Steve Feld

Welcome to Behind the Lectern. Since 2006. Your host, Jeff Klein has been working with speakers at all levels, from beginners to Toastmasters International Award winners from experts to national speaker Association Hall of Famers. In each episode, Jeff introduces you to some of these speakers as you learn about their speaker journey, how they got started, where they came from, where they're going, and more. Take the lessons they have learned on their way to help you with your own path to make speaking work for you. Let's get started.

Good day. Good morning, everybody. Jeff Klein here for another episode of Behind the Lectern. I'm excited to welcome business coach Steve Feld here and let me introduce Steve. Steve business coach Steve Feld is a certified business coach, author, professional speaker, podcast host and award winning business management executive. His goal is to stop business owners from suffering entrepreneurial depression, and to stop making running their business so difficult. I want to put damn in front of that. Is that okay, so damned?

Yeah, that that another word? Yeah.

He has owned and operated seven businesses and turned around three others. business owners and entrepreneurs hire Steve the crack seven figures without burning themselves out. Welcome Biz Coach Steve.

Great. Well, thank you for having me. I'm glad that we connected and you know, our focus here on on behind the lectern is your speaking journey and, and how speaking contributes to your business? Why did you start speaking? When did you first When was your first speech? Yeah, after running so many businesses, I always had to be in front of the room and talk and people said why you seem really comfortable. And inside, I was like, a wreck. So I went and got that fix. But then I realized to grow my business, I need to be on stage. And I really enjoyed it. I love sharing my knowledge and helping others. And I started speaking at local clubs, chambers and rotary and started working myself up. And then I started working on a speech and what can I value can I give to people, so I speak in associations, people that have or tribes, I should say, any organizations that have like business owners, because that's what I speak on. It's something to help business owners and all levels. And it was tremendous, it was going phenomenal right before the pandemic hit, or the stages closed up. I switched over to podcast guests. And then as the stages start opening up, virtually, I got back on those. And now it's starting to seem, I have my own podcast to just like, you know, we were sharing and helping others in a greater mass. And I think it's phenomenal. And I've seen some unbelievable speakers where I've gained so much knowledge from and I think people have something to say and getting on a stage is the best way to do it.

Absolutely. No question about that. Tell me you said you took you got it fixed. Let's talk about that.

Yeah, I I was inside, I felt like demons were tearing my innards apart. Honestly, I was. I felt like I was sweating and shaking and everything. And everyone said, you're calm, cool, collected, and I would get off of the stage and just be exhausted. And there was something that I had to work on. So I went to Toastmasters. And that actually helped me launch getting on stages. And actually then I learned from others on how to sell from the stage or share contribute from the stage. And I also learned how to get on stages. So now I teach that to a lot of people as well.

Excellent now, so I'll just welcome Samuel to our live studio audience. Samuel, if you have a question, feel free to chime in. Thank you for joining us. We go from zero to seven or you know, gaffes and things like that. But we're glad to have you just listen in Samuel. All right, so let's just talk about Toastmasters for a few minutes. I'm a big fan. How did you learn that it existed?

I actually have heard about Toastmasters. So I was typical person going, Oh, it's a place where you make toast right or something like or they work on toasts, and all that. But then I started looking in the organization and started learning it does a lot more. So I went there to solve my problem and kill my inner demons. And I gave us each one Time on glossa phobia number one fear in the whole wide world fear of public speaking. Okay, I did research on it, I found that all the same emotions I had for fear speaking, are the exact same emotions as excitement. So it was a mind shift, switch to gut when I get on stage now I'm excited. And I always go on the stage, thinking, I'm gonna rock this all the emotion and feeling I'm excited, I'm jacked up versus where it used to be before like, I hope I don't pass out.

Right? Well, you said you left the stage exhausted. before?

And before just because you're all can't stop.

Yeah, right. Exactly. Plan. It's funny, I was talking with another guest the other day. And that's the difference, you know, the fear of sometimes the introvert. They give it all to the audience. And they're exhausted when they're done. And then those of us who got into some of this because we love to be in front of the room and, and we're the Akbar extrovert and, and now that you you know, overcome those, you're with us, we get energy from the audience. They speak in the evening, I can't get to sleep that night. So I'm so amped up, pardon. They come and go during the show.

I know I'm still an introverted technically, but

Of course, yeah, that doesn't change but

Energy in and energy out. Whereas before it was like, I'm just trying to hold it together to finish my presentation.

