely. So firstly, I think COVID has changed the fact that we can now do a lot of stuff virtually and I challenge the same rates virtually, um, as opposed to in person, by the way, particularly, because I don't have to worry about flights or accommodations that the client doesn't have to pay for that.
So, I do charge the same amount and you can do that from anywhere in Australia, anywhere in the world and you can also do a speaking gig for anywhere in the world when it's virtual. So I think that we really have changed COVID has changed that. Secondly, agent flights and accommodation, I have a lot of clients or people who joined my course, who are from regional Queensland, regional New South Wales, regional Victoria.
Over in WA as well in some, some remote towns and they will just, we go through how much to charge adding in the cost of flights, time away from your family accommodation as well and quite often the, the Metro clients are happy to do that because you are someone different to the standard speaker circuit of the Sydney, the Brisbane, the Melbourne, the Perth, sort of speakers that they have on rotation.
And they've oh, we've already had that person last year. Let's get someone new, so regional talent. It's a great opportunity for people to not only jump on those opportunities, but also to charge accordingly because if you are traveling, if you're six hours from the nearest city, that's a two day trip. If you have to do a speaking gig, probably minimum.
And so you wanna take into that account and to charge accordingly for that time away from your house.
Donna: Yeah, a hundred percent and it is time away from your business too and I think that's part of the process in pricing is knowing what you are worth, but also being clear about if you're saying yes to that, then you're saying no to other opportunities within your business, which is taking you away from potentially earning in different ways.
So keeping that in mind as well, when you're doing that.
Jaimie: So true and in fact, I had one the other day, someone came and wanted me to MC an event for two days and they said, oh, our budget is $500 a day and there were two full days. It was virtual and for me, I thought, well, that's two days out of my business, so think of the lost income and time I've got there.
So I said, no, um, I'm, I'm really happy to do it because it was a great experience getting to see some amazing speakers, but I said that my rate is a thousand dollars a day and even that's cheap, but I really wanna attend this conference, which is a couple of thousand dollars anyway and so as the MC I get to attend the event for free.
So I went back and I said that, and of course they said, sure, we'll accept that. So I think it's a matter of just backing yourself as well, knowing your worth. You are the one who has spent years building up your knowledge, your skills, your experience and people wanna hear from you and so I think people, particularly mums need to back themselves and not do things for free.
Because I was doing so many things for free and I wasn't even pitching my services to these events that I was doing for free and I think people need to back themselves and not necessarily do things for free or for a cheap price.
Donna: Yeah, because that was gonna be my next question. Should we ever speak for free?
Do you ever feel like there's opportunities that you should do that at different points?
Jaimie: Yeah, absolutely. So, if you do speak for free and I talk a lot about this in my course, you can ask for certain things in exchange for that and that is selling from the stage. So, if you speak for free, you can in exchange for that, perhaps pitch your services, your course, your coaching, your business in general, for people to buy from you.
And in many cases, it actually might be more financially beneficial for you to do something for free. If you know that your ideal customer, your ideal target audience is going to be there and they're going to buy your courses, sign up to coaching one on one sessions with you and so you kind of need to think, okay, well, I'll do this one for free, but in exchange, I wanna put my flyers on the, on tables or in the gift bags.
I wanna be able to put up my LinkedIn profile or my email with people to connect with me, so I can establish those connections. So there's a couple of things you can actually ask for in exchange for doing it for free and it definitely is worth your while in many of those cases, I've heard of some of my clients now saying, I'll do that for free.
In exchange for selling my course that I've got coming up and they've walked away with 20, $30,000, in course sales, which is much more than they would've charged if they did charge to actually speak, sorry. If they were much more, they would get the receiving and so the only thing I'll say is you shouldn't do both.
You shouldn't be accepting a speaker fee and pitching at the same time, because that's just not great manners. If someone's paying you as a keynote speaker they're paying for that experience.
You don't then pitch on top of that, so choose one and what's gonna be best for you. Not only in the short term for short term sales, but also long term, as far as that brand awareness and exposure that there might be some potential clients in the audience who'll jump on board in maybe 12 months or a couple of years time.
Donna: Yeah, a hundred percent. Oh, this has been really fascinating talking to you and certainly sparked a few ideas for me, but I know that the people listening, the ladies who are listening, that they would certainly have had some ideas as well of how they can work this into their business.
But not just that, I think talking about how we can speak virtually as in like doesn't necessarily have to be on stage, even just stepping out of your comfort zone as you mentioned at the beginning in doing a few lives, use your phone, get out. Test it out and the more that you do, the better that you will get, and the more confident you will feel, which may lead on to different opportunities coming your way as well as you do that.
So, I've really enjoyed listening to you and, um, certainly my mind is still bubbling with questions, but we're sort of running outta time. So if people would like to contact you, if their mind is also bubbling with questions and they wanna reach out to you, where is the best place that they can find you?
Jaimie: Yeah, absolutely. I can just go to my brand new website. Yes, please just went live.
Donna: See that? It's gorgeous.
Jaimie: Thank you. Thank you. Mutual friend of ours put it together. I'm very pleased with it. So, just Jaimie Abbott and Jamie spelled J A I M I E, Abbott with two B, two T.com.au and they can contact me through that and get free resources. I've written a million blogs on this topic as well. If people want to know more, absolutely through my website would be fabulous.
Donna: Oh, wonderful. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I'll be checking out those resources as well. Um, and yeah, here's two more public speaking opportunities for everyone who's listened today.
Jaimie: Sounds fantastic. Thanks so much, Donna. Good to see you.