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Speech Transcript (very little editing so not exact)

Time time to shine today, podcast. Varsity Squad, this is Scott Ferguson and I always, always your squad knows that I always get stoked when I get to interview a badass Midwesterner. That’s what my good friend Bret here, he’s a spotlight on speaking. If you want to level up your speaking business and get noticed and really rock that stage, bret’s the guy who’s going to drop some serious knowledge and I’ll get sign, you know, he’s an eight time author and speaker in the book publishing speaker information marketing niches. He founded Speaker Fulfillment Services in 2003. As in a frequent guest on Virtual Summits podcasts and live events on topics for authors and speakers. And if you stick around to the end, I’m going to tell you how you can get your free special report from Brett as a gift to the Varsity Squad out there of the three key things entrepreneurs master to build a profitable speaking business. And Brett, thank you so much for coming on. Please introduce yourself. The time to shine today, podcast. Firstly squad. But first, what’s your favorite color and why? It. I’m a blue man, typically. Scott, I like your logo there, but I’m a blue man generally. Love it. We were talking earlier, I’m looking at this thing, it’s called The Atlantic right now, and I usually am podcasting that’s rubbing it in, kind of. You said it’s 80 up there in Indiana today, buddy. No, man. Let’s get to the roots. I know that you’re very well respected in the business. People search you out to really level up that stage presence and their competence and marketing themselves as well. But let’s get to the roots and what kind of got you to there, please, Scott. It’s one of those stories where I would have never imagined that I’m at today, where I’m at. But it’s one of those things where you can trace A to B to C to D. But in a nutshell, back in the mid ninety s, I actually put up the first portal website in the plan engineering and maintenance industry. So I was selling books and VHS tapes and all that, aimed at maintenance mechanics, plan engineers, hydraulic techs, et. Cetera and during about the same time frame. So because I was selling product online almost 30 years ago, I had to develop processes for fulfilling those orders or whatever. Now, around the same time frame, I had a joint venture with a guy named Carl Gilletti where I took over his old hard to find marketing book catalog, and I put that online. But because of that joint venture, when Carl decided to do his first enter that marketing super conference back in 1999, he called me up and asked me if I would handle the back sales table for him. Okay? I honestly, Scott, I didn’t even know what backroom sales meant at the time. But I had not been to Las Vegas before, so it sounded good to me. So I said, sure, I’m on board. And I remember that event where I was at the old Las Vegas hilton in 99, and that kind of my first foray into the speaking world behind the scenes, the back room, the back table, right. So I would provide the crew, I’d provide the merchant account that could handle a large sum of money in a short period. Time and I take care of paying the promoter and the speakers and all that stuff, and then we take a cut of the promoters portion for managing that. Back of the room. So that first event led to a side business where over the course of the next 15 or so years, I probably managed to the back of the room about 150 different events. Wow. And when some of the speakers found out that I was doing product fulfillment for my own websites, they cornered me at an, and I think it was actually one of Carl’s events about 2002, 2003 and said, hey, Brett, will you take over some product fulfillment for me? Because it’s not the best of use of my time as a speaker. And I’d been thinking about it for a while because it was kind of a natural outgrowth of all the people I had gotten to know in the industry. Because when Internet and information marketing conferences first started coming out in the early 2000s, we were a major player in that arena. So I got to know most of the big names early on. So you name a name in the Internet marketing space and I probably know them personally and have done a lot of work for them. Wow. But when they found out that I was doing product fumble for myself, they quoted me and. Hey, will you do something for me? And I said, sure. And so, with another guy, I founded the company Speaker Fulfillment Services, in 2003. And between that and my unique position in the back of the room, I saw probably 2000 different speakers in person over the next few years. And I saw what they do well, and Wallace got what they suck at and don’t do well. And I saw speaker and make mistakes. It literally cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. And it’s one of those things where for a long time, I was happy being the bathroom guy. That was my shtick man. I was the mysterious man in the back, so to speak. Sure. And I tend to be a naturally introverted person. But eventually, I said, all right, Brett, you got to get up the Gupta to get up on the stage yourself and share some of what you’ve learned along the way. So, for the last few years, I’ve been getting on virtual summits and podcasts and all that, sharing some of the things that I’ve witnessed over time that will hopefully help aspiring speakers get to that next step. Wow. I love how it all kind of strung together and you and I have such kind of parallel lines because I was that guy that was selling real estate, doing very well, but I was like, I want to do something when I’m sleeping, right? So I started writing easing posts about a product that I find