𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡! - "Speak to Scale" Your Business with Jessica Rasdall

"Speak to Scale" Your Business - Make speaking a strategic part of your business model that will be a growth engine for your business.  I'm  talking with Jessica Rasdall who is an expert in that - and a speaker at the Break Through with Media summit, June 14-16 - and in this conversation Jessica shares

• the role it can play in your strategy
• how she came to be a leading expert
• some examples of people using it effectively, and
• more!

We're going even deeper on this at the summit - and all the other facets of your media, speaking, PR and publicity strategy

The BREAK THROUGH WITH MEDIA Summit is a FREE, virtual event, June 14 - 16, offering live interactive sessions with experts in the fields of media like television, podcasting, radio, magazine, and news, speaking, publicity, and PR to help entrepreneurs, authors, and start-ups quickly understand how they can step their brand up to more prestigious, credible platforms, stages, and pages

We want to provide an interactive expo experience for your to get the big picture, see the opportunities for you, and meet knowledgeable experts that can make this the year you have the break through you've been dreaming of.

💥 REGISTER FREE at https://breakthroughin22.com/

You can find Jessica at: 
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jessicarasdall
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/OfficialJessicaRasdall
Website: www.thepublicspeakingstrategist.com
Podcast: www.thepublicspeakingstrategist.com/podcast
Free Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/speaktoscalecommunity

Transcript

September Smith: 0:00

Welcome to the She's All That video podcast. This season of the podcast is all about the BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA virtual summit that we're holding and all about the amazing industry experts that are speaking at the summit who will give entrepreneurs, authors and thought leaders, people just like you, a powerful alternative to the fast-deteriorating tool of social media for your marketing and visibility. The next big opportunity that you need to rapidly uplevel your positioning and your reach is media exposure, TV, podcast, radio news, speaking opportunities, publicity, PR and more. The free BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA Summit provides you with a constellation of experts information and strategy to give you the big picture of how you can get started. Our guest today is a key piece in that puzzle. And that is Jessica Rasdall. Jessica was named one of the top small business experts to watch in 2018, and she's the founder of one of the top websites for solopreneurs in 2020. Jessica resto is helping small business owners scale their impact and income through tried and true communication strategies. As a best selling author, motivational speaker, and the host of the speak to scale podcast, Jessica partners with small business owners to help them scale their business and impact from the stage. Jessica has shared her story of turning her mess into a message over 16 years and has been featured on major international media outlets such as ABC 2020, Katie Couric, The Guardian, MTV, Netflix, and many more. Today, Jessica is fiercely dedicated to helping small business owners craft presentations and speaking strategies that connect with their audience and scale their business from the stage. Jessica, it is so great to have you with me today. And also I have to say to have you as a speaker at the upcoming BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA Summit to talk about speaking to scale, scaling your business with public speaking welcome.

Jessica: 1:57

And thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. And to be a part of this summit, the lineup is incredible.

September Smith: 2:05

I am really thrilled to be powerhouses powerhouses, and you are one of them. So at the whole idea of speaking to scale. Now, just just in case anybody listening is not familiar with the term scale. What are we talking about there?

Jessica: 2:20

Yes, absolutely. So I think when we hear the word speaking or public speaking, for so many of us, we instantly think of some celebrity on a stage or we think about a bedtime motivational speaker. But when we look at speaking as a business owner, we have to understand that speaking does not just have to be about credibility, or likability, but it can be a vehicle inside of our business that allows us to serve more people with less time and increase our bottom line. We don't have to just work one to one, we can work one to many and really be able to impact the areas of our business that we want to focus on for that next year.

September Smith: 3:05

Yeah, yeah. And the saving of time doing more in less time is key to that. Yeah, so important. And you can do that with speaking. Well, before I go charging into that, because I'm curious about that. How does it Where does one get started with this whole thing of speaking, let alone with the business strategy of speaking to scale your business? What was your background that got you into this?

