Steve Lowell CSP

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.

Hi, everybody, Jeff Klein, here with another episode of Behind the Lectern. I'm thrilled to welcome Steve Lowell. Steve is a very accomplished speaker out of Canada and has the certified speaking professional certification, which is quite an achievement. It's not. It's one of the more robust certifications to get in a profession. And welcome, Steve.

Well, thanks so much, Jeff. Glad to be here.

So tell us, Steve, how did you first Well, let me I'm gonna back up. Did you imagine when you were a kid, that you're going to be a speaker as your profession?

No, not when I was a kid. But I did start to imagine that at about age 1918 or 19.

Okay, so how did that come about?

Well, when I was a child, I was a musician. And that's how I envisioned my life to be was to be a professional musician. And so I started playing when I was about six years old, I did my first public appearance at six years old. And then through my childhood, I started doing TV shows, and then live performances. And then I had a band, you know, all of those things that we do. And I was, you know, in my teens, I was touring the country with my band. But what happened was, I realized that in the music business, there's basically two camps. There's the camp that eats hot dogs, and there has the camp that eats steak, and I was in the hot dog camp, and steak was nowhere in sight, you know, so, but at age 18, I guess it was one of those stories. You know, Jeff, where I stumbled across a video of somebody speaking, I stumbled across a Zig Ziglar video. Wow. And I watched this with absolute amazement. And I said, this guy, he's got no equipment, he's got no guitars, he's got no amplifiers. He doesn't have a bunch of drunk people in his audience. He's got like real people in his audience. He's got no bandmates, you know, who are doing drugs? Or, like, he's just him? I want to do that. And I was fascinated with that as a concept.

Wow. And of course, I'm right here in Dallas, where Zig started and unfinished. The family is still running their business. So what did you do next to move towards that idea.

So in my early 20s, I guess it was I joined a training program, which was at that time, one of the biggest training companies in the world. And one of their focuses was about public speaking, because I was used to being in front of an audience but and I was always the frontman in the band. So I was always used to that environment. But I wanted to learn how to do it professionally. So I joined that organization. And over the course of a couple of years, I became trained as an instructor for them. And then when it became time for me to sign the contract, to be an instructor for this company, I couldn't sign it. And the reason I couldn't sign it was because even though I worked for this company for quite a few years, I actually didn't agree with most of what they were teaching. And I had to teach it their way because it was their process and their system. But in my heart of hearts, I just didn't feel that what they were teaching was actually very good for speakers. And so I just went out on my own.

Wow. So is it Can I ask what kind of I'm not asking the name of the company, but what kinds of things didn't fit with your morality or your integrity?

Well, it's, I'll give you some examples. So I took the training as a student, and then for the next couple of years, I would sit at the back of the room as an assistant, you know, and I would watch the instructors doing their instructing and in my head, I'm instructing in my head. And I'm thinking of that doesn't work for me. And I don't think that's the way to do it. And oh, that's a good thing to do. And I was sitting there waiting for my opportunity. I was just waiting for the instructor to come to me at some point and say, you know, Steve, would you like to try coaching somebody? And it happened, he came and he said, Steve, would you like to try coaching somebody? And I said, Yes, I would. So I got up in front of the class and the student who came up was the most difficult student in the entire organization like this guy. He didn't want to be there. His boss had paid for him to be there. He was miserable. He was closed and he just, you know, he was just there. Yeah, so I just did what I felt was going to work and in very short order I had this guy opened right up, and he was dynamic, and he was engaging, and he was emotional. And he was all of those things. And that's the moment that I decided I'm good at this, I can do this. So some of the things that I saw that didn't hold true for me, were things like this, for example, the instructor would always say, when you're standing in front of the audience, you know, you start with your hands down by your side, and you only move your hands if you're there to gesture. And that never felt right for me. Now, the thing is, if I didn't know why it didn't feel right, it just didn't. And later on, I learned why it wasn't right through neuroscience, and all that kind of stuff. But there was all these things that I just didn't feel right. So and in coaching speakers, I would do things like this, okay, so the person would, I'm listening to the person speaking, and I hear something in their story. And I would just naturally go, I would go quick stop right there. I want to talk about that right there. And then when I was dumped, the instructor would come and said, That's not how we do it here. You know, that's not how we do it. And so in my mind, I'm thinking, well, that's why I'm not doing it that way. So it was, yeah, it was a lot about the speaking principles that I just didn't agree with, and a lot about the way they coached that I didn't agree with. And I always felt, and I'm sure you're the same, Jeff, I always felt that it's more, it's more beneficial to be helpful than it is to be polite sometimes.

