Build Relationships.
Grow Your Speaking Business.

Transcript from the episode recording, with speaker names added and paragraphs formatted for readability. Automated transcription may contain errors; the audio is the original record.

Brad Hauck 00:14

Behind every great speaker is a business built on reputation, relationships, and results. Today we're joined by Lindsay Adams, OAM, a professional speaker from more than 25 years and former president of both Professional Speakers Australia and the Global Speakers Federation, along with many other speaking awards. We're going behind the stage to explore what makes a speaking career last, what speakers often get wrong, and what separates a great presentation from a successful speaking business. Lindsay, welcome to the Expert's Journey. Thank you. It's an absolute delight to be here.

Dixie Carlton 00:45

Good morning, Lindsay. It's lovely to see you looking so bright and sparkly and vibrantly ready for all of these great questions we're going to ask you this morning.

Lindsay Adams 00:53

Like an early weight.

Dixie Carlton 00:55

No pressure, but Lindsay, you and I met for the first time 25 years ago at a professional speakers conference, and we have been friends for many years, and I've seen you grow from being relatively new at it as you were then, and I was, of course, a complete newbie. And you and I both know there's been an awful lot of change in the industry in that time. But your journey from beginner speaker to author and expert and global expert in your field has been quite extraordinary to observe. What was it like for you back then?

And how do you look back on it now and say, wow, what a journey?

Lindsay Adams 01:35

Yeah, that's an interesting question. It has been a journey, yeah, for sure. And I've learnt so much along the way. And I now call myself the relationship sky. And basically everything I've done has revolved around relationships with other people. I've learned so much from my colleagues at Professional Speakers Australia in the Global Speakers Federation. Just the school of hard knocks in my court, or the school of friendship or relationship. And so it's been a real theme. And it's something that I, a couple of years ago, I think Dixie, you were the instigator of the term, the relationships guy.

A chance conversation one day, and I'll share this with your listeners. Dixie said to me, Oh, Lindsay, you do that relationship stuff so well. You're the relationships guy.

Lindsay Adams 02:18

I went, What did you just say? She said, You're the relationships guy. And I went, I love that.

Lindsay Adams 02:23

And so I went online, the URLs were available, and here I am, grabbed it, coined it, took it, and wear it and lover.

Dixie Carlton 02:31

One of the things that we often talk about in relation to your growth and your brand as a professional speaker or professional expert in this industry is the ability to name and claim the position that you wish to own as a brand. And that just being someone who speaks about relationships is not the same as being the relationships guy, right? And so, how did that change for you once you embedded that in as part of your branding in terms of your speaking opportunities?

Lindsay Adams 03:03

Yeah, it's an interesting observation you make. It's not just about relationships. So relationships underpin everything that we do. Want to be a good leader in an organization, got to be in relationship with your people. Want to work in a team that works really well, got to be in relationship with your team buddies. Want to sell stuff to people, going to get into relationship with your customer or your prospect. And so it's an integral part. And once I realize that and start to chin in on it, it gave me a lot of material to work with.

And so it really, I don't just talk about relationships. I do team building, I do leadership training, I do teach people how to do business by a relationship, get into relationship, how to leverage relationships. So it really does underpin so much in in all of our businesses. Speaker, consultant, trainer, whatever you are, it's the thing, it's the glue or the oil that makes the machine run.

Brad Hauck 03:56

So do you believe that your speaking ability has won you more work, or have your relationships won you more opportunities?

Lindsay Adams 04:02

Yeah, that that's an interesting one. Of course, of course, I'm a great speaker. But I've got to tell you, relationships, it's relationships are going to get you more business than your speaking prowess, I believe. And even on a LinkedIn, I've got a gazillion LinkedIn followers, and people connect with me, and I hit connect, and then 10 seconds later I get this automated message. Hey Lindsay, great to connect. Did you want to buy my stuff? Hello, wait, what? I don't even know who you are. I barely know your name, and you're trying to sell me something.

And you've got to spend time to build a relationship first. And so you may not know this person on LinkedIn, but if you spend a bit of time and get to know them, understand them, build a relationship, then you earn the right to ask for some business. And I think that's a big difference that a lot of people miss. Relationship first, business second.

Dixie Carlton 04:58

And the other interesting thing that you touched on is the fact that you don't just do speaking, you have the whole ecosystem of in your business, the coaching, the consulting, the training, the workshops, the keynoting. What areas do you find are the most enjoyable for you to still be working on in at this stage of the game for you?

