Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan - #188: Change Your Habits, Change Your Outcomes With Heather!

Episode Date: February 2, 2022

In This Episode You Will Learn About:  Breaking out of your routine  Turning ideas into action Trying something new Resources: Overcome Your Villains is Available NOW! Order here: https://overcomeyourvillains.com  If you haven't yet, get my first book Confidence Creator Show Notes: It’s Groundhog day! But that doesn’t mean we have to live the same life over and over again. It is time to take those ideas, dreams, and hopes you have been sitting on and turn them into action. CHANGE IT UP! You can break out of the norm at any time. If you need a sign, let this be it! I believe you can radically transform your life. All you have to do is start now.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm on this journey with me. Each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals. We'll overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow. I'm ready for my close-up. Hi, and welcome back. I'm so glad you are back here with me today. Thank you for being here. Okay, if you're listening to me the day this podcast is dropping, we are on Groundhog Day.

If you're not, this was dropped on Groundhog Day. And I want to reflect on that for a minute. of course I think of the Bill Murray movie. Like, who doesn't think of that? When they think of Groundhog Day, but here's a thing. And I don't remember all of the specifics of that movie. I mean, that was a little while ago, and I definitely haven't watched it in a while. But the concept is essentially this, that you're repeating that same day over and over and over again.

Now, I know you have had a time in your life like that because I have had, I literally had almost a decade like that. at that last job when I got fired, I just felt like frustrated all the time. I wasn't living to my potential. People weren't listening to my great ideas. I knew there was more, but I didn't know how to access it. And I also know that not only is there like a groundhog day in work, but there can be a groundhog day in your workout, right? I get in ruts where all I do is spin and I just spin and spin. And I know that's not good. I need to, you know, mix it up with the boxing, mix it up with weightlifting, mix it up with trying new things. That's, you know, how to grow, change, evolve, and challenge yourself.

But every once in a while, I go Groundhog and stay in that rut. And I know everybody does this. And it happens with relationships, too, right? We can get into these Groundhog Day routines where every night it's, you know, we eat at home and watch a TV show and go to bed and go to work and go to school. You know, we get in these routines and it's about shocking ourselves and saying, okay, enough. Groundhog Day is not for us.

That was a Bill Murray movie from years ago. So what are we going to do to change it? So I am challenging you today to change up your groundhog routine because groundhog day isn't about living the same day over and over until it changes. It's about changing your life by changing yourself today. So that's my challenge for you today. Do something to change your life today. I got fired and that completely changed my.

life definitely has not been easy, right? Especially with the pandemic. I am not going to sugarcoat that one. The timing was tough, but in some ways, you know, I guess I look at it all and you connect the dots when you look back, not forward. I guess it was all meant to be. You know, it had to happen for a reason. Okay. So, all, first of all, I was sent a question on social media and I want to answer it before I get into what I want to talk about today. By the way, let me know. If you guys have questions, let me know. Send them to me. I will always answer your questions. I I am here for you. I create this show for you.

So if you want a topic cupboard, DM me, let me know, hit me up and tag me in your post and let me know. Okay. Heather, question. My husband is an engineer. He's in corporate like you once were. He's longing for a change. Ooh, he's in Groundhog Day.

And he's at a point in his career journey where he wants to make the move. When you said that people always told you were a great speaker, they did. But you didn't think much of it. I didn't. That really resonated with me since my high. husband gets the same feedback about his speaking, and he thinks nothing of it. Oof. I didn't know that you could get paid for it, and he didn't know either until I heard you talk

about it, and then I told him your story. So that leads me to ask, what companies do you know where my husband could reach out and monetize his gift in speaking? Okay. Sadly, my friend, it is not that easy. However, I'll give you guys an overview. Okay, number one, you have an intent, right? You're clear.