Right, that's so great. And there's very low barrier to entry with Toastmasters, it's very affordable. You do a one to five minute speech every week, when you go to the meetings, and some of them are prepared and some intentionally are not prepared,

Right. And that's where a lot of people come to toastmasters work on that impromptu speaking, because every day your boss calls on you, this will really help solve all your problems at work. And it actually we've seen people get advancement in their jobs because their communication skills have increased so much.

And it's really popular with people who are born English as their second language, or third language or what have you. It's not their first language, it's really popular. Because every week they're having to type in conversation. It's not the same thing as doing a formal talk, where the people in the room are counting your arms and your you know,

Get cleaned up. If you're in there, and I kid you not, that will set you apart from many other speakers, showing your expertise just by cleaning up your owns in your eyes, out of your vocabulary. All of a sudden, if you're on the stage with someone who's dominant on the hallway, you come out and give the exact same presentation without all that you're the expert and the other person gets kind of dismissed to the side. It's we humans somehow.

Now if we could just get journalists to take that class. Yeah, I forbid if they read off their teleprompter. It's used to listen to a talk show or an interview show every weekend on NPR and I was like there needs to be a Toastmaster chapter just for that show. Not all of our guests but a lot of our guests were errs, and I was and I do it. I just did it. But but if you're doing it three or four times in the same sentence, it'd be a really good idea to join a Toastmasters Club. If you're really cool. Now, some of them are virtual you can. No friend of mine here in Dallas is in California Toastmasters Club. Oh, hi.

I'm in a couple of clubs. One is purely virtual for business people. And it's at a different level. It's like, get rid of the hums and ahhs and let's because you're meeting clients, customers, we're all on stages. So it has to be really polished. And so we work hard at it. And I even run the Arizona Toastmasters speaker's bureau how to get on stage and what to do to get on stage. And then what do you do when you get on stage?

Yeah, yeah, well, and especially clubs you were just talking about so I know a little bit about it. We had a group in Dallas, I'm not sure if they're still around called crow's feet. And it was a group of folks who aspired to be public speakers for their next job. And so tell us just a little about that. This didn't mean this certain. It's not a commercial for Toastmasters. But it was part of an important part of your journey. You're still involved, and people should know about it.

I went there for my personal things, but when you talk to other people, it's like we all have the same kind of communication issues, if you will, it could be impromptu speaking. It could be cleaning up your homes and maybe you want to be a professional Speaker maybe you just want to be a great community civics speaker talking to groups, youth groups and everything else, it's a great way to clean up your message and really get so you can get your point across because I'm we both been I'm sure, conferences, meetings, whatever, in the you have no idea what the speakers talking about. They just ramble. And it's very difficult to follow and have them as the expert where something like Toastmasters helps you clean up those other 20 organize other organizations like National Speakers Association, many others, that's at a different level.

Yeah, and I actually consider Toastmasters here at one end of this, what I call the speaking spectrum. And I say at the other because here is it's how to get comfortable speaking and overcome the fear of speaking, which was a really their original mission. And then over here, and essay is the trade association for the profession of public speaking. And you know, this is some of our audience that doesn't, and try to say, you know, they actually will go to Washington and lobby on behalf of speaking as a business, there's a tax, something that's affecting taxes, whatever it is their job, and they sponsored the CSP, the certified speaking professional, which is the CPA for the speaking world. It's a bit it's a lot more prestigious, and I'm not putting down CPAs. There's, it's a lot more prestigious than a CPA, but each industry, every industry has an association. And a lot of them have certifications. Some people are become certified project managers certified meeting planners, is CSP a certified speaking professional. And that's the most elite group of people who are public speakers, it takes several years to achieve. And there you have to jump through a bunch of hoops. And they also have a Hall of Fame as an organization. And like to brag that we've had Hall of Fame, NSA speakers involved in speaker call up since early on. But the sense of course, I'll give us a little plug speaker cops in the middle of that spectrum, because we draw from both sides, because we're mainly a venue for speakers to expose themselves to meeting plan. And both people on your on the toes man that you're and you're not letting anymore, but the Toastmasters and where they like having a speaker Bureau and the NSA and both one audiences and that's the primary thing speaker club.com provides is access to more audiences. So yeah, there's a little commercial in the middle of the show.

