Ask the Expert Speak Up Be Seen & Be Heard with Colleen Biggs

Michelle Abraham: 00:00:03

This is amplify you the podcast about you discovering your message and broadcasting it to the world. If you're a coach, author or speaker, you'll want to tune in. If you're looking for the best return on your time investment. To get your message out to the world in a bigger weight. We're giving you full access behind the scenes look of how we're running our podcasts, how our clients have found success, and what you can do to launch your podcast today. The world needs your message. I'm Michelle Abraham, the host. Join my family as we unleash your unique genius and find the connections you need to launch your adventure today. Join us and let's get amplified. Welcome amplify your family Michelle Abraham, your host here. Today I'm bringing you an ask the expert interview with someone who I have just recently met. But you know why? You know there's so serendipitous meetings that you know, you're meant to meet, not just once, not twice, not three times or four times in one week, somebody randomly reached out to me and said you need to connect with Colleen thig. So welcome Colleen, welcome to the show. I want to tell our audience a little bit more about you. But first, just wanted to say hi.

Colleen Biggs: 00:01:13

Hi, Michelle. Thanks for having me here. I'm super excited.

Michelle Abraham: 00:01:17

You're welcome. Thanks so much for joining me here. So let me tell you guys a little bit more about Colleen. So comienzan, an award winning peak performance coach. So she has over 20 years of experience, she's launched 340 businesses, that's huge. She's an international speaker and author, not only an author of one international best selling book, but several best selling books. She's the CEO of three businesses, including lead up for woman which is community, which you'll see in her background, if you're watching this on video. It's a it's a community for women that helps 1000s and 1000s of women, really female entrepreneurs are driven by their passions, support and promote others with a purpose to fuel their female voices with the power that they are leading the way for all women worldwide to dominate the entrepreneurial market. I love that. So Colleen is really known for helping you speak app. She is a well known for helping you speak up, be seen be heard. Get that visibility. So we're going to dive into all those things today. So thanks for joining us, Colleen. And I want to just dive off the jumping, jump off the diving board right into why is being seen and heard so important right now.

Unknown: 00:02:32

Oh, my gosh, well, there was one rule I had with all the business owners I worked with, with all the business that I launched like you had mentioned in the last 20 years. And that was number one, tell everybody about you. That is the key to success. If nobody knows you're there, you will fail, you can be the best kept secret in town and you will fail, you could be the best pizza place in town and you will fail. And I tell the story that I went to a pizza place because a friend had told me about it. And when I went there, it was like kind of dingy or whatever. And I was new to you know the neighborhood. It's only about five years old. And there's all brand new homes being built. And I asked them like How long have you guys been here? I figured they just open right? Because our neighborhood was new. They said they'd been there for 10 years. And I said how's business are like is not that great? And I said, Well, no one told us about you at all. You've not marketed once in my neighborhood. We have like 5000 homes going up in the past five years. And we have like another 10,000 going up in the next few no one knows about you and you have the best pizza I've ever tasted. So you guys have to tell everybody about you that you're here. And I'm going to start by marketing you in my community, right? So. So it's not just about telling everyone about you, but then the people that love you, being your fan base and telling everybody else about you, right, and that's what really gets the ball rolling. There's too many female entrepreneurs that honestly lack confidence, lack the self esteem, to feel that they're confident enough to get on video or get out there and be in a networking event and then sell in a networking event themselves. I'm not saying sell your products. I'm saying your best kept secrets you your your secret sauce, you make your best first impression, right? So we need to get out there and tell people who we are people know my name. And they know my brand because I'm everywhere. Because I I lead by example, in my community, which is what we're teaching other people to do as well.

Michelle Abraham: 00:04:33

Which is why for people in when we told me I needed to connect with you. And I love that we speak such similar language and it's so great to see. So what's been the pivotal part of your success of building a huge community of female entrepreneurs.

