February 22, 2026 • 37 mins
Steve Lowell, CSP, has been speaking and performing on the live stage since the age of 6 that is over 54 years ago! From Ottawa, Canada, Steve is an award-winning global speaker. For over 30 years, he has been training and mentoring executives, thought-leaders, and professional speakers worldwide to deliver high-impact keynote speeches, drive revenue from the platform and build wealth through speaking. Steve website: https://stevelowell.com/free-book/ Show notes: https://successgrid.net/sg257/ If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to https://ratethispodcast.com/successgrid
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hallo, I welcome to the Success Great Podcast with also Stale.
I am excited to introduce you to a series of
conversations with some of the most successful and sparing individuals
from various industries. My aim is to dive into their
stories behind their success and explore the knowledge, strategiest, habits, mindsets,
and wisdom that have propelled their success. Each episode of
(00:21):
the Success Great Podcast will feature a different guest who
will share their unique journey, the challenges they faced, and
the reasons they have learned along the way. I would
also be covering topics from entrepreneurship and innovation to leadership
and personal development. Whether you are inspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned
business profession, or just someone looking to improve your life,
(00:41):
the Success Great Podcast is for you. My goal is
to bring you valuable insights and inspiration that will help
you achieve your own success in business and life. So
get ready to learn and be inspired. The Success Great
Podcast starts now. In this episode, I have with me
Steve Lowell talk about how to think differently, speak differently
and sell more, talk about using speaking to grow your business.
(01:05):
Stieve Is has been speaking and performing on the live
stage since the age of six, that's over fifty four
years from Otoa, Canada. Thief is an or winning global
speaker for over thirty years. He has been training and
mentoring executives.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Though leaders, and professional speakers worldwide to deliver high impact
younote speeches, drive revenue from the platforms, and build well
through speaking. So if you are interested learning more how
to grow your business through speaking and gaining the art
and master of this art to grow your business, this
is the episode for you.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So Steve will come to this episode of the podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Well, thanks for inviting me, Husain. I'm really happy to
be here with you and your listeners.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Awesome to have you stif so first of all, but
I always ask this question to my guests, what is
success too? Specifically, after all these easy and experiences that
you have, what does success miss to you? And how
do you see success differentiates between people and what.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
The Well, you know, I think that's a really good question,
and of course success is defined by the individual. And
you know, I've thought about this for a lot of years,
whossaying because you know, my business has taken so many
twists and turns, and there have been so many successes
and failures, and I often think about that question, what
how do I know when I've been successful? And here's
(02:21):
what I've boiled it down to basically two things. The
first is being able to serve the people in this
world who I was meant to serve, and that took
some time to figure out. So now I'm pretty pretty
sure I know who I'm supposed to be serving in
So if I'm serving them and I'm getting confirmation that
(02:42):
I'm serving them, people are telling me that they're getting
their own success because of my work, that's a measure
of success. And then the other measure of success is
that I can afford to do that. You know, I
want to be able to travel the world as I
do and live the lifestyle that I love, as I
do with my wife, and have the lifestyle that I
(03:02):
enjoy from serving the people in the world that I
was meant to serve. So if I know I'm serving
them and i know I'm earning enough money to enjoy
my lifestyle, then that's success. To me.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
That's amazing because we need to be in a place
of service to others. So now, speaking to grow businesses,
that's very important. But do you think there's well every
business on our entrepreneur with our online offline should have
some kind of skill set for speaking.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
You know, that's actually a complicated question. And the reason
it's a complicated question is because there are people that
I've met entrepreneurs who are not speaking and very much
should be, And there are others who are speaking and
probably shouldn't be. And so it's not that everybody should
(03:53):
be speaking. I don't believe that's true. I believe there's
an opportunity for everybody to use speaking to generate revenue,
but there are parameters I think that need to be
met in order to really do it effectively. So the
entrepreneurs that I encounter who are not speaking and should be,
these are oftentimes entrepreneurs who have amassed some sort of
(04:16):
mental wealth, Like you know, they've got intellectual property, so
intellectual wealth, they've got great ideas, they have pure mission
in the world, they have what you just mentioned, a
mindset of service. And those people are generally the folks
who make good speakers and who are generally able to
affect change when they speak and generate revenue when they speak.
(04:40):
Then there are others who are not really great speakers,
but who think they are, who love the sound of
their own voice, but really don't speak for the right purpose.
They don't have the mindset of service for a lot
of different ranges, and some of them just they tactically
use speaking as a mechanism to separate people from their money,
(05:02):
or they just simply don't have the skills in order
to speak. And so I think within those two groups,
I mean, that's a very broad description, but I think
within those two groups there is a subset that comes
to the middle where we can combine the mindset, the
pureness of their mission, the quality of their work, the
(05:24):
veracity of their ideas, the quality of their wisdom. We
can bring that together and match it with the skills,
and match it with the techniques, and match it with
the right approach, and we can combine the two. We
can change the world and we can make money doing it.
But that doesn't mean that everybody who is speaking should
be and and you know, not everybody who is not
(05:46):
speaking should be. So there's really sort of some qualifications
that come into play.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So I mentioned this qualifications or goal or purpose for speaking,
like some are speaking that might not should not be
speak on vice versa, which is very Now, Also you
talked about the skill set. It's very important for the
speaker to have some kind of a skill set. But
to go on, the most important point I think is
the goal or the purpose for you to speak speakers
(06:12):
skill set to live that and to speak after them.
So what is the purpose or how can someone know
that purpose for themselves?
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Okay, so let's take the whole concept of speaking and
let's break it down. Because you know, the principles that
I want to share with you and your audience don't
apply to all speakers. So in the speaking world, there
are many different kinds of speakers. There are speakers who
(06:40):
are their their purposes to entertain these like motivational you know,
high energy speakers, which is a legitimate thing. Then there
are speakers who primarily want to educate, right, let me
teach you something. Then there are speakers who want to
make a change in this world. Right, And so it's
like this once group is like, let me entertain you.
(07:02):
The other group is let me educate you. And then
the other group is let me change the way you
think so that you can aspire to something different and grow.
And then there's the other groups is let me separate
you from your money, let me sell to you. So
these are if we if we simplify the approach, these
are the different areas of speaking. All of these are
(07:22):
legitimate speaking endeavors, and speaking can be used for all
of them. So what I want to do is, I
would like to speak about this. I believe that there
is a combination of all of these elements that come
into play that make an entrepreneur effective speakers and generate
revenue without the singular purpose of separating the audience from
(07:43):
their money. And so here are some of the skills.
The first always goes back, who's saying to exactly what
you just said a few minutes ago? The mindset of service.
That's the first thing that I try and teach my
clients is, you know, if you're an entrepreneur, and if
the objective is to use speaking to generate business, if
(08:04):
that's the objective, then the mindset needs to be of
mindset of service. And so many entrepreneurs they step on
the stage or on the screen and they have the
mindset of closing the sale, the mindset of making money.
And you can make money, and you can close the sale,
but it's so much easier if you start with the
(08:25):
mindset of service. How do I serve this audience. How
do I serve this podcast host? How do I serve
this podcasts audience? So, if you can get in the
mindset of service, then that kind of informs everything else
that you do after that. So then the other skill
that comes into play is this need to understand that
(08:47):
in order to use speaking to generate business. It's not
about being a good salesperson. It's not about being slick,
it's not about being smooth, it's not about being cool.
