April 17, 2024 • 25 mins
Get in touch with Nona at prather-marketing.com
Owning a business is a challenge. Knowing how to keep innovating in your business is an even bigger one. Join restaurant owner, motivational speaker, and innovation expert Sara Frasca each week as she guides fellow business owners in taking the next step to level up their business. If you've ever pondered hiring a business coach but want a sample first, come along for the adventure!
Send us a message to join the show for free business guidance: https://pointnortheast.com/contact-us/
Sara Frasca is the founder and owner of Trasca & Co Eatery in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, an experienced and engaging motivational speaker, and the CEO of global business coaching firm Point NorthEast.
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Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:00):
You're listening to level up your business, the
podcast where we talk tohardworking business owners and
leaders and help them solve realissues in real time.
I'm your host, Sarah Frascarestaurant owner,
keynote speaker and businesscoach. I've spent my career not
only in corporate America butalso as an entrepreneur,
(00:23):
carrying on my family's legacythrough my restaurant, now a
business coach and consultant.
I'm helping other businesses touse creative problem solving and
innovative thinking to drivelasting change. Stay tuned to
hear some inspiring guidancethat will help you to level up
your business. Well, hello,everyone. Welcome to another
(00:45):
episode of level up yourbusiness. I'm Sara Frasca with
point Northeast, and I am joinedtoday by Nona appraiser who I'm
very excited to have on theshow. No, no. Thank you for
joining.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm super excited to talk to youtoday.
Yeah, it's fun to see you again.
And I'm sure it's been a busystart to the spring for you.
(01:06):
Yes. Tell our listeners a littlebit about you. And, you know,
kind of where you've come fromand the business that you've
built. For sure. Yeah, it's sortof a long story. But I tell
everyone, I've been in theindustry for about a little over
30 years, because whenever I waseight years old, my dad started
his professional speakingbusiness. He, you know, worked
(01:27):
at a company, they had himconsulting a lot and doing doing
presentations. So he was like, Ican do this on my own. So he
went out on his own started. Andit became like a big family
affair for me, my brother, mystepmom, we were all like
engaged immediately with helpinghim find bookings. So like, we
traveled with him, we went toNSA. He was a Toastmaster
(01:49):
President Plus, he was presidentof NSA in our local chapter. So
we were selling his books in theback of the room, we were
answering phone calls, doingprogram agreements, helping him
with his CRM, so everything. Asa teenager, whenever I started
driving, then I started helpingother speakers in our community
as well keep up with their,their details of their office,
because a lot of speakers don'thave the back the back help that
(02:13):
they need. A lot of people thinkthe speaker is they do it all
themselves, when in reality,they probably have a team behind
them, trying to help them landthese opportunities, doing
follow ups, and all of that. Andthen I managed the speaker
Bureau for for a long time, andit was going really well. And
then the pandemic happened, andI decided to instead of going
back to a bureau to start my ownagency, so the last almost four
(02:36):
years, I've been doing my bookbooking agency for my, you know,
for myself, so started my ownbusiness on my own, and it's
been going really well. Sothat's kind of the short, short
synopsis of my history. Yeah,and it's really great. I mean, I
obviously have a lot of heartfor people that have almost
grown out of a familyconnection. Right. I mean, I, I
think I mentioned to you, youknow, my, my restaurant comes
(02:58):
from my grandmother serving thesame sandwich 50 years ago. And
so I can really appreciate kindof starting to build that
passion, and then, you know,taking it modernizing it,
perhaps and bringing it into thefuture. So that's really great.
Well, we are, you know, in, Iwould say in this podcast
(03:18):
focused on helping people withtheir businesses. But I think
before we go too far, I know theworld of keynote speaking since
I do a lot of keynote speaking.
But maybe you could just tee upkind of, you know, I don't know
that most folks recognize thatthis is an actual industry, and
that there's actually peopledoing the booking. So maybe just
(03:41):
back up even a step further,just to describe what it is you
do, what is the product that youcreate?
So whenever I'll have adiscovery call, some people will
say, Oh, I'm not I'm not aspeaker, but in reality they
they are. So it could be aconsultant that's doing
workshops. It could be someonewho's a guest speaker, I mean,
at their church or their localcommunity, but you know, those
(04:04):
are all speaking types. Andthere are different ways. So
actually, my book is titled 24ways to get paid to speak.
Because there are severaldifferent ways to be a paid
professional speaker rather thanjust keynoting. I mean, that is
kind of whenever someone, okay,I have dogs too. Whenever
someone says, I'm a keynotespeaker, I mean, that's great.
(04:24):
But you're really pigeon holingyourself into one area where
there are expert panel. Thereare TED Talk type keynotes,
there are breakouts, there arejust so many different
opportunities that you canactually grow as a speaker. And
I say, there are there arespeakers who want to do this as
a living, they want to maketheir money being a keynote
(04:45):
speaker, but there's a lot ofopportunity out there as well,
like for consultants who arespeaking because they want to
become the expert in theirindustry, and they're looking
for events like Associationevents, where they're actually
going to find more higher payingclients. So it's like like
speaking is not only a way tomake income, but it's also it's
probably more of people who arelooking for audiences that are
(05:08):
going to grow their business insome way. So getting in front of
a large audience is probably thebest way to grow your business.
And then people see you, theyrefer you they know someone who
needs your help. So yeah,getting getting in front of
those events. It's not alwaysabout the keynote speaker, but
like, who's in the audience? Howcan they help grow my business?
How can I connect with them?
