December 2025 Monthly Mastermind Call

God, that’s great.

I just got…

Hi!

And beautiful.

Oh, just, yeah. You’re cold.

You’re perfect.

Anyway, what’s going on with you?

Oh, sorry, it’s noisy here now, all of a sudden. Hold on.

See if I can reach the door there.

I, I have a…

I have a Christmas party tonight, and my sweet husband is making my appetizer for me.

Are you going, or are you having it?

No, I’m going. It’s my tennis team, so you have pickleball. I’ve been on the same tennis team for…

25 years?

Yeah, I went to one on, Sunday. I haven’t been to this group in a long time, and guess what?

They’ve aged. You know, I’m at that age, guys, where people are aging out.

Do you know what I mean? Yep. I think you can handle it.

I’ve got…

I’ve… I’m one of the… there’s 17 people on our team, there’s 2 of us the same age.

by a month.

And then there’s 2 more that are anywhere from 2 to 5 years younger than me, and that’s it. That’s as young as we go. But the other end, I’m like, oh my gosh, I remember going to her, like, if I’m this, she’s gotta be nearing…

that, you know, like, I’m… it’s… anyway, it’s very interesting to see, but they’re all still playing, they’re in better shape than I am, so…

Hang on, I’m trying to get rid of these, you know what?

Remove!

Oh, yeah, when they come in.

I gotta remove all those, but other than that…

Patty.

You’re muted.

Patty, you’re muted.

Hello, everybody!

I just finished watching your, Revamp Your Keynote, session this morning, so I feel like I’ve been with you already today.

what?

I watched the, the… I missed the session when you did the piece about revamping your keynote. Good stuff. Super good stuff.

That’s what I’m going through right now. I’m doing Black NSA Wednesday, and, reviewing what I’m gonna do with them, and, they… everybody’s excited about it, so they… there’s… it’s good, it’s all good. I think people need enthusiasm.

Especially right now.

You’re, you’re eager.

A great product. Thank you.

What? Look at me.

What?

Okay, guys.

before I let Mark in, he feels bad that he’s the only guy, so we’ve got to say something like, Mark, we’re so glad you’re here.

I totally will, because that’s… I was gonna communicate with him on a sidebar. Yes, absolutely.

Here is Mark!

Well, where’s Carl? Is he not with us anymore?

Carl, I don’t know! Carl’s been, I think he… I don’t know.

He used to be your always-show-up guy.

Well, he was in Lois’ group, too, and he wasn’t there last week for her group, so maybe he’s traveling or something.

Oh, I think…

I think there’s a little love interest going on. I hear, you know, I know everything about everybody now. I don’t want to… I don’t want to giggle, but, like, I kinda know everybody.

What everybody’s doing, but wasn’t,

I don’t even want my note-taker.

I’ll let her in. Wasn’t that good? I mean, wasn’t… that was quite a sh… Quite a session.

It was interesting because…

She wanted to talk about what she wanted to talk about. She was really… you know what I mean? She was excited. She didn’t really want to talk about the trends that she had done the day before. She wanted to tell you… and I thought those 100… did anybody else relate to the hundred? That was what I got out of it the most. What… what… 100 is what you can deal with.

And then to have that top 100 all year, and actually to pick the conferences that you want to go to, I always wanted to do the MGM in Vegas.

I don’t know if anybody’s done that one, but I never did. It was the big women’s conference in Las Vegas, and I always wanted… but I never, ever marketed to it. I just wanted it, you know? So, I thought that that was really good. So, I don’t want to… I’m gonna let you guys talk. What would you like to bring up? We can talk about, michelle, you,

Hang on, there’s more in the waiting room. This is good!

Hang on, I gotta let more people in.

Woo! Everybody wants to talk today!

Alright, so, well, welcome, everybody! Welcome, Mark!

I tried to get the guys to come, Mark!

Well, what are you gonna do?

What are you gonna do? So we’ve got to get more men in the group. We’ve gotta get…

Smart women to come.

What’s that?

I said the smart ones come.

Oh, thank you! Well, his… yes, he could tell you about the good things that are going on.

So, we could, you know, talk about what’s good in our life right now, so should we get… we get a little good vibe going here? Oh, Jill, you’ve got your hand up for what did you want… what did you want to talk about?

No, I was just gonna answer your question about, what I got from Meredith, but let me hold onto it until everyone does their good vibes.

Yeah, does any… or should we just jump right in? I mean, you guys, it’s your… it’s your session. What would you like to do? Does anybody have something they want to share before we jump in?

Okay, well, here’s Rob! Yay, Rob came!

We’ll see if he puts his camera on.

Yeah, we’ve got… okay, this is great. Alright, Jill, what would you like to talk about?

Well, I just… I was not at the session, but I watched the recording, so thank you so much for just recording them and putting them on the Facebook group. It was so helpful, because I really wanted to be there, and I was so bummed I couldn’t, but then I watched it just, like, that night, and same key takeaway for me. I just… I just know I’m doing my strategic planning for 2026, and I know that my mistake has been I’m trying to do too much. I’m all over the place with so many people telling me to go in so many directions.

