Leap Academy with Ilana Golan - Ilana Golan: 100X Your Personal Brand and Unlock Opportunity

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

Ilana Golan watched others rise while she felt stuck in her career. Her identity was built around job titles and companies until she lost it all. Realizing she had spent years growing businesses but not herself, she invested tens of thousands to master public speaking and build her brand. That decision led to high-paying keynotes, advisory roles, board seats, and even the sale of her tech startup. In this episode, Ilana shares how she went from feeling stuck to unlocking massive opportunities through public speaking and personal branding. Ilana Golan is an entrepreneur, board director, and investor in over 100 companies. As the founder of Leap Academy, she helps professionals navigate career transitions, leadership, and personal branding. In this episode, Ilana will discuss: (00:00) Introduction  (00:14) Her Career Wake-Up Call (00:54) The Power of Public Speaking (01:52) Why Investing in Your Brand Pays Off (02:50) Transforming Your Career with Personal Branding Ilana Golan is an entrepreneur, board director, and investor in over 100 companies. As the founder of Leap Academy, she helps professionals navigate career transitions, leadership, and personal branding. She has been recognized as a Silicon Valley Woman of Influence, a Top 40 Woman to Watch, and a CEO World Award winner. Ilana is also a sought-after keynote speaker and has been featured on Yahoo Finance, Fox, NBC, and more. Connect with Ilana: Ilana’s Website: ilanagolan.com  Ilana’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ilanagolan  Resources Mentioned: Free Training: https://training.leapacademy.com/pass  Leap Academy: Ready to make the LEAP in your career? There is a NEW way for professionals to Advance Their Careers & Make 5-6 figures of EXTRA INCOME in Record Time. Check out our free training today at leapacademy.com/training

Hi there, I'm so excited that you're here. Look, public speaking and building reputation has changed my life. I still remember the time when I was stuck in my career feeling a fraction of who I could be. I could see others zoom up the ladder, get the titles, get the seat at the table, get the pay, and I felt stuck. But worse than that, at some point when I didn't have that job, it was even worse because all my identity was always attached to my title, to the companies that I was with, and suddenly I felt like a nobody. I was taking every moment of my life to build this company that I was with, but I never left anything for myself. And at that point, I promised myself that I will make sure every single person

that is driven will leave and make sure to build their own personal brand because that is what catapults you. That's what gives you a chance to change the second part of your life. And I invested so many thousands of dollars or tens of thousands of dollars to learn how to build my reputation. The first step where you can start building a little bit of that public speaking muscle. And it's incredible because you literally start seeing yourself and I started seeing myself on bigger stages and then I charged a little bit

and then I saw myself on even bigger stages and I charged a little more. Today I charged $10,000 for one hour keynote, but the beautiful thing is not only that, it's the opportunities that come with it. This is how I landed advisory role. This is how I landed board seats. In fact, this is how I sold my tech startup.

And it's an incredible story for another time. But this was worth a lot of money for me. So public speaking has changed my life. But the beautiful thing is that creates a snowball effect, which is exactly what I want you to do. I want you to create a snowball effect on your life and on your career, because that is how you started creating suddenly press releases and awards and podcast appearances and panel appearances

and TV and radio and I can go on and on. Now you're starting to be seen in a whole different level. So you get the pay, you get opportunities, you get things you didn't even know were possible. This is what got me on TechCrunch, at Forbes, on the Owl Finance, on MarketWatch, and I can go on and on. This is what got me awards such as 40 Women to Watch or Silicon Valley Awards and Startup of the Year for 2023. In fact, today, our podcast is at the top charts. And we are one of the fastest growing company,

Leap Academy is one of the fastest growing company, according to Inc, because we know how to do this. So I engineered a process that will help you build your public speaking career and will help you catapult your reputation. Now don't get me wrong, you can still land a job and then start building that public speaking. You can also use it to land clients.

You can also use it to land even bigger leadership roles because suddenly people see you at a whole different level. So no matter where you're heading to find a job, to start a company, to create a portfolio career, to create your own business, it doesn't matter. Building your reputation and public speaking is going to be the most important skill to completely transform the second part of your life. So I don't know how long we're going to have these modules open. Usually they're worth thousands of dollars. So I wanted you to take advantage. You can do it at your own time, at your own pace, but take action. When you will take action, it will change the second part of your life. So I will see you there. Click on that link below. Wow, what an incredible conversation.

I am so inspired. I hope you are too. And if you enjoyed it as much as I did, please share it with friends. It really, really helps us bring more amazing guests. And if you at some point want to take yourself and your career to the next level, watch our free training at sleepacademy.com slash training. It's sleepacademy.com slash training. And I will see you in the next show of Leap Academy with Ilana Golan.