Yeah, that's gotten me in trouble a few times.

Yeah, it's gotten me in trouble. So I asked permission that I always ask the audience know, I need your permission to be more helpful than polite. Is that fair? And they always say, yes. So

You know, and I'm gonna borrow those words from you, if that's okay, I usually I'm totally open to receive or something like that. But I like more helpful than polite that, yeah, that could get me out of a few jams. I think, and I understand where you're coming. I've never been able or interested in teaching somebody else's stuff. And I've been offered some opportunities, you know, to become an instructor on this or that, but I never, you know, just didn't click with me, I couldn't, I haven't found a way to be passionate about somebody else's jam. Agreed. Yeah, so and I applaud you for making that choice, especially as a young person who were not always ready to stand up to the status quo, as it were, when we're that that age, for sure. There's a lot of go along to, you know, get along kind of stuff that happened.

Absolutely. And I did receive a lot of that, because I was a very young looking, you know, very young looking person and to stand in front of a CEO or somebody in their 50s and claim to know more about it than they do. That was a bit of a difficult journey. But you grow into it, Jeff, you know, you grow into it.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And so what happened next, how did you launch your speaking business?

Well, I thought this, I thought, You know what, it doesn't make any sense for me to be a speaker coach, if I have yet to be a speaker. And so because I had not actually spoken professionally, I've been on stage all of these years being the frontman point, there's a difference between being the frontman in the band and being a professional speaker. So what I did was I took two or three years. And the way I did it was I started speaking at service clubs for free, the Lions Club, Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, those kinds of clubs. And I didn't make a lot of money, but I got fed, which was at that time, which is an important thing. Yeah. And so I just started speaking at these events, for free to hone my craft and to test my theories around speaking and all those things. And then I started to get invited to speak at other places. And then it sort of grew from there. And I part of what I love to do, since the very beginning, was to teach other people to do what I was doing. And of course, that opened up a whole different set of opportunities and a whole different kind of worms.

When did you get involved with the speaker's Association?

That's an interesting thing. So I'm gonna go back about 11 years, maybe 12 years ago from now, and about 12 years ago, there's an association in Canada here called caps, Canadian Association of Professional speakers, they're still here. But back then I had been introduced to them. And I had heard of them, but I never really paid much attention to them. And I started going to their meetings as a guest.

This is the Canadian version of the National Speakers Association. Exactly.

It's the Canadian version of NSA. That's right. And so I started going to the meetings as a guest. And I kept thinking to myself, you know, I'm not sure if it's going to be a value for me to join the association. I can keep going to the meetings as a guest. And really, nobody's asking me if I'm part of the association. So I did that for a year or so. And then what happened was, I was still evaluating whether or not I should join and somebody outside of that environment asked me, they said, Steve, are you part of cabs? And the answer that came out of my mouth? I knew it was wrong at the moment that came out. Because the answer that came out of my mouth, Jeff was no not yet. Now, my meaning was I have yet to decide whether or not this association is going to be valued. To me, but I know what they heard. I don't qualify yet. Because you know, you have to earn a certain amount from speaking to be part of the association. And as soon as those words came out of my mouth, I thought, okay, you know what the answer needs to be? Yes. But I hesitated and I procrastinated. And then about two months after that, somebody who was an influencer, somebody for whom the answer had to be yes, they asked me, Are you a member of caps? And I said, No, I'm planning on joining next week. And that didn't feel right. I thought my credibility was just, you know, really diminished there. So the next week, I joined the association. And what happened was, I joined the Association on I think, on a Monday, and by Wednesday, I was president elect for the following year. And then a chapter, there's a whole story around why that happened. And so I've been in leadership with the speaking Association ever since. And right now, as you know, I'm president of the Global speakers Federation through that journey.

That's the fact that you sometimes call that you got voluntold, that you're going to be the next president. Right? Well,

so in a manner of speaking, so what happened was, when I joined an association, I don't like to just join as a member I want to serve. And so when I joined caps, I went straight to the board, and I said, How can I serve? What can I do? And they said, no, they said, Well, it happens that we have a position on the board program director just left and we have an opening. Do you want that? And I said, Sure. So they said, well, our first board meeting, you know, our next board meeting is on Wednesday. And so I went to the board meeting on Wednesday, I knew nobody at the table, and I'm sitting here at the table, the new guy, I'm in the association two days, they've only seen me as a guest. And then the president elect of the chapter, who was supposed to start the following January, announced that he's moving away and can't do it. So I looked around the table and nobody did anything. So I just went all into it. And they said, Okay.