It's a lot of networking in thisindustry, for
(05:29):
sure. That's great. Yeah, Ithink of it. I think I mentioned
to you, I came from corporateAmerica at General Mills, and
working with retailers all overthe country. And I would think
about, you know, our salesmeetings or our company
meetings, and we were exposed tosome of the best thought leaders
out there. And really, you know,I think that's a tremendous gift
(05:52):
in being a part of a bigorganization or associations
that I would be a part of,anyway, you're doing the work,
essentially, to match the needwith the speaker. And so what I
think is really clever aboutwhat you've done, and the book
that you wrote, you know, itdoesn't have to be just people
who are in the business ofspeaking. And so that's really
(06:14):
cool. Okay, do you do anyspeaking yourself? I'm curious.
Yeah, actually, I have beengetting asked to speak myself
more and more. And I was alwaysgrowing up, I was the one I was
kind of the black sheep of thefamily. Because my, my brother,
my dad, my stepmom, they wereall really, and they still are,
you know, like, I don't want tosay enthusiastic because I am
(06:37):
enthusiastic. But they're moreof the ones that are out front
want to be the star of the showtype of people. And I'm more of
the support system, I reallyenjoy being the support person.
So if I have, I've been gettingasked to speak myself. But of
course, I want to sell myclients more than I do myself.
So for me, I use speaking as anavenue of finding more leads,
(06:57):
finding more events, fine,finding more clients, stuff like
that. But I have been, I justleft Las Vegas actually, it's
funny I, I have my souvenirhere. I just, I just left Las
Vegas a couple of weeks ago,because I spoke at game
changers, which was, it was anevent for speakers, people who
want to be speakers and workingon their industry getting tips,
(07:20):
but also their materials andthings. And then I'm speaking
again in Orlando, May 27, aswell at another event like that.
So after my book came out, I'vebeen starting to speak a lot
more based off of this book. Sothat's another tip. Some people
will say, do you have to have abook to speak, you don't have
to, but honestly, it creates,okay. Obviously, I know what I'm
(07:40):
talking about. I wrote the bookabout it. So people view you as
an expert when you have, right.
It's just it just kind ofincreases. And then you can ask
for more more pay as well. Andthen you hand out your books as
a like a negotiation tool, orjust like a calling card that
you can send to people. So I'mnot trying to like promote
writing a book, but it it doeshelp. And I have seen myself
getting a lot more paid speakingevents for myself based on
(08:03):
whatever since that came outlast year. So yeah, in the last
year, I've done speaking hereand there. But in the last year,
I've done more. Yes,I can imagine. It's really, it's
it's a fun, I think way too, youknow, become an expert to be to
kind of build that, you know,they say that when you're
(08:25):
teaching someone else you oftenare, you know, at a different
level of expertise. And so youknow, you think about that as a
as a teaching moment, you're upon a stage or you're in a
virtual speaking session, andyou're telling everyone how to
do something, how to. That'sgreat. Okay, so where do you
want to go with this business? Ithink at point northeast, we
(08:48):
often are the shepherds to takeour clients from where they've
been to where they want to getto. So where is it that you want
to get to?
Yeah, for me in my business. SoI have 20 speakers that are on
my call center clients. But thenI also have a set number of
clients that also use me astheir booking agent. And so they
(09:10):
call me in whenever they needsomeone to come in, land, the
land the opportunity, put theprogram agreement together, do
the follow up afterwards to gettestimonials and referrals to
try to build off of that. So Iactually really am working
toward getting more and morebooking agent clients. And it's
been going really well over thelast four years. So I've had
like a handful of clients thathave become really exclusive to
(09:33):
me that want to use me all thetime because I've been able to
get them a higher paycheck. Ijust take care of the details
for them so they don't have todo the back and forth and I
would love I've been meeting aswell like for Sherm. I mean they
have reached out to me in thelast three years to get their
annual keynote speaker. So Iwant more of those. You know, I
(09:54):
want to meet as many meetingprofessionals, people who hire
speakers as possible because Imean, that's how my successes so
the More I become a bookingagent, the more I get known for
the type of speakers that I thatall of my speakers are amazing.
So I've met them, make surethey're great, make sure they
have all the materials thatthey're going to be really
outstanding on the stage. So Ijust want to be known as that
(10:15):
expert that people come to tofind the best speaker for their
event. So hopefully in about,you know, a couple of years from
now, everyone's going to becoming to break their marketing,
find their speaker, that's mygoal.
That's great. That's reallygreat. How big is your team now?
I think I have about 10, I'vegot a, I have a Philippine team
that works in Cebu. And sothey're actually getting ready
(10:38):
to have their three yearanniversary party of working
with me for three years. Andthen I have my executive
assistant, my social mediamanager, and my website manager
and they all live in the UnitedStates. So it's definitely a
mix. And if it wasn't for myteam, there is no way I can grow
this business. And then there'smy husband in the background,
who helps me with details. I'mmore of the dreamer, and he's
(10:59):
more of a detail person. So hehelps me with my calendar,
getting invoices out, you know,all of those little details. So
he helps me with that. So thatway I intern I can help our
clients with their details.
Because yeah, so I need someoneto take my details as well. You
built a family business to youryour family did originally.
(11:22):
Stillspeaking? Oh, yeah, he's still
speaking. Yeah, he still doesreally, he's really popular with
Electric Co Ops, manufacturingplants, because he's a safety
guy. He wrote the book who isresponsible for safety. And he
has a workshop that he does 52weeks of safety that he goes and
doesn't for, like manufacturingplants or electric utilities to
make sure they're ready for OSHAand that they are safe, you
(11:42):
know. So his goal is to createzero injuries in any workplace.
And so, yeah, he's still veryactive. There is no way my dad's
never gonna stop. He says, I'mgoing to retire during the
pandemic. And I'm like, Yeah,I'll believe it when I see it,
because he's one of those peoplethat never stops moving. So now
he's actually also has he's anairplane instructor or like a
(12:04):
flight instructor, airplaneinstructor. But yeah, he's a
flight instructor as well. So heowns his own flight,
instructing. Wow.