Lindsay Adams 05:19

Yeah, it's interesting. I this is my 26th year of full-time business. And I love being on stage. I love taking people on a journey. Some of the most satisfying work I've done over time. I remember I did a series of change management workshops for Queensland Rail years ago. And I was running a whole series of two-day workshops. And people would come in the room, and you see there with their arms folded and the crusty look on their face. You're here to make us all best friends, are you? And and for me, it was taking that resistance and taking them on the journey over the two days to them walking out at the end being almost my best friend.

I'm exaggerating, but you know what I'm saying. It was they left with a different attitude. And that is the most satisfying work for me. Or even just getting on stage and using a keynote to unsettle your audience and get them thinking about what where to from here, what's next for me. And so that's very satisfying for me. It's about taking people on the journey.

Brad Hauck 06:23

So when you started out early in your career, obviously we all like to look successful on stage and put a good persona apart. But what wasn't actually making you money that you were doing? Networking.

Lindsay Adams 06:35

I was going to the opening of an envelope. I was spending way too much time going to way too many events because I thought you had to go and meet people and press the flesh. And back in the day we'd have coffee meetings and you'd go to breakfasts and lunches and dinners and was wasting a lot of time and money. And when I realized that less is more, and I focused in on, I don't do any more than three. I focus on three groups in terms of where I focus my time now with networking. And they are tried and true for me.

And it's where I get the biggest bang for my buck. There's a lot of close contact business networks, B and I, BX, and there's a million of them. But for my particular business, they don't work. And so I choose to go to places where what works for me. And again, it's different for everyone. And so those close contact networks work really well for some people, but not everyone. And so it's a matter of spending your time where you're going to get the biggest return on your investment. Excellent.

Dixie Carlton 07:40

The concept of friend working as opposed to networking is a big part of what the relationships guide does because you work and speak with people all over the world. And when you travel, you obviously get to hang out with people from many different cultures as well. How significant is that for you in your business as being a global expert in your space?

Lindsay Adams 08:02

That is really significant. When I wrote the first book, The DNA or Business Relationships, I be here, I talk about my eldest brother, Neville. He taught me, I learned from him, he's a best keeper in toucher. And I use that term in the book. And I said, don't know if this is a real term, but this guy keeps in touch with people. And he's now 82. I was talking to him just the other day. He's still, he was telling me about, oh, I was talking to Dave. I worked with Dave in the territory 26 years ago, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

He's still keeping in touch. And that's the thing. I've met lots of people around the world, and I keep in touch. And that makes all the difference. And it couldn't just be a quick email, it might be a a WhatsApp, it could be a Zoom call or whatever. But keeping in touch, keeping you in the forefront of their mind makes such a difference.

Brad Hauck 08:53

If you had to rebuild your speaking business today, without your reputation or your networks, which are very huge, what would you do first then?

Lindsay Adams 09:02

Yeah, well, that's an interesting question. I think the obvious one for me is LinkedIn. There's a lot of a lot of great resources and connections there. But again, I think it comes down to this relationship stuff. I think I'd spend time trying to figure out who, first of all, who's in target market? And then where am I going to find those people and who do I need to connect to? Who do I know who can connect me to those people?

Brad Hauck 09:29

So it's very deliberate about making connections, isn't it?

Lindsay Adams 09:33

Yeah, absolutely. And again, once upon a time, I would talk to anyone. And I think it's very fussy. And if I'm at a networking event and I teach this in some of my workshops, the first thing I do when I'm talking to someone is I try to think, could I do business with this person? Or would someone in my network, in my close inner circle, would they do business with this person? And if the answer is no, no, stop talking to them, go find someone else that you can do business with. Now it's that's really mercenary, I know.

However, the right connection makes a hell of a difference every time.

Dixie Carlton 10:08

I think we're all working at that level where we have that somewhat mercenary attitude now to how we spend our time with meeting new people. And sorry out there if you're listening and you think that's a mean thing to say, but time is short. And when you are successful in this industry, I know that as an author, as a speaker, and also as a publishing specialist, I am often asked all of those questions of, oh, I'm gonna write a book one day. Oh, I would really like to do that. Can you help me? And you really do have to become quite discerning because otherwise you just spend all of your time giving away all of your information for free.

And so that brings me to another point I want to ask you about. How do you think operating as a speaker who speaks for free impacts positively or negatively on your ability to grow your business as a speaker? Because we all get invited to, oh, well, you can grow your network, you can grow your exposure who speak for free.

Lindsay Adams 11:07

It's an interesting one. I've mentored a lot of emerging speakers. And in your first 12 months, I say to them, look, go out and speak as many times as you can for free in your first 12 months. And the reason is you need to be good, become good at your craft. So you need to the words need to fall out of your mouth easily and eloquently. And the only way that's going to happen is by doing it alone. I do speak for free occasionally, and I'll give you a real life example. I pitched for a job in Melbourne, I thought it was a paid speech, it wasn't.