Here's what it's about. Have you ever heard the old
adage who's saying that people buy from those they know,
(09:08):
like and trust. Have you ever heard that that's an
old sales parameter. Uh, And I don't think it's correct.
It's not that it's incorrect, it's not complete. And the
reason it's not complete is because I know all kinds
of people. So do you You know, between us we
know many, many, many people. So we know a lot
of people. A lot of those people I like them, right,
(09:33):
A lot of them are friends of mine, you know,
and I trust them, But that doesn't mean I'm going
to hire them or buy from them, because there are
so many other parameters where no like and trust isn't enough.
So as a speaker, as an entrepreneur who's speaking too many,
you have been led to believe that if your audience
gets to know you, if they get to like you,
(09:55):
and if they get to trust you, then they will
hire you. And it's simply not true. Here's what has
to happen. This is the next skill after mindset of service.
The audience needs to have this outcome. The audience needs
to feel understood, which means if your audience is saying,
(10:15):
you know, watching you speak, who's saying and the audience
is thinking, oh, you know what, I know who that is.
I've heard him speak before. I really like this guy.
I think he's an honest guy. That doesn't mean they're
going to rush and hand you their credit card. But
if your audience says, you know what, he understands me,
he gets me, he's speaking directly to me, man, he
(10:38):
really has he been following me around? He really understands me.
Your audience has to feel understood. And so when you're
a speaker and you spend so much of your time
trying to get your audience to understand you, you're missing
a first major step. If I'm the speaker, who's saying.
(10:58):
Before you care about who I am, Before you even
get to begin liking me or trusting me, the first
thing that needs to happen is for you to feel
like I understand you, I get you. So there's a
skill involved in that. So you know, when you're an
entrepreneur and you're out there speaking, whether you're on podcasts
or webinars or on a stage, and and here's what
(11:21):
happens in your mind. Oftentimes you think, I'm going to
teach them great things, right, I'm gonna I'm gonna teach
them really cool things. They're gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna
put them in awe of me. I'm going to really
do a great job. I'm going to speak really well
and have great visuals. I'm going to engage them. And
then at the end of it, nobody buys anything or
nobody hires you, and you feel, why, what did I
(11:43):
do wrong? You know, I did everything I was told,
I did everything I was taught, and they haven't bought
for me. I don't know why. Well, oftentimes what's missing
is the audience may like you, they may think you're awesome.
They will come up to you and they will say,
that was the best presentation I've ever heard you. I
get standing ovations, You've changed my life. You'll get all
(12:03):
of that, and at the end of the day, you go, man,
I must be so great, but my bank account hasn't changed.
And then the reason the bank account hasn't changed starts
with all of those nice accolades, all of those nice words,
and the nice handshakes and the standing ovations. All of
those things are just an expression of you know, I
(12:25):
like you, I'm getting to know you. I trust you,
I think, but I'm not ready to buy from you yet.
So why aren't you ready to buy for me? Because
I don't think you understand me. So as a speaker,
our job is to let the audience know listen, I
get you, I understand you. So that's the first thing.
The next major skill is for a speaker to make
(12:48):
the audience feel safe. And what that means is the
audience needs to feel like your primary objective is not
just to separate them from their money. And so what
happens with so many entrepreneurs who's saying who speak, even
(13:09):
though it may not be their intent to make the
audience feel that way, it happens because the speaker. Will
you know, they'll speak so much about themselves, and they'll
speak so much about their unique solution. They're five pillars
to this, or there are four secrets to that, and
they'll talk about their experience, and they'll talk about their expertise,
(13:30):
and they will play testimonials and all of these things,
and all of that is really about the speaker. So
the speaker thinks that I'm giving great value, and whosein?
I did this for decades. I made this mistake for
so long. I would get in front of an audience
and I would think to myself, if I would just
if I can just show them what I can do, right,
(13:51):
if they can see what I can do, and they
would be so impressed, and they're going to want to
hire me. So I would show them what I could do,
and I would give them all my best content, and
I would teach them everything I thought they need to know,
and I would give and give and give and give
of them. And then I would think to myself, now
they're going to want to hire from me, and they
never would. They never did buy from me or hire
(14:12):
from me, because even though I thought I was giving
to them, what I was really doing was showing off,
and what I was really doing was saying, hey, look
at what I can do, and then the presentation becomes
about me. And it took me many years to understand
that that's not going to serve. That doesn't serve the audience,
(14:33):
It doesn't serve me. So what I needed to learn
was I need first the audience to understand you know something.
I'm part of you. I understand you, and my purpose
here today is to actually help you. And that brings
up a whole different thing, because then the question becomes,
how do you help people as a speaker. And what
(14:57):
I've learned is this the worst thing we can do
as as a speaker or an expert, an expert who speaks,
or an entrepreneur who speaks. The worst thing we can
do is offer our audience a solution to their problem.
It's the worst thing we can do, and so many
speakers do that. I'm here for thirty minutes, forty five minutes.
(15:19):
I'm going to offer you a solution to your problem.
Here's why it's the worst thing. The reason it's the
worst thing whosaying is because then the audience thinks they
have everything they need to solve their problem. Then the
audience goes away thinking this and Okay, you know, Hussein
gave me these great tools. Hussein gave me these great ideas.
(15:40):
So I'm going to leave. I'm going to implement those
tools and implement those ideas, and then it doesn't work.
You know why it doesn't work because they don't have
your influence, they don't have your guidance, they don't have
your support, and so they don't know how to implement.
So they go to implement and it doesn't work, and
then what happens. It's all Husain's fault.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, because they all are talking about like when I
give my story or my experience or my steps in general,
you're talking about certain circumstances that might not apply to
other people.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Right Exactly, there's.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Different things like what you're also talking about being must
understood and say these two things. These are one of
the biggest mistakes that speakers make. But why do you
think that is? Like, generally you would want to serve
an audience. It's good, I believe to give some kind
of examples, right, you need to show some examples, it's important,
but to focus on me, me me. For example, I
(16:38):
did this and I did that, haven't they prepared to
actually effect give the other side that how it would
apply to them.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
So you know, in any talk, you do need to
give the audience some examples. Yes, And you need to
give the audience some credibility in that the audience needs
to know you the real So yes, you have to
give them a little bit of your resume so they
know you're credible, just like you gave your audience a
little bit of my resume today so they know I'm credible.
(17:10):
But here's the thing. What I've learned is that giving
them the solution of the problem is not the value.
Here's the value. The value is in helping them get
clarity around why the problem exists. So if they so
(17:31):
here's what you want, let's start with what you don't want.
Here's what doesn't work. When your audience goes away and
they think this. If the audience goes away after you
talk and they say, that was the best talk I've
ever heard, that was so exciting. I've got some great content,
i got some great ideas. I can't wait to go
and implement all this stuff. That is a bad outcome.
(17:53):
That's and that's the outcome that most speakers strive for
here's the right outcome. This is the outcome that drives business.
This is the outcome that makes them come back to
you and ask for your help. You want the audience
to do this. Huh. I've never thought of it like
that before. Now I understand why this thing isn't working.
(18:18):
I need to talk to that speaker. I need some
help from that person. That's the outcome you want. And
so the reason why so many struggle to get that
outcome is because they make the same mistakes that I
made for decades, and that is I was over teaching.
