Building Your Voice

In this article, I’d like to take your story…your message to another level. Today, I’d like to continue the theme of how you can gain influence and impact in people’s lives, and promote yourself, promote your business, all through the process of helping people.

Every business needs to have a way of bringing in potential clients and getting exposure. Getting necessary visibility. And the world of advertising has flipped upside down lately with the added realm of social media and how people can have both national and international visibility…for free. 

What used to cost tens of thousands of dollars can now be done for free. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all you need is social media. I think it certainly helps to gain visibility through social media, but I’m more concerned about sales than social media ‘likes’. 

I really don’t care too much if you have 10,000 followers on YouTube. To me, if you can’t convert your social media ‘tribe’ so to speak, into paying customers, then it’s all for nothing. 

I’d rather have 100 loyal followers that helps to improve the bottom line than those 10,000 so called ‘followers’ that all they do is click the Like button. 

Now, with a large audience can you get sponsors and funding for your social media channel? Some say yes and some say that it’s getting a lot harder to get to that level and the answer ends up being ‘no’. 

Now, you may be in the startup phase, or about to be in the startup phase and have been thinking about this for awhile and are wondering what to do next. You may be wondering where to land on this topic of influence and impact and you know that it’s time to take some sort of action. 

Wait too long and there’s missed opportunity, right? I know quite a bit about missed opportunity. 

So, where am I going with this article?  The title of this article is Your New Voice for Influence and Impact. And if I’m not steering you toward social media, then where am I steering you to? 

Podcasts. 

You can have your own podcast. You can have a national and international voice. You can have a worldwide influence. If others can do it and have huge success with their podcast then there’s a good possibility that you can too. 

But you’ll need a plan. 

Mindset Makeover

Well, before you go down the ‘I can’t do that’ path (that’s what I used to say not too long ago), think about this for a bit. Stick with me to the end because I’d like you to really work through this topic at some point. If not today, then someday, but don’t just automatically jump on the ‘not for me’ bandwagon just yet. 

Now, I know that everyone’s different and that we all have different talents and strengths and abilities. I know that some people are just not into podcasts. 

But…a lot of people are very much into them. They are, in fact loyal listeners. With podcast listeners increasing daily, the opportunity for having that national or international impact is also growing. 

I’ve been listening to podcasts for many years, and I’ve heard some pretty bad episodes with some very bad content and despite all that, they’ve got some decent, overall success. 

So if they can have a podcast that’s poorly done, and they’re throwing the F word around on a regular basis, and they’ve somehow risen to have a moderate amount of success, then don’t you think that you and I can have far better success by providing better content, better interviews, better structure and better conversation?

I think yes, we can. I’m certain of it.  

But, when you’re challenged with something new, do you get fired up and motivated or do you shut down and gravitate toward quickly dismissing it?

Look, if this idea isn’t a good fit for you and your situation, I get it. I can understand that it’s not for everyone. But don’t let your comfort zone get in the way of success. This is one of those less risky topics that doesn’t come with huge losses if it doesn’t work out. 

Don’t let your poor self image get in the way either. And I know a few things about poor self image. I’ve been saying for awhile that I’ve got the face for radio and the voice for print media. I’m not thrilled at all with how I sound but I learned to get past that. I learned that the potential to help people was far greater than the need for me to be quiet. 

I have skills, and experience that people need. If I keep silent because I’ve got a hang-up about how my voice is, then I get what I deserve by not building a platform.

But you have skills and experiences also, that others need. Maybe I need them too, who knows. If you don’t have a podcast or a way to have influence yet, nobody knows yet how you can help them. 

Building a Platform

Michael Hyatt, in his book ‘Platform’ puts it this way; “More than four centuries ago, William Shakespeare wrote ‘All the world’s a stage,’…if you have something to sell-whether one-on-one, before a huge crowd, or on the Internet-you are also on stage. But the stage has never been more crowded-and simply being on it doesn’t matter much if the lights are not shining on you, or if there is no one in the audience.” 

His book, Platform is all about having a voice, your voice, and a platform for your voice that attracts people and puts the spotlight on you and your business. 

To be successful in today’s environment, you need two things. A compelling product and a significant platform. Why? Because the competition has never been greater with all the others already fighting for the attention of your target market, and because people’s attention span is shrinking and your message, if it isn’t very clear, won’t be heard at all. 

So, is this reason to not even try? Or is this a reason to see it as an opportunity?      

The view you adopt for yourself affects your outcome and success. Will you have an ‘opportunity’ mindset? A Growth mindset where you can push through the challenges and move forward, learning, improving and having faith in your abilities? How many times have you heard me say ‘If they can do it, then so can you.’ 

Your current qualities and skills aren’t carved in stone. No matter how old you are. You can always learn new skills. And because creating a podcast has become quite popular lately, there’s plenty of people out there willing to help you with the promotion, the content, the production. Plenty of people. Including me. 

I’m sure you know by now that change is a constant. And when it happens, the best thing we can do is just go with it. So here is Tom Clairmont recommending change again but this time, because it’s not something that’s forced upon you, you have a choice. 

Stepping Out of the Comfort Zone

Will you step out of your comfort zone just a little bit and try something you’ve never done before? I’m sure you’ve expanded your comfort zone before a number of times and I’m sure you’ll be just fine if you expand it again. I’ve found that venturing into the unknown can be ok sometimes. 

You see, for me and my business, all I need is a pipeline of 5-8 regular coaching clients per month. Now some clients are looking for help for different aspects of their business startup and there are different time requirements to their needs. 

Some may be 6 months, some may be 3 months and some might be just one month. And because of that, I need to have a regular pipeline of potential clients, so having a national platform is the way to go. 

Having this platform is how I can have influence and impact. 

And I understand that most of us weren’t raised to know and embrace risk. But when I talk about starting a podcast, to me, the biggest risk is your time. Is there some element of risk? Yes. Do I think it’s worth it to build an international platform? Of course I do. 

As of today, when I look at the podcast analytics, I see downloads all around the world and certainly all across the United States, Canada, Germany and Australia and a host of other countries as well. 

This is what motivates me to continue. What’s your version of success? Well, that’s up to you. Do you like to invest in others? I say, invest in yourself. You can have more control of the outcome that way. It’s a lot less riskier when you bet on yourself and can control the outcome. 

I don’t know what your personality is (introvert/extrovert) but either way you can have a voice that can influence/impact people’s lives all around the world as well. 

Share What You Know

Have an expertise? Great. Not an ‘expert’ yet? Then take what you know and share it with those that need to know it. You don’t need a PhD. You need passion and a plan.  Whatever you know that others need to know can be shared in a podcast. 

If you do your own podcast with professionalism and consistency, I’m sure others out there will like yours as well. Does is all seem overwhelming? Believe me, it’s not. 

You can do this on a very low budget and do most or all of the work yourself, or hire a podcast producer to get you started and keep it going for you. All you’ll have to do is provide the audio clips for each episode and they’ll take it from there. 

Friends, big dreams are accomplished in small steps.

Take a step forward today. 

Want to read more about the topic? Try ‘How to Start a Podcast‘ or, ‘Building a Personal Brand and Becoming an Influencer’.