Jessica: 3:30

I do not have the background that you would probably expect and I wasn't, I feel so often that the entrepreneurial story is like this brave, bold, move and leave corporate and good. That was not me. No, I crashed and burned into this. And I think that's sometimes where some of the best transformations happen. I was a college freshman with all the hopes and dreams for my future. I was a on a business scholarship, knowing I was going to do something big, what had no idea what you know, the path that all of us had in front of us at the time was, do four years in school, stay in a big office forever until it's finally time to be done. But in February of 2006, I was a driver in a fatal car accident that claimed the life of my best friend, and almost took my life in a matter of moments. I went from worrying about midterms and what I would major into was going to be able to get out of that hospital bed. And how would I do this without her for me, speaking became the way that I found a reason to wake up every day, it became the way that I could keep her memory alive. And it was a way that I could prevent others from repeating my mistake. Speaking has never not once been about recognition or spotlight. And I from the time that I started speaking a against everybody's recommendations, and my own really did was just something in me where I knew it's what I was supposed to be doing, I should disclose that I am a big time introvert and it was very out of character for me. But I just, I knew that I had a message to share. And I thought if I could put aside my own fears and insecurities and worries, and just think about this message that I needed to get through to somebody else, that maybe they would listen like maybe a difference could be made, and maybe her life wouldn't be lost in vain. And I started speaking everywhere, all over the country to 10s of 1000s of people. And when I ended up starting my own business, I think sometimes we're just way too close to the things that we are most gifted in, I kind of kept pushing off this speaking thing, even though it's something that I had been immersed in for over a decade, by the time I started my business, I just I kept them as the separate worlds like entrepreneurship and speaking. And then I went to Joe speak, it was it was very, I did not own them both right away, I'll be very honest, I did not I like kept them separate, like I was a big fish in my speaking world. And I was a small fish as this new entrepreneur in the entrepreneur space, right. And I went to speak at my first small business owner conference. And I was speaking around storytelling and owning your story as a business owner. But this was the very first time that I was in a room where I felt like I was the smallest person there everybody who'd been in business longer than me, they built these amazing companies. But I got to see them step onto the stage. And I learned very quickly, that even though these business owners had built incredible brands and companies that they were proud of, that they had no idea how to take their knowledge and their expertise and share it from the stage in a way that could connect with their audience quickly, position them the president authority and move that audience into action. And that had been the thing that I've been doing for a decade. And it was like in this kind of chills just telling you this conference room. I saw the light went on. This is why I'm in this space. Like this is why I'm here. And quickly, like went home and instantly started shifting from not just the story, but how do you take that story and share it on a stage? And that just allowed me to go deeper and deeper with business owners of using speaking for based on their business? Which will we'll talk more about that? Hmm,

September Smith: 7:34

wow. Yeah, yeah. That's not your average story of how one got into their business.

Jessica: 7:39

Not exactly. No, no story we see on all the Facebook ads.

September Smith: 7:46

And also the fact that you were an introvert that is so I think that is so important for people to know. I mean, I personally have talked to people about the summit. And my thought is like, why not you? If you have a message, why not you? And sometimes the resistance is, I'm an introvert. If an introvert like you can go to being one of the biggest, as you said, one of the biggest fish in the pond as a speaker, could we assume that it's possible for everybody

Jessica: 8:17

who absolutely and it's wild, if you start digging a little some of the biggest speakers are introverts speakers are incredible introverts because they spend so much time listening, a lot of time listening, and a lot of time overthinking. And that makes for an incredible presentation. Because when you don't take the time to listen to what your audience is asking for when they're struggling with what they're going through, you have no idea how to meet them where they are, if you can't meet them where they are, your talk will land flat. And those introverts are so good at connecting the dots for their audience. Hmm,

September Smith: 8:53

that's good news. I'm glad to hear that. So when you say connecting with your audience, what they want the people that do come and work with you. What is it that they're looking? What is their perceived? What are the goals and their perceived lack the obstacles that they need to get over? With working with you?

Jessica: 9:13

That's a great question. So I work with most of my clients are small business owners, entrepreneurs, a few of them are like leaders in the corporate space, but most are running their own companies. And they tend to be at a place in their business, where they have been around for a while they have established proven results. They know how to get their clients results, they know how to deliver. But a lot of times they're still their industry's best kept secret. And maybe they've been working behind the scenes and helping people or they've been doing this themselves and they're coming to me because they are either ready to dry. They've gotten to a place in their business where they're not the only one doing it anymore, right? They're not just working with somebody. They have scalable offers they either have to Digital products or group coaching programs are an agency model, which has left them in the COC responsible for driving more traffic to the business. They're at a place where they can sustain more traffic more leads more sales and not sacrifice, the quality of service. So they're coming to me because they time is important. I when they speak on a stage, whether it's a podcast or webinar, and in person conference, they want to make sure that their time away from their desk, not closing sales, or leading their team is being spent warming up that audience, moving them back into their business and closing sales.