I was teaching people how to solve their problem, teaching
(18:41):
people how to do this specific thing, teaching people how
to do that, and they would walk away with all
of these solutions, try and implement them. They weren't able
to implement them, and then of course they blame me
and they're not going to hire me after that.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
So think of this one.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
You need to make people feeling that they have discovered
the solution themselves maybe or are you talking about making
them realize the cause of the problem, And this will
lead them and make them that you are an incredible
place that you can actually have the resolution for what
(19:18):
they are having issues.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
With That's it. That's it right there. And so it's
about this. It's about changing the way they think. It's
about challenging their beliefs. It's about having them question that
which they think they know to be true. It's about
them reevaluating the nature of their condition. And it's not
(19:40):
about having them walk away all excited because you are
awesome and now they have awesome tools. That's what they
pay you for, right It's about having them walk away
with a change of mind. It's a change of feeling.
You see, Speaking usually is not about a transference of information.
Information happens, but that's not the function. The function of
(20:05):
speaking is about a transference of emotion. You see, I
want you, as an audience, I want you to feel
about my message the way I feel about my message.
And in so doing, I also want you to be
questioning that which you think you already know. Because here's
what happens. You know, if you have a problem to solve,
(20:28):
and you keep getting all these different solutions, and you
go and try it and it doesn't work, and then
some other speaker gives you a solution, you go try
and it doesn't work, and all these things you've tried
don't work. What happens is you become less and less
emotionally involved to all these new solutions. And now a
speaker comes on screen or on a podcast or on
stage and says, here's another solution, and because you've tried
(20:51):
so many of them, you go, Okay, I'll try that
one and see if it works. But you are emotionally detached.
And this is what happens. And you may have a
little bit of excitement for a short time. But here's
what the combination is. The combination is when you give
an audience clarity. When they start thinking, oh, I hadn't
(21:15):
thought of it that way, or I've never seen it
that way before, or I've never considered that before, there
is an emotional excitement there. Now what happens is they
get more excited than they are informed because now they
see hope, they feel hope, they see that there might
be a change. Now there's this light bulb moment back
(21:38):
no wonder or nothing else was working. But you haven't
solved their problem. What you've done is you've given them clarity.
You've given them a different outlook, You've changed their perspective,
you've rattled their beliefs, you've shaken their paradigms, you've reset
their expectations, and all of those things drive an enormous
(21:59):
amount of excitement in people. And so that's why afterwards,
this is where they're going to say, I need more.
I need more of that who'saying. And that's how you
sell from the stage, And so it has nothing to
do with you know by now has nothing to do
with a multi stacked offer and now you can do
those things. I do those things and they do work.
(22:21):
But generally for high ticket items like coaching, high ticket
coaching programs, it's really about getting your audience to go,
how do I get more of you as opposed to
I'm going to go and try your stuff.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
The most important thing is someone's time. I guess.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
So when you have this type of when you are
in this type of place as speaker, that you have
other people seeing that the solution could be within you,
and they like feel and trust you, and you don't
push maybe the saale I guess like generally I would
(22:58):
say that yourself and maybe see like I have this
as an extra refel like to learn more. So would
people after have this experience with the speaker, they're themselves
either recommend you to other people, or like start learning
more about what you do and how you affect things
and what the solutions that you or resolutions that are giving.
(23:22):
But do you think that there are some type of
limitations on certain things, like, for example, there are different
you mentioned the way that make money, so the upsells
these kinds of things and for example in a live
physical stage. Or do you think that we should also
(23:42):
only focus on a certain topic for a certain time
and not start the upselling people on different things and
different coaching programs. Because I have seen this type of thing,
and sometimes the point of the event goes away when
(24:03):
the upsills come into place. So do you think that's
something that speakers should do or not?
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Yes, So the answer is it depends. So let me
give you a couple of scenarios. Okay, because all of
that stuff does happen, and there's a place for everything.
So I've spoken at many events where as a speaker,
I'm not allowed to make an offer, right, But what
I can do is I can rattle the beliefs of
the audience so much that they come to me afterwards.
(24:34):
And so I can do that, and that is a
legitimate way to do it, And where it gets tricky
is if you're being paid to speak, If somebody pays
you to be on that stage, you have a duty
to provide more information and provide some solutions to the problem.
I don't get paid to speak anymore. I stop doing
that years ago because I can make far more money
(24:56):
and help far more people if I waive my speaking
and then I'm allowed to make an offer and we
can talk about that if you like, and all of
the dynamics around that. But I chose many years ago
to get out of the paid speaking business because it
was way too restrictive and it's the lowest form of
being paid as a speaker in the world, and so
(25:19):
and so here's the other thing. So in some events
I can speak and not make an offer, not to
say buy you know, hire me today, But I will
get business. As you said. People will come up to me,
they will speak to me. I might offer a free gift,
they'll get on my list. I'll market to them, and
that engine will happen. But then there are other events
(25:39):
where I'm brought to the stage and my purpose is
to sell because the organizer is going to get a
commission on what I sell. So I will be a
little bit more assertive then. But here's the way I
do it is, I have one coming up actually in
very short period of time next week or so, where
(26:00):
there'll be an audience there, a small audience, one hundred
or so people. And here's the way this will work.
I'm going to go and speak for an hour. During
that hour, I'm going to shake their beliefs. I'm going
to disrupt their thinking. And at the end of that hour,
they're not going to be thinking, Wow, what a great speaker.
I you know, I'm gonna and I got so much
great content. I'm going to go and change the world.
(26:21):
That's not what they're going to be thinking. What they're
going to be thinking is I've never seen it like
that before. Now I understand why my business isn't growing.
I need to talk to him. That's going to happen
at the end of my talk. Then, what I'm going
to do is I'm going to execute a very specific
set of steps, and I'm going to say it's going
to be like this. You know, put up your hand.
(26:42):
If you think that using speaking would help you grow
your business, put your hand up like this. Lots of
people are going to put up their hand. Then I'm
going to say, put your hand up even higher if
you think that would be easier with my help. A
lot of hands are going to go up. Then what
I'm going to do is I'm going to say, if
your hand is up, go ahead and stand, and they
will stand, and then I'll say, if you are still sitting,
(27:05):
you can go ahead and have lunch. We'll be back
in one hour. If you're standing, follow me into this
room and I'll show you what we have in store
for you. And they'll follow me into this room and
I'll sit with them for the next thirty minutes forty minutes.
I'll show them what we have in store for them.
I'll show them what the program is. We'll feed them
lunch while they're there, and a number of those people
will sign up to our program. Now I'm not going
(27:27):
to do any hard selling from the stage. I'm going
to give great value. Everybody in that audience is going
to walk away with their beliefs rattled, and they're going
to have lunch, and then they're going to come back.
And everybody who goes into that room is going to
have the opportunity to see what my program is and
they can decide then if it's something they like to
pursue or not. Either way, you know we're going to
(27:51):
do very well at that event, and the right people
are going to buy the program, and then these are
the right people that will be served. So I'm not
going to try and sell it to the whole room.
That's a waste of time and people hate that. I'm
only going to take the people who are interested in
hearing about it, and I'll take them aside and I'll
talk to them there. See that way, I feel like
(28:13):
I've given the entire room value because everybody's going to
be questioning what they're doing, which is what I want.
