Booked Out: How To Monetise Your Personal Brand [with Leanne Hughes]
Transcript
Petra
0:02
There has never been a better time than now to monetize your personal brand by packaging and leveraging your intellectual property. However, this is also something that most professionals are struggling with, which keeps them stuck in their role. Or if the runner right there on business, it keeps them small. If that sounds a little bit too familiar, then you are in for a treat. Because today we are joined by somebody who has not only made the champion self, from employee to entrepreneur, but actually now teaches others how you can get booked out in 90 days. And he is joining us today we and thanks so much for being here,
Leanne
0:35
Petra, it's always an honour and a pleasure to talk to you. I just love your ideas. I love your way thinking and love your energy. Thanks for inviting me,
Petra
0:42
I'm so excited because I have known you for quite some time. And I'm one of those lucky ones who have known you literally since they thought you interviewed me for your podcast on the day you resigned.
And that's been three years and I've seen you going from strength to strength to strength, you are an international speaker, you are a facilitator, you are a coach and a podcast host.
The one thing that stands out for me is that you constantly raise the bar in terms of coming up with new ideas, new ways to do business development, new ways to create experiences that go beyond the traditional way of how we do things.
Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from?
Leanne
1:18
Oh, my gosh, well, thank you for highlighting that. Because it's probably one of the things that I put my head on and say like, I'm very proud to just have an engine of never-ending ideas. And the thing was in corporate, though this wasn't really celebrated at all, I think I was a bit of annoying, because I kept questioning why are we doing this? Why are we doing this?
Like why can't we do it differently?
And in some organisations, that's embraced. For my most recent experience, it wasn't. So where do I get the ideas from? I don't, I think it's quite innate.
One of my top strengths in the Gallup Strengths Finder is ideation. I literally think of ideas constantly. And so, as a result, I'm not scared to share them with the world. Because if once they want, the world has them, I'm ready to move on to the next one. So even as a little kid, I think when I was five years old, I went to a birthday party. And I remember my parents dropping me off. And it was the most boring birthday party I have ever been to. There are no games activities, just sitting around the backyard. And I remember my parents picking me up and sharing with them that I was so frustrated that experience because my dad, he's an engineer, and I would craft these birthday parties that had set agendas, we got X Factor prizes, we would go through all the books and like pick our favourite games and just create a flow.
So, I think that willing to challenge sort of anything, but also, I'm driven by time is so short.
So, let's make the most of the opportunities that we have. And I think that drives the idea creation process, as well as just yeah, finding it and not being afraid to put it out to the world.
Petra
2:48
I love it. And it also goes to show that you've got a high level of self-awareness, you know, your strength wasn't always the case, or did you find it?
Leanne
2:56
No, it wasn't always the case. Because like I said, Before, I was working in corporate and I wasn't making traction, and people weren't responding to my days, I actually thought something was wrong with me. And then I did the strength report, and it pulled out these things.
So ideation, maximizer, turning things from good to great activator, just getting stuck in and going for it. futuristic, it's up there as well. And I put it in language, and I was like, oh, okay, I'm actually ‘Okay, this is a strength’.
But if I'm not having the opportunity to use it internally, how can I start leveraging these for whatever I want to do with my life, and I don't want to live. I mean, one of the things about strengths I say is at work I at work, if I get to do one of the best every single day, I'm highly engaged with my role.
And what I could see from this very clearly from the data was that these top five strengths were not being played out at work. So I had to think about, what do I do next? And the answer that was, well, maybe I'll become my own boss. Because I don't need to get authority to make decisions, I can just go with what I want to do it this is such an important point that you made that you didn't know it straight away and something kind of fell off.
And I had the exact same experience I progressed quickly. And then everything fell apart. It was simply because I wasn’t put in a position that adequate my strengths, and what got me there has now become my biggest baggage because I also questioned things. And it's like, oh, my God, is it meant to feel harsh like that. And I also didn't perform at that level anymore. And as high performer, we're driven by doing the best that we can. And all of a sudden, we are simply not designed to do it anymore.