September Smith: 10:39

Mm hmm. And again, that's another key point. Even the conversation I have with people between owned media and earned media, as you say, you know, oh, and you are making all this content, you are grinding, you're putting hours in time, or you're helping your staff do it with the earned, the savvy business person knows, it's a lot quicker to be able to speak on all these stages, and have somebody else produce the content for me, which then can market my business, such a key point. So they know this, they know this. And

Jessica: 11:09

they've typically are in a place where they've already done their own media, they have all of this stuff, right. And what they need is more eyes on that media. So they want to go out and speak in front of other people's audiences and bring them back to be nurtured with their own.

September Smith: 11:27

And there's a certain third party endorsement sort of credibility. When it's not you just saying, I'm amazing, my company is amazing. It's somebody else going, listen to this person. They're amazing. That just

Jessica: 11:39

helps, especially for us introverts, right. Like me, we're not always the best of singing our own praises and saying how great we are, we like to just sit behind sit uncomfortably and twiddle our thumbs as you read those bio. But when we're able to step onto a stage and let somebody else sing our praises, and more importantly, be able to showcase what we do not just talk about it, but show the impact that we make help our audience take that first step really show them what we're capable of. It allows us to feel a little bit more comfortable and maybe giving ourselves a little pat on the back.

September Smith: 12:16

Yeah, yeah, I think having it all packaged up knowing what it is you want to say what you want to say need to say and how to do that is going to take a lot of the stress out of it. Absolutely are introverts or extroverts? Absolutely. So what we in the way that you and your company handle a client, what is that special edge that special something that they get when they work with you?

Jessica: 12:39

I've got to say that for us, it is the customization in a scalable way. I think so often, when you are trying to learn something new in your business, and our world has just really moved to an automated hands off, you know, reach everybody type of system, and we do everything we can to make it more intimate to have more touch points that every person in my company knows every client's name. We know, I know, the three I know all the teaching points in their talks, I know their stories, you know, and we do whatever we can to create that intimacy, because prior to everything being online, one of my favorite parts of working with my clients was going in person and watching them speak. Oh, to be that cheerleader in the back of the room, you know, and like a little bit louder, or yes, you're doing great, you know, being a little like dance mom. Yeah, conference. And even though we couldn't do that for a little while, when a lot of those in person engagements were put on pause, I wanted to find a way to still be able to be that for our clients. So we add in all these special touch points where our students and our clients can deliver their presentations in front of our communities, get real time feedback, and coaching and always have access to somebody. I never want their first time they step onto a stage to actually be the first time I want them to have had that space in our safe container, to practice to rehearse. And to get it dialed in so that when they do go on stage, it's not their first time. And I think so often. When you're looking to learn how to speak or learn how to write your talk, the first time you deliver is in front of an audience. And that can that can be a little bit difficult. Your first one is always going

September Smith: 14:34

to be Yeah, yeah, the last thing you want it to be is like, I've never actually said this in front of anyone before. Yeah. So

Jessica: 14:41

we do our best to teach you how to do it. coach you through the implementation, deliver the feedback while you're working on it and then give you the space to actually develop it and improve it.

September Smith: 14:54

That is much about some of the first talks I ever get. I wish I'd had that service. Do

Jessica: 15:03

I think that's why I take so much pride in that? Because I think back to

Unknown: 15:09

those those first ones or not like today?

September Smith: 15:15

Yes, it would have been nice to have a professionals eyes on the way before I actually hit that stage. Yes.

Jessica: 15:20

Yeah. You know, because so often we I talk about, you know, the best ways that they like you can't improve until you start and you don't know, if you're pacing, you don't know. You know, if you're doing strange things with your hands, if your shoes are clicking, if you're rushing through, you don't know any of that until you watch your footage. And instead of doing that we can hold that space for you. We will work we do record it so they can watch the footage. But we also have a group of collective peers who are going through the same thing who understand how nerve racking that is, and their own speaking coach there. It's just pretty cool thing.

September Smith: 15:57

Yeah. Wow. So Can Can you share an example of one of your clients that you've taken from that maybe that CEO or that entrepreneur? Who knew this is what they wanted to get into to somebody who's really scaling with their speaking?