Unknown: 00:04:48

You know, number one, I was cultivating relationships for years and years before I ever started so I had a very large contact list of people just in my email And now I'm in corporate America, right? So all these contexts are women and men in corporate America that know like, and trust me. So I started there, I started with them. And when I've launched lead up for women, I originally wanted it to be for women in corporate so that they could speak from their seats, they can negotiate their salaries, I kind of cracked the code and figured out the formula of how to get promoted in the corporate, you know, arena. And I wanted to help other women, connect, do business, make new friends, cultivate relationships, but also negotiate for their seats and create new opportunities for women in Fortune 500 companies. So that was my goal when I started, but then I quickly caught the eye of female entrepreneurs, and they were like, Hey, how do we become part of this community? So what I did was I started within the first month, we launched the magazine, which gave the members visibility, because they were all the articles. And they've continued to write all the articles for three years in our magazine. Next, we launched the radio show. And that was by accident. Honestly, Michelle, I was a guest on a radio show. And then they asked me to come back in, they were launching a women empowerment channel, and they wanted me to lead that channel. And I was like, No, I literally said no, and slid the contract back over the table. And they looked at me and they're like, why would you say no, if you're building this company, and you want to reach all these people, especially women and make an impact, we have like 3.4 million, or whatever, women in all these countries, I was like, Ooh, hit me that contract. So I said, Yes, I signed the contract. And that kind of started my radio slash podcast debut, because it was live radio for over a year. And then we finally moved to the podcast type platform, instead of going live on radio. And, you know, it was about reaching people. And I think that that's the big thing. Let's all step back for one minute. And I want to ask your listeners, why are you doing what you're doing. And I think every single person is going to say the same answer to make a difference in anything that they do. You could be a chiropractor, you could be a doctor, you could sell shoes, you're making a difference in confidence for women with the shoes you're selling, or a stylish, you know, attraction for them, or whatever it may be, every single one of us are in the world of entrepreneurship, or even in our careers, to make a difference in the world to make an impact, you can not make an impact or even a slight dent, if nobody knows who you are, at all. So that I mean, that's like the key to success is to get out there and tell everyone about you. And when I came out as an entrepreneur, my circle of 10s and 1000s of people that I'm around now and no are not even close to the same people. When I started three years ago, I have met more people, because I just hit the ground running and I never stopped, I would go to four to five networking events a week. And I started you know, flying across the country, you're one and, and selling tickets for luncheons of people I didn't even know, you know, I would find panel members of women in the area that were leaders and invite them to come and share their stories, I would just reach out on any I mean, sometimes I would go to thumbtack and try and find a woman Speaker You know, I wasn't scared to reach out anywhere I could to get to know people. And some of those women that were my were on my panel have been my clients since then they've lost pot, they've launched podcasts since then, they're in my community. So you know the collaboration, you just never know where that one door that's open where it leads to. So you have to entertain all opportunities and get your butt out there and let people know who you are and stop saying no, like, I don't want to do that. Or, you know, I love it when people are like, Oh my gosh, I'm just so tired of putting my makeup on and doing my hair every day. I'm like, I do my hair makeup every day, get ready for work, walk into my office, and I get on camera with people. You know, even if you don't want to start a podcast or don't know if you could do a podcast. What if you started interviewing people on a live on Facebook just to get started to see if you liked it. That's how one of my clients did it. And then she like got the little bug that begged her for a podcast and now she's turning it into a podcast. So I have to say there's so many more opportunities out there for us. But what creates that, that that confidence is when you're in action, you have to take steps forward, to continue the momentum to keep creating the confidence.

Michelle Abraham: 00:09:29

Sound familiar guys? I feel a calling saying I say to you, I love it. It just reiterates what she's saying is so true. Like I didn't grow my business until I got my butt out there and spent so many hours on in person meetings and on stages and connecting with people and meeting people. And now it's this is the ninth hour on Zoom today. We're so lucky we don't have to leave leave the house to get on all these calls now. But you know, I think that's so important is just that connection. building the relationships, I think relationships are our new currency or currency of the future. What do you think about that?

Unknown: 00:10:08

Yes, and I think it always has been. So I look at the currencies in my life are time, energy and money. Because slapping money at something could be really easy for me to do. But to put the energy into it, and the time into it, that's where it's tough. So when you look at currency, as money, time and energy, you should be putting time and energy into the people that matter the most. So when you meet someone in a networking event, you should be following up with them. If you want to get to know them better. Sometimes you meet someone and you're like, I don't see how there could be any mutual benefit. Here, we have nothing in common. Yet, you know, they're dying to follow up with you or you know it, you have to pick and choose, I remember making these mistakes. The very first time I started networking, I followed up with everybody, there would be like 50 people, every time I was on a networking event, you know, I'm following up with every single person. And let me tell you, that's a lot. So pick and choose, you know, a handful of people it might be dependent upon if there's 100 people there might be 10 that you're following up with, but be active. But what the thing that pisses me off the most Michelle, and I'll be honest, when you attend a networking event in person, you don't sit on your cell phone talking, or you don't you know, you're not texting and like ignoring everyone around you, you're probably physically up walking around talking to people, people are coming and talking to you. And you're having a conversation. Yeah, I see so many people on networking events, returning emails, on the phone. So they're just muted. Most of the time, some people are even have their video off. And then they go into a room, and they're not even there. So you don't even get to network with them. It's like, I don't even know why you're here. Because we wouldn't physically do that. So be present, where you go and block that time off. But there is no better time spent than getting yourself out there telling everybody what you do, being confident about being confident about it, and meeting people and then cultivating and following up on those relationships later.