They're going to feel excited that they've got a new perspective,
and I'm going to be able to sit down with
the few people who might be interested in my program
and they can decide whether or not they'd like to
join us at this time or not. And there's no pressure,
there's no sales approach. Everybody is going to enjoy the
(28:36):
experience and we're going to make some money.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
So speaking the fuel own personal now experience or how
you framing things for yourself, A lot of speakers would
say that I deserve a fee for my time. So
see it's five hundred and some say one thousand and five.
Then what the amount it is, whether it's online, virtual,
or physical place. You mentioned yourself that you don't do
(29:02):
that anymore, you speak for free because you would have
different things like in the short example that you mentioned,
it could apply to that, right, So do you think
that in general? And also you mentioned if a speaker
gets a fee, he's obliged to basically give more. I
think with that information, led experiences have bitter understanding of
(29:27):
the audience. I assume more so.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
So.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
But you said something interesting. You know, I've run into
these these speakers a lot. I deserve to be paid
for my time, right, And here's here's my response. Well,
if you deserve to be paid for your time, shouldn't
you be paid well? And being paid well is see
they have this very very narrow, small thinking. Now, unless
(29:51):
you're a superstar, right, unless you are you know, Donald
Trump or you know, if you are like a superstar
that everybody in the world wants to come and hear you,
like you're a rock star like Tony Robbins. Okay, then
you deserve to be paid for your time. If you've
done something that has changed the world. Okay, you deserve
to be paid for your time. But if you think
(30:12):
that just because you have something to say, you deserve
to be paid, that is a big and very dangerous misconception.
And it's dangerous from this perspective. It's not dangerous for
the world. It's dangerous for the speaker because it keeps
the speaker in this very tiny little box. And so
you know, if you're being paid five hundred dollars or
even one thousand dollars to go and speak at an event,
(30:33):
you are not being paid very well as a speaker.
Right unless you're being paid twenty twenty five thirty thirty
five thousand dollars for a thirty minute keynote or a
sixty minute keynote, you are not very well paid as
a speaker. And the reason is because you go and
you speak, you get paid, and then you're done, and
now you have to go and do another one. Then
you have to go and do another one, and you
(30:54):
don't get paid if you don't get on a stage.
And remember what happened on March twentieth, twenty twenty shut down.
And I have colleagues in the speaking business that I've
known for decades who make a living going from stage
to stage to stage to stage, and that's what they do.
Some of them get paid twenty five thirty forty fifty
thousand dollars and every single one of them was unemployed
(31:14):
on March twentieth, twenty twenty gone. All of their business,
got nothing to do tomorrow and for the next two
years out of work. But if you want to be
paid as a speaker, and you believe you deserve to
be paid as a speaker, that I think that this
is what I did is I'm not doing that anymore.
I'm going to be paid well, which means I'm going
(31:35):
to speak at this event next week or in the
next two weeks, and we're going to make ten times
more that I could earn in any speaking fee. And
I'm going to change people's lives. I'm going to teach
them how to do this, so they can wash me
for an hour and go away, or they can wash
me for an hour and join my community. So if
they watch me and go away, I'm not going to
(31:56):
make any money, or I might make a little speaker's fee,
But if I can bring them into my community and
say I can teach you to do what I'm doing.
Then I'm changing lives. And I've made many millionaires in
my program. I've made award winning speakers in my program.
Now there's no there's no speaker's fee that could pay
me enough to reward me for that. And so when
(32:19):
I hear speakers say that I deserve to be paid
as a speaker, you're thinking too small. You're limiting yourself,
you're limiting your impact, and you're letting your ego stand
in the way of your progress.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
And also like I would think that the idea of
speakers there are more tible, like if someone wants to
speak out a certain area and if they are not
willing to pay for the for their time. For example,
there are different speakers who could speak on the same topic.
So the issue is eventually it comes down to what
(32:53):
we are talking here about, whether you pay for the
speaker or not. That you need to know that these
speakers are actually having the audience at first, and the
head like they think of their goal or purpose to
save these people and have them achieve what they came
for the conference or even to achieve that's the most
(33:16):
important thing.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Yes, that's correct, Yep, So if somebody is paying you
to speak, your objective is to reach the outcome that
that person. We call that person the economic buyer. So
the person who has paid you the economic buyer. When
they pay you to speak, you are their employee and
your job is to reach the outcome that they pay
you for. And I never really liked that. I mean
(33:40):
I did that for many years. I didn't really like
it because I wanted to change people's lives. I wanted
to help people do what I can do, and I
couldn't do that if somebody was paying me to motivate
their staff, you know, I mean that just just there's
no heart in there. There's no soul, there's no there's
no change, there's no impact. It's just an exchange of
(34:02):
money for time, which which is a very very bad
business model, and yet so many people, even coaches, still
charged by the hour, worst business model ever created. Why
not get on a screen, get on a stage, get
on some podcasts, speak at some events, and and start
generating revenue based on your impact, generating revenue based on
the lives that you serve, based on the lives that
(34:26):
you change.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
So you talked about quickly about the coaches the child's
how jujually should coaches charge? And actually, funny enough, like
the other day I heard someone talk about I had.
His name is Neil Pate, no need Patel, so he's
ANEO expert. So I talked about for entrepreneurs or business owners,
(34:50):
you need to stop hiring business coaches because most of them.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
May have not actually have built the business.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
So that was funny for me, Like, yeah, having a
business is really hard and tough. It's not that easy
as would be what it takes time, if a lot
of things. And actually I think he was like I
would say maybe fifty to fifty, right, Like if you
would tire a business coach, you you need to make
sure at least he had.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Build a business one business at least.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
I don't care if it's a successful failure because he
might learn something from that.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
But like, yeah, none like zero businesses. That does not
make any sense.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
If I had a business coach who charged by the hour,
I wouldn't hire them because if the business coach charges
by the hour, that tells me they don't really understand
the nature of where revenue comes from. So I mean
that's a whole different discussion that we could we could
talk about another time. But that's you know, it's all
about knowing in your business, and this is of course
(35:51):
true for speaking. Is where is the revenue? How do
you best generate the revenue and serve the most people
the best way.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Steve, do you have some kind of take away find
a note for of the audience to take from this episode?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (36:04):
I think you know. I have a gift for them.
If that's okay, Can I give them a gift?
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (36:09):
Okay, So I'm going to give them a copy of
my first book. It's called from Stage Fright to Spotlight,
and this is for anybody who's thinking about getting into
speaking but is a little bit uncomfortable, a little bit fearful,
not experienced, And this book is going to give you
very simple first steps to start preparing to take the
screen or take the stage. And they can reach that
(36:31):
at this link and you can add this to the
show notes. It's a stevelowell dot com forward slash Free
dash book, Ay Stevelowell dot com Forward Slash Free dash book.
They can grab the book there and it'll give them
some really good tips on how to adjust their mindset,
how to prepare, some great tips on how to be
(36:54):
successful some things to avoid and so I'd like your
audience to have that as my giftesome listen, Well.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Thank you very much Chive for joining me for this
episode of the Success Great podcast. I'm sure the book
then Free Gift, would be an amazing insights into things
and how also experience now to work in this field
like it's very important. Actually, eventually I would say that
the experiences are good to share, but also we have
to put ourselves in a place of serving people and
(37:24):
giving them a clarity for what they want. And this
is how things would start kicking in for people and
would actually not only like and trust us, but also
will hire us or get our services or products to
So thank you very.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Much for joining me for this episode.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
Are you very welcome. I'm glad to be here. Thanks
for inviting me. I hope we can do it again.