And the desperately wanted me, I went, I spoke, and afterwards three people lined up to speak to me. One of those people turned into $50,000 worth of work. Hey! Happy days. I spoke at our industry conference, Professional Speakers Australia conference two years ago in Perth. Walked off stage, a woman came out of the audience and said to me, Oh, Lindsay, you don't know me. I work for a big insurance company, I'd like to put your name for it for some work. Is that okay with you? Sure. That turned into $40,000 worth of work. So sometimes speaking for free has huge dividends.

But that's two out of I don't know how many. I've spoken a lot of times for free and got nothing except a wound blow at the end of the day. So if you're gonna speak for free, think about what's in it for me and what else could I get. And so I'm being approached by big insurance companies and they go, Oh, this is really great exposure for you. Yeah. Oh, well, what's your budget? Oh, we don't have a budget for speakers. Well, come on. You're a big insurance company, you've got budget. And so I got approached by an organization and once, and the guy, you know, we don't have a budget for speakers, and I said, Oh, can I ask a silly question?

And he said, Sure. I said, Do you get paid a salary? Well, yes, of course I do. And I said, Yeah, and you use that money to feed your family and pay your bills? Yes, that's right. And I said, Well, I'm in business, and when I speak, I get paid for speaking, and that's how I feed my family and pay my bills. So, and you're asking me to do that for free. So, how would that work? Would you do that? And he went, Oh. And so he actually found some money for me. So it's an interesting one.

I think never say never, but be very careful about if you do it, and then when you do it, make sure there's something in it for you. If you're gonna be videotaped while you're while you're speaking, then you've got an asset that you can use later. If nothing else, get some testimonials, some video testimonials from the person who hires you and some audience members, or make sure there's something in it for you, and you're not just gonna walk in, do your speech and walk out on the off chance. You might pick up some business.

Dixie Carlton 13:40

With that, do you sell books when you're speaking? Like, do you give away like how do you how does your book, you talked about your book, and I know that we've worked on a couple of your books and your lead magnet. How did that, how do they play into how you market yourself?

Lindsay Adams 13:55

Yeah, the books. I've written two books, and Dixie, you've helped me with both of them. The DNA of business relationships and why do people act like that? These books, there's a speech that goes with each book. So every time I do the speech, I offer the book. And so that that helps. And I sell there's a retail price on the book. And in fact, just recently I did a presentation on the Gold Coast, and I said, Look, I'll give you a discounted rate on the book. And so every delegate got a copy of the book as well.

And so there was a little extra income for me, and they thought it was a real bonus. And and when I gave the speech, I handed out the books during the presentation, and I said, Look, the boss has twisted my arm, he's gifted you a copy, everyone gets a book for free, and they'll boy, and they thought it was magic, a bit of smoke and mirrors. But so the book certainly helps. The the book is also a really good business card. Whenever I go for a prospecting meeting, if I'm doing a face-to-face meeting, I'll always give them a copy of the book or eight one of the books, or I'll post it to them with a handwritten note.

The other thing you mentioned, you touched on the lead magnet. We worked together, what is it, 12, 18 months ago to create a lead magnet, which is a tiny book. That has been gold for me. And I use that a lot as a way to introduce myself and get people to understand my thinking and what's possible. And so having some form of lead magnet, and if you don't know what to do, I mean you need to talk to Dixie about this, she's a whiz. And we brainstormed for half an hour, 60 minutes, I think, and then knocked something together and it came together really quickly.

I was quite amazed and delighted. And so that's been real gold for me.

Brad Hauck 15:34

Have you been using that as a physical book or a PDF style book? A PDF.

Lindsay Adams 15:39

So I just I email it, any excuse I've got, I'll send it. Or if I've had a discussion with someone, oh, I've got a little gift for you, I've attached my my book booklet. And so it's I think it's about 30 or 40 pages. It's not war and peace, but it's enough to get them thinking. And I talked before about taking people on the journey. It's about getting them unsettled and thinking, oh, I really need help. Oh, he oh, he raises a good point. I really need to talk more to this guy. And so imagine if everyone of our listeners had a lead magnet and and they were able to unsettle people and get them thinking, oh, I really need to talk more to this this speaker and this consultant, this trainer.

It's a great way to to get some more interest in what you do.

Dixie Carlton 16:23

With your lead magnet, we did that as a 30 or 40 page book, as like a booklet rather than writing a whole new book. It was something that it reads like several chapters. It's not just like a brochure, it's something that actually people go on a journey. Yeah, and that's the difference, I think, and which is what makes a lead magnet so powerful.

Brad Hauck 16:44

So we're on your journey now, Lindsay. Would you say your keynote is still your product? Or has it become really just a doorway to the more valuable work you do with organization?