Michelle Abraham: 00:12:08

Yeah, I love that it doesn't it bugs me so much when people sit on zoom with the camera off when they came to something that's interactive or meaningful, I agree with you. What's the point? What's the point of being there?

Colleen Biggs: 00:12:20

I agree. I agree.

Michelle Abraham: 00:12:22

Where do you think? Where do you think connection and collaboration is coming to? Where do you think is headed in business in the next few years?

Unknown: 00:12:30

Wow. Well, I mean, I feel like we have just been spun and put on top of our heads in the past couple of years, honestly. But if we go back and look at movies, which is kind of a good gauge, right, they're doing a lot of AI, they're, you know, they had flat screen TVs and plasma TVs way before when we had like the big ones, you know. And so I'm thinking about that, I'm thinking, I just keep going to that thinking, we're not going to go, we're not going to go backwards, we're only going to keep progressing forward. Now that people understand more of the value of their time, they're traveling maybe a little bit less in person stuff. And they're quickly being able to do things online. You know, I've been doing these online meetings for like, 10 years, I was on Zoom and zoom wasn't cool. Before they even blew up. I was doing it because I was recording meetings. And that was one of the ones that you could use for recording and mainly like doctors and medical and attorneys used it then Right. But that's how I was speaking to my clients and I would do quality assurance calls, those types of things that needed to be recorded. So I feel that we're only going to progress in technology moving forward that and you know, look at how we can talk to people now we can reach out to one to many for through Facebook, making a post through Instagram, through LinkedIn, and through doing a video anywhere you are with your phone. Remember, we had to have like, if you remember back, we had to have like, Yeah, we had to have like everything set up with cameras and video cameras on shoot, you know, you'd have to set up and do all this stuff to do a video. Now we our phones are so clear with the cameras, we can just do them from our cameras and have a great video with like a little stand, you know, and you don't even need all that. So I really feel like technology is going to progress, which means we can attend many things. You have the opportunity to touch more people today than you ever did before with flying across the country and speaking, you know, on one stage and it took me three days for flying in speaking and flying home. Now I've been able to speak on stage in India. I you know, did an event that morning for my company and had a client call that afternoon and by that evening I was speaking on a different stage in Florida. So that was all in one day, like literally. So think about the opportunities that are available to you now as an entrepreneur and be grateful for it have faith to know that your clients are out there and what attracts them. To You is a you showing up be you being your authentic self, which is quirky, and whatever it is, but it leaves an impression on other people, right? If you're the first one to speak up at a networking event, and you just take the lead in the room, like I teach people how to do that, because it works, they automatically just assume that you establish yourself is that they think you're the leader. And then they just kind of follow whatever you say. And then they're like, hey, I really like you. And I want to get to know you a little bit better, right? So your confidence and you being sure about your product and what you're, what you're passionate about. And what you do is so crucial today, I can't even I can't even stress it enough. Just that piece. Just that piece of you being confident about what you sell is so important. Because you're selling yourself, your products, your services, all that come later, you're just out there selling yourself. So try not to like sell all your crap on people in a networking event and just sell yourself and who you are. They'll be attracted to you and the right people will find you it happens to me all the time. Yeah, I

Michelle Abraham: 00:16:05

totally agree. I love it. Now, your podcast, Lita for women, is I love to be here. You just getting to know you and your podcasts over the last little while. I love the way that you you've positioned your podcasts and you help your community have more visibility through your podcast. Can you share a little bit about that? Yeah,