Hallo, I welcome to the Success Great Podcast with also Stale.
I am excited to introduce you to a series of
conversations with some of the most successful and sparing individuals
from various industries. My aim is to dive into their
stories behind their success and explore the knowledge, strategiest, habits, mindsets,
and wisdom that have propelled their success. Each episode of
(00:21):
the Success Great Podcast will feature a different guest who
will share their unique journey, the challenges they faced, and
the reasons they have learned along the way. I would
also be covering topics from entrepreneurship and innovation to leadership
and personal development. Whether you are inspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned
business profession, or just someone looking to improve your life,
(00:41):
the Success Great Podcast is for you. My goal is
to bring you valuable insights and inspiration that will help
you achieve your own success in business and life. So
get ready to learn and be inspired. The Success Great
Podcast starts now. In this episode, I have with me
Steve Lowell talk about how to think differently, speak differently
and sell more, talk about using speaking to grow your business.
(01:05):
Stieve Is has been speaking and performing on the live
stage since the age of six, that's over fifty four
years from Otoa, Canada. Thief is an or winning global
speaker for over thirty years. He has been training and
mentoring executives.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Though leaders, and professional speakers worldwide to deliver high impact
younote speeches, drive revenue from the platforms, and build well
through speaking. So if you are interested learning more how
to grow your business through speaking and gaining the art
and master of this art to grow your business, this
is the episode for you.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So Steve will come to this episode of the podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Well, thanks for inviting me, Husain. I'm really happy to
be here with you and your listeners.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Awesome to have you stif so first of all, but
I always ask this question to my guests, what is
success too? Specifically, after all these easy and experiences that
you have, what does success miss to you? And how
do you see success differentiates between people and what.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
The Well, you know, I think that's a really good question,
and of course success is defined by the individual. And
you know, I've thought about this for a lot of years,
whossaying because you know, my business has taken so many
twists and turns, and there have been so many successes
and failures, and I often think about that question, what
how do I know when I've been successful? And here's
(02:21):
what I've boiled it down to basically two things. The
first is being able to serve the people in this
world who I was meant to serve, and that took
some time to figure out. So now I'm pretty pretty
sure I know who I'm supposed to be serving in
So if I'm serving them and I'm getting confirmation that
(02:42):
I'm serving them, people are telling me that they're getting
their own success because of my work, that's a measure
of success. And then the other measure of success is
that I can afford to do that. You know, I
want to be able to travel the world as I
do and live the lifestyle that I love, as I
do with my wife, and have the lifestyle that I
(03:02):
enjoy from serving the people in the world that I
was meant to serve. So if I know I'm serving
them and i know I'm earning enough money to enjoy
my lifestyle, then that's success. To me.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
That's amazing because we need to be in a place
of service to others. So now, speaking to grow businesses,
that's very important. But do you think there's well every
business on our entrepreneur with our online offline should have
some kind of skill set for speaking.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
You know, that's actually a complicated question. And the reason
it's a complicated question is because there are people that
I've met entrepreneurs who are not speaking and very much
should be, And there are others who are speaking and
probably shouldn't be. And so it's not that everybody should
(03:53):
be speaking. I don't believe that's true. I believe there's
an opportunity for everybody to use speaking to generate revenue,
but there are parameters I think that need to be
met in order to really do it effectively. So the
entrepreneurs that I encounter who are not speaking and should be,
these are oftentimes entrepreneurs who have amassed some sort of
(04:16):
mental wealth, Like you know, they've got intellectual property, so
intellectual wealth, they've got great ideas, they have pure mission
in the world, they have what you just mentioned, a
mindset of service. And those people are generally the folks
who make good speakers and who are generally able to
affect change when they speak and generate revenue when they speak.
(04:40):
Then there are others who are not really great speakers,
but who think they are, who love the sound of
their own voice, but really don't speak for the right purpose.
They don't have the mindset of service for a lot
of different ranges, and some of them just they tactically
use speaking as a mechanism to separate people from their money,
(05:02):
or they just simply don't have the skills in order
to speak. And so I think within those two groups,
I mean, that's a very broad description, but I think
within those two groups there is a subset that comes
to the middle where we can combine the mindset, the
pureness of their mission, the quality of their work, the
(05:24):
veracity of their ideas, the quality of their wisdom. We
can bring that together and match it with the skills,
and match it with the techniques, and match it with
the right approach, and we can combine the two. We
can change the world and we can make money doing it.
But that doesn't mean that everybody who is speaking should
be and and you know, not everybody who is not
(05:46):
speaking should be. So there's really sort of some qualifications
that come into play.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So I mentioned this qualifications or goal or purpose for speaking,
like some are speaking that might not should not be
speak on vice versa, which is very Now, Also you
talked about the skill set. It's very important for the
speaker to have some kind of a skill set. But
to go on, the most important point I think is
the goal or the purpose for you to speak speakers
(06:12):
skill set to live that and to speak after them.
So what is the purpose or how can someone know
that purpose for themselves?
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Okay, so let's take the whole concept of speaking and
let's break it down. Because you know, the principles that
I want to share with you and your audience don't
apply to all speakers. So in the speaking world, there
are many different kinds of speakers. There are speakers who
(06:40):
are their their purposes to entertain these like motivational you know,
high energy speakers, which is a legitimate thing. Then there
are speakers who primarily want to educate, right, let me
teach you something. Then there are speakers who want to
make a change in this world. Right, And so it's
like this once group is like, let me entertain you.
(07:02):
The other group is let me educate you. And then
the other group is let me change the way you
think so that you can aspire to something different and grow.
And then there's the other groups is let me separate
you from your money, let me sell to you. So
these are if we if we simplify the approach, these
are the different areas of speaking. All of these are
(07:22):
legitimate speaking endeavors, and speaking can be used for all
of them. So what I want to do is, I
would like to speak about this. I believe that there
is a combination of all of these elements that come
into play that make an entrepreneur effective speakers and generate
revenue without the singular purpose of separating the audience from
(07:43):
their money. And so here are some of the skills.
The first always goes back, who's saying to exactly what
you just said a few minutes ago? The mindset of service.
That's the first thing that I try and teach my
clients is, you know, if you're an entrepreneur, and if
the objective is to use speaking to generate business, if
(08:04):
that's the objective, then the mindset needs to be of
mindset of service. And so many entrepreneurs they step on
the stage or on the screen and they have the
mindset of closing the sale, the mindset of making money.
And you can make money, and you can close the sale,
but it's so much easier if you start with the
(08:25):
mindset of service. How do I serve this audience. How
do I serve this podcast host? How do I serve
this podcasts audience? So, if you can get in the
mindset of service, then that kind of informs everything else
that you do after that. So then the other skill
that comes into play is this need to understand that
(08:47):
in order to use speaking to generate business. It's not
about being a good salesperson. It's not about being slick,
it's not about being smooth, it's not about being cool.
Here's what it's about. Have you ever heard the old
adage who's saying that people buy from those they know,
(09:08):
like and trust. Have you ever heard that that's an
old sales parameter. Uh, And I don't think it's correct.