Yeah, wow. Well, of course, people watching listening may not know this. But usually when you get involved with an association, and you move up to the board, you start as the chairman, and then you move up to something else, then you become the vice president. And then, of course, it sounds like you know, that your structure, President Elect is a good job, because that means you are the somewhere depending on the between the vice president and the president for a year getting trained to be the president.

Yeah, well, in my case, I was I was training. I was president elect in April, this was April and I became president. And you know, the following January, I had about eight months, something like that.

You had a few months to absorb what was going on. But you'd already been speaking at that point for what 10 or 15 years?

Oh, I've been speaking at that point for 20, 20 something years.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, my story's a little bit the opposite. I started as an NSA vendor member. When I had my ad agency, and I got the education, because like, unlike the other vendors, I stayed in the room for the meetings, that the education and which is one of the reasons I'm where I'm at because of that, but so tell us about the Federation, tell us about your program, your product project.

So the global speakers Federation is not at all mind. Here's what the global speakers Federation is. As a member of NSA, you are not a member of the global speakers Federation. But NSA is, and caps is. And there are 17 professional speakers Association around the world. There's one in Canada and the US, there's Latin America, there's one in New Zealand and Australia and the Philippines and the UK, and Germany and all these places. There are 17 of these associations around the world, just like NSA, and just like caps, those associations come together to comprise the global speakers Federation. Right. And so the Board of Directors of the chairman now of NSA is on the board of the GSF. And I'm the president of the GSF until July when we we hand the gavel over so we are not a governing body for professional speaker associations. But we are a central hub to share best practices and connection, equity and ideas and support and all of those things.

Okay, got it. Now, the question is, are there? Does the Federation have conferences? Is there a global speaker conference?

There is it's called the Global speaker Summit. It happens every two years. And this year, it's in Dublin at the end of September. And I'm telling you, I mean, anybody listening to this or watching this and I'll be straight with you, Jeff, you need to be there. This is the speaking event of the year and it happens every two years. And it is someplace if you're a professional speaker, you just have to be there not just for the learning, which of course is off the charts. But the connection equity that you make at this event is it could be a game changer. You're and so if there's one event that I never miss, if the global speakers Summit,

Got it, and what a terrible place to go and visit, right? In a place like Dublin.

Yeah, well, because you know, what else is there to do in Dublin? Right?

Exactly. Right. A lot of things.

Absolutely love doubling I'm so excited about I can't wait to go back.

Now, this occurs to me as part of the conversation she, I attended NSA meetings for several years. I'm not involved right now, except to send people man, I say, you know, who were asking about what else they should go to get training and fellowship and things like that. How long has the Federation been around?

The global speakers Federation has been around since the early 90s. It was formulated by a pioneer in Canada named Warren Evans and a couple of his cohorts, and one of them was from the US. And the original for associations were Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand. Those were the first four and then it just sort of grew from there. And now we've got, like I say, 17. And we've got others that are working to qualify to become part of the global speakers Federation.

Now, how do we get more people to learn about it? Because I like as I said, I've been speaking since 2004. But I've been rubbing shoulders with professional speakers since more like 2010. But I haven't heard of the global Federation. How do we get the word out?

Yeah, and as most individual speakers will not have heard of the global speakers Federation, because the Federation doesn't serve individual speakers. The Federation serves associations. But that doesn't mean there's no benefit for the individual speakers. When I joined caps. And I learned about the global speakers Federation, I decided right then and there that I wanted to work towards becoming the president of that, because I saw a straight line between being a member of Capps and access to the entire world. And so my wife and I have built a global speaking and training and consulting business through our connection equity through the JSF. So the JSF does not promote to individual speakers, if we don't actually promote at all associations come to us. And they say, How can I be part of this? Now, but the individual speakers, you and I and others, the way that we learn about the GSF is we become active in the senior Association. And this is what I tell people, if you're not part of the speaker's Association, in your country, consider it seriously not because you're going to get speaking gigs, you may or may not, and not necessarily because you're going to learn some great things you will, and all of that is great. But your activities in your association, if you do it, well can lead you up the connection ladder through to the GSF. And that opens doors to connection equity all around the world. And that's what's happened to us. And so when people ask me, What's the value of the global speakers Federation to me, as a speaker, I said, There is none unless you pursue it, how do you pursue it, you get into that association in your country, and you serve you come in from a position of service. And so many people get into their associations, and they say, Okay, what am I going to get? Right? Okay, association, you know, no, impress me, right? Yeah, impress me, right. And that's just a limit to the value because the value is in the serving and the connecting, and establishing the relationships and building those relationships. And that's where the real value is, and you can access the entire world through that channel.