Yeah, cool. So how are youplanning to get more speakers
and more event planners?
Yeah, so it's just a lot ofnetworking, being on podcast
(12:26):
like this really helps I havethis. One of the chapters in my
book is The Speak monthlymethodology. And I also practice
what I preach as well, I'mtrying to build my business the
same way as I'm also helping andconsulting with speakers,
comedians, consultants, I'm alsopracticing what I'm preaching as
well. So that comes down to alot of relationship building
(12:46):
networking, podcast, findingplaces for myself to speak as
well, whether it's paid or notpaid, just being active in the
community, because honestly,things turn on a dime in this
industry. So I mean, like,every, it seems like every
season that comes like spring,fall, and then summer, it the
hot topic of the moment changes.
So you kind of always have to beinvolved in the industry, or
(13:07):
else you get left behind. Soyeah, lots of networking.
Well, you Okay, so this is aninteresting connection point for
us, potentially, as a speaker, Ihave started a series of
coaching for people who want tospeak. And yeah, and so I was
(13:28):
going to mention to you that,you know, as you get folks that
might be interested in buildinga speaking business, I help
coach folks. I run a class thattakes about three months, and we
build the content and we build,I would say the art of speaking
and the business side. Yeah.
With Yeah, youdon't know what they need. They
(13:50):
know that they could be aspeaker, they've been asked,
because a lot of a lot ofspeakers, especially ones that
aren't just like the bigmotivational keynote. They start
out by usually their company orsomeone starts asking them to
speak and then they realize,hey, I'm pretty good at this. I
could do this myself, but theyjust don't know where to start.
So they need someone to helpthem say, Okay, you need a
website. This is what needs tobe honest. Let's focus on what
(14:12):
are your audience learningobjectives? What is your media
kit need to have on it? What isyou know, you need a demo reel
to send out there? And then howdo you find and foster leads?
That's a huge part of it aswell. So no, that's looking at
this industry. It's not for thefaint of heart and it's not for
the any I mean, you really needto be passionate about what
you're talking about. It'sdefinitely a long game industry
(14:34):
not a get rich quick industry.
So it's it's take someone withpersistence, tenacity, passion,
for sure to make it in thisbusiness, but it's totally worth
it in the end, like I'm loving,loving, being in the industry.
Really great. That's reallygreat. Well, I will be able to,
you know, tell folks to go toyou and if you come across folks
(14:56):
that need help you send them tome and I can make we coach them
into the business. Yes,absolutely. So any thing that is
keeping you up at night? No, no,I just want to brainstorm in the
moment with you. And we haven'trehearsed this answer yet. But I
loved this is one of my passionareas. I talk about myself as a
(15:16):
positive disrupter. I lovehelping people with their
challenges. So this is the firsttime I've asked you this, what
is keeping you up at night sothat I can maybe offer some
suggestions? Oh,gosh, okay. Yeah. Let's see
what's keeping me up at night.
Other than I'm trying to thinkthere are always ways to help
(15:39):
someone getting connected as asmany times as, you know, as many
conversations as possible withlike, meeting professionals. So
it's always who else can Iconnect with? Who else can I
promote? Who else am I going tobe able to sell the speaker,
that speaker which comes down toa lot of preparation? And so
sometimes I'll be laying in bedand I'll think, Oh, I forgot to
(16:00):
ask this person about that, orthis person about that? You
know, I'm definitely one that Ilike checklists. So I have, and
sometimes it's harder, some,some clients will have all of
their stuff ready to go. Some ofthem need a little more
coaching. So I'll send them toyou, but the people who need a
little more coaching, I wouldrather send them to an expert
like you because I'm so cuz Idon't want to be up at night.
(16:23):
Yeah, so I work well, of course,everyone does I work well, I've
worked better and it worksbetter with me whenever they are
prepared to tell them what theyneed. So we'll, we'll have a
discovery call and say, Okay,here's some homework that you
need to work on. But we're notgoing to do it for you. So then
I have to send them to experts,like someone to help them edit
(16:43):
their demo reel, or put togetherone sheet or whatever. So yeah,
those types of things keep me upat night, because I was like,
Are they gonna get that done,and I see them as a really big
seller. You know, like, there's,I see a lot of possibility with
this person, we just need thislast this last bit to get ready
to sell them out. Soyes, yes. Okay. So I, I love
checklists also. So I was tryingto think of a way that, you
(17:05):
know, what, one of the ways thatwe often at point in our feast
help clients is to help themrealize that they can get
control of their processes andsystems, generally, 80% of the
work, you know, is, is able tobe kind of documented kind of,
encapsulated in, perhaps its onepoint lessons, perhaps, you
(17:30):
know, some people call them likean SOP, a standard operating
procedure, whatever it is, andit's documenting it, and it's
maybe taking screenshots orwhatever. But on the on the kind
of the point that you aremaking, it's pretty much like,
We don't ever want anyone to bereliant on their memory. Yes,
shoot, I forgot to do X, Y, andZ, we want it to be distilled
(17:52):
and documented, so that you havealmost like a, it's almost like
having training wheels, right,you're not going to fall and
hurt yourself, because you havesomething to help you remember,
especially the most imperative,you know, questions or pieces of
information that you'll need.
So, you know, it actuallyreminds me when I was back at
(18:16):
General Mills all those yearsago, we had, you know, certain
call centers, our internal folkswould have to answer consumer
questions and they would calland they would say, I have a
question about my Nature Valleygranola bar or whatever it was.
