“I want to get in the heads and the hearts of the people in the room. If I’m not in their heads and hearts, I don’t know how I can connect.”
This week, Molly Fletcher joined Grant to discuss her experience transitioning from a sports agent into a speaker. For Molly, becoming a speaker was less about a dream to be on stage and more about a logistically practical way to share the knowledge she was giving out 1-on-1 to people she was mentoring.
When Molly started speaking, she focused on industries that required the same kind of trust and relationship building that was normal to her as a sports agent. From there, she started branching out into women’s leadership and general empowerment to encourage people to get out there and change the world.
“One of the number one reasons women are coming out of the workforce and hitting a jack is because they don’t see other women doing what they want to do. So I think for strong women to be in the front of the room and tell their story, we need more of that, for sure.”
Grant and Molly dig into:
- How Molly got into speaking
- Her journey to authorship
- If you need a book to be a great speaker
- What it’s like being a female speaker in a male-dominated field
- Molly’s mindset and process to prepping for a gig
- How Molly thinks about breaking the ice on stage and what it takes to connect with your audience
“I self deprecate immediately with a story that I tell because I think you’ve got to get down so that they feel connected to you because you’re literally physically, they’ve just heard all these things they’ve seen.”
Episode Chapters:
- 01:20 Who is Molly, and what’s her speaking business look like?
- 06:58 Molly’s turning point for moving into speaking
- 09:34 How to build early momentum as a speaker
- 14:10 Molly’s take on her pre-gig prep to deliver a great talk
- 16:12 How do you think about the appropriate level of customization vs having a signature keynote
- 19:12 Molly’s #1 tip for connecting with the audience
- 21:40 How to find the right balance of humor for your talk
- 26:19 What plays into how you think about fees and the value you bring as a speaker
- 28:40 How would you encourage other females who want to speak
- 32:11 Why you need good mentors