on JVZoo or Clickbank and started selling online. And it’s gotten to the point now where I’m blessed that I have a whole room full of swag that companies send me now because I’m blessed with the list I have. And I do product reviews and I get really cool, free stuff and I’m able to review it and put it on a stage. I love that. So let me ask you something. What do you feel then, is one of the biggest mistakes that you saw in your experience of over probably 10,000 speakers in your lifetime? If you did 2000 in just a couple of years, I’m sure you’ve in the five figures amount of speakers. What do you think? Is that big? Blind spot that they have. Well, a couple of things come to mind, Scott, and first of all, I think there are a lot of people out there that do have a powerful message they want to share with the world, but they just don’t have the courage to step out there and do it. And honestly, I should have been doing ten years ago what I’m doing now, and that’s helping people get at their speaking business going and all that stuff. So have the courage to step out there, get out of your comfort zone own, and you’re actually doing a disservice to people if you have something that will help others out and you’re not getting out there and sharing that with them. So have the courage to do it first and foremost. Now, I got to tell you a couple of stories, though. Yeah, please. Specific mistakes. So we were managing the Back of the Room at an event a few years ago, I think it was in Atlanta, and the speaker had the dream scenario for any platform selling speaker the true table rush. I mean, people were literally at the back of the room throwing their credit cards at us to order this guy’s product. He had done a fantastic. Presentation. 90 minutes presentation, and he was selling some type of website and development tool, a software tour or whatever. When all was said and done, he had generated $375,000 worth of sales for his 90 minutes talk. Now, even after the 50 50 split, which is typical in the speaking industry between the promoter and the speaker, yes, sir. He walked away with 187,000 plus for that 90 minutes presentation. Well, great. You say every speaker would love to have that happen to them. Well, what was not so great was that within 30 days, every single penny of that $375,000 had to be refunded to the attendees. Because the software tool that they were selling there, for whatever reason, has some type of bug in it that they could not figure out. Again, every single penny had to go back to the attendees. So not only was it a major embarrassment for the speaker, it was a massive hit to the pocketbook of the event promoter. And honestly, Scott, it didn’t help my pocketbook. At any either, because we’re taking a portion of the speaker’s cut the back of the room. So the lesson there was if you’re selling something from the stage, you should never, in my opinion, sell something that’s not fully developed, especially if it’s a software tool. Yes, but even if it’s a training. I had another guy, we were doing event in Vancouver, and he didn’t do 375K, but he had like $40,000 worth of sales on a training he’s going to deliver in a couple of weeks. It’s still nice for an hour and a half speech or so. Yeah. Nothing to sneeze at, certainly. Well, as it turned out, two weeks development time turned into four, turn into six, and again, every single penny had to be refunded because he could not meet the timelines that had been promised to the attendees. I think it’s okay to sell something from St. Scott if you’re going to be delivering a webinar is in real time or whatever that you’re recording or whatever. Yes, sir. But if you’re promising a specific delivery date, whether it’s a software training and you can’t meet that or can’t figure what that bug is, you’re. Skating on very thin ice, if that’s what you want to sell from the platform. Wow. $375,000 down. Yeah. I 100% agree. And I hate to admit this, I’ve been speaking for a while. I don’t have a product. People come to me, really for one on one coaching. That’s just my passion. But I’m going to be getting there with some products and a book, something for their swag back. Because I found out one mistake I made, Brett, is that I show up and they’ll pay me. They’ll say, come up to Orlando because it’s only 2 hours for me. Pay you 5000 for your time. And what products do you have? Because we have like another $1,500 we can give you for a product. And I’m like, even my coach is like, write a freaking so I got like a business parable kind of thing going on right now. It’s like that’s a lesson that I’ve been learning. It’s like I’m leaving literally, literally like $40,000 a year on the table from that. So. Let me ask you something, Brett. Maybe if you’re working with somebody or they come to you for assistance, you’re maybe in a discovery period, is there any good question that you wish they would ask you but never do? Well, I think it boils down to the following, scott so, not a specific question, but when you’re thinking about launching a speaking career, in my mind, there are three primary types of speakers. One is a keynote speaker that we’re all familiar with that goes into a corporation or an association and delivers a talk for 5000 or ten or 50,000 or whatever. Second is a platform selling speaker. So they’re going to deliver content and then offer some type of continuing education in the back of the room. Okay. And then the third is what I just call the business Builder speaker. And that is a person who is maybe they’re a chiropractor and financial planner and they’re just speaking to rotaries and all that to build awareness of their business, hoping that people will come to them at some point in time for what it