Well, so how do we get more people to Dublin?

Oh, go to globalspeakers.net. That's the GSF website, globalspeakers.net. And you'll see something there called the GSF, the global speaker Summit, and you just go there and all the details are there.

Now, do you have to be a member of one of the country organizations to be able to attend the summit?

No, you don't know you don't have to. And they, I believe that there is a discounted price for members of the association. There's a guest price. But no, you don't have to be a member. In fact, a lot of people go to the global speaker summit to explore whether or not they should invest in membership in their local association.

Yeah, and I love your pitch for being part of the association. I think you're spot on. As I said, I was a supporting member and have danced around it for years. And I was used to attend the meetings regularly. I spoke at a meeting as a local the opening act before the keynote. And so 90% of my NSA experience here at North Texas has been positive. And I have former clients who are on the board and we've had a lot of people they're involved in Speaker Coop. And very often people say should I join NSA as a step towards being a speaker? And my answer is usually here's the pros and cons. and you need to decide for yourself, I actually have the history of being an association staff member. When I was in the film business, I've wound up going from the business and volunteering and being on the board to being the executive director of the Texas film association. So I understand the association concept from a different level. And people don't necessarily understand that, that the association is there to foster and further the profession of public speaking.

It is it is, and we had one speaker and I believe you were there at an event you and I were at recently a virtual event. And this one very high profile speaker, I won't name this person, but this person was talking about how you don't need a speaker Association, you know, stay away from the speaker clubs, and you forget about the certifications and all those things. And I'm listening to that. And I'm thinking, you know, he's not necessarily wrong, this speaker because the associations and the certifications, and all those things are not for everybody. And oftentimes, people will come and ask me about joining the association and all ask them questions, and I'll come to the conclusion that for you, I just don't think it's going to be worth it for you. So I would recommend No, and I try and guide them somewhere else. But the association's here's the misconception that I hear a lot from people when they consider joining the Association, the Association is going to teach me how to speak the association is going to teach me how to get gigs, they're going to teach me how to make money. And all of that is true, to a very minut extent, all of that information is there, you can pursue it, but that is not the association's function. As you said, the association's function is to promote and support the business of speaking. And so sometimes you'll get people come up and they'll say, you know, Steve, someday I'd like to be a speaker, should I join NSA or caps? And I say no, no, go in and earn 100,000 or 50,000 or something and speaker fees, and get a flavor for what it's like to be a professional speaker and then explore it.

Yeah, or someday I'd like to be a speaker. Well, then you should go to Toastmasters.

Exactly right. That's where I send them. Yeah, precisely.

Yeah, well see and hear it Speaker Coop, we mix, we have people who are professional speakers. And then we have people who are never going to be their job title is never going to change to speaker, it's the second or third thing on their business card because they're a coach, or a consultant, or an architect or an attorney. And a big part of our training and our niche is the business speaking, where people speak to your clients, where you started is our bread and butter, rotary and association. And those organizations that they just they're never going to pay a speaker. Right. But if you're there, number one, if you're improving your craft, and number two, if you want to get clients and they're in the room, those are the places that you need to go and fill the gap for those folks. And I know a lot of folks who professional speakers, their job title, but they also say, I'm a speaker, and I speak and if you call the see, and if I'm available, and I'm not off on a paid engagement, I'm gonna say yes to speaking at your group, because that's my job is to speak

100% It's very interesting that we're talking about this, because the entire landscape of the speaking world has shifted even just since I've been involved. And it's true. I call myself a professional speaker, because I am I go out and I get paid to speak. But even in my business, most of my business comes through speaking not from speaking and I do I travel the world and I speak at events, some of them, I get paid, some of them I don't in fact, now I think the weight is lifted, I don't think I get paid nearly as often as, as I used