Unknown: 00:16:25

so that was the only reason why I did a radio show. The only reason why I did a podcast I literally I was coming from corporate America, I had no skill sets in podcasting. Being a host being an interviewee, I was a trainer, I was a business, you know, person, I was a business coach, like I did strategy with business owners. So to I was not afraid to be in front of a crowd. But to be a podcast host. I had to stay up night after night and listen to like, what are the interview questions? What do you say? How do you do it? I had all these scripts to figure it out. And I remember the first two times I was in there, Michelle, they looked at me and they said you don't need a script, you are naturally talented, just ditch this script and just be you on the microphone or just say what you want to say and ask the questions you want to ask. And it'll just flow so nicely. And I was like, I needed to trust myself. But it was a new venture, right? We need to trust ourselves. And so I did. And I use the platform to just bring in unique women to interview my members of Lita for women, because the goal of leadup for women was not just to build a community that was connection and collaboration and networking. We I mean, every female organization out there has that what was missing and all the other organizations was the spotlight opportunity for the members to constantly be out there with their brands. So we do that through the podcast member Monday spotlights the teaching Tuesday webinars that thrive Thursday spotlights for the females that inspire us to thrive, everything we do, is about keeping our members out there and in the forefront and shining lights on them. And I mean, that's why I wrote a book called Step into the spotlight to expand your influence to attract the right clients. Because it's exactly what happened to me, I just busted out of corporate America just started being on the radio being who I was. And then I just had all these followers, I had all these people downloaded, we had 1000s and 1000s of downloads, you know, every week back when I was in radio, you know, every month, and it was so great, because women from 35 different countries, were listening to me. And it was pretty awesome. Just to know that I didn't start with that skill. But I used it as a platform to get visibility for my members to get visibility for my brand, which would bring more women into the community for the women that were the members, right to expand their influence.

Michelle Abraham: 00:18:49

Love it. Listeners just pulling back like clean descent, that is a brilliant strategy and a really great way to look at your podcasts as a tool for collaboration for networking, for spotlighting your clients, your programs. I think that's a really brilliant way that's not being used a lot in the podcasting space. That's a very much overlooked ability to to kind of use your podcasts in that way. And I think with when relationships and we're building relationships, I love my podcast to be able to offer people I want to get to know better to come on my show, right? So it's a great network expander. Let's just put it that way. Yeah, network center. So for our listeners that are listening at home or maybe thinking about starting a podcast, or they're an expert or author coach, and they want to get more visibility on a platform, they want to start getting some more traction. Maybe they've been doing a few networking things here and there. What are three things that you can three things that you can share with them that will help get them moving?

Unknown: 00:19:51

One I'm going to say there are so many websites out there pod match, like I could go on and name 1000 of them. have opportunities where you can go out and start applying for podcasts to be on podcast. Here's what I didn't do. When I first started, I was so focused on getting guests. And then and then I had guests lined up for six months, then I was like holy crap. And I was interviewing two to three people at a time, per podcast and or a radio show. And I had people booked out for months, right. And then when I went to one, it even got further out. So I was so focused on getting the clients and the other people I was interviewing, I never focused on me and me getting on podcasts. And I remember in 2020, I said to my assistant that I was working with our focus for 2021 is to expand lead up for women in every area, which means I need to be on more stages, I need to be on more podcasts. And so we just went hit the ground running. And I'm on at least two podcasts a week, and that aren't mine. So and then I started asking people, when they when they would invite me on their podcasts, I would say, Oh, I haven't had you on mine, or when they're on mine. And they'd say they have a podcast and they're advertising it. When we would be done interviewing, I would say, hey, could I be on your podcast? And then of course you can, I never asked before so they never offered. And there were so many people that slipped away from me that have podcasts. So a ask, if you don't ask you don't get period. That's just the way it works. So yeah, ask others to be on their podcast and use your podcast as an opportunity for you to be able to give unto them first, right? You kind of put that morsel out there first, you're serving them, giving them the opportunity. So that's number one is that the second one is there are so many summits out there. And speaking opportunities, you really need to polish up speaking, right, the one to many is how you're going to be seen the most. So I say look into getting speaking opportunities anywhere you can. And sometimes it's even in communities like mine, where you feel safe. You know, you know who I am, you know who the other women are. So you don't feel as intimidated. Right. So maybe start small. And I think the last thing is networking. The top three is definitely getting out there to talk about yourself on podcast speaking places, and networking, like networking is the biggest one. I've so many opportunities in my networking groups for you to sponsor and just talk for five minutes about yourself. You know, there's, there's a lot there's so many other networks that I connect women with, in my weekly newsletters that go out where I say, hey, this community is having a networking event that communities have a networking event, this community is looking for speakers, that communities looking for speakers, you know, I'm constantly selling other communities, because what it does is it offers opportunities to my members, for them to expand their expand their influence, everywhere. It isn't about just expanding your influence and lead up. It's about expanding your influence to attract clients. Those clients might not be here, those clients might be in that other, that other community that you go into, I don't know. But I really feel like when we all collaborate podcasters collaborate. When communities collaborate, when businesses collaborate, when we help other women, then we're going to get so much back in return.