is they have to offer. Well, the first question that. Always ask yourself, and only you can determine this, Scott, is which type of speaker do I want to be? Do I want to be a keynote, or do I want to be a platform seller? Do I want to be a business builder speaker, or do I want to try to marry all them together? And I certainly know some speakers that have been able to very successfully marry them, do that. But the question they asked me is, all right, Brett, what type of speaker should I be? Should I be a keynote, or you to be a platform seller? And again, only you can determine what’s best for you. Sure. But I will tell you that if you can master the art of selling from the platform, you will make far more money as a platform seller than you ever will as a keynote speaker. Have a colleague, Scott, who did an event a few years ago in the UK, and in 190 minutes presentation, this will blow your doors off. Did $995,000 worth the sales. Wow. 190 minutes presentation. Now, even after the 50 50 split with a promoter, he was walking away with nearly half a million dollars for his time. Now, obviously, he had. Expenses to travel to the UK and all that stuff, but I’m sure in a half million dollars, you could probably cover those. Okay. Right. Barely. Granted, it was the right message to the right audience at the right time, and he did very well. And I certainly wouldn’t want to promise to anybody that they’re going to be able to emulate that particular scenario. But it’s nice to know what’s possible if you have the right environment and you have the skills to take advantage of that environment. Love it. I’m certainly trying to improve my platform selling skills all the time. Right. But again, you will make more money as a platform seller than you as a keynote if you have to choose between one or the other. No, I appreciate that advice 100%. I’m weak on the selling part. I just am. And it’s something that I’m working to level up on my side of my side of things, because I really am not set up yet to be that rushed table. I still get approached a lot for other. Engagements or for one on one coaching. I do talk about that because I offer a free hour of power to people where I give them a powerful coaching conversation. And anything you do from the stage, Scott, needs to be congruent with your own guidelines, your own morals, whatever. It’s not comfortable selling from the platform, then go for the keynote speaker route or whatever, but will tell you that if you’re going to become a keynote speaker, we’ve all heard of Speaker Bureaus, probably. And there are obviously organizations that represent speakers to organizations, and they take typically a 25% to 30% cut of your fee for getting you the gig. Well, I was talking to a person on my podcast the other day and asked, do you use Speaker Bureaus? And she’s a pretty successful keynote speaker and she doesn’t basically use them at all. I find it very interesting. It’s kind of like bankers, scott speakers agencies are interested in. You probably don’t really need them. Like the bank wants to give you a loan when you don’t really need the money. Right? I was researching this a couple of weeks ago. I was on one speaker bureau’s website, and they bragged about having vetted over 16,000 different speakers for their site. Yeah, well, I dug into their site and they only had, like 400 of them listed. So even though you were vetted, you had, like, a 2.8% chance of even being feature to. I don’t use them, bro. I don’t use them. Of course, speaker bureaus are going to want to represent the high ticket features because they want that 30% of $50,000 fee, not a 5000 $2,000 fee. So until you get your rates up there, speaker bureaus probably aren’t the greatest fee, right? Who would? Let’s say I’m press and flash a networking event or something, and I’m kind of an introvert. I’m good around people, but I also like my alone time. And when I meet. Go to events I like to meet, say I have Brett. I pull you the side and I find out everything about you. I’m curious. It’s my superpower, right? Man, I’m scared. Let me ask you something. What kind of keywords might someone that I’m talking to be speaking to make them a good prospect, referral for your services? What might they be saying to me? Well, I think thing you need to recognize, Scott, is that this business, like any business, is all about relationships. And if you go into any networking opportunity with the mindset of what’s in it for me, then people are going to see through that and you’re not going to be successful. You truly have to go with the mindset of giving. Go, buddy. Of giving. And what can I do for them? And then you’ll get an opportunity later on to care of what you do and all that stuff. All right, what can they do for me? And in 10 seconds I’m deciding whether they’re worth my time or not. Right. Then you’re going to fail miserably. It’s about. Relationships. Yes. The fulfillment company grew to a several million dollar organization because strictly of relationships. People I met at events, became clients, became referral partners. There wasn’t any proactive advertising being done. It was all about relationships. Right. So that was the key in my mind. I love that you said that. The biggest compliment to me at a networking event or anywhere is when I walk away and I try to get their business card. And I always have thank you notes in my car. Right in my car. I write them out. I drop them in the mail before I even get home. Now, the biggest compliment to me is when people are like, what the hell do you do? They don’t know. They have no idea what I do, because I’m more interested in your story than telling you mine. God gave me two ears and and mouth for a reason, man. You know what