It's not that it's incorrect, it's not complete. And the
reason it's not complete is because I know all kinds
of people. So do you You know, between us we
know many, many, many people. So we know a lot
of people. A lot of those people I like them, right,
(09:33):
A lot of them are friends of mine, you know,
and I trust them, But that doesn't mean I'm going
to hire them or buy from them, because there are
so many other parameters where no like and trust isn't enough.
So as a speaker, as an entrepreneur who's speaking too many,
you have been led to believe that if your audience
gets to know you, if they get to like you,
(09:55):
and if they get to trust you, then they will
hire you. And it's simply not true. Here's what has
to happen. This is the next skill after mindset of service.
The audience needs to have this outcome. The audience needs
to feel understood, which means if your audience is saying,
(10:15):
you know, watching you speak, who's saying and the audience
is thinking, oh, you know what, I know who that is.
I've heard him speak before. I really like this guy.
I think he's an honest guy. That doesn't mean they're
going to rush and hand you their credit card. But
if your audience says, you know what, he understands me,
he gets me, he's speaking directly to me, man, he
(10:38):
really has he been following me around? He really understands me.
Your audience has to feel understood. And so when you're
a speaker and you spend so much of your time
trying to get your audience to understand you, you're missing
a first major step. If I'm the speaker, who's saying.
(10:58):
Before you care about who I am, Before you even
get to begin liking me or trusting me, the first
thing that needs to happen is for you to feel
like I understand you, I get you. So there's a
skill involved in that. So you know, when you're an
entrepreneur and you're out there speaking, whether you're on podcasts
or webinars or on a stage, and and here's what
(11:21):
happens in your mind. Oftentimes you think, I'm going to
teach them great things, right, I'm gonna I'm gonna teach
them really cool things. They're gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna
put them in awe of me. I'm going to really
do a great job. I'm going to speak really well
and have great visuals. I'm going to engage them. And
then at the end of it, nobody buys anything or
nobody hires you, and you feel, why, what did I
(11:43):
do wrong? You know, I did everything I was told,
I did everything I was taught, and they haven't bought
for me. I don't know why. Well, oftentimes what's missing
is the audience may like you, they may think you're awesome.
They will come up to you and they will say,
that was the best presentation I've ever heard you. I
get standing ovations, You've changed my life. You'll get all
(12:03):
of that, and at the end of the day, you go, man,
I must be so great, but my bank account hasn't changed.
And then the reason the bank account hasn't changed starts
with all of those nice accolades, all of those nice words,
and the nice handshakes and the standing ovations. All of
those things are just an expression of you know, I
(12:25):
like you, I'm getting to know you. I trust you,
I think, but I'm not ready to buy from you yet.
So why aren't you ready to buy for me? Because
I don't think you understand me. So as a speaker,
our job is to let the audience know listen, I
get you, I understand you. So that's the first thing.
The next major skill is for a speaker to make
(12:48):
the audience feel safe. And what that means is the
audience needs to feel like your primary objective is not
just to separate them from their money. And so what
happens with so many entrepreneurs who's saying who speak, even
(13:09):
though it may not be their intent to make the
audience feel that way, it happens because the speaker. Will
you know, they'll speak so much about themselves, and they'll
speak so much about their unique solution. They're five pillars
to this, or there are four secrets to that, and
they'll talk about their experience, and they'll talk about their expertise,
(13:30):
and they will play testimonials and all of these things,
and all of that is really about the speaker. So
the speaker thinks that I'm giving great value, and whosein?
I did this for decades. I made this mistake for
so long. I would get in front of an audience
and I would think to myself, if I would just
if I can just show them what I can do, right,
(13:51):
if they can see what I can do, and they
would be so impressed, and they're going to want to
hire me. So I would show them what I could do,
and I would give them all my best content, and
I would teach them everything I thought they need to know,
and I would give and give and give and give
of them. And then I would think to myself, now
they're going to want to hire from me, and they
never would. They never did buy from me or hire
(14:12):
from me, because even though I thought I was giving
to them, what I was really doing was showing off,
and what I was really doing was saying, hey, look
at what I can do, and then the presentation becomes
about me. And it took me many years to understand
that that's not going to serve. That doesn't serve the audience,
(14:33):
It doesn't serve me. So what I needed to learn
was I need first the audience to understand you know something.
I'm part of you. I understand you, and my purpose
here today is to actually help you. And that brings
up a whole different thing, because then the question becomes,
how do you help people as a speaker. And what
(14:57):
I've learned is this the worst thing we can do
as as a speaker or an expert, an expert who speaks,
or an entrepreneur who speaks. The worst thing we can
do is offer our audience a solution to their problem.
It's the worst thing we can do, and so many
speakers do that. I'm here for thirty minutes, forty five minutes.
(15:19):
I'm going to offer you a solution to your problem.
Here's why it's the worst thing. The reason it's the
worst thing whosaying is because then the audience thinks they
have everything they need to solve their problem. Then the
audience goes away thinking this and Okay, you know, Hussein
gave me these great tools. Hussein gave me these great ideas.
(15:40):
So I'm going to leave. I'm going to implement those
tools and implement those ideas, and then it doesn't work.
You know why it doesn't work because they don't have
your influence, they don't have your guidance, they don't have
your support, and so they don't know how to implement.
So they go to implement and it doesn't work, and
then what happens. It's all Husain's fault.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, because they all are talking about like when I
give my story or my experience or my steps in general,
you're talking about certain circumstances that might not apply to
other people.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Right Exactly, there's.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Different things like what you're also talking about being must
understood and say these two things. These are one of
the biggest mistakes that speakers make. But why do you
think that is? Like, generally you would want to serve
an audience. It's good, I believe to give some kind
of examples, right, you need to show some examples, it's important,
but to focus on me, me me. For example, I
(16:38):
did this and I did that, haven't they prepared to
actually effect give the other side that how it would
apply to them.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
So you know, in any talk, you do need to
give the audience some examples. Yes, And you need to
give the audience some credibility in that the audience needs
to know you the real So yes, you have to
give them a little bit of your resume so they
know you're credible, just like you gave your audience a
little bit of my resume today so they know I'm credible.
(17:10):
But here's the thing. What I've learned is that giving
them the solution of the problem is not the value.
Here's the value. The value is in helping them get
clarity around why the problem exists. So if they so
(17:31):
here's what you want, let's start with what you don't want.
Here's what doesn't work. When your audience goes away and
they think this. If the audience goes away after you
talk and they say, that was the best talk I've
ever heard, that was so exciting. I've got some great content,
i got some great ideas. I can't wait to go
and implement all this stuff. That is a bad outcome.
(17:53):
That's and that's the outcome that most speakers strive for
here's the right outcome. This is the outcome that drives business.
This is the outcome that makes them come back to
you and ask for your help. You want the audience
to do this. Huh. I've never thought of it like
that before. Now I understand why this thing isn't working.
(18:18):
I need to talk to that speaker. I need some
help from that person. That's the outcome you want. And
so the reason why so many struggle to get that
outcome is because they make the same mistakes that I
made for decades, and that is I was over teaching.