You're getting paid, you're just not getting an upfront fee,

I'm not getting a speaker fee, right. And, in fact, I've had situations where people offer me the speaker fee, and I turn it down in exchange for being able to make an offer, because I can earn 10 times as much from making an offer than I can with a speaker fee. And so most speakers now across the world, I mean, there still are those keynote style speakers who will make their living going from place to place to place speaking for 45 minutes or an hour collecting a speaker fee. And off they go and do the next one that's still out there. But I would say probably 85 or even 90% Jeff of the people we watch on the stage or stages around the world. They are speaking to drive business into a coaching or consulting or training or some other form of business. And so even at CAPS, we have sort of changed our mission statement from the words professional speakers to experts who speak professionally.

Interesting. Well, and I think the old that model of keynote to keynote without any products or services. It's going away unless you're a celebrity.

Yeah, exactly. 100% I agree.

And I actually have had a few people come in, ask for help, who want to be speakers. And I tried to encourage that To understand both models, right, and that the way to make a living in 2022, as a speaker, is to have programs and products and memberships and all those things. And you could still you're still a speaker. But don't be bogged down by thinking you have to have a check to leave your house.

Right. And that's a very interesting thing. Because what I've noticed, and maybe you've noticed this, too, Jeff, is that that does, there's a sort of two sides to that coin, and that, first of all, it opens up an entire world of opportunities, which means now you can speak anywhere, because you're willing to speak without speaking fee. But on the other side, it also significantly expands the competition, because now anybody who can fog a mirror claims to be a speaker.

Right? There is that and we, because part of what I do is booking I pride myself on the folks who use me for booking on the audience side, they know that I'm not going to send them somebody isn't going to give them some value or some entertainment or preferably both. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's, it's, and I still have people who say, No, I'm only going to speak if I get paid. And they're doing okay, but I really don't think that we're gonna see that last for much longer.

There's another model that's that's big that's emerging, that I'm sure you've heard of this, too, is the pay to play. Have you heard of this model where the speaker actually pays to get on the stage? I have done that. I resisted it for years and years, because you know, in my mind, people come in, they'd say, Well, you know, you can get on this stage for 40 minutes or 20 minutes, and it's only $10,000. But wait a second, I'm not sure that we're communicating. You know, in my head, I'm saying, I'm the guy you pay that's going to cost you $10,000. And then what happened was, I received about three years ago, I received an email, like a message in LinkedIn that was unsolicited. And it said, Jack Canfield is coming to Ottawa, would you like a ticket to come and see them? And whenever I get so many of these things, my default answer is no, thank you, you know, very politely, my wife, Jane saw that. And she had a different idea. So she reached out to the guy and says, what would it take to get Steve on that stage with Jack, and the guy says, well, it just so happens, we have one speaker spot left is 20 minutes, Jack, we'll be right there, he'll get to meet him and have lunch with them and hang out with them. And it's only $25,000 to get on there. So I didn't land very well with me. But it landed well with my wife. So we paid it. We paid the $25,000 I got on the stage, I rocked the stage. And we became friends with Jack, I got an amazing video testimonial from Jackie gotten introductions from Jack. And that led us to being friends with Brian Tracy. And that led us to being friends with Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank and, and on and on and on. And that investment of $25,000 is probably well, without a doubt is the single most valuable investment I've ever made in my entire business. So this whole new model is coming up as well.

Sure, well, and you had good timing and the right people and the means to do it. And obviously the talent to make it worked. And that's great. You know, there's a lot of programs, there's a lot of people who pay for program after program after program. And that's definitely we want them to keep to actually get something out of absolutely, yeah. And just like anything else, you know, Caveat emptor, you've got a buyer beware thing, because, as you know, Steve, there are times when somebody will say, here's the grades, that sounds like a great offer and a great package. And they promise how many people will be in the audience and you get a trade show booth and blah, blah, blah, and things don't necessarily gel so well as with everything else, you need to evaluate each opportunity.

Absolutely, yeah, of course, we've run into that, too. And you're so right. And I can tell you that there were other people on that stage other speakers on that stage who I know paid like we did, and we're just not prepared for that opportunity at all. So you're right, you need to be very, very cautious in how you select these.

Yeah. And there was a time when I would tell people to run far and run fast when somebody said you have to pay to speak. But now I'm with you. There are times when you say yes, and there are times when you say oh,

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's true. But isn't it weird? Like, it was such a weird concept? Yes. First introduced to me. I thought I heard it wrong. And I remember the very first time it was suggested to me, I was sure that I heard it wrong. I mean, this can't possibly this person cannot possibly be serious. They were and boy what a what a changing concept.