And we had to have kind of anFAQ document. You can never come
(18:38):
up with a list of the answers toevery question because you never
know. But we were able to get itdown to these are the most
frequently asked questionsright? And then you could you
know, come up with so I do thinkyou can get yourself a pretty
you know, pretty close I alsothink you know, bringing your
(18:59):
team in with a little bit ofvulnerability to say gosh, I
can't remember everything so I'mrelying on you team to help me
remember to ask the people thisand to you know, again, I think
you can let them in on kind ofthe I can never remember quite
everything helped me by and myteam does the same both of
(19:21):
my team is used to that by nowI'm like, Oh my gosh, what did
that person you know, what didthat person want to talk about
again? Can you remind me in myin my executives is still be
like, Oh, she's a potentialspeaker bobble I'm like, okay,
Yuri, you know, you sent me alittle text about the person
right before I get on a call.
Because sometimes I have back toback calls and I don't have time
to research someone right beforeand if I research someone five
(19:43):
minutes before the call, Iforget if I do it earlier than
that. Totally. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
It definitely helps me withthat. There'll be like, Okay,
your next call is with thisperson hears about them. I'm
like, okay, great.
Thank you. That's so lovely. Iwouldn't be lost with help my
team as well. So I can relate.
Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean, Idefinitely I think, you know,
(20:06):
having a little bit of a, Idon't know, I was thinking of a
crutch or a training wheel tolean against is a good idea. You
know, there's also some toolsthat are continuing to gather
some momentum like AI, like, Imean, some of the digital, you
know, systems. But, you know, Ithink allowing, again, your team
(20:29):
to be a part of the solution isone of the best ways that I
found and you do have to have,again, that vulnerability to
say, I can't do this withoutyou. Yes, we find a lot of
business owners, a lot ofbusiness founders believe that
it is the the converse, that ifthey tell people, I can't do it
all, I don't know all theanswers, I'm afraid that I'm
(20:53):
going to miss something, thatthat vulnerability will push
people away and make them youknow, and it's the opposite. So
I think, you know, it soundslike you've done a great job
with that.
It makes you relatable, youknow, like, there was this the
talk I went to in Las Vegas,there was a couple of I was the
(21:13):
first speaker, and then therewas a couple other speakers. And
they actually had people get upbeforehand, because it was all
speakers in the room talkingabout like their bubbles or mess
ups or something started out theevent was, we just want you guys
to know that it's okay to messup. And honestly, you are the
most pressure on the stage.
People don't know that youforgot a story or that you, you
know, said something before youplanned on saying it. Nobody
(21:36):
knows that, but you. And it'sokay to have bubbles and mess
ups. And it actually makes youmore relatable. If someone sees
you as perfect. 24/7 they'reintimidated by the approachable.
That'sgreat. I'm so glad to hear you
say that. I mean, it's I've hadso many bubbles, I am so
relatable. No, me too. Yeah, Ihave had a couple of funny ones.
(22:00):
One time, the sound wasn'tconnected properly. And I had to
actually talk through thevideos. So oh, gosh, not my
favorite. But it went fine. Andthe audience loved it. So it was
pretty fun. Well, I reallyappreciate the chance to get to
know you and to talk to you. Imean, I hope that you know, in
your, in your future, if youneed help, you'll remember me.
(22:22):
And if you're out therelistening and you think you want
to be a speaker, I mean Nona isone of the best. And we'll take
good care of you as you get yourbusiness started. So let's,
let's actually tell them good.
How to find you.
Yeah, there you go. Calm. Yeah.
Good. Yes.
And, you know, I think any areaof speaking and any topic, is
(22:46):
that true?
Yes, I have a, I have a big listof different ones, I want to be
an all in service. So I mean, wehave of course, we have
leadership, but diversity and HRspecialists and all kinds of
different ones that I always saythe riches are in the niches. So
we really specialize withexperts in particular industry.
(23:07):
So it's people who have a niche,and then an audience that they
want to get in front of more. Sothat's really my perfect client
is an expert in a particularindustry, because then we know a
direction on how to help themmature. So that's
really great. That's reallygreat. Well, for for one reason
or another, I've become anexpert in the law space. So are
(23:29):
you Yeah, you'll know, you'llknow. It's
you never know sometimes like soI had this one conflict
resolution speaker Gary, and wesold him to the asphalt and
pavement association of Indiana.
And he was like, well, that'skind of an odd one, you know,
like, asphalt pavementAssociation. But I tell you,
there's an association out therefor absolutely everything. And
he became their expert. And heended up at their annual event,
(23:51):
he ended up doing their quarterof quarterly events, we made so
much money on that asphalt andpavement Association. And so
much, and you would think it wasso odd, like we sold to the coin
laundry association for a clientwho really loved her and
astronaut the next year. Sodon't be afraid if you think
it's too outside of your box.
Don't be afraid to think outsideyour box either. And see what
(24:14):
sticks because like you said,you know being in law industry
is like you probably you mightnot have thought that that was a
a, an area that you would bespeaking to, but you never know
what's gonna hit. So you know,kind of try it and see what
happensand then go with it. Yeah, I've
become an expert on the businessof law. And yeah, so that's been
pretty fun. So, um, okay. Well,I again, just want to thank you
(24:38):
for being a part of this. And,you know, we'll put your website
in the show notes so people willhave the ability to get ahold of
you. And thank you for beingsuch a supporter of speakers
like myself and also haveclients that are needing some
expertise and needing some helpto inspire their team or give
their team ideas give their teamTools. Those connections are so
(25:00):
important. So yeah, well great.
Well thank you everyone forlistening. Thank you Nona for
being here. I hope everyone hasa wonderful day. And if you do
need help with your business outthere, please let me know I am
happy to help at any momentyou're not alone. It's hard to
be an owner. It's sometimeslonely at the top but our point
(25:22):
ne team and even just me I'm I'mhere to help. So thank you,
Nona. Thank you, everybody. Havea good day. You as well. Thanks
so much for tuning into thisepisode of level up your
business with me, Sarah Frasca.