I was teaching people how to solve their problem, teaching
(18:41):
people how to do this specific thing, teaching people how
to do that, and they would walk away with all
of these solutions, try and implement them. They weren't able
to implement them, and then of course they blame me
and they're not going to hire me after that.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
So think of this one.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
You need to make people feeling that they have discovered
the solution themselves maybe or are you talking about making
them realize the cause of the problem, And this will
lead them and make them that you are an incredible
place that you can actually have the resolution for what
(19:18):
they are having issues.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
With That's it. That's it right there. And so it's
about this. It's about changing the way they think. It's
about challenging their beliefs. It's about having them question that
which they think they know to be true. It's about
them reevaluating the nature of their condition. And it's not
(19:40):
about having them walk away all excited because you are
awesome and now they have awesome tools. That's what they
pay you for, right It's about having them walk away
with a change of mind. It's a change of feeling.
You see, Speaking usually is not about a transference of information.
Information happens, but that's not the function. The function of
(20:05):
speaking is about a transference of emotion. You see, I
want you, as an audience, I want you to feel
about my message the way I feel about my message.
And in so doing, I also want you to be
questioning that which you think you already know. Because here's
what happens. You know, if you have a problem to solve,
(20:28):
and you keep getting all these different solutions, and you
go and try it and it doesn't work, and then
some other speaker gives you a solution, you go try
and it doesn't work, and all these things you've tried
don't work. What happens is you become less and less
emotionally involved to all these new solutions. And now a
speaker comes on screen or on a podcast or on
stage and says, here's another solution, and because you've tried
(20:51):
so many of them, you go, Okay, I'll try that
one and see if it works. But you are emotionally detached.
And this is what happens. And you may have a
little bit of excitement for a short time. But here's
what the combination is. The combination is when you give
an audience clarity. When they start thinking, oh, I hadn't
(21:15):
thought of it that way, or I've never seen it
that way before, or I've never considered that before, there
is an emotional excitement there. Now what happens is they
get more excited than they are informed because now they
see hope, they feel hope, they see that there might
be a change. Now there's this light bulb moment back
(21:38):
no wonder or nothing else was working. But you haven't
solved their problem. What you've done is you've given them clarity.
You've given them a different outlook, You've changed their perspective,
you've rattled their beliefs, you've shaken their paradigms, you've reset
their expectations, and all of those things drive an enormous
(21:59):
amount of excitement in people. And so that's why afterwards,
this is where they're going to say, I need more.
I need more of that who'saying. And that's how you
sell from the stage, And so it has nothing to
do with you know by now has nothing to do
with a multi stacked offer and now you can do
those things. I do those things and they do work.
(22:21):
But generally for high ticket items like coaching, high ticket
coaching programs, it's really about getting your audience to go,
how do I get more of you as opposed to
I'm going to go and try your stuff.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
The most important thing is someone's time. I guess.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
So when you have this type of when you are
in this type of place as speaker, that you have
other people seeing that the solution could be within you,
and they like feel and trust you, and you don't
push maybe the saale I guess like generally I would
(22:58):
say that yourself and maybe see like I have this
as an extra refel like to learn more. So would
people after have this experience with the speaker, they're themselves
either recommend you to other people, or like start learning
more about what you do and how you affect things
and what the solutions that you or resolutions that are giving.
(23:22):
But do you think that there are some type of
limitations on certain things, like, for example, there are different
you mentioned the way that make money, so the upsells
these kinds of things and for example in a live
physical stage. Or do you think that we should also
(23:42):
only focus on a certain topic for a certain time
and not start the upselling people on different things and
different coaching programs. Because I have seen this type of thing,
and sometimes the point of the event goes away when
(24:03):
the upsills come into place. So do you think that's
something that speakers should do or not?
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Yes, So the answer is it depends. So let me
give you a couple of scenarios. Okay, because all of
that stuff does happen, and there's a place for everything.
So I've spoken at many events where as a speaker,
I'm not allowed to make an offer, right, But what
I can do is I can rattle the beliefs of
the audience so much that they come to me afterwards.
(24:34):
And so I can do that, and that is a
legitimate way to do it, And where it gets tricky
is if you're being paid to speak, If somebody pays
you to be on that stage, you have a duty
to provide more information and provide some solutions to the problem.
I don't get paid to speak anymore. I stop doing
that years ago because I can make far more money
(24:56):
and help far more people if I waive my speaking
and then I'm allowed to make an offer and we
can talk about that if you like, and all of
the dynamics around that. But I chose many years ago
to get out of the paid speaking business because it
was way too restrictive and it's the lowest form of
being paid as a speaker in the world, and so
(25:19):
and so here's the other thing. So in some events
I can speak and not make an offer, not to
say buy you know, hire me today, But I will
get business. As you said. People will come up to me,
they will speak to me. I might offer a free gift,
they'll get on my list. I'll market to them, and
that engine will happen. But then there are other events
(25:39):
where I'm brought to the stage and my purpose is
to sell because the organizer is going to get a
commission on what I sell. So I will be a
little bit more assertive then. But here's the way I
do it is, I have one coming up actually in
very short period of time next week or so, where
(26:00):
there'll be an audience there, a small audience, one hundred
or so people. And here's the way this will work.
I'm going to go and speak for an hour. During
that hour, I'm going to shake their beliefs. I'm going
to disrupt their thinking. And at the end of that hour,
they're not going to be thinking, Wow, what a great speaker.
I you know, I'm gonna and I got so much
great content. I'm going to go and change the world.
(26:21):
That's not what they're going to be thinking. What they're
going to be thinking is I've never seen it like
that before. Now I understand why my business isn't growing.
I need to talk to him. That's going to happen
at the end of my talk. Then, what I'm going
to do is I'm going to execute a very specific
set of steps, and I'm going to say it's going
to be like this. You know, put up your hand.
(26:42):
If you think that using speaking would help you grow
your business, put your hand up like this. Lots of
people are going to put up their hand. Then I'm
going to say, put your hand up even higher if
you think that would be easier with my help. A
lot of hands are going to go up. Then what
I'm going to do is I'm going to say, if
your hand is up, go ahead and stand, and they
will stand, and then I'll say, if you are still sitting,
(27:05):
you can go ahead and have lunch. We'll be back
in one hour. If you're standing, follow me into this
room and I'll show you what we have in store
for you. And they'll follow me into this room and
I'll sit with them for the next thirty minutes forty minutes.
I'll show them what we have in store for them.
I'll show them what the program is. We'll feed them
lunch while they're there, and a number of those people
will sign up to our program. Now I'm not going
(27:27):
to do any hard selling from the stage. I'm going
to give great value. Everybody in that audience is going
to walk away with their beliefs rattled, and they're going
to have lunch, and then they're going to come back.
And everybody who goes into that room is going to
have the opportunity to see what my program is and
they can decide then if it's something they like to
pursue or not. Either way, you know we're going to
(27:51):
do very well at that event, and the right people
are going to buy the program, and then these are
the right people that will be served. So I'm not
going to try and sell it to the whole room.
That's a waste of time and people hate that. I'm
only going to take the people who are interested in
hearing about it, and I'll take them aside and I'll
talk to them there. See that way, I feel like
(28:13):
I've given the entire room value because everybody's going to
be questioning what they're doing, which is what I want.
They're going to feel excited that they've got a new perspective,
and I'm going to be able to sit down with
the few people who might be interested in my program
and they can decide whether or not they'd like to
join us at this time or not. And there's no pressure,
there's no sales approach. Everybody is going to enjoy the
(28:36):
experience and we're going to make some money.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
So speaking the fuel own personal now experience or how
you framing things for yourself, A lot of speakers would
say that I deserve a fee for my time. So
see it's five hundred and some say one thousand and five.