And I just have realized that… Me, like.

Picking myself up by my bootstraps, and for me, doing outbound sales calls.

individually, instead of just letting my fractional CMO do it, is the solution, because then people experience me. So, what she said about a top 100 and just being disciplined about doing it day in and day out is exactly the reinforcement I needed. Because I just know that… I don’t know if any of you find that, like, I’m doing this, and I’m doing this, and I’m doing all these different things. I think I focus too much on social media, just think someone’s going to see my post and go, oh, let me call her to book.

No, it’s… it’s…

getting back to what I know, because I used to lead sales, is… is I need to have my prospect list, and I need to work that list. So, so helpful. It’s exactly what I needed.

Does anybody here follow Meredith and know her weekly? I mean, do you know that every Saturday, every Saturday, no matter where, if she’s that influence, no matter where she is, she does a podcast?

She does that sales podcast with Mark Hunter, and they do it every single Saturday. And my son does all of her marketing, or not all, he does a lot of it, and he’ll just say, I can’t believe how much she can produce

For one person. She… she is really always… she’s really everywhere.

That’s why I asked what her day was like, because she… she’s a machine. I just…

Yeah, she said.

I love what she does, but I can’t compare myself to it.

Well, she said things that I would love to kind of put, like, a little caveat on. You know, when we get to one of the… I mean, we can start talking, and I can tell you what… what are some of the things that I think that she does. Well, I’ll just jump into one. When she talked about the experience, and she talked about that we have to give an experience.

Her fee is higher than most of our fee.

Some of you in here have her fee, and you know, I’m not going to tell you what her fee is, but you can guess that

It’s double… it’s almost double my fee, so some of you know. In order to get that fee, and I was talking this over with Ben.

People that get that fee have to do so much more. It’s not just, you give the keynote, and you’re really happy, and you might post on LinkedIn. It’s definitely that you’ve got to do a lot more.

Some people will choose not to. You know, I would rather… for me, that’s not my thing. My thing is to get up, collect the money, cash all checks, and move on.

And I knew that from the very beginning, but… so I really feel like we’ve got to begin to know, especially many of you that are right there now making that decision of where to go, what it’s going to involve to get the higher fees. It’s not just that you deliver the fee, you deliver the gig.

It’s quite a bit more. So anyway, that was what I wanted you to say. So, some of the things that she does, she does them in order to receive that fee.

And she said one other thing that, and I think she was saying it to you, Julia, when she said, you’re not going to get a booking for a year.

Well, that’s not true. You are. You’re just not gonna get the big fee. They don’t book a $20,000, $25,000 speaker for Latinx week, unless somebody doesn’t show up. Right. But they’re definitely booking… they’re booking two weeks out in some cases.

Yeah. So, I didn’t want you to get discouraged when you heard that.

Thank you.

Okay, so what… I love the top 100, too. I think that is so doable.

The other thing I liked about the Top 100 is you can pick the gigs you want. So you can start saying, I want to speak this year in Colorado, I want to speak at this hotel. You can begin to start to really create the work that you want if you put those events into your Top 100.

I mean…

Got it.

Patty.

Sorry.

One of the best things is, I had a really, really a wonderful fall, but way too busy. In two and a half months, I slept my own bed, like, six times. It was crazy. And when she shared about when she leaves and she goes and takes care of herself.

That was such a good thing to hear, and that just was like, hello, wake up, you know? It was really good.

Did anybody wake up at 4 o’clock the next morning besides me?

5.30.

And she goes and plays tennis at 6.

Guess where I wanted to go at 6?

Back to bed.

Take the bed!

Like, maybe.

Oh, gosh.

for coffee, but I’m not going… yeah.

I don’t know, she… I got up at 4, I said, I’m gonna try it. I went to bed early, and I did, I got up, and then by 6, I was ready to go back to bed.

What time did you go to bed, though, Karen?

She goes to bed at 9.

I probably went to bed at 9.30. I tried, I mean, that was my intention, so I was trying to do the Meredith.

Of course, I couldn’t fall asleep at 9, but anyway.

Well, Michelle, I think it’s a compliment to lose a gig to her, because it makes you feel like if you gotta lose a gig to somebody…

Yeah, I think she said she’s… is she driving?

Or was that Sylvia?

Oh, I haven’t looked at chat. Are you guys chatting without me?

No, Sylvia’s driving, so I was just… yeah, Meredith, Michelle said, I don’t know if she can talk. Michelle, can you talk? I don’t want to talk for you.

Oh, getting back to the office. She lost a gig to Meredith.

Yeah, I…

Oh, okay, I’m reading it, okay.

Oh, there she is.

I have to get back to the office, so I’m sorry I’m not on camera, but I am hurrying back as fast as I can. Anyway, just enjoying the conversation, keep going.

Well, you lost a gig to Meredith, that must make you feel pretty good.

It does. It was a bureau gig, and they, they asked me, they told me all the details about it, and, asked if it was a good fit for me, and I said yes, and I didn’t hear back from them for a couple weeks, and then I followed up.