If you have a problem in yourbusiness that's keeping you up
at night. Please join us in afuture episode so we can help
(25:43):
get you unstuck. Just clickingthe link in the show notes and
send us a message. Pleaseremember, stay innovative
friends
You're listening to level up your business, the
podcast where we talk tohardworking business owners and
leaders and help them solve realissues in real time.
I'm your host, Sarah Frascarestaurant owner,
keynote speaker and businesscoach. I've spent my career not
only in corporate America butalso as an entrepreneur,
(00:23):
carrying on my family's legacythrough my restaurant, now a
business coach and consultant.
I'm helping other businesses touse creative problem solving and
innovative thinking to drivelasting change. Stay tuned to
hear some inspiring guidancethat will help you to level up
your business. Well, hello,everyone. Welcome to another
(00:45):
episode of level up yourbusiness. I'm Sara Frasca with
point Northeast, and I am joinedtoday by Nona appraiser who I'm
very excited to have on theshow. No, no. Thank you for
joining.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm super excited to talk to youtoday.
Yeah, it's fun to see you again.
And I'm sure it's been a busystart to the spring for you.
(01:06):
Yes. Tell our listeners a littlebit about you. And, you know,
kind of where you've come fromand the business that you've
built. For sure. Yeah, it's sortof a long story. But I tell
everyone, I've been in theindustry for about a little over
30 years, because whenever I waseight years old, my dad started
his professional speakingbusiness. He, you know, worked
(01:27):
at a company, they had himconsulting a lot and doing doing
presentations. So he was like, Ican do this on my own. So he
went out on his own started. Andit became like a big family
affair for me, my brother, mystepmom, we were all like
engaged immediately with helpinghim find bookings. So like, we
traveled with him, we went toNSA. He was a Toastmaster
(01:49):
President Plus, he was presidentof NSA in our local chapter. So
we were selling his books in theback of the room, we were
answering phone calls, doingprogram agreements, helping him
with his CRM, so everything. Asa teenager, whenever I started
driving, then I started helpingother speakers in our community
as well keep up with their,their details of their office,
because a lot of speakers don'thave the back the back help that
(02:13):
they need. A lot of people thinkthe speaker is they do it all
themselves, when in reality,they probably have a team behind
them, trying to help them landthese opportunities, doing
follow ups, and all of that. Andthen I managed the speaker
Bureau for for a long time, andit was going really well. And
then the pandemic happened, andI decided to instead of going
back to a bureau to start my ownagency, so the last almost four
(02:36):
years, I've been doing my bookbooking agency for my, you know,
for myself, so started my ownbusiness on my own, and it's
been going really well. Sothat's kind of the short, short
synopsis of my history. Yeah,and it's really great. I mean, I
obviously have a lot of heartfor people that have almost
grown out of a familyconnection. Right. I mean, I, I
think I mentioned to you, youknow, my, my restaurant comes
(02:58):
from my grandmother serving thesame sandwich 50 years ago. And
so I can really appreciate kindof starting to build that
passion, and then, you know,taking it modernizing it,
perhaps and bringing it into thefuture. So that's really great.
Well, we are, you know, in, Iwould say in this podcast
(03:18):
focused on helping people withtheir businesses. But I think
before we go too far, I know theworld of keynote speaking since
I do a lot of keynote speaking.
But maybe you could just tee upkind of, you know, I don't know
that most folks recognize thatthis is an actual industry, and
that there's actually peopledoing the booking. So maybe just
(03:41):
back up even a step further,just to describe what it is you
do, what is the product that youcreate?
So whenever I'll have adiscovery call, some people will
say, Oh, I'm not I'm not aspeaker, but in reality they
they are. So it could be aconsultant that's doing
workshops. It could be someonewho's a guest speaker, I mean,
at their church or their localcommunity, but you know, those
(04:04):
are all speaking types. Andthere are different ways. So
actually, my book is titled 24ways to get paid to speak.
Because there are severaldifferent ways to be a paid
professional speaker rather thanjust keynoting. I mean, that is
kind of whenever someone, okay,I have dogs too. Whenever
someone says, I'm a keynotespeaker, I mean, that's great.
(04:24):
But you're really pigeon holingyourself into one area where
there are expert panel. Thereare TED Talk type keynotes,
there are breakouts, there arejust so many different
opportunities that you canactually grow as a speaker. And
I say, there are there arespeakers who want to do this as
a living, they want to maketheir money being a keynote
(04:45):
speaker, but there's a lot ofopportunity out there as well,
like for consultants who arespeaking because they want to
become the expert in theirindustry, and they're looking
for events like Associationevents, where they're actually
going to find more higher payingclients. So it's like like
speaking is not only a way tomake income, but it's also it's
probably more of people who arelooking for audiences that are
(05:08):
going to grow their business insome way. So getting in front of
a large audience is probably thebest way to grow your business.
And then people see you, theyrefer you they know someone who
needs your help. So yeah,getting getting in front of
those events. It's not alwaysabout the keynote speaker, but
like, who's in the audience? Howcan they help grow my business?
How can I connect with them?
It's a lot of networking in thisindustry, for
(05:29):
sure. That's great. Yeah, Ithink of it. I think I mentioned
to you, I came from corporateAmerica at General Mills, and
working with retailers all overthe country. And I would think
about, you know, our salesmeetings or our company
meetings, and we were exposed tosome of the best thought leaders
out there. And really, you know,I think that's a tremendous gift
(05:52):
in being a part of a bigorganization or associations
that I would be a part of,anyway, you're doing the work,
essentially, to match the needwith the speaker. And so what I
think is really clever aboutwhat you've done, and the book
that you wrote, you know, itdoesn't have to be just people
who are in the business ofspeaking. And so that's really
(06:14):
cool. Okay, do you do anyspeaking yourself? I'm curious.