Leanne
4:31
I also remember walking into work and saying good morning to everyone. And everyone's like, good, just not happy and, and slumped over their desk as well. And so, I you know, with that the data that the qualitative data of going in every day and recognizing this was an environment where there were some absolute positives to it, but 80% of the time, which is a significant amount of time. Yeah, my strengths weren't being utilized.
So, I had to, I mean, I could either accept that but I'm not willing to do that because of everything I've said before. We have a short time on Earth, I want to make the most of it. And that's what really brought me into this whole, creating a personal brand.
Petra
5:07
Yes. And you started already whilst you were still in corporate. But did you know before you resigned or thought about resigning? What are you going to do next? Did you have a plan?
Leanne
5:18
Did I have a plan? I had some vague ideas.
I mean, what I wanted to do was basically what I was doing internally, I was working for a global organization running learning and development programs, leadership training. And I was getting really great gigs as a result of that flying all around the world, getting great feedback. And then obviously getting booked out with other mind sites. The executive team got me to run their strategy session.
So, I thought, Oh, this is cool, but and once I went to Mongolia for work, I thought, there's no other country I want to go to now. So I thought, why don't I just offer this externally. And if it fails after a year, I'm not unemployable. I'm sure I could find a job.
So that was that was all really that was going through my mind. But Petra, it was a year of building up the brand, Jenny Blake calls it creating a pivot runway. So saving some cash resources, but also on the side after work is creating that content, creating the narrative about where I wanted to position myself. And then so the time that I left, it wasn't I wasn't dropped, I felt like I was sort of I was flying, I was flying off the off the tarmac. Yeah.
Petra
6:20
And this makes us such a great role model because you build a roof before it rained. So you build a runway. And you also said you did something outside your nine to five, and you did something that others often aren't willing to do to give up their weekends to give up their nights, binge watching Netflix and so forth. But this is exactly what you need to do to make a transition, where you're quite intentional what you need to do to build your brand, or how did you choose?
Leanne
6:45
That was probably the interesting part about it. So brand building probably wasn't the primary objective of the podcast that I started, which is for facilitators.
The reason I started my podcast was from scratching my own itch, I was going to Canada to deliver leadership training, I was looking for podcasts that could help me manage group dynamics manage if anything went wrong, and I couldn't find it.
There are all podcasts on public speaking presentation skills. So when I flew back, I thought why don't start this scratch the itch. And so first of all, I get to chat to call facilitators find out what they do, then I get to learn and get better at in my role. But that was the primary objective, then secondary to that was all the brand building. So like I said, these opportunities to fly to multiple locations really shifted my role from being back of house to sort of front of stage.
That was a side effect of the podcast, because people within my organization, were seeing me post about this on LinkedIn. And they're like, Oh my gosh, no one else in the business is doing this, like Leanne's creating this whole media outlet like how is she doing it? And then, like, I was, like I said, I was like hanging out with executives doing tours of a 380s with corners because the executive were there.
That would never have happened without the podcast. So it was a selfish need, number one, but the benefit of brand building was like, absolutely, like the coolest thing that came out of it is amazing.
Petra
And I will hone in on two things because you said there was nothing out there. But I didn't also quite know exactly what it is. So I just created something. And often people are struggling to find their quote unquote, niche or specialization, because everything has been done.
No, it hasn't. It hasn't been done in a way that you would approach it. And then at the same time, there is, what we call outside in approach. Often when people are getting stuck in their career progression. It's because they don't have the visibility and internal it's not maybe facilitator to get visible, but you're still very much in control what they can do outside your way. podcasts, you can do it very cheaply and very easily. But again, not everyone takes this next step.
Leanne
8:40
Yeah, there's a lot of hesitation and taking the step. Because again, I look around to my left and to the right of me and no one else is doing it. So I actually had a really great quote today, Petra on the daily Stoke, and I have to fact check it but the guy said, it's an in the Bible, the most common used phrase or something that is relevantly referred to is don't be afraid.
Like that isn't the most common sort of phrase or theme in the Bible? And it's the same thing. Like it still plays out now. Right?
So there's always that fear of like, should I start a podcast? What if it doesn't go? Well, I think for me, the thing that reduced the risk was even if no one listens to this, I'm still getting massive value, it's still a great investment of my time. So I'm connecting with people and I'm learning.