And they said, oh, they picked Meredith Elliot Powell, and I was like, alright, well, I can’t… that’s great. Go… go, Meredith. But that did start me down the path of looking at the things that she’s doing, and she’s come and spoke at our chapter before, and…

I haven’t listened to the call yet, so I apologize for that, but…

Oh, you don’t have to apologize, it’s there, don’t worry.

She is incredible, and she runs… she runs a full-time business, so there are… there’s full-time work that she does, and I’m impressed with her calls that she makes regularly, and it was just good for me to go through it and say, okay, I’m happy to lose a gig to Meredith Elliott Powell, but

I don’t want to lose gigs to other people, so I’ve got to keep doing the work and… but doing what’s right for me, too, and I think that is a good…

Oh, Michelle. Michelle, we lose so many. That pretty soon, you know, that’ll be… yeah, but you’re right, I think it’s really good to lose to Meredith. It’s great.

I put it in the chat, but I noticed, I think, between Meredith and Kim, we had Mary Kelly come and speak to our chapter. I don’t have a backpage vault with resources and tools that I am sending people to, but that seems like that is a must-have tool.

In my opinion now, you know, when you get above 20.

I think you should have it when you get above 10.

I think you should definitely have resources. I have, yeah, resources, but not a whole landing page, but…

50 clicks on them. Well, they’ve also been doing it a lot longer.

Yeah, I was gonna say, I think you have to be doing this for quite a while before you can develop all the content that Meredith has.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And she is a monster!

Jeez!

She is, and she is. So this is what she wants to do. I think what I got out of it, too, was we… we’re in control of our… of our work and how we want to work.

And I feel like that’s very precious, and we should, we should really understand what we really want, and not compare ourselves.

Because that’s why, to put her… and even Crystal, you know, Crystal takes off the entire month of December. She does not take any calls, she does not do any social media, she rests the whole month of December. She does not book one event.

When Thanksgiving comes, she’s done.

And that’s how she takes care of herself.

Because she’s on the road so much.

She’s looking at changing her business, because she doesn’t want to do that much anymore. Either does Meredith.

Meredith wants to… in the next couple of years, she wants to change, but I think it’s hard.

When it’s in your blood, So let’s… what else? What stimulated you?

This is Sydney, I have a comment.

Hi, Sid.

I… hello. I appreciate what you just said about not comparing, because…

A couple years ago, when Meredith was out here, we had the chance to go golfing together.

And, she’s… she is so awesome.

But at the same time, she doesn’t have kids, she doesn’t have grandkids.

And she just… her life that she desires is just different than mine, and I just love how this business is something where we can make it what we want to make it, and we don’t all have to be the same, right? And I just… I think that’s an important thing,

And it was funny, because her husband was with her, I got to know her husband, and then that afternoon, I brought cookies to our meeting, and he’s like, oh, Meredith won’t touch sugar. And I’m like, well, that’s another way that we’re different, because I love my chocolate chip cookies, and I always will. But anyway, I just think the whole idea that there is so much that we can learn, and at the same time, we get to celebrate

Who we are and how we do our business.

You know, it’s… I did have a role model. For me, I did the Christine Cashin way of doing business. She was my role model. And it was… it was just about, like, be really good on stage, get as many… make as many friends as you can.

and get referrals, and that’s my life. I just get a lot of… I truly try to keep up with my contacts. I really do try to be friends with a lot of the people that have hired me.

Especially on social media. Hey, how you doing? The birthday thing really helps, too. Just, you know, wishing people a happy birthday and reconnecting, but we all have different ways of doing it. I did not want to work… I mean, I like work, but I don’t want to work hard.

I just want to work steady. So that’s my… but that’s my philosophy. I would… I don’t know. So, we’ve got to kind of figure out where you fit.

If I wasn’t on stage, I think I would be dead, because I feel like it feeds me. Michelle, I’m saying this for you to hear, Michelle pee. The stage feeds me.

And it will feed you. We have so many talented people here, and I get to meet you all one-on-one. But Michelle Perdue is a gem that you should all get to know. She is a poet.

And the most… one of the most creative people I have ever met. And we want to get her on stage. She second-guesses herself. I’m gonna say it, Michelle. Everybody needs to really support you, because you are a fabulous.

Thank you, I appreciate that so much, I really do.

She’s got a good idea coming, she’s gonna do a poem, and the poem pulled me right in.

And I said.

I mean, how many poets do you know on stage? I think it’s good, it’s a good place to be, because her poem is… to me, it’s kind of like old-time rap.

Back in the day, but it’s really good. Anyway…

I hear one.

Yes.

Wow. Wow. Hmm.

Well, this poem is titled, Be You. This is the poem that I recited for,

Karen, and it’s called Be You, and it’s all about being your true, authentic self.

I was surprised to realize all that I had inside. Having approved myself to Hollywood for the umpteen time, had waited in line for my time to shine to prove to them that I was worth more than a dime.

I said to myself, let’s stop, rewind, wasting your time and mine. No, you take a seat. Give me a chance to show you, a chance to be me, be free, let me live out my dreams. Don’t try to overlook me because of something that you can’t see. I am not a wannabe, I am coming to you with originality.