I’m saying? I love that you and I are, like, so alive. I’m right there with you, Scott. I know you are. So many people just love to talk about themselves, and I’m a big proponent. The thank you notes, too. I’m sitting here right now. I’ve been involved with the fundraiser this weekend, so I’m sitting 60 handwritten thank you notes this morning to sponsors and all that stuff. Just full disclosure, you’ll get a thank you note right after handwritten by me. After my clients, I literally get faxed after they take pictures of it. They post it on their Social. Like people do this. That makes me feel so good. But, Brett, let me ask you, have you seen the movie Back to the Future? Oh, sure. All right, let’s go back in that DeLorean with Marty McFly. Let’s go back to the double deuce, the 22 year old Brett. Okay, I don’t want you to change anything, but what kind of knowledge nuggets would you drop on him? Maybe to shorten his learning curve. Maybe blast through and level up in life in general. Maybe just a little faster, but not change so much, because your journey has pretty awesome. Yeah, I should go back to that time frame. I think the thing that everybody should. Much earlier in life, and this includes me going back to the 20 year old bread or whatever is work hard to develop both their communication skills, getting comfortable, being speaking to people and being in front of audiences. All that overcoming stage fright or whatever you want to call it, as well as developing good writing skills, communication skills. So, emails, notes, whatever you need to write, you can do that in a way that truly get your message across and resonates with folks so that they want to come and be involved in your work. Developing your oral written communication skills are something I think should be emphasized far earlier for everybody. Love it. So Brett, how do you want your dash? Remember that little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date, your life date and death date? Hopefully it’s way down the road. But how does Brett want his dash? Remember? You know, I just want to remember Scott for a person that did as much good as possible. It’s not about me, it’s about who I’ve helped along the way. And. People recognize those efforts. I’ve actually been the grand knight for the nights of Columbus here in town for six years. Really? I’ve been president optimist International Club here locally that we just did the fundraiser for for a number of years. So I spend a lot of time on on charity events and trying to give back. I mean, my kids are growing all that now, so the focus is on, all right, now, what can you do to give back to others because you’ve been so blessed your whole life? So I spend of time on that, honestly. That’s beautiful, man. That’s beautiful. And like those ziggy used to say from the stage all the time, we can get anything we want by helping other people get everything they want. Right. Love it. So, Brett, what do you think people might misunderstand the most about you? Oh, my gosh. Since I’m a natural introverted person, Scott, I do have to step into a role. I knew this I knew this was COVID brother. I do have to step into a role when I’m getting on a show or when I’m getting because it’s stepping outside of. Comfort zone. Yeah. So when I’m meeting new people for the first time, I may not be as outgoing initially as I probably should be. Oh, my gosh, bro. You and I are like brothers from different mothers, man. Because when people meet with me, they’re like, where’s that crazy dude that was on stage that has everybody rocking and stuff? I’ve been blessed to speak with Tony right? A few times, and I get a lot of that and whatnot. He’s helped me, but they meet me, they’re like and I’m just like, hey, how are you doing? I’m from the Midwest. I give hugs. They’re just like, what? So you and I are just so much alike. I love this. So, Brett, what is your definition of a life? Well, live a person that gave far more to others than they took for themselves. Love it. Yeah. I’m taking notes on that. Squad, you need to be taking notes on these, too, as well. And squad with that. We’re going to take Brett through our leveling up lightning round just as soon as we get back from thinking our sponsors and affiliates. Time to shine. Today. Podcast versus squad. We are back. And, Brett, we’re going to meet 100% guaranteed. We’re going to meet in the flesh, and we’ll probably maybe even sit down and have a beverage or a meal and talk about some of these questions I’m going to ask you, and we can talk 1520 minutes, then, but today, you got 5 seconds with no explanations, and they can all be done that way. You ready, brother? All right, let’s do let’s level up. Brett, what is the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received? Network. Network. Network. Yes. Share one of your personal habits that contributes to your success. Discipline. Yes. So if you see me, like, walking in an event or just walking around you’re like, man, Fergie looks like he’s in his doldrums. Outside of any of your books you’ve authored, what book might you hand me to help me level up? I’m going to go back to a classic Bob Burke endless referrals. Dude. I have Bob Burke’s five laws of Stratford success, and he lives six stores down. I love that guy. Love it. He lives right here, man. I love it. Love it. Your most commonly used emoji when you text thumbs up. Love it. Nicknames growing up. Oh, gosh. Brett brat it. Love it. So what is any, if any, is your hidden talent or superpower nobody knows about? Oh, good. I am one hell of a good copywriter. Love it. Chess. Checkers. Or Monopoly. Checkers. Me, too. Dude. Where you love it. Headline for your life. One line. Headline for your life. A life well