Right. Well. And sometimes the with the summit model, there's a thing where and this is some of the figures, playoffs communities, they you know, they do these summits and you pay something like $29 in administrative fees to be on the summit. But you also pay a $200 deposit, which you get back if you deliver X number of people in the audience, or X number of people to register now For your 20 minutes, but for the entire summit, and very most of this the model is you just need 20 people to sign up for free to get your deposit back.

Yeah, we've done one of those. You're right, yeah. And this model, I get an awful lot of resistance from it from seasoned professional speakers, who are still very much in the mode of I get paid, I gets paid a speaking fee to be on the stage. And I understand their resistance because I had it, but I have to tell you that I am so happy that I've opened, I've let the armor down. And I've opened up my eyes to accepting some of these opportunities. What was something you said really struck a chord with me when we were talking about how you need to be cautious and how, you know, sometimes you can be promised things that aren't delivered, I see that happening more and more. And so as I go through my business, I keep note, right, I take note of who does what they say they're going to do, and who does not, and are very aware, and I know what to look for now I know what the signs are now. And so I know how to pursue an opportunity intelligently before we make these decisions. So there is some peril here that people need to be aware of. And but the thing is that if you can pick the right opportunities, and if you can do the job, like if you can actually speak and if you have a strategy to drive people to something and all of that is in place, you can do exceptionally well in that environment. But the risk is significant.

Absolutely. And, you know, there's some little things like if you're going to be on the stage with Jack Canfield, or Brian Tracy, you should do something that would, which might sound tiny, you should go to an image consultant, or somebody to help you with your look in your clothes before you get up in front of two or three or 4, 10 1000 people.

And you should learn how to speak.

Well, I'm making the assumption that you've got that accomplished. But you're right. Yeah, don't make that are wonderful people like Steve Lowe and Jeff Klein, who can help you. Right? Exactly. Yes, absolutely. I remember 300, the event was called the 300 event. And 10 speakers were each responsible for bringing 30 people to a live event. We didn't have to pay out of pocket. But we had we were supposed to we had to bring and I'm telling you. They this couple really, that it was a valiant effort, I'll just say. And I think I had 2015 or 20 people there. And that was the most any of the other speakers had. So 10 of us were speaking to 50 people total, and everybody was making an offer. They had banked on having a profit share from these 30 speakers. So again, you live and learn and but you also like I say you learn who you can trust. And the other thing too early earlier, you know, Greg, just full circle. I have people say to me, I only do X number of free engagements a year. And what you understand and what I live every day is a quote from Zig Ziglar there is no such thing as a free speech. And that what that means is that you can, every speech is an opportunity. And we got to stop calling it free speaking. Yeah, and whether you call it visibility, engagement, or whatever you want to call it, and I don't know, when you're doing a service organization B, you show them your fee and call and waive it.

Not back then I don't do the service organization so much anymore. Because they're not they're not asking and I'm not visible with them anymore. know, back then when I was started to do it, it was like, please hire me. He's gonna come in. And but it was interesting, because back then I don't know what it's like in the service organizations now. But back then, they were all looking for speakers. And a lot of them were booked out 234 months in advance. So what I did was I got on the phone and I just called them all and I just called and called and called and I picked about a an hour's drive radius from my home. And there were many of them there. And I booked myself out six months in advance and I kid you not I was speaking five nights a week for six months. And when I say nights What I mean is dinner time, so I didn't have to buy any food. In fact, I'll tell you, I'll tell you the very first one that I did. It was a Kiwanis Club. I don't know if you have those down. But yeah, we knew our man. I didn't know what to expect. I'm like 21 or something. And so I'm sitting at the table up on the stage where you know, there's me and we're having dinner and the organizer and some delegates and I'm looking out over the room and there's maybe 150 people in the room, and I noticed too Two really significant things. Number one is they were all men, which was okay, that's fine. But the other thing I noticed is they were all really experienced men as they were. And so I, the host was sitting beside me and I said to him, what's the average age here? Eighty six? Now, Jeff, that would have been okay, if it weren't for my topic. Goal setting.

Oh, wow.