See, I was like this volcano that was just waiting to explode. Had so much inside of me, didn’t know how to let it go, let it flow, let it show the fire oozing inside of me.

Okay, let me stop and breathe, release this tension inside of me. Fears and all my anxieties. Free myself from that stress, feel blessed with all that God has given me. Now I can stop and exhale and smell the roses in life by not getting caught up in that, you know, Hollywood hype. You know, not fitting their type.

Too dark, too thin, not willing to sin, do anything to win, just to fit in, but I stood tall, I embraced it all. Rejection, my lack of perfection, being told that I should take my life into another direction. Instead, I listened to my inner voice, and once I accepted it, I had no choice. I rejoice today because I am the woman that I always knew that I could be.

I’m not asking for their approval, because I know my destiny. See, if you don’t already know, Lynn, let me explain. I was put on this earth to, you know, change things. Make a difference in the lives of people who have self-doubt. God wanted me to share my stories, my struggles. He wanted me to reach out.

Now, don’t get confused, I’m not saying that my life is any better than you. God gave us all talents that He wanted us to use. I’m not trying to abuse, but rather amuse you into believing the things that you were born to do.

See, some people know their talents, and some don’t. Some will discover them and some won’t, but I’m here today to say that you can settle for less. Working a dead-end job and not giving it your best, I press to stress the importance of looking from within.

Stop listening to the world to find peace in your skin.

I said, stop listening to the world to find peace in your skin.

I know it’s not easy to leap out on faith, afraid of the unknown, making some mistakes, so then you wait, procrastinate, afraid to live the truth.

Willing to compromise your dreams instead of being you.

But see, I’ll be your cheerleader. I’ll encourage you, if you fall, I’ll be there to pick you up and help you to stand tall. I want you to win that battle, finish to the end, be yourself, and do you. Never, ever.

Give in.

Thank you.

There’s a place for you, Michelle. Did you do your, have you done your… is it today?

Nope, it’s not today, it’s Wednesday.

It’s Wednesday, and that’ll be another one that’s, anyway… She’s an artist.

Thank you for… thank you for doing that.

Do you have a recording of that, I’d be happy to post that on all my platforms, because I think it’s beautiful.

Oh, this works.

exposure. So, if you want to, like, just do that again in a recording and send it, like, you know, I would love to highlight it, because I got chills. That was amazing.

Yes.

Well, it taught us, did we all, you know, you have a lesson in there, a story, a lesson, you’re doing the speaking, but you’re doing it in poem.

She did a one-woman show. Well, I could go on about each of you.

Huh?

Let’s move on. Michelle, I love you.

Oh, I love you too.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So what else we want to talk about with Meredith?

Well, I wanted to… to talk about especially some of the things that, some of the trends that she mentioned, especially when it came to strong opinions, win. I love it. Because I think about what you and I have talked about for my… my leadership philosophy, and kind of going in a very opposite direction, and… and the fact that a lot of what I’m saying around leadership is… is, like, it’s…

It’s that the old ways are dead, and…

also the motivational speaker is dead, because I think about… there was a time when it was just the people who were the most inspirational and the most motivational, who were the ones landing the gigs, who seemed to always be booked, but now I think we’re in this age of if you have an opinion, that, that, you know, that there’s space for you, and so that, for me, was affirming in terms of the direction that I’m going with my book and all

of that, so that really stood out, from, from our com… from the conversation with Meredith.

Yeah, and it’s even more so now, because I feel like… Everybody is hearing everything.

Every podcast is either about stress, or it’s about…

there’s breakthroughs, there’s this, we’re talking about wellness, we’re talking about… I mean, there’s just a podcast on everything, every minute of the day. So, as a speaker, when you’re up there.

If you can get people to lean in, to go, I never thought of it that way before, if you can get people to think of things differently, I think that you’re on to something right now.

we have to be different, and I think that it’s a challenge, because we have to get on that stage, and we have to show a presence.

that can hold a big audience. One of the biggest complaints that I’m hearing from bureaus is that they’re hiring people with really great websites, especially a lot of younger… younger speakers who maybe don’t have the life experiences, but they can’t hold an audience.

And so here we are, they look really good, but they’re… they’re… they can’t do that. So I believe that there’s more to this, than just knowing the content.

I think that, you know, we don’t need 3 points in a poem anymore. We need to understand your take on it, and begin to understand you more.

We call them truth bumps.

I think that also goes to what she was talking about, about being relevant, like.

like, there’s an ROI there. It’s not just to motivate them, but that they’re gonna walk out of the room

Be able to do something different.

Yeah, I don’t know if she said it.

Some different way.

Or if she said it the other day when I heard it, but she said, look at your… look at your teaching points. What are the objectives of your keynote when you’re writing the branding piece for your website?

Those are the things you’re selling. That’s the return on the investment. What are you giving people? At the end of this keynote, people will be able to think, feel, do what?

And those are the things that are really selling the keynote.

We put a lot of time into the wording on the paragraph, but those are the points of what we’re… of what we’re trying to offer them, the return on the investment.

cricket?