If you want to take the switch off, you know, if the fear of like no one listening and echo chamber, then maybe just be selfish and go like what would I love to learn and what you'll notice is that there's people around the world that also connect with that, you know, if you're scratching your own itch, you might find that other people around the world, one wanted to scratch that itch as well.
Petra
9:41
So true, and I'm a big fan, as you know, of building a portfolio career. Because you build skill sets much quicker, you build networks much quicker and you will experience much quicker and if you need to transition or want to transition, you can do it easier, rather than starting from scratch and then working your way back up. Now you also Said, I give myself one year. In worst case I go back. You never went back three years. What has been happening since then? And how did you land your first client? especially coming out of corporate?
Leanne
10:10
Yeah, well, my that's so funny. The one year thing Yeah, I really didn't want to have to find another job. But I like security, like it's good to have that.
Where I think it's overrated is our internal network, the network we already have. And what I see a lot of people that are experts that go out and have to find clients, they always talk about finding new leads, and they associate finding new lead with finding new people. But I think and as I've shared with you Petra, on a few occasions, it's all I find, it's always that network that we have that we built over time through delivering great work for being a value that can help us and that. So a couple of gigs that came out when I left was an old friend from University.
He had seen me posting about my podcasts on first about facilitation. You've been listening to it. He had a retreat on the Gold Coast, and he asked me to run it for two days.
That was the first gig. The other gig came out.
In my last week of work. I was there was a session in Sydney, I'm live in Brisbane. And now we're just doing a train the trainer of our leadership program. Now give I had the option of not going because it was my last week, like literally, I didn't have to do this. But I'm like, I'm going to Sydney, I'm saying farewell.
I'm going to share things. And as I was there, that evening, I had a drink with one of the contacts at the organization. She goes, ‘What do you want to do in future? Like, what's your plan?’
The same question you asked me Petra. I was like, ‘Look, I don't really know. I know, one day one day, I'd love to live in Asia, I think that'd be really fun.’
And she just said, Oh, Leanne, would you like to deliver our leadership programs in Asia? I was like, Yes. Yes, I would. And so that was an internal contact. And that's not a fairy tale for everyone. But I'm sharing it just to as an example of I think we undervalue the people we've already connected with, and we sort of take them for granted. Whereas they're the ones that I think focus the most energy on, particularly if you're thinking of starting something fresh.
But yeah, that that one conversation led to gigs around Hong Kong, Singapore, India, even work this year, all virtually providing the same type of programs. So one conversation, one contacts, .
Petra
Anything big comes from being visible in front of the right people, and even just articulating what you wanted. This is all it takes.
Because nobody can read our mind. And just by you saying, You know what? He would be amazing. You didn't say working in Asia, he's just an Asia. And that connected her with what was on her mind. Yes, that opens new opportunities, which is incredible. Absolutely.
Leanne
12:37
Like the intentionality piece is really strong. And I'm not saying have like a five year plan. But it is good to have an idea of where you want to take your business and not to be stuck in the weeds of right now, knowing that things can change, but also just having that idea. So you can during those conversations, or with the way that you show up and direct your content and energy, you can, you know, we talked about the plane you can get on that flight path.
Petra
12:58
Yes. And what we also see now working from home a lot more that we live in those micro moments, we don't have a lot of time to get our point across, we don't have the standard panels necessarily, we don't have the watercooler conversations. So it comes down to being able in 30 to 60 seconds to get your point across, give people an update, but also share what you want to do next. Have you got a tip, how we can be precise without being too douchey? about it. But also, you know, how can we say what we want without being too in people's face?
Leanne
13:29
Yeah, it's so interesting. And Jim Rohn, who I love, he I was listening to one of his audiobooks the other day, and I think I share this with your communities was at last late last year. But talking about brevity, and the importance of keeping it brief. And again, related to time is finite, let's make the most of the opportunity we have right now. So I think it comes back to the intentionality of what you want to drive. And thinking about that upfront. Once you have that NorthStar of like what is the point that you want to come across, you can actually start filtering out and cutting off the fat around it. Not saying that storytelling is effective.