I highly recommend to people who are serious about becoming professional speakers, start finding something to help you on your path. It will help go to these professional organizations and take advantage of their knowledge and learn use the skills you got to work at it. It doesn't happen overnight. But I've seen the transformation of people ready to pass out on for just talking for a minute to within four months. They're getting a 45 minute presentation. Like they've been practicing this a whole life.

Yeah, and I it's really what does and we'll move on in a second. But to what Toastmasters has done that I'm so impressed with is the curriculum is super organized, yes, and progressive. So my friend who's in that virtual group just passed her first milestone. And I don't know what it's called. But her first milestone, which is X number of talks and X number of evaluations and all these other things, and she probably isn't going to stick with it just because it hurts her schedule. But she has gained so much from doing it and having a goal, having a benchmark to get to and then say okay, now I get to decide, do I want to go after the next benchmark, predominate, go somewhere else and advance my education for my business or? Yeah,

I've already hit achieved the distinguished Toastmasters level, and I'm on my second one, I'll have that done here in a couple of months. And I don't know I'd say I've gained so much from Toastmasters. But in the meantime, it's like I focus on the speaking side of my business, and I noticed when it's done. Sure, well, and you have to be a chapter officer to get DTM, right. Yeah, I've been an officer I've worked

And that's again for personal and professional development. Serving as an officer in a club is really important.

Absolutely.

And it teaches you how to be a manager. And it teaches you how to work with people and out of all kinds of things that because you know we had a networking group that I was involved in back in the last century No, not in the last century back in the in the 2000s. In the arts, where we had a lot of folks who really develop professionally because they decided to jump into leadership of the group and that helped them in their professional development made them better at work. So, you know, all those things can improve yourself. As soon as there are the moustache there was the cat tail mustache. And so it's just well, however you're doing your development, if you're a do it yourself or reading those books, nothing is better than joining some sort of a club that can help you just learn how to be in front of the room by doing it.

Practice it's all practice, like everything else in life, you got to practice it. And organizations like Toastmasters just gives you that safe environment practicing right? You can screw up all day long, Toastmasters, you're gonna get good feedback. Don't want to do it.

Yeah, and I have a funny story. I got an honorary DTM, a distinguished Toastmaster with there's no such thing. But I've spoken at several Toastmasters regional conferences, even though I've never been a Toastmaster. And they fill out a thank you certificate. And the thank you certificate was to Jeff Klein DTM. Because they assumed because I was speaking at a conference that I was walking. So I have a certificate around here somewhere that that says I'm a DTM. So I call it my honorary. So I'll take it for sure. So how did you know that speaking could help you, with your Promote Your Business at Rotary or what happened?

I started doing live workshops. Okay, bringing business owners in and running a presentation. And it became very comfortable. I'm like, I'm only doing it to 10 to 15 people here, why not go a little bit bigger and change the subject. So I started getting requested for things like your messages money, want more money. And then another one was like leadership. And I'm like, Well, I'm not a leadership coach, per se that that's my focus. But I started doing for lead around leadership and personal advancement. And that started like, really triggering. Like, why are these people asking me for this? Something that they see? And I'm thinking, Wait a minute, this is fun. And then I started doing some keynotes. But I throw in a lot of humor in my stuff. So I was kind of like, if I make a serious keynote, because it's really not me. But then I start interacting the humor and make it really mine. And that's when it was like that was the shift. Like, once I put me into the speech, light bulb, light bulb, and it was the big part was I was on stage and they said, Hey, you could sell from the stage. So I just put an offer out there at 31. People want me to coach them one on one. That's when the bigger light bulb went on, like, oh, I can't do this, you know, because I can't coach 31 people. Yeah. So I started bringing on coaches to help me with that. But then I started realizing, oh, my gosh, did you just not the but volleyball was great. That was my new lead gen strategy. So I started getting on more stages and doing it that way. And then I could pass these people off to my coaches. And it was going phenomenal right before the pandemic and I even brought on speakers to help like multiply myself.

Wow, so you filled in you were doing the replication model? Before, right, so of course, it's all gonna come back, Steve, I'm confident is it's all of that.

And when the stage is opened up more now it's got a little tougher because everyone now is a professional speaker. It's like, you get a lot of that. But the state has gotten tighter. So they conferences that were five days long. Yeah. And they brought in speakers two days long, and they're sticking to only their industry specific speakers. So it's gotten tighter with

Yeah, I've seen some of that I was talking to somebody the other day about their business. And they're saying, Well, we're only bringing in people from our company to train. And I was like, wow, that is really short sighted.