Well, I just… I was gonna, answer something that both Meredith and then Julia brought up, the whole motivational piece, because you’ve actually pushed me for more motivational, that there’s a hunger and a need for it in the world right now. And what I… I’ve actually seen two different requests re… this… well, today’s Monday, within the past, like, 5 days, of…

they want content, but they want somebody motivated in style that’s gonna… I’ve seen two requests for that so far, so it’s just… they’re not necessarily… one’s a fit for me, one’s not, but…

I,

And I’m just gonna put this out there for everybody to think about, because I was trained years ago, and Karen, you know this, but that motivational was the lowest bar we had to meet.

Because nobody’s gonna listen to you if you aren’t motivational and engaging, it doesn’t matter. So I think if we rethink the term motivational.

Instead of rah-rah, and just of…

You know, I think there’s a blend there, right?

Yeah, a bureau, what really just…

stuck out for me about the hundred things, is I’ve heard it before, and I’d forgotten. And so, to me, what I got was, I’m glad I was there, and that’s the power of a mastermind, and having people like you all around, is because I forget what I know. I forget what I’ve learned. I’ve got a zillion things of notes someplace.

How many of you want to invest in a 100 list, or gonna try to do it?

How many do we see? So we should talk about that on the map. We should be… I really think, like, accountability and really…

keeping people… let’s talk about the one… let’s put that as a part of every one of the masterminds, so we always tap into, did anybody get a good… anybody get a response from their top 100? Does anybody have any that they want to add? You know, maybe a gig that you did that you want to give to somebody else.

I did not listen to Meredith’s, talk yet, and so,

how does… how does she… well, she’s been in the business for so long, so her top 100 is former clients, or is it… I don’t know. How does she develop that 100?

She said that it was her clients, it was also people she wanted. She… there were people… conferences she wanted to go to. I… we could develop it any way we want.

She also said something, just to add to that, she also said, who are my competitor speakers?

talk about something similar, or maybe a little bit of a… and she said, okay, if these are my top 5 or 6 competitors, she looks at them and looks at where have they spoken this past year, because they’re probably not going to be the same keynoter for next year, because someone doesn’t want the same keynote 2 years in a row.

So if they’re her competitor, she looks at what are all the gigs they did, and then she looked at all the gigs they did over the last year, and then that’s how she developed her top 100.

Even people you admire, because if it’s your competitor, they may… for me, I can’t get my competitor, because they speak on the same topic. But I started, when I began speaking, putting a list of the speakers I wanted to be like.

And where do they speak? And I would copy them, and I would go to their website, and I would look at all of the, the testimonials they got, so I would sometimes get a name from a testimonial.

And that’s how I did it.

And Meredith also said that she used, Sam Richter’s.

Right.

To get all the names and the places.

Yeah, the Intel engine is really well set up for competitive research of other speakers.

So do you use it, Rob?

I… my assistant does, yeah.

How’s it working?

I would say pretty well. I mean, you can find an amazing amount. I find between that and ChatGPT, I can find everything I want.

So you could easily make a list of top 100 by using the engine in ChatGPT.

Yeah, most of that would be in the engine, but doing what she talked about, which I’ve done for several years, looked up other people in the fee range that I want, and similar topics.

And then, again, find out who they’ve spoken for, and then reach, you know, assemble your list and reach out.

And the other thing I’ve just came from the printer today, I’ve just done a 4-page printed

a one-sheet, basically, but it’s 8 and a half… it’s 11 by 17, folded to 8.5×11, 4 sides, and I’m mailing them out to my… I have… my top 100 is about 150, and I’m mailing it out as one of the touchpoints. So, all those people have gotten a couple of emails, the third or fourth touchpoint will be this mailed-out brochure.

I don’t know how it’s gonna work, but all I know is that

it takes more work to throw this away than to click delete on the email. So, you know, at least they have to open it up and walk it over to the trash can, and maybe they’ll read it on the way.

or if they’re in an office with other… and I’m sending them… when I don’t know the person, the contact, especially with the associations, I’m sending the same piece to 3 or 4 people, but if I don’t send it to the right person, they might walk it over to Bill’s desk, because they think Bill is the guy that should see it. And the back of it is really heavy on

testimonials that talk about what Meredith talked about, how inspiring it was, and I learned this thing that I’m gonna now go take back to my team.

Good!

I’ll send it to you, Karen. I just got them from the printer today.

Guys, anything you can do.

I mean, I’ve tried… I’ve…

I’ve sent Christmas cards out with me being in the picture once I was a fortune teller, reading the fortune for the next year, and people would call me! You know, they’d put them up on their… so it’s anything that you can think of that you can do to stay in front of people and to remind them, I think is…

I think it’s… even sending out a newsletter. I remember learning from Donald Miller. I… I don’t know who said it, but someone said in the class, well, nobody opened my newsletter. He said, but every time you send something out, you’re tapping them on the shoulder to remember you.

Oh, yeah, Karen, she still speak… now I get… oh, she’s still working! She’s still doing this! How old is she?

Anyway… I thought it was great, and I.