Jessica: 16:13

Yes, absolutely. So most of our clients are at that place where they went from like a done for you service provider to with speaking, they're now able to run a full agency or have large coaching programs, all of that. But probably one of my favorite examples is an out of the box one, the hem is a client of mine who was a dentist, and that might sound wild for speaking. But she had built a very successful practice, but knew that she it's not what she wanted to do forever. But she wanted to create she loved helping dentists build their own practice. And she wanted to take her expertise from her practice and share it with others. So we spent some time together in person developing a workshop that she could deliver in person. And within two years of doing those multiple times, she was able to close down her dental practice. And it's working fully on helping the other dentists market their practice and scale that impact and I never thought it was I would say, yes, my speaking strategy retired, a, you know, multimillion dollar dentist, but it did.

September Smith: 17:25

But hey, I mean, it's great financially, but also dentists are supposed to be some of the most depressed professionals on the planet. So you got her out of people's mouths and the jaws of depression. She's

Jessica: 17:34

living her most colorful, beautiful life helping dentists create engaging social media content and market their practices and do it in a way that they that brings them joy. And just as like, see that ripple effect that she has had on others is incredible. And she does it by speaking at conferences for dentists. But most importantly, she hosts her own workshops. And that's, I think, our magic of being able to not give you a cookie cutter plan, but say, how do you want to speak? What is your business? How was your business setup? What's going to be the best way for you to use speaking within your business model to make this impact? And for her? A bigger part of that was her own events?

September Smith: 18:19

Wow, that yeah, you're right. Dentists? No, that wouldn't have been my first thought of somebody who actually can benefit from this. But I guess, yeah, if you get creative about it, and you really, really want to make this a part of your business, or transform your business. It's possible as long as you work with somebody who can kind of hold your head and get you there.

Jessica: 18:39

Yeah, most of the time, it's just that works. Again, like I was we're too close to the work that we do, to see how beneficial it is to someone else. And the stuff that we want to rush through glance over or brush to the side is exactly what our audience needs to hear from us. And when somebody else can come and sit down with you and say, Wait a minute, that detail is important, and help you piece that together in a way that your audience is not just hearing your story or seeing where you are now but you're creating a path that they can follow. You close the gap for everybody around you.

September Smith: 19:15

That that can that whole connection between the speaking and this, how you're going to use that to scale your business is such an amazing element, or I'm thrilled that we're going to be able to add that into the summit. So at this summit with Jessica, we are going to be getting into even deeper the minutiae of how speaking to scale your business is a key element of your media campaign. She's going to be sharing with us what's involved, what people need to know to do it effectively, tips and strategies and action steps to make this a powerful part of how you are going to break through with media this year. And speaking to scale. Jessica, where can people find you? Yep, I'm

Jessica: 19:59

pretty easy. To find online, I'm on all the platforms and simply at Jessica Razzle at my handle, I'm probably most active and my Instagram messages, and it is a swinging door there. So don't ever hesitate. I'd love for you to shoot me a message. Let me know like your big takeaway from today's episode. What is that secret sauce that maybe you have that you don't know how to share with your audience. That way when we go in, we're at the summit together in just a few weeks, you'll be able to go into that session knowing okay, I know this is the thing I want to share about now how do I share about it in a way that's gonna grow my business.

September Smith: 20:38

That's so exciting. So the links to basic links for jazz are going to be down below. But as she said, you can easily find her on Instagram. And if you want to learn more about how you can be using these important skills to get speaking engagements, obviously, media exposure, exposure, PR publicity, and how all of this can help your business. Make sure you register for the free three day BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA Summit, June 14 to the 16th. And come be with Jessica, and a truly incredible array of other industry experts to help you learn how you and your business can really have that big breakthrough that you need. The links for the registration are down below in the show notes. You do not want to miss this event. Jessica Rasteau, thank you so much for being here with me today and for being part of the BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA Summit.

Jessica: 21:29

Thank you so much for having me.

September Smith: 21:30

And that was just one of the amazing guests that we have at the BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA Summit, a three day live virtual event happening June 14 to the 16th to give entrepreneurs authors and thought leaders a panoramic overview of the opportunities, the skills required and the services and tools that you can be using media exposure, speaking opportunities, PR publicity and more to have the major breakthrough that you are looking for 20 industry experts three days all available right from wherever you are and it's free. Register at the link below in the show notes. You will not want to miss this!