It is. And I learned that years ago, when I was that, I think was an Accounting Association in the for a region. And they said, we only bring in two experts from the industry because we know that they're talking only industry knowledge, so it never goes outside the bonds. So we're bringing in speakers from outside the box to expand all of our members.

They understood what they need that they needed to do that. Hey guys.

They're one of the biggest organizations in the national CVS Association.

I was at, I was researching becoming continuing education certified. And I went to the Texas Bar Association website. And all of the and this is when I had an ad agency was my primary business. And I was speaking to get clients for the ad agency. So all of the experts on marketing for the Texas Bar Association are attorneys. And I, you know, can I crack the code? Will they let me in? If I'm not a lawyer first? And the answer in that situation was No. Now, it might have changed now, 10 years later, but they're still there. Yes.

That's an industry that moves at a snail. And then they wonder why. Yeah, that's for sure. There's many industries like that, I think for a speaker, you have to find the industry that's more progressive that gets it. And to find a device with a lot of calls and a lot of emails and loved door knocking.

For sure, yeah. And paying attention to what, what your colleagues are doing.

That's it. And I've learned so much from people that have shared a stage with or been on other stages. And it's been amazing getting their insight. And I think that's another thing for all speakers. You didn't need to hang out with other speakers. Honestly, it's not what you can they can do for me, and they're going to do more for you than you realize they're gonna share stuff, their knowledge, their expertise, but they also want to share where they just did a stage. Well, they don't get invited back. We all know that. It's like, if I just had a conference, and you were my keynote, and my conference come out next year, you're not going to be my keynote yet. It's just I need

Yeah.

So, uh, sharing information, maybe I can be that keynote the second year.

Well, and then that makes me think of the greenroom where they, you know, they have usually have a room where the speakers gather and have coffee, or whatever. And a lot of conferences, I want to be out there among the people, because that's why I'm at the conference, I get to clients that don't miss spending time in the green room with your fellow speakers.

Hey, you know what, you can go out and mingle and mix and mingle and POM press after your speech of before it's work on your speaking business. And it's in the green room?

Well, and I would probably say that the before and after you want to do both, because you want to get to know the crowd before you speak. But at what you're saying is absolutely correct. You want to definitely get some FaceTime with your audience.

Yeah. You don't also don't know who's out in the crowd. Yeah, they might have via a guest at the so at that event, or know someone game a ticket, and that person is looking for speakers on their stages. So you don't know who's in the crowd. So you got to think of that all the time and say,

Oh, yeah, and I was talking to the other day and saying to folks, if you're booked to speak in a multi day conference, do everything you can to attend the whole conference.

I couldn't agree more. I learned that the easy way. Someone told me, it was a two day conference. So I was booked on the first day I said, Listen, I'm here, you already got me for the next day. If someone cancels, I have another speech ready to go. I can fill in the next morning. They're calm. Yep, we need you here at 10am. Nice. And I got so I got two days got paid two times.

Nice. But that's really cool

That I totally agree with you. I was planning to be there the whole conference, mix and mingle and learn and palm press and the whole nine yard.

So yeah, so many of the places I'm speaking now, I'm its peers. I mean, it's other people who are also speaking. And the people who drop in and leave don't, they're not part of the community.

That's it. That's a great point. And how many times we've seen speakers, they get off the stage, I have a plane to catch their missing golden opportunity here to really connect with the audience and the event organizer. So now the organizers like, well, they only gave the value on stage, but they didn't stick around to give the value to the members of the guests. So it's kind of a negative sometimes unless you're such a high profile.

Well and again, to your point about future events, the if somebody's at the event, and they're hunting for their event, the person who's hanging around and they have dinner with is not is gonna get the first choice before the person who flies in and flies out.

That's it. Yeah, I learned that early and hard. Because I used to be the one who flew in and flew out and one of the speakers goes you're missing the boat. Yeah. And after that, they kind of slapped me upside my head and was like, I after that, I was like, Oh, you have a three year comments. Can I get committed include a free date?

Yeah, right. Yeah. You don't need to pay to stay get them.

Yeah, at least my extra room. I don't care. Yes. Residence and then even On the third day, it's like, well, I spoke the first day, why are you still doing a three? Gain? It gives you a lot of credibility

Yeah, I'm here to learn from the other speakers. I'm here to give value to you. If you have questions about my talk, all that good stuff, and you can finagle a booth at the trade show, that's always a good part of compensation. But you have to have somebody to work at you cannot get stuck at the tradeshow, you've got to figure that part out.