lived. Yes. Go to ice cream flavor. Oh, gosh. Got to go. Chocolate. There you go. There’s a sandwich called the Brett Brat. Build that sandwich for me. Bratworth sauerkraut. Yeah. Big hot heated bun. Maybe even a little melty cheese underneath the hot dog. Yes. Need the broth broth, baby. Favorite charity and organization. You like to give your time or money to knights of Columbus and Optimus International. Beautiful. Last question. We can elaborate a little bit on this one because I’m curious with you. What is the best decade of music? Sixty s. Seventy s. Eighty s or ninety s? Seventy s. Yeah. I love the 70s. You know what? If you want to be a good speaker, I’m going to tell you right now. I was told this by a salty dog. Speak good. The guys did thousands, hundreds of thousands of speeches. Probably, I don’t know, just a ton. He’s like, listen to 70s music because they tell stories. You could pull stuff out of the 70. You know, I’m I graduated 1990s, so 80s is kind of my jam, like, through that. But, like, in the 70s, brother, it’s like I do. And my mom, who unfortunately passed away, and my dad, they would always play. I would always hear Seager or the Eagles or something like that. And I get a lot of my people go to Chat GPT now to get ideas for their writing. I go to the 70s. I’m so happy you said that, man. I love it. It’s when I graduated from high school and college. It’s the music I listened to as a 70 station. I mean, most people don’t know I was a runner in my younger days. I ran competitively all the way through college. So it’s just lots of good memories of teams and all that stuff going back. How can we find you, my friend? All right, well, the best thing to do is Brett Ridgeway.com, and that’s Brett with onetridgeway without an E.com. Or you can email info@ridgeway.com and would love to chat with anybody that would like. Jeff. I love it. And again, Squad, there’s one T and no E in his name. So it’s Bretridgway.com and Brett. Oh, you know what? I’m going to do something for you, Squad. I’m going to be the first person that puts Brett brought in anything on social. I don’t care if it’s LinkedIn Pinterest instagram anywhere. I’m going to buy the book. How to Build a Profitable Speaking Business 21 Tips for Taking Your speaking Business to the Next level. When it comes out later this year, I’m going to have that book and then I’m going to ask Brett to sign it for you. Maybe you could take care of that postage for me, Brett. Well, I should tell you, if you go to Brett Ridley.com right now and click on the books link, you can get author signed copies right on my site right now. It’s not released on Amazon until the end of the year, but you can get some via the site. Beautiful. That’s all. I’ll buy it. That’ll be great. Actually, I’ll take care of the first three people on that book, so I want to. This book out there and you really want to read it. Brett, if you could do me one solid one last solid and leave us with one last knowledge nugget we can take with us internalize and take action on I’m going to revert back to something I touched on earlier. Scott. And that is if you have a message that you need to share with the world. Get out of your fear, step out of your comfort zone and get that message out there. Don’t be afraid to put yourself front and center so that you can positively influence others in your world. Love it. I love it. And Squad, we just had a really super fun conversation with someone that I immensely respect. They’ll help you level up your speaking business. He was ahead of the curve in online marketing. It’s kind of like a man of my genes as well as I kind of was as well. When I would write on articles.com and easy and whatnot and sell product, it was just beautiful. And he wanted to make sure that he wants you to know that there’s three types of speakers. Keynote platform selling and business building. But he will tell you that if you can master that platform selling, which Brett can teach you in his books and in his one on ones, he can get you there. So make sure that if you’re going to start speaking, which I need to level this up big time as well, master that platform spelling selling in anything you do from stage, he reminds us that must be congruent with your morals and strength. People can pick out a fraud from a mile away, so stick to what you feel, okay? Work hard all the time. If you’re a budding speaker, even if you’re a polished speaker, to develop better communication skills and also good writing skills as well, because you’re going to be sending things back and forth to people and whatnot in the messages that you provide. And he’s going to be remembered as someone that I say that Brett’s planning treaties. He’s never going to sit in the shadow. He’s a person. He must be remembered as a person that did as much good as possible and someone that gave far more to others than he took. From them. But the reciprocation is going to come to them anyways. And if you really know deep inside you have a message to get out, stretch that comfort zone. You have to just pop right out. Remember, squad, with my coaching inch by inch. It’s a cinch by the yard. It’s hard. So stretch that coaching zone, right? Get front and center. Get with somebody like Brett. That can really help. Let me make a warm introduction to you. Someone like that can really help you level up your life. And if he can’t, he probably knows someone he can. He levels up his health, he levels up his wealth. He’s hungry. He’s humble. He’s earned his varsity squad letter here at Time to Shine today. Thank you so much for coming on, Brett. I absolutely love your guts, brother. Scott my pleasure, sir. Excellent chat. Soon.

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