But again, like how do you create that moment where you where you can summarize like the key points rather than giving it a play for play? I think again, it depends on the context of what you're going into. But again, go back to the intentionality, what do you actually want? I see so many emails, right? I'm scrolling and scrolling. I'm what does this person actually want? But the context of these points, it's like, what do you want from me? Okay, just state that upfront, and then maybe give some data points tell a story to supplement it if required.
Petra
14:31
Yes, having other people's time in mind and also what they actually want to get out of the conversation because it makes it a lot easier to say yes or no, in whatever way. Now, if people are thinking of doing their own thing in one way or the other way and monetizing their personal brand, how would you say can we get started?
Leanne
14:52
Yeah, I think is very different ways of doing it. And you've got to pick the business model that aligns with you, and I've tried a few different things like when I started the podcast that was I had no, I didn't want to monetise it at all.
But I think it was Seth Godin who says you can monetize in different ways. One is through direct revenue through cash. So someone will pay for your coaching or for your expertise. But the second way to monetise is through trust and attention.
For that brand awareness turn that's on that first year, first time facilitator, all I was doing was buying that sort of currency of trust and attention. And I think that's exactly what you're talking about. When you talk about personal authority. then underneath that, once you have the trust, once you have the attention, you can monetize that in so many different ways.
In the context of what I do that comes in the form of workshops, facilitation, through keynote, speaking through coaching, even through your talks about ideas at the beginning, people will actually book my time. So they can pick my brain, right? So we have like an ideation session.
That's like, my most favourite thing. It can come through, I mean, there's so many different business models and approaches that you can take, again, think about what your favourite form of delivering these messages is it writing, even just starting on medium and getting your ideas out, listen to Petra, and how she forms her models.
I got paid, I wrote an article earlier this year, and it's like, I got paid $10 in the first week. I know that's not much, but it's signal something more it's signals. Wow, this is actually getting eyeballs. Maybe there's something in this. So yeah, I think of your preferred medium. Think about those two different revenue streams and how you can maximize both. The second one will give you more options. In future though,
Petra
16:32
I love this progression because you need to start somewhere. Otherwise, we don't know we don't get any data points. And Mark Schaefer interviewed just recently, he also talks about the cumulative advantage, we're always looking for, when is Oprah calling us or when we get the big investment, you know, it doesn't happen. But what it does happen is people are sharing your content, they are sending you a DM saying, you know what resonated with me, I took action. Somebody gave you a call to get you know, a promotion, whatever it might be. It's those tiny, tiny steps along the way that gives you the validation that there is something and then you want to refine it.
Leanne
17:08
Yeah, Can I add something there as well, just that I brought up the whole piece about the connection economy, a lot of the time we think we've got to add value by putting out valuable content or just being a valuable service to someone else. Someone I see this, but does it really well, Jordan Harbinger is his, his currency is connecting people. Because once you help people form their own connections, and they get a great experience from that, they'll always attribute it back to you. So there is real value. If you're working internally right now, I would absolutely just get in connecting with the people that you know, see what networks you can form, what introductions can be made, just do that as an experiment internally, because that's a skill set you will absolutely need when you when you leave.
Petra
17:49
This is such a tangible and very insightful advice. Because, you know, I talk a lot about the trusted authority because hierarchies are getting leaner, and more agile. So you can't actually progress and get the title because there are not that many senior roles. But you can very much influence because you're the trusted authority. And this is what you can eventually monetize. And you mentioned it just before you've built the trust through podcasts. So what you did was you let people get to know you by you sharing your ideas, content, your personality, and people could make up their online plan for me or not so much. And when you say not too much, it's a good thing. Because it does, it means you're attracting the right people and also detracting the wrong ones.
Leanne
18:28
Absolutely, yeah. And something about voice as well, you get a very, it's very easy to create a trusted relationship through that people call it a very intimate medium. I listen to lots of different podcasts. But I feel like if I was to meet the host over a coffee, and I've met a few, we can instantly just develop rapport because I know everything about them. Kind of here it is a bit stalkery. But yeah, what do you what do you make?
Petra
18:51
Yes, and this is what makes you likeable? Because if we can speak people's language, they feel understood. So we like this person we're talking a lot about from going from the extract legal expert to the translator. It's simply you knowing how to talk their language, not just throwing all the jargon at somebody, and the other person, starring back at you with these big eyes.