That's, that's when you need a friend of a friend.

Or a great virtual assistant. Who's who can be in person.

You got brought up a good point, too, because you could sell your books and courses and everything to the organizer, not necessarily to the crowd. And that's a great way to sell without selling.

Yeah, absolutely. In a lot of conferences, they have the real estate, and they're happy to add it to your compensation.

Oh, yeah. I always think try to negotiate a booth if they happens.

Yeah. Yeah, we're on the same page for a lot of stuff. So and the other even the rubber chicken circuit, you know, that joke about rotary and chamber and all and association, where that's my bread and butter. But there are speakers who don't stay for those meetings.

I know. And it's like, those are the people you want to really connect with, because it's 2030 people in the room. Yeah. I'm the last one to leave and all that stuff. If it's the right audience, what are you serving for lunch? Yeah, they're like, well, we can't pay. I don't what do you serve in for lunch? Yeah, I'm there.

That's something we started teaching folks early on, here's a speaker come ask if they have a budget? Yeah. If they say no, say I'm, well tell me about your group. I sometimes waive my fee. So I'm not a free speaker on a speaker's willing to waive this fee in the right situation, which is 90% of the time, the right to join, because the group's not gonna pay anyway.

Right. And I even still given them an invoice.

Yeah. And that's exactly right. When I don't do an invoice but I do a letter of agreement. Yes. That has the price of the speech crossed out and says, wait.

Yeah, that way it shows value.

The other thing in the letter of agreement, Steve, is this is confidential.

Yes. Oh, yeah.

So so only the organizer, or the leaders are supposed to know about that. And it's, it's really funny, people who attend meetings, don't really think about it. And a lot of them don't know that you're not getting paid.

Yes, that's true.

But again, we're not there in that room to get paid from the group beforehand. We're there to get paid by being able to make an offer to the audience and get some clients.

Yeah, I mean, I know speakers were get paid to do their keynote, and then peace out. That's their model. My model is like, Hey, listen, I find it if I'm in front of the right group, I want to get paid. But I want to get paid with either from the producer from the crowd, someone's going to, I'll sell without selling some way, somehow some form. And there's a lot of times I'll get on someone's stage. And it's the mind crowd, and they don't have a budget and say, can I make an offer? And I'll press that until they say yes.

And can I have a table? Yeah. Okay, if they won't let me make an offer, and they won't let me have a table, then they have to pay? Yeah, that's where I'm at. But because I can do a talk without making an offer. But I have to have a table with my offer on the table. That's it. And we even have our letter of agreement says that you get everybody's email. Oh, nice. Yeah. So and we you know, we just celebrate that with by doing like a door prize drawing, if it's in person, virtual, it's a hassle to try to get everybody to put their email in the chat to correct one. Yeah, but the group organizer has signed something that they're going to send me the email list. And I have no problem asking for that. We're giving them value. Now, again, we have to make sure we do give them value. But but those of us who are good at this, give value first. Oh, and then the rest comes behind that. We call it speak to get paid. And that old model, man, I've run into a few people who think they can stick to that old model, and I'm telling you, it is not going to work out

Now it's gone. If you're from that old school, thinking about it, there's so many ways to be creative now to get on a stage and work your magic. And if you're still stuck in the old way, like hey, they're gonna pay me or else I'm not gonna know, guess what, the organizers is going to take someone else. They're not paying, but they're allowing yourself on the stage and you missed a golden opportunity.

And that's the second speakers. Got to make more money.

Yeah, I looked in there from another speaker they got, I used to just get paid. And that was it, I kept my courses to myself, then I woke up to the fact that I sold my courses, I make more money than what they've taken. Now, they only get on stages where they can sell. And then they always have a booth where they sell. And they said, they always made a ton of money in events because they sell their products that they made on the stage.

When I started in this business, when I first started hanging out with speakers in like 2004, I actually joined the local NSA chapter as a vendor with the ad agency to do videos and websites. And I sat there and got the education, unlike the folks who the other vendors who hung out the hall, but then that that education is one of the reasons I'm successful today. But you know, go into those meetings. And that was the time when they could still say, I have one story. I have one book. And the even the same audience, same association would book them multiple years in a row to do keynotes. Right? They ramped up the crowd. And there was even I even remember one guy where I was because we prime we lead with topics on the on speaker club.com. And I said what are your topics? And he said leadership and team building? That's okay, do you have topic titles for those of somebody wants to book you? Because nobody's gonna just book leadership. They're gonna book The guy over here that says how to lead like Julius Caesar or whatever. And he said, No, that's always worked for me. And it did. I mean, he had a 20 year career, and his clients would book him over and over again, and they would refer him to other people. So he had like a closed group of companies that kept him in rent and kibble and whatever and or his house payment and what have you. But there's no way that works now.

