We were lucky to catch up with Jenn Espinosa-Goswami recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jenn, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Weightless was once a health seminar company. The idea was that our physical weight can hold us down and keep us from pursuing our dreams. That’s why my logo includes an image of an anchor with balloons attached to it. There’s a struggle between feeling “heavy” and celebrating our accomplishments.

When I pivoted to speaker coaching in 2022, I no longer equated my mission to physical weight. Instead, I recognized that the biggest obstacles in our life has less to do with gravity and more to do with confidence. Once you embrace the confidence to do scary things (such as public speaking), you are able to defy gravity and soar.

Whether gravity or confidence gets in your way, there is a stage for your unique message. Let’s find that stage and celebrate your success!

Jenn, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Funny how business has its own trajectory, and how it never entered my mind to become a business owner. Instead, I fell in love with sharing my transformational health story in front of audiences. My mentor in Toastmasters told me she was going to change her lifestyle after hearing a 5 minute early iteration of my signature story. The possibility for Weightless was born that day.

Yet, it took several years for me to quit corporate and decide to make a full-time living from my passion. Because I had been featured in national outlets such as Women’s Health, Reader’s Digest and First for Women magazine, had built and developed my own website from scratch, and developed a vetted signature speech, I was well-positioned to take clients.

Coaching is my second love, which resulted in a certification through International Coaching Federation in 2022. The pandemic gave me permission to pivot away from speaking and coaching on health topics to combining my love for both. Today, I help business owners grow their impact and income on stage through a combination of public masterclasses and private coaching. I’m also the creator of Speaker Launch, which is a two day path to launching a paid speaking business.

A capstone moment for me was the first time I was paid to speak. I was in my 20s, and was presenting a weight loss workshop for a regional conference. I shared the stage with Olympic runner Carrie Tolefson, who was the keynote that day. That $300 made me feel like a millionaire! Since that moment, I’ve presented hundreds of paid workshops, keynotes, breakouts, and webinars for corporations, government, international associations and a handful of non-profits.

Another proud moment was when the International Association of Women voted me a semi-finalist for Coach of the Year in 2023. I took my family to Las Vegas for the awards ceremony. While I didn’t win that day, I became friends with the first-place winner, who happened to hail from my neighboring state of WI. It has always been a dream of mine to bring my family with me on business trips requiring travel to fun places, and my kids still talk about the Michael Jackson show we watched while we stayed there.

Most speaker coaches train you on their own speaking path, and will specialize in a particular market. True to my coaching approach, I help my clients create their own unique speaking path. This includes everything from signature speech creation and delivery to outlining a speaker booking system, so they never have to wonder where their next stage will come from. I also have experience speaking in multiple markets myself, and specialize in helping speakers up until they reach the point of earning $10,000 consistently per speaking engagement (which is when speaker bureaus and agents start noticing them).

Online business is hard, especially with backlash against shady coaching practices. I follow ICF protocols and standards, and love working with service-based business owners who want to spend less time on finding leads and more time on serving clients. Almost every client who has worked with me found me through speaking. If you could be paid to talk about what you love and enroll new clients every time you do, would you embrace the stage?

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Side-hustlers unite! At the time Weightless was born, I was working as a fraud investigator for mortgage companies. I also had a young child at home, and was pursuing my Masters in Leadership.

Side-hustling comes with its own challenges, including time management, intense prioritization, and learning about how to be your own team.

At the time I started my company, speaking was mostly in person. That meant, I had to take time off of my job in order to deliver a seminar in the middle of the day. Plus, I had to be home in time to pick up my kid(s) from school. Logistically, even when both my kids were in school, I had a part-time schedule in which to work in my business. This included marketing, social media management, writing, speaking, outreach and networking, as well as purchasing products and marketing materials for events and expos. I spent upwards of 2-3 evenings every month showing up to events and networking, which took time away from family.

When my daughter was older and struggling with mental health in middle school, I ended up taking her with me to events. The reason I quit corporate was mostly inspired by the need to be present for. my daughter. Family has always come first for me, and because I was earning income through my business, it made sense for me to quit the 9-5.

In the beginning, I made the mistake of networking too much and not proactively generating leads for my business. Also, I fell victim to shiny object syndrome, especially when it came to tactics on social media. Because 65% of what I did in my business was done on my phone (while in the school pick-up line or on lunch break), I focused on what was easiest for me to produce and connect with. I spent very little time on my actual laptop. When I was at home, I often felt the pull to clean the house before the family came home. I explored co-working for a bit, as crowded coffee shops were not my preferred place to create. However, I found myself rarely going to the co-working space, so stopped that investment.

The main way I was able to scale speaking was solving a need within the paid speaking market. Many online speaking opportunities were collaborations that required solid email marketing skills, and sometimes required an investment. Instead of spinning my wheels hoping that local “free dinner” speaking and online paid collaborations would result in clients, I strategized a speaker booking system for paid markets first. I developed contacts within the industry and tried several different speaker directories (most of which offered the same information I was already collecting for myself). I combined my advanced research skills with my curiosity for solving problems to create the right signature speech to deliver. Then, I consistently delivered it to different markets. Every time I entered a new market, I learned how to take survey feedback and customize my delivery for enhanced engagement.

A milestone was booking paid workshops for an international client in 2024, after they contacted me to develop a certification curriculum for their event hosts. I look forward to exploring more ways to expand my programs and services in the future.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I remember when I first tried offering webinars of my signature story. I knew nothing about creating or hosting events, and tried a variety of platforms. At the time, many gurus were heralding “selling with a free webinar”.

The very first webinar I hosted had zero sign-ups. I recorded it anyway, though did nothing else with that recording. It wasn’t until later that I discovered that you could repurpose recordings into paid products, or put them into a course or membership.

Because I would focus on one webinar at a time (and gave myself a long runway in between), I thought that nobody wanted to attend. I hated hosting my own events! I couldn’t figure out how other online folks would get hundreds of attendees, and I struggled to get 3 people to attend live. I also explored in person events at the same time, which had low numbers as well, I tried everything when it came to promoting these events, from advertising in local publications to talking about them in networking meetings.

Eventually, I returned to hosting my own online events, but I committed to offering them every quarter. I also charged a small fee ($47). Once I realized that folks were signing up, I increased the frequency to every other month, and offered multiple ticket options (one included a private call with me). At least 30% of tickets sold was for this VIP option. I also focused more on personal invitations instead of general marketing on social or advertising.

Now, I love hosting my masterclasses! And I even have folks finding me by searching on Eventbrite.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.weightlesschronicles.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennspingo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jego3
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JenniferEspinosaGoswami
• Other: Spotify playlist of podcast guest appearances https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5OXF9CgzdlpdFI76c3uZiI?si=1a551e35c613446f