Now, you obviously knew you had a skill set, you do know straightaway how you want to monetize it. Outside of facilitation? Have you thought about that further?
Leanne
19:27
That's what I'm currently working on. It's actually I'm working on my own transition from facilitator to authority as well, right? So, because facilitation is all about you're an expert, but you're an expert in group process. You're an expert in getting teams to make a decision you're an expert in in for me content was leadership, right team team dynamics was my expertise. But now I want to transition from being that person that can do it to then like being the go-to and what it comes down to. I think a lot of the times what we're trying to do is create change with these groups like moving them from one to another. So, in terms of the way that I've monetized, it has been for the first couple of years purely on the back of the delivery work, the workshops, the speeches, the coaching, as I mentioned before, but where I want to move to in future is actually getting people to bring me for advice and monetizing it that way. Because that would be the ultimate right? So sharing the ideas, because I have positioned myself as the expert in this particular area. So Petra, I'm going to binge all of your episodes to help me on that journey.
Petra
20:29
But you know, I'm also part of your group booked out how to become a booked out facilitator in 90 days, because we all have our strengths, our processes, our systems, but sometimes it just needs to get the validation, but also to get the kick in the backside. Because everything that you do it for the first time is daunting. And we just put on the backburner, and we never do it, and we never get the traction. So I'm super excited to learn also from you, what I can do better, and we can all do better, we can all do better.
Leanne
Yeah. And the three things I talked about in that program that are key are your craft. So you actually like how good are you at doing the thing that you do your connections? Who are you connecting with?
Again, let's not undervalue our existing connections, but how can we talk about blipping on the radar? So just everything is about consistency. And I know Petra, you are the most consistent person I know. But how do you sort of stay front of mind in front of the people that matter? And And the final one is content, and using that narrative of what you're creating for the world to drive where you want to go. And I think all of us have our strengths like and many people that I talk to their strength, his craft, like we all we've decided to do this because we're good at the thing. The other two is where we need to really need to focus our energy and our efforts.
Petra
21:40
And you know, that already makes you an authority because you know, one of the ways how to become the authority is to create a framework for others to follow. And you identified correctly that it's not just being the best, but it's also others knowing that you are the best in doing it. And how do you do it by connecting with others and by creating content. And this is your sweet spot, which are loving why people are getting stuck. It's because they need to be over indexing in the one area that they're really familiar with. So we've been facilitating, we've been doing our role. We've never done the outreach, the connecting, the speaking. So we're just putting it on a backburner and then wonder, why I'm still here.
So frustrating, like why am I not getting anywhere? Why not waking up to these emails or these inquiries? Why am I not getting phone calls? And it's because of those two other areas?
The one thing that I'm really curious about because you are making a lot of changes and transitions yourself. And your personality type is to put something out there before it's perfect. But are you thinking about it sometimes that you know from an imposter syndrome? Can I talk about that already, but there are others who are better at it? Or you're like, Nah? Well,
Leanne
22:45
I don't want to sound like I read other people's articles. It's like, that's not, that's okay. Like, it just seems obviously a lot of regurgitated material. So I'm not really feeling the imposter syndrome.
And the thing that gets it for me as though is, is going back to my comfort zone. So because I've talked about things for so long, I just feel like it's easy to continue that stopping and creating a new narrative requires, for me a lot more conscious effort and focus, but also disrupting myself.
And so rather than the imposter syndrome, it's probably more a case of having to step out of the habit of what you've been doing and just do something else. But I keep settling for I mean, what's that James clear, quote, you rise to the level of your goals, you dropped to the level of your habits or something like that. So I find that I'm just dropping to the level of my habits and just being ‘Okay, let's do this’, rather than drawing a line in the road and going right from this state forward. I'm the authority on this and charging all in.
And I think we actually, because of the saturation in the world, we do have to be that definitive in what that authority is. And what that also means is saying goodbye to what success you've had.
I love that Marshall Goldsmith book, what got you here won't get you there. So true. We spoke about grief just before this, and not in a morbid way. But you've got to say goodbye to some things. And you got to say goodbye to your comfort levels and some, maybe some connections and things to forge this new path. And I think the saying goodbye part is probably what's probably the resistance for me.