No, you need to always be sharpening the spear that

Yeah, and value and not just value. Nobody in motor, the word term, inspirational speaker and motivational speaker, they're going away. As people, they may want to be motivated and inspired. But the folks who are paying for speakers want results.

That's it. That's why I was always in Florida. Wait, why do you want my leadership thought? And then it was like, Oh, wait, I integrate this stuff in it and everything else? Oh, it took me a long time to realize that Yeah, yeah. You're right. I've seen the same speakers that give the same speech. They do it 200 times a year, year over year.

Yeah. And now what's funny is a couple of those people have recently written their second book.

Yeah. But what I was gonna say was that, you know, the whole thing about learning from each other, and yeah, there's just nothing like it.

Right? Yeah. 20 Some years later, yeah.

Because they had to, if they wanted to stay in the business.

That's it.

And one guy who actually is in the Hall of Fame, he started doing a workshop on how to build a keynote and be successful, which, what a great person to teach it. He'd done it for 2030 years. And that then he wasn't he didn't have to teach something he didn't know how to do because he shares tech knew how to build a powerful keynote. And so you started doing boot camps, clinics for that, which is really smart. And that's the whole pivot thing. Right?

That's it? Yeah. i It's funny, because you mentioned that books. I mean, I just finished, my seventh book is being edited right now. And it's putting not having an arsenal of product services. You can customize which one you want to talk about to that crowd. And I think that helps any presenter.

Right, where I'm serving, and that's part of it is celebrities don't have in this conversation, right? Well, every speaker is a celebrity. And they come in and they do 45 minutes, and they motivate and they don't have to get results because they're famous, and they've gotten people to the conference. Yeah,

The name brings the people in today.

But then the guy who goes after them, and the gal who goes after them, they're certainly going to be delivering a better, something more useful to the audience. But you'll notice that they're at the conference. Because the conference organizer needs their attendees to get results, so they bring in those people like you and me to help them get the results after the celebrity.

Yeah, exactly.

Now. I've learned so much from my fellow speakers. It's, it's one of the better education's

Yeah, and I just did a speaker retreat. And some people would say, Well, you've been speaking for 16 years now. 18 years. Why would you Nita, holy cow, I learned I still learn stuff. Or that's because I'm willing to learn.

I think it is a learning experience every time you walk on the stage and before and after. Because you're learning about the not only what goes on the stage, it's like, but from the event organizers, they're going to share what the trends are in the industry now. And if they like you, of course, they're going to share their contacts,

Right. Well, and I've tried to, as another way to get event planners to our website, we have tips for meeting planners. And some of them Steve are really basic things that a professional would know. But somebody who just became the programming chair for their club, and they have to get 40 new speakers this year. They don't know all that stuff. The some of it is just about making sure your speaker gets fed before the meeting. And I had one and you know that all of the what's funny is all of my tips came from experiences, right? Like, one group, I ate a eating lunch alone. It's like I was, and this group they had, they were worried about running out of food at the buffet. And so the leadership ate last. But the speaker ate first. So they put me in line first. They've sent me brought me to a table. And then they all went and stood at the back of the line. So I had alone. It was like, one answer to that is don't put me at the head table, put the speaker with other people, which was right, or the other answer is have somebody also eat with the speaker. And that means just little things like that. That didn't they didn't really think about it.

I wish I could say that's never happened.

Well, and the letter of agreement doesn't say I don't need a loan, but it definitely says I don't buy my own lunch.

Yeah, that's how it's like, yeah, like

It's in the letter of agreement that provide lunch for me and an assistant if I have one. I had one group that was hosted by the restaurant owner and she didn't buy lunch for the assistant, you had to pay for your other systems.

As a learning lessons.

Yeah, well, you know, you because I gave her the she crossed through that or whatever. But it's just funny that the things that people pick and choose to do? Well, okay, so I want to make sure I give you an opportunity to tell us what his coach Steve stands for, besides being a great speaker and all that good stuff. Tell us about what you teach people about their business.