this is something your husband's great at. It's a gift. He loves doing it. Put that on paper. Write it down. It's a goal, right? He will become a professional speaker. I would, number one, do that. Hold him accountable. Challenge him daily on what steps he's taking to get himself there, right? Give yourself a deadline that you will be there by whatever, end of year, something. But start taking action in an intentional way. Start writing things down. Start visualizing it happening and start keeping it top of mind so you're consciously and subconsciously always. working towards that goal. That is the most important thing, number one. Number two, start letting people in your network know. Hey, if you know anyone looking for speakers, my husband's an incredible speaker, right? That's another step. You put it out there to your channels. The next thing is, I would take out a Google alert, keynote speakers wanted, right? So find out what it is that your husband's great at speaking on. I'm making it up. Maybe he's about, he's in engineering, maybe he's about innovation, technology. I have no idea. Change, change management. But figure out what are his keynotes, how can he add value, right? Then you're going to want to go look at some

other, quote unquote, competitors in that arena, who's the best and the best, right? I always go to the top, find out what do their keynotes look like, watch some of their videos, and then see what kind of material they have online, and then no, you want to emulate that, right? So you want to have a speaker reel. So number one, you need to have footage of your husband speaking. So even if he has to go speak for free a bunch of places right now. Start calling places and pitching him to speak for free so you can get video footage so then you can send it to other prospects moving forward to say, wow, here's my husband in motion. He does keynotes on change management, change leadership, really impacts and drives bottom line success for teams. Here's, you know, how you can hire him.

So you need to go ahead and go through the paces. And I spoke for free when I got fired for at least six months just so I could update my footage and my reels. And then I started getting paid. And I started very small because people didn't know me in the speaker world. And I needed to build up. Then I needed to land an agent, right? So you want to go to all the different speaker sites, GDA speakers, Harry Walker Speaker Agency, Big Speak, APB speakers. I mean, there's hundreds of them. So start Googling speaker agencies, speaker bureaus, and start applying. That's what I did. I went to contact us here. There's a tab on every single one of those speaker pages. Apply.

Right? None of this is brain science, brain surgery. It's just about doing the work. And a lot of people just don't want to put the work in. So do the work, put the work in, even if it's at night and on the weekends, you know, identify what his unique value proposition is. How is he different, special than everyone else out there? Get that real done.

Get the keynote done. Boil it down to what does that take away? What's unique, special and different? Do your research. see what does competitors look like out there and start plowing ahead. Get an agent. Get on the bureaus. And then as you do that, start getting testimonials of his work from people and start sharing those on social media. Share them with your friends. Share them with other prospects and start moving this business forward. It does not happen overnight, right? It's here I am. It's 22.

I started down the speaking road in 2018, right? So this is almost four years in and I'm just really starting to you know, it's starting to click pretty well. So it doesn't happen overnight, even if he is the greatest speaker in the world. And maybe for him, it'll be different. But I'm just letting you know it's a little bit of a, this one's been a bit of a journey. It all starts with putting the work in. Like anything, take massive action, put it out there, do the work and stay consistent on this because it's a long game. Okay. So that was the answer to that question. Next, I wanted to talk today about, I mean, this ties into Groundhog Day a little bit, but not really. So let's go back to when I got fired.

and four years ago, and I had no idea what I wanted to do. I decided, and I haven't talked about this in a while, I decided, okay, I had this great idea for a clothing line. People always ask me, hey, where do you get your business clothes from? I really like them. You should sell your own clothing line. So that makes sense, right? We want to sell products and services, and we want to keep adding and layering on revenue

streams that will benefit our community, benefit the clients and customers we already have, so we can add new revenue streams, and add. more value to them and still be within our wheelhouse things we care about. And I love clothes. So I decided, all right, I need a big brand partner to really validate myself and make me credible in the clothing world. So I went after Perry Ellis International. They're headquartered here in Miami. I had met the CEO once before. And I was like a dog on a bone. I mean, I went everywhere to find this guy. I found him, got a meeting with him, gave him my great idea. He loved it. He had me sign an NDA. He had me signed all this paperwork with his legal team, and we got to work.