Can I ask a question, Karen?

Mastermind is good, yes, sure.

Yeah, just on the… on the thought of, sending things, one, you know, somebody I know, like, just gives books away. At a showcase, he doesn’t sell his books, he gives them away, he’s like, because people might throw away, a business card, to your point earlier about they might, you know, delete an email, but a book they’re going to keep, and even though they might not be able to

book you right now, they’ll remember you, and keep the book. But I would just love to hear, because as I’m planning,

to send something to some of my clients and some of my bureau partners. What do people do? I’ve heard things mixed. I know, like, I used to send, like, cornucopias, because I thought it tied into my life, and being a farmer’s life at Thanksgiving time, and the harvest, but what are people sending? Like.

Significant partners in this business for the holidays, if you are.

I can tell you what I sent!

Okay, yeah.

I don’t do it anymore, but I would send pecan pie from Texas. I’ve sent a lot of Texas things to people through the years, you know.

And why don’t you do it anymore, just because of where you.

I don’t… because I wasn’t going to work! I don’t want a lot of work. I’m trying to… I’m really trying to retire. So, I’m not doing anything anymore, but I’m… I get excited about all these ideas. I shouldn’t say that, because I do things, naturally. Like, the little cards that I give out when I speak, those bring me business.

I’m a marketer, but I’m… come from retail, so I come from that end of it, where you give.

People… I know that they give popcorn, I know they give the food.

And I know a lot of people throw it away.

Right.

You can come up with something creative, but I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t put a lot into that.

Yeah. I know, people like the cornucopias, I mean, I just don’t know, I just want to share, like, some appreciation, especially for my bureau partners. But then I heard horror stories of, like, people buying iPads and TVs, and I’m like, oh yeah, I’m not definitely in that… not in that position.

We did last year just leave people voicemails, and just say thank you for whatever. That was something that somebody suggested to me. It was so much easier, and that was kind of fun. It was just a different way of doing it, rather than sending something in the mail, so there’s an idea.

Or you could do a video. If anyone’s using BombBomb or anything like that, just sending them a video, wishing them a happy holidays and how much you appreciate them.

Lots of success.

Good, yeah.

too.

I think you’re right. I think that even the voicemail’s a good idea. She did say only 1% answer, I loved that.

Because that takes the anxiety out of those phone calls.

But to make a phone call on Christmas.

To her Jewish clients, that takes creativity.

It was something else, wasn’t it? Yes.

I have a friend that built… she built her business. She was, a real introvert, but really good at what she did. So she built her business by calling phones in the middle of the night that were office phones, because back then she knew more they were office phones and not cell phones, so she could leave that cheery message and they’d get it, but she never had to worry about talking to them.

You know?

And she built her business. So, you know, it made her not afraid to do it, so whatever works. I mean, like, East Coast, I could call the West Coast and leave a message 8 AM here, it’s 5 AM there, as long as I’m not waking them up.

Yeah.

They’re not gonna answer.

But you know, it’s… I think if you could figure out one thing…

And figure out what you like doing, and start to do it. Because, Sean, I love your little book. Do you give your books out?

So, Sean’s got a small book. That’s how Marc LeBlanc started his business.

with a small book that he used as his business card. I remember him saying that was his calling card. But I feel like you’ve got to do something that you enjoy. I do like being kind of creative and doing things a little off, and people remember them. But I’m certainly not big on sending, you know, thousands of things out in the mail.

I… You know, you gotta figure it out for yourself.

Has anybody, had a good year?

What do we attribute it to? So, Patty, what do you attribute your year to?

Oh, you’re on mute.

I have a lot of clients that I have. My business is built on… I want you to book me again before I leave. So some clients, I come every 3 years, some every other year, some every 5 years, and this was a really great year on that model. So many things hit the same time, that’s why I was so busy in the fall.

But… but yeah, I only work with people I like.

And how does that work, Patty? Do you tell them… how do you tell them you’d like them to book…

I tell them once we sign the contract for the first time, I said, just so you know, most everybody I work with, I keep working with, and that’s my intention for you, too, because I really like you, and I like what we’re going to do together, so when I’m done, I’m gonna ask you, am I worthy of coming back?

And you tell me yes or no, and that sets it all up. I’ve been in the same place since…

Mark, too, are you hearing this?

1992, I have one client. I’ve been every year.

The fee hasn’t gone up that much, but it… so I’ve got dates into 2029. I mean, it’s kind of crazy.

So, do you know that you’re… I know you, that you’re going to give them something different? You’re going to keep growing on your content.

Absolutely. Some of it’s evergreen, but a lot of your content is keeping relevant. And they… so basically, they like you.

And they like your style, and they’re gonna bring you back and kind of gamble on what you’re gonna give them.

Absolutely. But I also nudge everybody along the way. You’ll hear from me at least 4 times through the year of

I’ve thought of this about you. This would be… might be good. We talked about advocacy. This could be a good thing that… that you do, or it… so, nuggets drop, so I’m always giving.

I think that.

Okay, but that doesn’t… I… but I’m still… I’m at a fee, not where I want to be, but there’s something really beautiful that I know, and this is all speaking, I don’t… I do a teeny bit of consulting, but just for very special groups.

