I believe in doing hard things.

As soon as the registration opened the Last Story Standing Storytelling Competition for my local National Speaker’s Association chapter, I immediately signed up.

There were only 20 spots available, and I knew there were amazing speakers in the chapter that were also going to snag a spot. So, I moved quickly.

Now, I was on the hook for actually having to follow through with creating my story, rehearsing it, recording it, and submitting it to be critiqued by a panel of Certified Speaking Professionals (a speaker qualification that takes a minimum of 5 years and over 250+ gigs to achieve to start).

Once I did all of that, I got the call…

I was a top 3 finalist 🤯

Now, I was on the hook for performing my story live at the next chapter meeting in front of LEGENDARY, Hall of Fame speakers! As well as a number of other CSPs and career speakers in the chapter. And the winner was going to move onto Regionals with a shot to speak on the national stage at the Influence conference with over 1,000 attendees in July.

So, I kicked my rehearsing into overdrive.

I’m pretty sure I ran through my 5-minute-ish story at least 75 times—until it was muscle memory.

The day of the chapter meeting, I arrived early with the two other finalists and the emcee.

We got the logistics taken care of and I learned that I was going to speak last—aka the closer 😉

Before I knew it, I was up.

Like a previous speaking coach taught me, you do not rehearse your talk the day of your live performance because the first version you do will be your best on that day—so I prayed that my muscle memory would work.

And it did.

From my opening line through the end, it just flowed from my mouth.

As I went, I made eye contact with members of the audience. I saw their heads nod at the right times. And made the room erupt in laughter exactly where I meant to. I could feel my hands shaking, but I kept going anyway.

Afterward, many people came up to me because they felt connected to my story and my vulnerability. They shared personal information about themselves which helped us connect further.

No matter the results, I was so glad I did it.

Then, the results came in.

I knew it was close.

I held my breath.

I got second place 🥈

While slightly disappointing, it was also an incredible moment. It solidified the gift that I do have in being able to reach people with my own speaking. It gave me a new found motivation to keep leveling up my craft—in speaking and in serving speakers.

Point is: Leveling up is scary, but that’s how you grow.

Now, how does this apply to email marketing? Many speakers I know are afraid to step out of their marketing comfort zone.

They stick with posting on social media (often without a strategy), and hope for referrals—which leads to the feast-famine cycle that’s so common in the industry.

They don’t understand email marketing, so just avoid it—but it may be just the thing that unlocks their next level in their speaking business.

If you feel like you’ve been stuck in your speaking business, then let’s chat about what will help you break your plateau and get the next level.

Book your Free Consultation here. No commitment to work together, just a speaker serving other speakers.