Yeah, actually, I have beengetting asked to speak myself
more and more. And I was alwaysgrowing up, I was the one I was
kind of the black sheep of thefamily. Because my, my brother,
my dad, my stepmom, they wereall really, and they still are,
you know, like, I don't want tosay enthusiastic because I am
(06:37):
enthusiastic. But they're moreof the ones that are out front
want to be the star of the showtype of people. And I'm more of
the support system, I reallyenjoy being the support person.
So if I have, I've been gettingasked to speak myself. But of
course, I want to sell myclients more than I do myself.
So for me, I use speaking as anavenue of finding more leads,
(06:57):
finding more events, fine,finding more clients, stuff like
that. But I have been, I justleft Las Vegas actually, it's
funny I, I have my souvenirhere. I just, I just left Las
Vegas a couple of weeks ago,because I spoke at game
changers, which was, it was anevent for speakers, people who
want to be speakers and workingon their industry getting tips,
(07:20):
but also their materials andthings. And then I'm speaking
again in Orlando, May 27, aswell at another event like that.
So after my book came out, I'vebeen starting to speak a lot
more based off of this book. Sothat's another tip. Some people
will say, do you have to have abook to speak, you don't have
to, but honestly, it creates,okay. Obviously, I know what I'm
(07:40):
talking about. I wrote the bookabout it. So people view you as
an expert when you have, right.
It's just it just kind ofincreases. And then you can ask
for more more pay as well. Andthen you hand out your books as
a like a negotiation tool, orjust like a calling card that
you can send to people. So I'mnot trying to like promote
writing a book, but it it doeshelp. And I have seen myself
getting a lot more paid speakingevents for myself based on
(08:03):
whatever since that came outlast year. So yeah, in the last
year, I've done speaking hereand there. But in the last year,
I've done more. Yes,I can imagine. It's really, it's
it's a fun, I think way too, youknow, become an expert to be to
kind of build that, you know,they say that when you're
(08:25):
teaching someone else you oftenare, you know, at a different
level of expertise. And so youknow, you think about that as a
as a teaching moment, you're upon a stage or you're in a
virtual speaking session, andyou're telling everyone how to
do something, how to. That'sgreat. Okay, so where do you
want to go with this business? Ithink at point northeast, we
(08:48):
often are the shepherds to takeour clients from where they've
been to where they want to getto. So where is it that you want
to get to?
Yeah, for me in my business. SoI have 20 speakers that are on
my call center clients. But thenI also have a set number of
clients that also use me astheir booking agent. And so they
(09:10):
call me in whenever they needsomeone to come in, land, the
land the opportunity, put theprogram agreement together, do
the follow up afterwards to gettestimonials and referrals to
try to build off of that. So Iactually really am working
toward getting more and morebooking agent clients. And it's
been going really well over thelast four years. So I've had
like a handful of clients thathave become really exclusive to
(09:33):
me that want to use me all thetime because I've been able to
get them a higher paycheck. Ijust take care of the details
for them so they don't have todo the back and forth and I
would love I've been meeting aswell like for Sherm. I mean they
have reached out to me in thelast three years to get their
annual keynote speaker. So Iwant more of those. You know, I
(09:54):
want to meet as many meetingprofessionals, people who hire
speakers as possible because Imean, that's how my successes so
the More I become a bookingagent, the more I get known for
the type of speakers that I thatall of my speakers are amazing.
So I've met them, make surethey're great, make sure they
have all the materials thatthey're going to be really
outstanding on the stage. So Ijust want to be known as that
(10:15):
expert that people come to tofind the best speaker for their
event. So hopefully in about,you know, a couple of years from
now, everyone's going to becoming to break their marketing,
find their speaker, that's mygoal.
That's great. That's reallygreat. How big is your team now?
I think I have about 10, I'vegot a, I have a Philippine team
that works in Cebu. And sothey're actually getting ready
(10:38):
to have their three yearanniversary party of working
with me for three years. Andthen I have my executive
assistant, my social mediamanager, and my website manager
and they all live in the UnitedStates. So it's definitely a
mix. And if it wasn't for myteam, there is no way I can grow
this business. And then there'smy husband in the background,
who helps me with details. I'mmore of the dreamer, and he's
(10:59):
more of a detail person. So hehelps me with my calendar,
getting invoices out, you know,all of those little details. So
he helps me with that. So thatway I intern I can help our
clients with their details.
Because yeah, so I need someoneto take my details as well. You
built a family business to youryour family did originally.
(11:22):
Stillspeaking? Oh, yeah, he's still
speaking. Yeah, he still doesreally, he's really popular with
Electric Co Ops, manufacturingplants, because he's a safety
guy. He wrote the book who isresponsible for safety. And he
has a workshop that he does 52weeks of safety that he goes and
doesn't for, like manufacturingplants or electric utilities to
make sure they're ready for OSHAand that they are safe, you
(11:42):
know. So his goal is to createzero injuries in any workplace.
And so, yeah, he's still veryactive. There is no way my dad's
never gonna stop. He says, I'mgoing to retire during the
pandemic. And I'm like, Yeah,I'll believe it when I see it,
because he's one of those peoplethat never stops moving. So now
he's actually also has he's anairplane instructor or like a
(12:04):
flight instructor, airplaneinstructor. But yeah, he's a
flight instructor as well. So heowns his own flight,
instructing. Wow.
Yeah, cool. So how are youplanning to get more speakers
and more event planners?