I would rather love the people I’m working with, and when I show up, I know I’m gonna be good because I know what they need.

So are you locking that fee in 3 years from now, or are you gonna tell them, now my fee is gonna go up a little?

They have gone up a little, but I’m ready… my new people now, well, Karen, you know this, I’m jumping where I should… where I should have been a long time ago.

Right, okay.

Alright, good, I think that’s a great idea.

I think it’s a great, really good one.

I could have used that.

Anybody else want to talk about… Anything on your mind?

The other thing that struck me was consistency, so I don’t know how that works for everybody else, but…

I think part of the reason we get attracted to this world is the change and the… the not all the same every day, so my consistency and tension is there. The actual doing the consistency piece, the consistency of the consistency is not there, let’s put it that way.

So, one of the things that she talked about in the trends was being an expert.

I’d like to talk about that.

How are you defining yourself as an expert?

And what are you an expert in?

I’d like you guys to tell me.

Sean, what are you an expert in?

I know, but…

Same thing you are. Just teasing. But I really like how she, I talk about generational things, much like Karen. We have a little different twist on it, but we have… wouldn’t you say Karen somewhat similar?

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

But I like where she said to, how did she say it? To be… to hot seat her.

I love that. And, I don’t know that everybody does, but you have to really know your material if you’re gonna let someone hot seat you, right?

I think.

That was one of the best ideas ever. Yeah. Especially if you really know your stuff.

And you have… this is the… there’s two things that she’s talking about here. If you really know your content, but you also have a perspective.

So that you’re going to give them, when they ask you a question, your opinion’s gonna come out, and it may be different from everybody else’s. I feel like that is… was such a cool idea.

Instead of calling it… and you might want to even tell the… when you’re… when they’re booking you, you know everybody does Q&A, I say, put me on the Jill Schulman hot seat.

You know, guys, let me… and call it that. I just think that that was a great, great gift for us.

Yeah, I love it, I love… and I let people do that to me, and I don’t always know the answer, so sometimes I have to just say.

you know, I can kind of tell you what I think, but some of the best stories come out when you do that, because you tell them what you think, and then they respond. The last time I spoke, it was the SHRM conference, and

one of the audience members started 10 minutes in. He said, am I inappropriate if I ask you a question right now? And I was like, no. And then the rest of them waited till, you know, the end. But, it really got things rolling, because he had such an interesting thought, so anyway…

Well, Kristen Arnold did a whole segment at NSA Influence two years ago, and it was all about when to put the Q&A in. And she said to tell them in the beginning, we’re gonna have a Q&A before I end, before… about two-thirds of the way through, so be thinking of your questions. Or you can hot-seat me about two-thirds of the way in. Embed it into the keynote, rather than at the end.

She said, and it really, then that interaction, and they’re thinking about the questions that they’re gonna ask you.

Yeah, it was good.

Michael Port does a really nice job of how to set that up, and again, he says the same thing. He doesn’t… he does it near the end, and he sets it up of, you know, telling him not to tell the whole backstory. Start your… the first thing that comes out of your mouth should be, my question is… so it’s getting really precise.

And then he has his clothes that’s after that, so you don’t leave them with your Q&A, which may or may not be as wonderful as your clothes, probably.

Well, you never want to leave with the Q&A, because there’s always going to be somebody negative, and then this has happened to me, and then they say something that’s a downer, and then, oh, it’s time to go, and everybody leaves kind of sad, and they… they’re kind of forgetting about you, so yeah, always put it in about two-thirds of the way in.

But I like that, no backstory. Yeah, just start with my question is. I think that’s really good.

So, what are you guys experts in? I’d like to know.

So, I know what Sean is. Who else? What are you an expert in?

No mind, Karen.

Tell everybody!

There’s one word, bravery. The science of bravery is my brand. And I remember, I heard Phil Jones was one of the first speakers I ever heard when I joined NSA, and that’s what he taught.

He’s the example of, like, what is Brene Brown known for? Everyone says, vulnerability. What is Simon Sinek? Why? He’s like, you gotta just distill it down to one word. So sometimes I get tempted, because, I mean, I have so much experience doing so many different topics around leadership development, but I.

No.

And focused on bravery, and only bravery, yeah.

So right now, SEO is back. I don’t know if you guys have heard that. YouTube is really very important, again, to start putting stuff on YouTube. Instead of… I mean, I know you want to be on Instagram and all of that, but it should be on YouTube, because now Google is, again, up number one again.

So, calling yourself a bravery expert, calling yourself… I’ve always been the generations in the workplace expert.

That’s just something that you do, and you put it… when you’re putting in a post, you always put that after your name.

So, tell me what else… who else is an expert in the group?

Resilience.

for a resilience expert.

I’m a clarity expert. Clarity’s what I do.

So, with clarity, what… it needs to be a little clearer, Like, clarity in the workplace?

So, so, so, so it’s, is clarity, or is clarity specifically within leadership? But instead of saying.