And for almost one year, we worked on a clothing line, myself and his team. And the whole concept was we were going to take it to HSN and sell this clothing line to their hundreds of millions of TV viewership that they have and make a new revenue stream for Perialis for me and make everybody really happy, wealthy, and add value with this unique concept. We worked so hard on it. I got the meeting with HSN, which is great. And I did the pitch with Peri Ellis, and HSN said, Heather, we get why you. We don't get why this product. We like, I had a unique concept on it. And they liked that, but they said, it's not enough. The clothes look too similar to clothes we already have on air. You have to bring something so unique and different that we're willing to make a spot for you.

So no. And that was heart crushing, right? Because it was almost a year of work and zero ROI. And people always say, well, I'm sure something good came out of it. Well, not yet, but I hope someday I'm going to get that show on HSN or that clothing line. It just hasn't come to fruition. One thing it did teach me is that people love the messaging that I have, right? Like, you need to look at what is it that people are responding to about you? And for me, I get a lot of DMs, right? And data doesn't lie. Data is steering us in the right direction. I get a lot of DM saying, hey, how can I download your post from social. Hey, could you put your post from social into a book, a calendar, a notebook? I want to be able to see these more often. And it made me start thinking back to my clothing line, because that

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Like, how can you answer what your community wants? How can I do it quickly, you know, cost effectively, and be affordable to market? And it was so funny. Back when my book, Competence Creator came out, a friend of mine owned had just started a candle company. And she had sent me a candle, which was gorgeous, completely custom-made with my logo, quotes from my book, branding all. Heather Monaghan, Confidence Creator. It was so cool. And I was so grateful to her, and I posted about it. I loved it. She does candles for everything from hotels to cruise lines to individual people.

And it's a really cool, personalized concept in an AI world where nothing is personalized. I really liked it. And then I just kind of forgot about it. Until the other day, I was sitting in my house and I have her candle. I actually have a couple of her candles here. And I was looking at her candle just thinking. And I've been challenging myself, right? Like what other product or service am I not offering, which, of course, the clothing line is one.

But I haven't figured out the right way or who to partner with to bring that to light. And I'm sitting there thinking, Heather, what are you missing? And I'm looking at her candle. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I need to speak to her. So I had just been bombarded by messages from people online. How can I download your post? How can I keep your messages in front of me? You know what's so funny is I think I talk all the time about my books.

I think I talk all the time about this podcast. I think I'm always talking about my speeches, all the things that I bring to market that people can buy, my coaching, my consulting, all the things I do. But then there's always a faction of the audience out there that's not going to hear it. They're not going to see the post. They're not going to see the DM, the message, whatever, the email. So for you, this was a great lesson that Gary Vaynerchuk taught me when he had me on his show in December of 2019. He said, Heather, it's never too much.

He said, if you post 11 times a day on social media, it's not too much. Because of the algorithm, because of the way social media works, only a tiny percent of your audience is going to see each of those posts. So it's your job to post more. It's your job, you know, to go 11 times a day instead of one or two. Don't worry about upsetting some people. Worry about not reaching the people who need you. So I'm sharing that message with you today. So don't worry about being too much.

Worry about being not enough. And so I've tried to start leaning into that, although, of course, there are people that want to give you really negative feedback about you post too much and you're too over the top. You self-promote. And I get a lot of that, which is fine, right? I mean, I always say to myself, that's not about me. that's about them and where they are in their day. If they were really happy, they wouldn't be

attacking someone for putting up a post about their new book. They might not common, but they would keep it moving. So, you know, I'm trying to get to this point where I want to share more. I want to answer people's questions and I want to solve the problems for these people that are reaching out to me looking for messaging. So to that end on Groundhog Day, it is Groundhog Day no more. I am coming out with a new product. You will be hearing about it within the next week. And I am so excited about it. I can't tell you how excited I am. Anytime I test or try something new, I have no idea if it's going to work, right?

So it could bomb. You guys could hate it. And then you'll tell me. You'll let me know and I'll know, okay, this didn't work. And here's why. I'll get feedback. I'll look at the data and I'll adjust. Or I'll take a break like I did after the Periella situation.