Yeah, so it's just a lot ofnetworking, being on podcast
(12:26):
like this really helps I havethis. One of the chapters in my
book is The Speak monthlymethodology. And I also practice
what I preach as well, I'mtrying to build my business the
same way as I'm also helping andconsulting with speakers,
comedians, consultants, I'm alsopracticing what I'm preaching as
well. So that comes down to alot of relationship building
(12:46):
networking, podcast, findingplaces for myself to speak as
well, whether it's paid or notpaid, just being active in the
community, because honestly,things turn on a dime in this
industry. So I mean, like,every, it seems like every
season that comes like spring,fall, and then summer, it the
hot topic of the moment changes.
So you kind of always have to beinvolved in the industry, or
(13:07):
else you get left behind. Soyeah, lots of networking.
Well, you Okay, so this is aninteresting connection point for
us, potentially, as a speaker, Ihave started a series of
coaching for people who want tospeak. And yeah, and so I was
(13:28):
going to mention to you that,you know, as you get folks that
might be interested in buildinga speaking business, I help
coach folks. I run a class thattakes about three months, and we
build the content and we build,I would say the art of speaking
and the business side. Yeah.
With Yeah, youdon't know what they need. They
(13:50):
know that they could be aspeaker, they've been asked,
because a lot of a lot ofspeakers, especially ones that
aren't just like the bigmotivational keynote. They start
out by usually their company orsomeone starts asking them to
speak and then they realize,hey, I'm pretty good at this. I
could do this myself, but theyjust don't know where to start.
So they need someone to helpthem say, Okay, you need a
website. This is what needs tobe honest. Let's focus on what
(14:12):
are your audience learningobjectives? What is your media
kit need to have on it? What isyou know, you need a demo reel
to send out there? And then howdo you find and foster leads?
That's a huge part of it aswell. So no, that's looking at
this industry. It's not for thefaint of heart and it's not for
the any I mean, you really needto be passionate about what
you're talking about. It'sdefinitely a long game industry
(14:34):
not a get rich quick industry.
So it's it's take someone withpersistence, tenacity, passion,
for sure to make it in thisbusiness, but it's totally worth
it in the end, like I'm loving,loving, being in the industry.
Really great. That's reallygreat. Well, I will be able to,
you know, tell folks to go toyou and if you come across folks
(14:56):
that need help you send them tome and I can make we coach them
into the business. Yes,absolutely. So any thing that is
keeping you up at night? No, no,I just want to brainstorm in the
moment with you. And we haven'trehearsed this answer yet. But I
loved this is one of my passionareas. I talk about myself as a
(15:16):
positive disrupter. I lovehelping people with their
challenges. So this is the firsttime I've asked you this, what
is keeping you up at night sothat I can maybe offer some
suggestions? Oh,gosh, okay. Yeah. Let's see
what's keeping me up at night.
Other than I'm trying to thinkthere are always ways to help
(15:39):
someone getting connected as asmany times as, you know, as many
conversations as possible withlike, meeting professionals. So
it's always who else can Iconnect with? Who else can I
promote? Who else am I going tobe able to sell the speaker,
that speaker which comes down toa lot of preparation? And so
sometimes I'll be laying in bedand I'll think, Oh, I forgot to
(16:00):
ask this person about that, orthis person about that? You
know, I'm definitely one that Ilike checklists. So I have, and
sometimes it's harder, some,some clients will have all of
their stuff ready to go. Some ofthem need a little more
coaching. So I'll send them toyou, but the people who need a
little more coaching, I wouldrather send them to an expert
like you because I'm so cuz Idon't want to be up at night.
(16:23):
Yeah, so I work well, of course,everyone does I work well, I've
worked better and it worksbetter with me whenever they are
prepared to tell them what theyneed. So we'll, we'll have a
discovery call and say, Okay,here's some homework that you
need to work on. But we're notgoing to do it for you. So then
I have to send them to experts,like someone to help them edit
(16:43):
their demo reel, or put togetherone sheet or whatever. So yeah,
those types of things keep me upat night, because I was like,
Are they gonna get that done,and I see them as a really big
seller. You know, like, there's,I see a lot of possibility with
this person, we just need thislast this last bit to get ready
to sell them out. Soyes, yes. Okay. So I, I love
checklists also. So I was tryingto think of a way that, you
(17:05):
know, what, one of the ways thatwe often at point in our feast
help clients is to help themrealize that they can get
control of their processes andsystems, generally, 80% of the
work, you know, is, is able tobe kind of documented kind of,
encapsulated in, perhaps its onepoint lessons, perhaps, you
(17:30):
know, some people call them likean SOP, a standard operating
procedure, whatever it is, andit's documenting it, and it's
maybe taking screenshots orwhatever. But on the on the kind
of the point that you aremaking, it's pretty much like,
We don't ever want anyone to bereliant on their memory. Yes,
shoot, I forgot to do X, Y, andZ, we want it to be distilled
(17:52):
and documented, so that you havealmost like a, it's almost like
having training wheels, right,you're not going to fall and
hurt yourself, because you havesomething to help you remember,
especially the most imperative,you know, questions or pieces of
information that you'll need.
So, you know, it actuallyreminds me when I was back at
(18:16):
General Mills all those yearsago, we had, you know, certain
call centers, our internal folkswould have to answer consumer
questions and they would calland they would say, I have a
question about my Nature Valleygranola bar or whatever it was.
And we had to have kind of anFAQ document. You can never come
(18:38):
up with a list of the answers toevery question because you never
know. But we were able to get itdown to these are the most
frequently asked questionsright? And then you could you
know, come up with so I do thinkyou can get yourself a pretty
you know, pretty close I alsothink you know, bringing your
(18:59):
team in with a little bit ofvulnerability to say gosh, I
can't remember everything so I'mrelying on you team to help me
remember to ask the people thisand to you know, again, I think
you can let them in on kind ofthe I can never remember quite
everything helped me by and myteam does the same both of
(19:21):
my team is used to that by nowI'm like, Oh my gosh, what did
that person you know, what didthat person want to talk about
again? Can you remind me in myin my executives is still be
like, Oh, she's a potentialspeaker bobble I'm like, okay,
Yuri, you know, you sent me alittle text about the person
right before I get on a call.