Yeah, I focus on primarily small business owners and entrepreneurs. So I have programs set up for automated I call my elearning Academy. So has tools resources for like startups, so forth. Also group coaching, and one on one coaching and masterminds. The big thing I teach them, I have proprietary software where I can find business, anywhere from 10,000 to over $100,000, a hidden annualized revenue in 45 minutes. And not only that, we have an implementation schedule, so we go after it. And we'd like to do it without spending more money on marketing or advertising. So that's kind of my secret sauce.

Very cool. Tell me the numbers again, because I want to put them in the show.

Yeah, we can find a business owner anywhere from 10,000 to over $100,000 of hidden annualized revenue. So it all depends on the size of the business.

Sure, sure.

And, but we also have Purdue that produces a report and we can follow a game plan on it. It's kind of like been my weapon lately. And putting them in like group coaching programs start off with like foundational strategies, which I was shocked. It's more like business one on one.

And I've been in business for 10 years. And they don't need it

Because they forgot the foundations was we know we build a building, right? You have to have a strong foundation to build a building. Well, many business owners build a weak foundation and start working on the building so fast, but they didn't work on the foundation. So I've been noticing businesses that have been in business 10 years, they're hopping into this, and they're just like, if I would have known this 10 years ago, my business would be in a better place. It's like you know it now so now it's time to put it in the buildings up. Let's just Sure. The foundation.

Hey, there are things if I had known at 25 My life would be very different right now.

Yes, I know what I know now at 25.

I would have put 25 bucks a month into some sort of an account, right?

Yeah. I'd be on the cover of magazines.

Right. You'd be the guy next to Bezos on the rocket right? Yeah. exactly what was that? Must I get them confused? That was?

Oh, yeah. All right on both of their rockets. Oh, good.

There you go. The basic business stuff. It's like, arithmetic. It's stuff we all know and just don't implement. Yeah, a lot of businesses already ignore it because we think we don't need it.

Yeah, it's like, what I see with a lot of business owners, they have a good service or products, and they work on that and getting sales. But then all sudden, they get to a point like, Why did my sales start declining? Well, you don't know your business. So you only know what you know. So you don't know about marketing, accounting, HR, all the other aspects of business. That's where I come in and say, Okay, let's build a long term sustainable business. Because one day, you probably want to exit this thing. And you haven't even thought of that. So that's a problem. So you're shooting your arrow? And there's no target.

Yeah, they got sales and customer service. Yeah. And nothing at all. Uh, well, a lot of them don't know how to manage their expenses, either.

Oh, I see that all the time. And that's always been my joke. It's like, let me let's crack open your financial statements. And I'll find your investment into this.

Yeah, absolutely.

Waste money. And I even had a coach do it to me years and years ago, and one of my businesses and I was shocked. And I thought I knew business. And I was still like, wow,

I actually had had a had a friend slack code that has become a friend, but in one of my networks put me take me through this program, the intro meeting. And if you did this, instead of this, well, it look like the end of the year. Oh, crap. Now, I have to figure out how to find time to make this that and still do all the other.

And that's probably the after I show them, like put them through the proprietary software. It's, they're always like, I Oh, my God, this would change my life. And it's like, number one questions? How am I going to do this? Yeah, that's where I come in.

That's where you bring in to help you implement Yeah.

And implement because I know, you got to think I'm pulling information from multiple businesses, multiple industries, and I'm using all that knowledge for you and your business. You could not accumulate all this.

Oh, yeah. Well, that's the coaching model was the outsourcing model. Yeah, do what you do best and bring in people who helped to help you with all the other stuff.

Avoid me, I have staff and VA, who do things I just don't want to do. Yeah, I can do I just don't want to do because it's sucking the life out of you with time. But you know what? They love it. Good. You did?

Yeah, exactly. Well, we the world needs worker bees. Yes. And that's not there's nothing derogatory about being good at what you do and enjoying it. Yeah. Because those of us who don't know how to stop moving, need him to keep our world to keep everything going. And being successful. I did a lot of work with the Administrative Professionals Association. He talks about the people that run the world. And most 90% are women. And they're super smart. And they once were secretaries. And they changed the name of their organization. And they're not administrative assistants anymore. They're Administrative Professionals, which they are they deserve. That a lot of nation has certifications. And, but they're in there. Thank God, their bosses mostly know how much they need them.