Then what the amount it is, whether it's online, virtual,
or physical place. You mentioned yourself that you don't do
(29:02):
that anymore, you speak for free because you would have
different things like in the short example that you mentioned,
it could apply to that, right, So do you think
that in general? And also you mentioned if a speaker
gets a fee, he's obliged to basically give more. I
think with that information, led experiences have bitter understanding of
(29:27):
the audience. I assume more so.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
So.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
But you said something interesting. You know, I've run into
these these speakers a lot. I deserve to be paid
for my time, right, And here's here's my response. Well,
if you deserve to be paid for your time, shouldn't
you be paid well? And being paid well is see
they have this very very narrow, small thinking. Now, unless
(29:51):
you're a superstar, right, unless you are you know, Donald
Trump or you know, if you are like a superstar
that everybody in the world wants to come and hear you,
like you're a rock star like Tony Robbins. Okay, then
you deserve to be paid for your time. If you've
done something that has changed the world. Okay, you deserve
to be paid for your time. But if you think
(30:12):
that just because you have something to say, you deserve
to be paid, that is a big and very dangerous misconception.
And it's dangerous from this perspective. It's not dangerous for
the world. It's dangerous for the speaker because it keeps
the speaker in this very tiny little box. And so
you know, if you're being paid five hundred dollars or
even one thousand dollars to go and speak at an event,
(30:33):
you are not being paid very well as a speaker.
Right unless you're being paid twenty twenty five thirty thirty
five thousand dollars for a thirty minute keynote or a
sixty minute keynote, you are not very well paid as
a speaker. And the reason is because you go and
you speak, you get paid, and then you're done, and
now you have to go and do another one. Then
you have to go and do another one, and you
(30:54):
don't get paid if you don't get on a stage.
And remember what happened on March twentieth, twenty twenty shut down.
And I have colleagues in the speaking business that I've
known for decades who make a living going from stage
to stage to stage to stage, and that's what they do.
Some of them get paid twenty five thirty forty fifty
thousand dollars and every single one of them was unemployed
(31:14):
on March twentieth, twenty twenty gone. All of their business,
got nothing to do tomorrow and for the next two
years out of work. But if you want to be
paid as a speaker, and you believe you deserve to
be paid as a speaker, that I think that this
is what I did is I'm not doing that anymore.
I'm going to be paid well, which means I'm going
(31:35):
to speak at this event next week or in the
next two weeks, and we're going to make ten times
more that I could earn in any speaking fee. And
I'm going to change people's lives. I'm going to teach
them how to do this, so they can wash me
for an hour and go away, or they can wash
me for an hour and join my community. So if
they watch me and go away, I'm not going to
(31:56):
make any money, or I might make a little speaker's fee,
But if I can bring them into my community and
say I can teach you to do what I'm doing.
Then I'm changing lives. And I've made many millionaires in
my program. I've made award winning speakers in my program.
Now there's no there's no speaker's fee that could pay
me enough to reward me for that. And so when
(32:19):
I hear speakers say that I deserve to be paid
as a speaker, you're thinking too small. You're limiting yourself,
you're limiting your impact, and you're letting your ego stand
in the way of your progress.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
And also like I would think that the idea of
speakers there are more tible, like if someone wants to
speak out a certain area and if they are not
willing to pay for the for their time. For example,
there are different speakers who could speak on the same topic.
So the issue is eventually it comes down to what
(32:53):
we are talking here about, whether you pay for the
speaker or not. That you need to know that these
speakers are actually having the audience at first, and the
head like they think of their goal or purpose to
save these people and have them achieve what they came
for the conference or even to achieve that's the most
(33:16):
important thing.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Yes, that's correct, Yep, So if somebody is paying you
to speak, your objective is to reach the outcome that
that person. We call that person the economic buyer. So
the person who has paid you the economic buyer. When
they pay you to speak, you are their employee and
your job is to reach the outcome that they pay
you for. And I never really liked that. I mean
(33:40):
I did that for many years. I didn't really like
it because I wanted to change people's lives. I wanted
to help people do what I can do, and I
couldn't do that if somebody was paying me to motivate
their staff, you know, I mean that just just there's
no heart in there. There's no soul, there's no there's
no change, there's no impact. It's just an exchange of
(34:02):
money for time, which which is a very very bad
business model, and yet so many people, even coaches, still
charged by the hour, worst business model ever created. Why
not get on a screen, get on a stage, get
on some podcasts, speak at some events, and and start
generating revenue based on your impact, generating revenue based on
the lives that you serve, based on the lives that
(34:26):
you change.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
So you talked about quickly about the coaches the child's
how jujually should coaches charge? And actually, funny enough, like
the other day I heard someone talk about I had.
His name is Neil Pate, no need Patel, so he's
ANEO expert. So I talked about for entrepreneurs or business owners,
(34:50):
you need to stop hiring business coaches because most of them.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
May have not actually have built the business.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
So that was funny for me, Like, yeah, having a
business is really hard and tough. It's not that easy
as would be what it takes time, if a lot
of things. And actually I think he was like I
would say maybe fifty to fifty, right, Like if you
would tire a business coach, you you need to make
sure at least he had.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Build a business one business at least.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
I don't care if it's a successful failure because he
might learn something from that.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
But like, yeah, none like zero businesses. That does not
make any sense.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
If I had a business coach who charged by the hour,
I wouldn't hire them because if the business coach charges
by the hour, that tells me they don't really understand
the nature of where revenue comes from. So I mean
that's a whole different discussion that we could we could
talk about another time. But that's you know, it's all
about knowing in your business, and this is of course
(35:51):
true for speaking. Is where is the revenue? How do
you best generate the revenue and serve the most people
the best way.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Steve, do you have some kind of take away find
a note for of the audience to take from this episode?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (36:04):
I think you know. I have a gift for them.
If that's okay, Can I give them a gift?
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (36:09):
Okay, So I'm going to give them a copy of
my first book. It's called from Stage Fright to Spotlight,
and this is for anybody who's thinking about getting into
speaking but is a little bit uncomfortable, a little bit fearful,
not experienced, And this book is going to give you
very simple first steps to start preparing to take the
screen or take the stage. And they can reach that
(36:31):
at this link and you can add this to the
show notes. It's a stevelowell dot com forward slash Free
dash book, Ay Stevelowell dot com Forward Slash Free dash book.
They can grab the book there and it'll give them
some really good tips on how to adjust their mindset,
how to prepare, some great tips on how to be
(36:54):
successful some things to avoid and so I'd like your
audience to have that as my giftesome listen, Well.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Thank you very much Chive for joining me for this
episode of the Success Great podcast. I'm sure the book
then Free Gift, would be an amazing insights into things
and how also experience now to work in this field
like it's very important. Actually, eventually I would say that
the experiences are good to share, but also we have
to put ourselves in a place of serving people and
(37:24):
giving them a clarity for what they want. And this
is how things would start kicking in for people and
would actually not only like and trust us, but also
will hire us or get our services or products to
So thank you very.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Much for joining me for this episode.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
Are you very welcome. I'm glad to be here. Thanks
for inviting me. I hope we can do it again.
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