So I tried to in here, I'm 21, right? All these 86 year old guys. And so I'm thinking how can I change my topic? You know, I gotta come up with something different. What's a 21 year old kid gonna do to motivate you know, all these these 86 year old gentleman. So I didn't have any anything came to mind. So all of a sudden, I'm being introduced. So I get up to the microphone. And I started exactly as I planned in my squeaky little voice. I said, No, put up your hand if you have clearly defined goals for your life. And this guy in the front table with his big booming voice, he says, my goal is to not die before the end of this presentation. This was my first professional speaking.

Wow. That's very Yeah. Then the heckler you need it right at that moment. Right.

Right at that moment. You couldn't write that stuff.

Very funny. Yeah, well, we encourage I encourage people to have a letter of agreement that shows a feed number. And when it's Wait, that's cool. That's a good idea. Yeah, it helps with the service organizations just to show that because some of them take for granted. When they get good speakers they to and they get a stream of good speakers. They don't necessarily appreciate what goes into doing that. The audiences always do with the program, person, sometimes, at any rate, and that last I said, that's a big part of the bread and butter. I teach people how to do exactly what you did. I did it for several years. I spoke twice a week. And for two years, that was my, and now it's more. I don't feel like I speak as much as I should. But I've got all this time I'm devoting to clients. So you have to kind of where do you but i My job title is public speaker said a lot of folks here at the Speaker Coop their job? That's the second or third thing? Sure. And a lot again, we I think that those of us who want to serve as you and I both do, Steve, we just need to keep reminding people gently, that that old, the old Keenan model is just not going to be here much longer. Unless you're a celebrity, again, where there's always the coffee. If you're on Shark Tank, then yeah, you don't need extra stuff to sell. But what's more telling, though, is there isn't anybody on Shark Tank, who isn't also selling something else. And you can pay a Kevin Harrington to be the lead videos video at your presentation for your products and services. And he's with the again, it's a business deal. Yes. And so those, they're all available for that kind of opportunity. Which is anyway. So if you aspire to that, there's a difference between being a great successful public speaker, like Steve law and being a celebrity. That just it's different, as different. And I would say that as a CSP a certified speaking professional, you are a celebrity in your circles. As a President, I'm recognized as a leader. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, celebrity is a big word for that. I think within the speaking community, the CSP is definitely recognized, because it's hard to get. And it's very difficult to achieve. And so you're recognized for that. And then yes, because I was president in caps for two years. And then I served on the GSF board for a number of years. And now I'm GSF. President, I'm recognized, I wouldn't attach the word celebrity to that. But I'm certainly recognized because of those two things. Now, the here's the other thing is, you know, have those things gotten me more speaking gigs. I'm gonna say probably not so much. I mean, organizations. They're not gonna hire me because I'm a CSP. Right? It is.

Yeah, it's an inside inside baseball. Award reference, right? Yeah.

Achievement, Sure. Well, and I mean, there are people who are in the know enough that if they just see a name on paper and CSPs, after one of them and not after the other, they'll start with a conversation with you before they start the conversation with the other speaker. Right? But this goes right back to what I teach my folks every day, the people booking speakers in 2022 Want value. They do results. And you become known as somebody who gives value and results. The The letters after your name are less important than the value in the results.

100%. Yeah.

100%.

Yeah. So is there anything I should have asked you about Steve, that I didn't today about your speaker journey,

Well, I mean, we can talk about this stuff forever and ever, you know, I mean, you and I have, you know, we're kindred spirits definitely have similar pasts and experiences. So we can, you know, like, we could be a couple of guys at the bar drinking beer forever, and just shooting, you know, shooting the ball. So no, I don't think you've missed anything. I've really enjoyed this time, I think these kinds of conversations, bring value to your listeners. And of course, I'm going to be sharing this with my community as well. And that's why I really enjoy doing this with people who have been there and done that, like you have and people who have the knowledge and wisdom and experience that you have, because we can share perspectives with your audience and with my peeps and and there's value and all of that.

Absolutely. So how do people reach Steve Lowell ?

Easiest way, Jeff is that my website, Stevelowell.com. There's, they can find out about me there. My books are there. I have some online training programs for Archer authors, and speakers and consultants and coaches. They're all there anything they want to know about me can all be found right there.

Excellent. Well, this has been a fabulous episode, if I do say so myself a behind the lectern. Thank you so much for being here. Steve, I appreciate your time and your expertise and your service to this industry. Thank you for that. And that perhaps, are so welcome. We'll see everybody next time.