Yeah. And I always joked with a lot of mine, it's like once I realized who really is running the whole thing. Yeah. It's I always told, like, I would personally buy like, the Administrative Professional, like, here's a day pass, do not come in tomorrow, call in sick, go and have a day pass on me. Because I'm going to meet with your boss tomorrow. I want to see how he reacts. There will last well, that's hilarious. And I do that to show him like, yeah, unbelievable staff, and you're not appreciating it's a lesson for them. But once they start realizing they need to stop micromanaging and stop putting their fingers in the pie and hire great people.

Yeah, yeah, I had a friend colleague who has since passed, who wrote a book on acknowledgment. And one of my favorite stories from the book is he said he had a client CEO call him in because his assistant is was quitting. And he didn't want her to go and so he sat down he said, Okay, so tell me about her. How long she worked here. Then he was like 10 years and how long have you know this any any game a little bit of information and the guide my friend sat down with the woman and she said Whoa, he doesn't know who I am. And I've been working for him for 15 years. I have a son, you know, he didn't send me you know, my son didn't graduation from college, high school, college, birthdays, anniversaries, I get all his wife's gifts and all that kind of stuff. And Scotland back to the boss and said, I can't make a statement because you haven't appreciated. So find a good one now and appreciate the next one. And it won't happen again. So I mean, it's just and some of that stuff is so small to do I mean that the amount of energy it takes to do to add to Smile Day to take five minutes ask somebody how their weekend was, what I don't want to get off topic down a rabbit hole as deep as I could go that that's a big rabbit hole. But it we're we're now suddenly in on the Steve Feld behind the lectern interview where we're talking about administrators and their value. So that's okay, I want to tell us how to find Steve, how to get out of reach out to you.

Yeah, easiest way is my website. And it's bizcoachsteve.com. And I always offer like for business owners, hey, let's get on the call for 15 minutes to talk about your business. Because don't be out there all by yourself. You have no one to talk to. Don't worry, you have someone to talk to you now. And I'm not here to judge or sell you anything. You don't sell me. I don't sell you on those calls. It's like I'm here to listen and help whenever I can. Yeah, just gives you a and I've been doing that for years for business owners. And it's been amazing. It's like they just have no one to talk to. Yeah.

Sure. That's great. All right. So, bizcoachsteve.com. Anything I should have asked you that I did today.

Hey, I'm always open for speaking engagements.

That's good. They also got a bizcoachsteve.com to book Steve, what's your current topic title that you're having fun with?

Oh, everyone keeps its was on my site as I couldn't find it for a long time. It's called your messages money, want more money? And it's about I hear this all the time from business owners like I did this kind of an ad or did this and Facebook ads don't work? So I did a test? And I said, Yes, I did a one line Facebook paid advertisement. And my engagement went up by 600,000%. So your Facebook ads don't work. What it comes down to is your message sucks. Sorry. That's why it doesn't work. Yeah, I teach what what's wrong with the message. But I also give them three strategies that they can take away from the talk and put it right in their business, and it won't cost them a bloody pain to do it.

All right, so my audience is going to kill me if I don't ask you to just tell us that those three bullets, or we could just tease them and make them meet with you.

Yeah, I gonna master the last little

Make them book to speak if they want the three, those three takeaways, because, you know, one of the things that I've been teaching people for this whole time, is give value flow, give your best stuff, because here's what's gonna happen, you're gonna give me three things I can do. I'm going to go back to the office, I'm going to try one. It's going to help me I'm going to run out of time on the other two, and I'm going to hire Steve, to help me do the other two. And that's why we do this. Well, we do this help people. But the reason we speak to market is because the and the reason we give away our best stuff is because we know that it's going to come back around and people will hire us to help them.

That's it. And I'm starting as a yearly series of masterclasses on and on start it all off with three lead generating mistakes and how to avoid them. And so I'm giving, I'm giving it, it's like take it and I'll have those actually, I'm trying to get them posted on this on my facebook or on the the website, but it's usually on all my social media. You can find me on Biz Coach Steve on Facebook.

Excellent.

And I'm everywhere.

I love it. It's all about good. Good branding. Yes. Well, this was so much fun. We don't usually fill the whole hour just because we don't but you and I feel we could keep going. But we're gonna stop and give folks a break. And so they can build up come back for other episodes. And yeah, we're not going to do any three hour podcast for you folks. So I want to thank you so much the for being our guest on the show. And we'll look forward to seeing you out there on a stage or in a green room somewhere. And it's just been my pleasure to have this coach Steve Feld on Behind the Lectern.

Thank you for having me.