I said, I need a moment after this one. And I still haven't. No, actually, I did go back once to HSN with my friend Kim Gravel. And we got the feedback. that it still wasn't unique and different enough, and I had to change it and be more unique again, and I haven't gone back since then. So sometimes I take a break to focus on other things. Sometimes I hold tight, but right now I feel like I've gotten too many messages asking me, hey, how can I get your post downloaded? Can I get, you know, something to help me with these reminders? So I'm bringing

something unique and different to you. I'm going to test it. I'm going to try it. I have no idea if it's going to work and you'll let me know. So for your business, you know, the most epic fail that I know in business is just sticking to one thing and not changing, not evolving. That is death, right? That's death in business and in life. We've got to change. We've got to evolve. We've got to find ways to go to that next level. And testing and trying things is really at the heart and core of that. I'm not saying it's always easy, right? Anytime like with the Peri Ellis thing, spending almost a year on something and then failing sucks. But you have to just say, Okay, if success was easy, everybody would have it. Right? If it was that easy to go create a clothing line, everyone in the world would have a clothing line. If it was that easy to go create a product, everybody would have a product, but it's not. So we have to just think to ourselves, what's the feedback that I'm getting? What am I good at? What's connecting with me? What am I leaning into that seems to make sense that I'm passionate about? And as you see these things, put those intentions out there. Start taking the action steps, like I was saying to the woman who reached out to me about her husband and his speaking

business. It's not going to fall into your lap. None of this stuff magically, anyways, it hasn't for me so far. Maybe it has for you. I don't know. If so, please tell me what that magic is. It hasn't fallen into my lap. None of this stuff has just kind of miraculously appeared. It's really been about putting myself out there and taking chances. And then to that end, I do know there are people in this world where stuff has kind of just shown up for them. So my big word for this year is receiving. Everyone has a big word this year. Mine is receiving. It's about being open to the magic of the universe, being open to that idea that maybe something great could just fall down out of the sky and I'm ready for it. Like, I am here for it for a long time. I thought the only way to get ahead was to work so hard and outwork everybody.

And I'm here to tell you that does work, right? That's how I built my entire career. That's how I made it to the C-suite. That's how I became an equity partner in my early 20s. That's how I built so much success in business was outworking everyone else. I do know this, though. I see people who aren't working harder than everyone else, and they are killing it in business, right? So there is something to be said of this idea of I'm open to receive, I'm open that I don't have to kill myself with working seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and I'm open to receiving. So whatever mantra you have for this year or whatever you're asking God or the universe for putting out there, just be thoughtful and open to that idea that maybe there's a chance

we could just receive some of it, right? That it could be just downloaded to us. And I'm here for it. I'm open for it. I hope you are too. And the fact that this is coming out on Groundhog Day is just funny to me. I don't want your life to be a Groundhog Day. Mine was for far too long. I fired my villains. I let the negativity go. And as I let that negativity go, my mind freed up to start finding solutions, becoming creative and hearing what I internally really wanted and was capable of. And that's when I wrote my first book Confidence Creator, and that's when I launched my professional speaking career, and that's when I delivered my TEDx Talk, and that's when I signed with Harper Collins, and that's when I launched my new book, Overcom Your Villains, and that's when I was appointed to the board of directors of HealthLink, and that's when I was named top 40 keynote speaker in 2020, and then top 50 keynote speaker in 2022, boom, boom, right? That's when things really started changing. So lean into the uncertainty.

Get out of Groundhog Day. If you are in Groundhog Day, right now is your challenge to stop that here. Walk away from familiar so that you can go to that next level. And don't wait for your life to change. Be the one to change your life because you're worth it, because you've got it within you. And if I was able to do it, and let me tell you, it's been scary as I'll get out. It still is, right? I'm launching something new in the next week. And of course, there's fear around it, but I would always rather be the woman at the end of her days on her deathbed saying, You know what? My life was unpredictable. My life was an adventure. But I'm so proud I went for it.

Versus a person that said, you know, I've played it safe and I really don't know what I could have been if I had gone for more. Go for more. Go now. It's Groundhog Day. This is your sign. Until next week, keep creating your confidence. And please, if you like what I'm putting down, share this episode. Tag me in it. That's how I know to keep creating more content like this for you.