Michelle Abraham: 00:23:11

Absolutely. One of the best things that you said this, and I just want to bring it back up again, is that we with the podcast, you get to lead with service, you get to offer someone that platform first. And then that law of reciprocity comes into play oftentimes and asking, asking for that return guessing slot is great. It's so interesting that you said guesting and being a networking and speaking I think those I can contribute those three things. Exactly. You said to the success of my business as well. It's been the fastest path to having more success of those three things. And I couldn't agree more with those three that you that you brought up which you say that women in business like I love that I love the women in business thing. And I feel like there's just so much connection, so much heart, with women in business, how else can we support each other? Like, I feel like there's a big opportunity there is becoming a big part of the entrepreneurial market. How can us women help each other you know, like, oh, you know, all boats rise the tide together, right? So how do you see it happening that we can also pray to the more?

Unknown: 00:24:20

I think one of the big things is and I do this with all my clients. I've done this for so many years and that is what really has made me stand out as a coach is I meet people where they're at. I think it's so important to realize that where someone is is just where they're at, it's not who they are. And there's a lot of judgment out there and I am so thankful that God gave me these eyes that I get to see through because I don't see that in other people. I don't see judgment. I just see how awesome they are. I see their goodness, right. So I really believe that and I say lead up and leave the ladder down right and lead up is like a verb to Right. It's like a verb. It's an adjective. It's a noun. It's everything that we should be doing. You have to lead first, when we see another woman move a mountain, then we know it's possible. It's think about the Olympics, when someone breaks a record, then seven people right behind them break a record that fast. However, we could go three years without a record being broken. But as soon as one person does it, because they think it's impossible, and everyone does it, but in the word, impossible, is it impossible. So A, we have to be the ones that are the leaders that show the others, then Never be afraid to collaborate and take others with you. Feeling like oh my gosh, but they could steal my customers never has anyone stolen one of my customers ever, by the way, by the way, never has that ever happened. So I think it's about collaboration. And no matter who you are, if you're in corporate America, if you're an entrepreneur, if you're a stay at home, mom, if you're trying to get out of corporate America and start your own business, we need to meet people where they're at. And so, you know, the communities I build, because I'm building a new community right now for me, and people that love you know, being around me and, and want more, you know, development and goal setting and accountability, which is what I do with my current clients right now, but doing it on a different level where everyone has the opportunity. This is for someone, you know, I have college students and stay at home moms and female entrepreneurs and people in in corporate America, you do not have to be a female entrepreneur, to have a drive to want to collaborate and meet other people. There's a fun little networking event, I go to once a once a month, where there's ladies in there that are retired. And let me tell you what, they have a lot of wisdom. So you tap into that as much as you can. And I ask them all kinds of questions. And I'm not obviously I'm not going to get business from them. But let me tell you, I get so much wisdom from them. And I learned from them. So I think when we have our perspective just looks a little bit different when we go into things, and always be looking to collaborate and assist other people and never be afraid to open a door first for someone not expecting them to open a door for you. Hmm,

Michelle Abraham: 00:27:10

is that no, that's some wisdom right there. Yeah, and just dropping the looking through a lens of like, how can we help each other? How can we support each other is is I think the way that of the way that it needs to be without the judgment. So I love what you're saying, Kelly, where can we connect with you next? And our listeners, I'm sure are like, Oh my God, we got to connect with her because you do such a great job. Like you said, walking your talk. You're magnetizing people want to connect with you, where can they reach out to you?

Unknown: 00:27:45

Yeah, there's a lot of places. So I definitely encourage you to follow me Lita for women everywhere, which is on every social media channel, LinkedIn, as well as Lita for women.com. But I also encourage you to go to Colleen Biggs dotnet, or inner circle with Coleen dotnet, there's another place that you can connect with me, that's going to be a closer community that I'm building for the ladies like I have in my book club, right? The ones that are action taking, they want to set goals, they want to make changes in their businesses, they're ready to grow, they want to grow, they're looking to change, they want to set goals, that's really the community that I'm building and those ladies are the ones that you know, are really focused on those areas in their life. So again, all my communities provide visibility and they provide you to be seen be heard and be visible. But you know, the different communities provide a little bit of different things so you can find me anywhere online like I said at lead up for women, or you can find me on LinkedIn at calling Biggs to

Michelle Abraham: 00:28:45

thank you see the inner circle and again,

Unknown: 00:28:47

yeah, it's www dot inner circle with Colleen dotnet