Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Carla Howard. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Carla, appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

Gosh… Going from having an idea for a product or service to launching the offering can be so freaking overwhelming! Your question really takes me back to 3 years ago when the idea for the “Get Paid From The STAGE!!!” 6-week program was born… and it wasn’t even my idea!

I was on a coaching call with Jen Smollett (a fabulous women’s business / career coach), and she said to me “Carla, there are so many people out there who want to be where you are in their speaking careers. If you build a program to show them how they can get paid to speak it will be wildly successful!”. And there it was… the idea tossed out in the universe.

The funny thing is that even though I knew it was a great idea, I didn’t take action for over a year! “All of the things” I had to do to launch the program just felt too overwhelming. Every time I thought about getting started, I let all of the things I didn’t know stop me.

Then… I got on a call with Jen to catch up and she asked the question I knew was coming… “So, how is the speakers program coming along”?

UGH!!! I hadn’t done a single thing!

I knew if I was ever going to create and launch the program, I would have to focus on taking small steps every day and keeping things simple.

I started by creating a list of the things I learned the hard way on my journey to become a paid professional speaker. From that list I created templates, guides, examples, and talking points that would save program participants years of frustration and missed revenue opportunities.

Next, it was time to figure out how to structure and deliver the program and content. After breaking the content into a 6-week delivery framework, I landed on using locked down pages on my homegrown website to deliver the content each week. It wasn’t a sexy solution… but it worked!

Last year I launched my new website (TheSpeakerConnection.com) where the program now lives, and it is a much better experience for program participants and so much easier for me to manage! AND… I was able to pay professionals to create my new site with the revenue I earned from my imperfect launch!

Here’s what I’d love people to know about launching: Whatever is on your heart to create… keep it simple and launch! You will have the money and time to make it better later!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I remember very clearly the moment I decided that I would become a professional speaker. I had just facilitated a conference breakout, and I was feeling really good about the audience reaction during and after my talk. The closing keynote was about 10 minutes into his talk and I thought “I’m every bit as good of a speaker as he is, and he is getting thousands of dollars to do what I just did for free! Why am I not doing THAT?”

The challenge was figuring out HOW to become a paid speaker. Sooo… I set out on a journey that spanned 5 years of making a lot of mistakes as I figured out how to get paid for speaking engagements! Little by little I started getting booked to speak and developed a process that helped me to step out of speaking for “exposure” (trick word for free).

A business coach encouraged me to put what I learned into a program that would help other speakers who were frustrated with trying to crack the code on how to get paid for the value they were delivering from the stage. That is what prompted me to create the “Get Paid From the STAGE!!!” 6-week program.

The thing that I am most proud of in my speaking career is that I focus my talks on meaningful transformation. People leave my talks with actionable steps that will make a change in their lives and careers. This is the foundation for my program too, because a talk is only a great talk if people leave the room and do something different that creates positive change.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I lesson I had to unlearn is “As your pay goes up, the value you deliver must go up too”. This is an expectation from working in corporate that I carried with me in the early days of my speaking career, and it isn’t true.

People can only consume so much in a 60-minute talk! We forget that what we are sharing from the stage is new to our audience. When we pack more and more information and things to do in a talk, it becomes overwhelming, and the audience shuts down. We are being paid to deliver transformational value. Keeping your talk entertaining, motivating, simple, and actionable is what creates transformation.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I love building my communities on social media, and it is still a struggle! Here is what is working well for me today:

o Don’t forget about LinkedIn! This platform isn’t just for executives and corporate employees anymore. There are a lot of entrepreneurs and creators who are using LinkedIn to build community and increase their reach. My ideal clients are on LinkedIn, and I’ll bet yours are too.
o Create communities you want to hang out in. For example, I have a closed community on Facebook called “Sparkle & Rise” for Kind & Ambitious women. I LOVE hanging out with my Rise Sisters and getting to know them, which makes it easy and fun to build an audience in that space.
o Share other people’s content (and tag them). It is such a compliment when someone shares your posts and videos! Plus, it’s super easy… share the post, say what you love about it, and tag the post creator.

Most importantly, have fun!!! Your audience will feel it!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thespeakersconnection.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/risesisters/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SparkleAndRise
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/changestrategist/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQdULNvz_MJnAS7FEw4fRhw