Petra
24:13
Absolutely. And this is also what we're seeing in the future of work and the trends that we don't just change jobs more frequently, thanks to technology and automation and the role symptom of being relevant anymore, but also going through more transitions in careers, which means that you constantly have to change your narrative and actually make sense of your background.
For your next decision makers. You have to pitch yourself more frequently, and in a way that resonates with them. Which comes down to being the translator if you can't make sense out of yourself and your own background. We can't expect anyone else to make sense out of that.
Leanne
I remember someone asking me straight up like ‘what do you do?’ And I was like, there was no brevity on it. And it's like there's a problem there.
Petra
24:58
Which comes down to practicing. Nobody just wakes up and has the perfect pitch ready so get some sort of feedback. Does it resonate what I'm saying? Or is it completely off the charts? And you have no idea what I'm doing?
It also makes us less referrable. If I don't know what you're doing. I actually can't refer you because not sure what you're doing.
And this is also what, you know what we've seen that jobs are actually getting filled through networks and through the people that you know, also what you're talking about.
It's often maybe the person that you're talking to not the decision maker, but this person knows of somebody that you're also talking about, to wrap this conversation up. How can we take a conversation further to not just say, hey, it was good to catch up, and we don't hear from this person anymore? How can we transition it into commercial opportunity?
Leanne
25:49
Yeah, that's something I talked about in my module how to turn a virtual coffee into something more meaningful, because I think my trap while the catcher for coffees and be great, but there wasn't any sense of work, right.
It was just a social coffee. And it's something I've learnt a lot from Alan Weiss, he talks he's got a great book, the martial art of language is about spinning conversations. Because I think a lot of time when we have a conversation, if we get asked a question where it's the question, what we won't do is question the question.
And I think this makes you an effective facilitator as well, because people will call you and again first year people will say, Hey, could you run a two day leadership course? And my response? My answer would be yes. But I didn't question the question. Why do you need it right? Once you start digging, then you start creating a bigger frame for what's about to happen.
And even in the context of what I love about his, he talks about your value proposition and keeping it quite broad. So you might say something like, my, I'm here to help you build your team performance or like, get your products delivered in under 50% of the time are taken now, the first response from someone is going to be how do you do that? Right?
Like, what do you mean by that? How do you do that? And then you respond by saying, well give me a situation, is there a project team within your business that needs to get worked on faster? So then you move from talking about a hypothetical thing, to something they can relate to in their context and environment?
And once you can start talking about that, that opens doors. So that's it. That's it. It's just manoeuvring conversations. And it's hard sometimes because your, your mind can be elsewhere like not present. Yeah, that's, that's a really great way to shift those conversations that happened in those one to ones.
Petra
27:30
I love this tip, and also what I love about your approach that you're mixing and matching different insights and ideas and learnings from different industries, which is exactly what innovation is all about. It doesn't need to be something that the world hasn't seen before.
It's about creating a new spin on something that hasn't been discussed in that way. Yes. Yeah. Like Amazing. Amazing. Now, Leanne, I'm super excited to be part of your booked out. cohort number two, but what is next for you? What is 2022 to look for you ideally?
Leanne
28:01
I think it's going to be a new media platform. So I'm gonna say goodbye to the first time facilitator podcast after 200 episodes, which is pretty exciting. And I'm still in the works in that Limbo state little side of deciding what that new exciting project is but I'm building like a YouTube studio downstairs not really I've painted some walls. So that's what I've got so far. But that's exciting. booked up facilitator will continue as a self-run program that's over booked out facilitator calm and if you want to connect with me, LinkedIn of course is great. I'm connected to Petra.
And my website which has which will have my new services and offerings is at leannehughes.com
Petra
28:39
Amazing and honestly, I can't wait to see what's next for you. Because you always inspire me. You're always setting new standards, and you'll never get boring and you're always leading the way by simply doing it or when it's not perfect, but you figure it out as you go.
Leanne
28:52
Yeah, definitely a fun way to live and you do the same Petra, I think it's good, but we're friends. We keep inspiring each other.
Petra
28:57
Yes. Thank you so much. There it was. It's been amazing. Thank you.
Leanne
29:01
Thank you.