Not in there.

instead of just saying, I’m a leadership expert, everybody’s a leadership expert, but my skill set is truly around helping leaders be clear on who they are, what they do, what they want to achieve, and how to get their teams to high performance.

Yeah, leadership clarity. Yeah, I would… I would say it…

Think about somebody Googling, too. Think about somebody we need a speaker on… do you want to make sure leadership is in there?

Yep, okay.

Think about that. That’s what they’re gonna do. They’re gonna go to chat, or they’re gonna Google, and they’re gonna ask for something. That’s what you want to be an expert in.

What are you an expert in? Who’s next?

advocate So, Karen, I have a question. So, I’ve been marketing myself as a resilient speaker, but…

After speaking with you and just doing some soul-searching, this storytelling is coming up more. So, is the storytelling starting to override the resilience, or…

Am I still marketing myself as a resilient speaker who’s… who…

Helps others with their storytelling so that they can be resilient through storytelling.

Here’s the thing with you, Michelle, I’ll just say it, maybe the group can help me. I’ve never, ever… every time I’ve worked with you, I’ve never thought of you as a resilient speaker.

Okay.

You tell me that!

And I did read your book, but that’s not ever what we talk about. You’re about authenticity, you’re about living life, you’re about…

You’re about the juice in life. I don’t know how else to say it. But I feel like when people leave your session, they’re gonna feel better about whatever it is they’re doing.

What… what do you guys think? I don’t know yet. Maybe you’re not done.

But I know you want to speak on resilience.

But… I keep hearing…

I mean, the poem you just read to me the other day about you and your mom when you were a little girl…

I mean, that moved me. They all do, so I think I… I can’t come up with it right now.

Huh,

What do you think?

Anybody got a… anybody have an idea?

Patty?

Maybe something like Wherewithal?

Well, the thing about it is, I’m saying that I speak on resilience, but because I have the acting background, and I write and perform spoken word poetry, I want to merge those together. And so, I’m starting instinctively to want to speak on story… adding storytelling.

Mental well-being is better than resilience.

I also have.

Rental well-being. I’m just getting what I get out of it. So, you’re broader than resilience.

And you’re about well-being.

But I think that I would say you’re a mental well-being…

And Michelle, a question I would have for you is, what is… what is it that people come to you for? So part of, like, how I knew that clarity was my thing is because that was the consistent result that I got my clients. Whether it’s through speaking or coaching, it’s like, I’m more clear now that I can… and I can go take said action. And so my question is, when people come to you for whatever it is, is there something that they’re coming

to U4 that stands out.

Well, it’s always, once they understand and know my background and where I came from and where I am today, question that I get a lot is, well, how did you get through it?

How’d you get through it?

Yeah, how did you get through it? You know what I mean?

Is it grit?

Yes, we’re…

Great, my dear.

It’s gritty, it’s gritty, and Angela Jekyworth is coming out with a brand new book. There’s kind of a new spin on it. But you know another thing I heard from…

right now.

from someone is you could actually go to, go to your AI and say, I want you to be, a brand expert for me, and I want you to ask me a series of questions to learn about me, my expertise, my passion, my background, to help me come up with a…

my… my refined brand. So, like, you can tell AI to be, like.

what to do, and to ask you the questions, and it’ll blow your mind what you get back. So, I… I would… if you do that, I want to kind of hear… I want to hear what.

Yeah, Michelle, and we have all of our conversation.

I think your mic is on. We have all of our conversation. I could… we could ask AI from that last conversation we had, because you… you really spilled it out.

I feel like… I feel like you’re a little bit different. You’re the true experienced speaker. You are giving us an experience.

And I feel like you’ve gotta think about how you do it more than what you do.

It makes sense.

So it might be what they’re looking… so someone could be typing in… I don’t know, you’re…

You’re a show.

I’ve seen it.

Jasmine, you’ve seen her. Remember when she did that for the, for the, for your, Minnesota?

That’s why I put, like, the resilient experience.

Yeah, maybe.

But there’s something about the storytelling, because I have the acting background, and I enjoy the poetry, performing the poetry, and I enjoy the performance, you know? And so I want to be able to embrace that as well.

Well, you’re the keynote storyteller, you’re definitely the storyteller.

And that.

be there, but I don’t know if they…

measure how?

I don’t know if that is your… yeah.

Yeah, you’re the storyteller.

You could own that, Michelle.

We’ll, we’ll.

We’ll talk, yeah, we’ll talk more about it.

Thank you.

It’s just good to see you smiling.

Oh, thank you!

Rob?

So I have a question I would love some different insights on. I got a message on LinkedIn this last week from a legitimate LinkedIn account.

And it was a recruiter saying he’s doing recruiting for… and then he mentioned the name of a AI company, and they’re a big one, a $700 million valuation AI company, and he said, we’re looking for consultants who can teach our large language module judgment.

And we’ve identified you as a thought leader in the resilience area. Would you be interested in being a consultant?

I have no idea even how to think about it.

And I don’t know if it’s a scam or not, but it didn’t seem like a scam, but anybody’s thoughts on…

That…

No, I mean, it would be a… you’d have to try it, or…