Because sometimes I have back toback calls and I don't have time
to research someone right beforeand if I research someone five
(19:43):
minutes before the call, Iforget if I do it earlier than
that. Totally. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
It definitely helps me withthat. There'll be like, Okay,
your next call is with thisperson hears about them. I'm
like, okay, great.
Thank you. That's so lovely. Iwouldn't be lost with help my
team as well. So I can relate.
Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean, Idefinitely I think, you know,
(20:06):
having a little bit of a, Idon't know, I was thinking of a
crutch or a training wheel tolean against is a good idea. You
know, there's also some toolsthat are continuing to gather
some momentum like AI, like, Imean, some of the digital, you
know, systems. But, you know, Ithink allowing, again, your team
(20:29):
to be a part of the solution isone of the best ways that I
found and you do have to have,again, that vulnerability to
say, I can't do this withoutyou. Yes, we find a lot of
business owners, a lot ofbusiness founders believe that
it is the the converse, that ifthey tell people, I can't do it
all, I don't know all theanswers, I'm afraid that I'm
(20:53):
going to miss something, thatthat vulnerability will push
people away and make them youknow, and it's the opposite. So
I think, you know, it soundslike you've done a great job
with that.
It makes you relatable, youknow, like, there was this the
talk I went to in Las Vegas,there was a couple of I was the
(21:13):
first speaker, and then therewas a couple other speakers. And
they actually had people get upbeforehand, because it was all
speakers in the room talkingabout like their bubbles or mess
ups or something started out theevent was, we just want you guys
to know that it's okay to messup. And honestly, you are the
most pressure on the stage.
People don't know that youforgot a story or that you, you
know, said something before youplanned on saying it. Nobody
(21:36):
knows that, but you. And it'sokay to have bubbles and mess
ups. And it actually makes youmore relatable. If someone sees
you as perfect. 24/7 they'reintimidated by the approachable.
That'sgreat. I'm so glad to hear you
say that. I mean, it's I've hadso many bubbles, I am so
relatable. No, me too. Yeah, Ihave had a couple of funny ones.
(22:00):
One time, the sound wasn'tconnected properly. And I had to
actually talk through thevideos. So oh, gosh, not my
favorite. But it went fine. Andthe audience loved it. So it was
pretty fun. Well, I reallyappreciate the chance to get to
know you and to talk to you. Imean, I hope that you know, in
your, in your future, if youneed help, you'll remember me.
(22:22):
And if you're out therelistening and you think you want
to be a speaker, I mean Nona isone of the best. And we'll take
good care of you as you get yourbusiness started. So let's,
let's actually tell them good.
How to find you.
Yeah, there you go. Calm. Yeah.
Good. Yes.
And, you know, I think any areaof speaking and any topic, is
(22:46):
that true?
Yes, I have a, I have a big listof different ones, I want to be
an all in service. So I mean, wehave of course, we have
leadership, but diversity and HRspecialists and all kinds of
different ones that I always saythe riches are in the niches. So
we really specialize withexperts in particular industry.
(23:07):
So it's people who have a niche,and then an audience that they
want to get in front of more. Sothat's really my perfect client
is an expert in a particularindustry, because then we know a
direction on how to help themmature. So that's
really great. That's reallygreat. Well, for for one reason
or another, I've become anexpert in the law space. So are
(23:29):
you Yeah, you'll know, you'llknow. It's
you never know sometimes like soI had this one conflict
resolution speaker Gary, and wesold him to the asphalt and
pavement association of Indiana.
And he was like, well, that'skind of an odd one, you know,
like, asphalt pavementAssociation. But I tell you,
there's an association out therefor absolutely everything. And
he became their expert. And heended up at their annual event,
(23:51):
he ended up doing their quarterof quarterly events, we made so
much money on that asphalt andpavement Association. And so
much, and you would think it wasso odd, like we sold to the coin
laundry association for a clientwho really loved her and
astronaut the next year. Sodon't be afraid if you think
it's too outside of your box.
Don't be afraid to think outsideyour box either. And see what
(24:14):
sticks because like you said,you know being in law industry
is like you probably you mightnot have thought that that was a
a, an area that you would bespeaking to, but you never know
what's gonna hit. So you know,kind of try it and see what
happensand then go with it. Yeah, I've
become an expert on the businessof law. And yeah, so that's been
pretty fun. So, um, okay. Well,I again, just want to thank you
(24:38):
for being a part of this. And,you know, we'll put your website
in the show notes so people willhave the ability to get ahold of
you. And thank you for beingsuch a supporter of speakers
like myself and also haveclients that are needing some
expertise and needing some helpto inspire their team or give
their team ideas give their teamTools. Those connections are so
(25:00):
important. So yeah, well great.
Well thank you everyone forlistening. Thank you Nona for
being here. I hope everyone hasa wonderful day. And if you do
need help with your business outthere, please let me know I am
happy to help at any momentyou're not alone. It's hard to
be an owner. It's sometimeslonely at the top but our point
(25:22):
ne team and even just me I'm I'mhere to help. So thank you,
Nona. Thank you, everybody. Havea good day. You as well. Thanks
so much for tuning into thisepisode of level up your
business with me, Sarah Frasca.
If you have a problem in yourbusiness that's keeping you up
at night. Please join us in afuture episode so we can help
(25:43):
get you unstuck. Just clickingthe link in the show notes and
send us a message. Pleaseremember, stay innovative
friends
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