Lindsay Adams 16:55

Interesting is an old saying in the business keynote for show, seminar for dough. And so go your keynote. You can earn good money doing a keynote. Nobody lives by keynotes. Very few people in this country live by keynotes alone. Okay, count them on this one hand, I reckon. So I, me personally, do a keynote, but the real money comes in doing then the follow-up seminar, webinar, whatever afterwards. Where you're going to entrench yourself and work with a client for 12 months, two years, whatever, long term. That that's where the real good revenue comes. I mean, it's very sexy jumping on a plane, flying to a different city, standing on stage for 45 minutes, pressing the flesh afterwards, having a few cocktails then, flying back home again.

Oh, yes, very exciting. And if you want good long-term business, turn that into a webinar, a seminar, a 12-month engagement.

Brad Hauck 17:46

Obviously, you've done other things in your life. So I know you're with the tax department, if I remember correctly. What have you had to unlearn to remain relevant for more than two decades in the speaking industry?

Lindsay Adams 17:59

Interesting. I had 24 years in the public sector, years with the Australian Taxation Office, spent some time with Queensland Health for Member City Council. So the three tiers of government, Commonwealth State, Local. One of the things I had to unlearn was rigidity and embrace flexibility. I mean, government, it's all do as I say, not as I do. Do this, do that, do this, do that. Start here, stop there. And that's not the way private business works. I I work from home now. I used to have an office. I was neither there, it was a waste of money.

I work crazy hours. I work when I want to work. And what works for me on married, I've got two kids, I've got four grandkids. And after we finish this podcast, I'm going to jump in the car and go and sing my grandson, do a little presentation at school. Isn't that sweet? That's the beauty of the business. That I, you know, I can work the hours that I want to work. And so I might start early and finish later, I might start early and finish early. It's up to me. And so I've unlearned the rigidity and have embraced the flexibility.

Dixie Carlton 19:00

Having achieved so much and learned so much, and you've ticked a lot of boxes over the years. What is there still to tick off in terms of things that you'd still like to achieve within the space of this career path?

Lindsay Adams 19:15

Oh, that's an interesting one. A lot of mentoring now. I'm the registered old guy. I'm still involved with professional speakers Australia. In fact, I went to the monthly meeting last night, and there's a lot of new people there. And I spoke to a couple of very fresh-faced people with stars in their eyes of this amazing world of speaking. And I do enjoy, I guess, m giving them the inside track, teaching them to look, don't go there, don't waste your time doing that. Do this, focus on this. This is more important than the fluffy stuff. And so for me, I guess it's about giving back.

Served a lot, still heavily involved in the industry, and yet I'm now coming to a point where I'm looking at, okay, what's next? Working less hours and enjoying my life more. Like I mentioned, I've got grandkids, spending more time with them, sharing my wisdom with them, sharing my love with them. Nothing is more enjoyable than to see your kids grow, but then your grandchildren grow. And for some people who are listening to the game, why you old man, you're it doesn't it's got nothing to do with me, and that's fine. But for me, that's where I'm headed next.

Dixie Carlton 20:21

Tell us a little bit more about your assessment's side hustle that's so run into this.

Lindsay Adams 20:27

It's interesting. It was a side hustle and it's now become probably a little more has a much bigger focus as I change what I'm doing. And so what I started using assessment tools, I don't know, 20-something years ago. We'll call it 20 years ago. And and then I got to a point where one of the suppliers I was buying from was an American speaker friend, and he said, Oh, Lindsay, we don't have anyone represent us in Australia. Why don't you become a person? At the time I went, Oh, I don't know about that, but I eventually did.

And what it does for speakers, having some sort of tool that they can use brings an extra stream of income. And for me, that's worked really well. I've earned quite a lot of revenue over time using different assessment tools alongside the work that I do. And so one of the one of the major products that I've used is DISC, good old disk assessment. And I can hear people rolling their eyes already going, Disc, that old thing. Well, that old thing is so simple, so powerful, and so up to date. It's amazing what you can do with it now.

You can use it for team building, leadership, recruitment, coaching. It's so versatile. And then I've got another great tool, which is a great revenue generator called the the Business Excellence Indicator. And it measures strategy, culture, and leadership in business. And every time you run it, you find something wrong with the client, which means, gosh, you'll have to fix that, won't you? And so it they're great little revenue generation tools. Not every tool is going to be suitable for everyone, but there's there's something for everyone. And so it's been a really useful revenue generator for me over time, and now I'm sharing that with others.

Dixie Carlton 22:07

With getting to know people and understanding what makes people tick, which is not a step sideways. From being the relationships guy, it fits in perfectly. And I think for anyone who's listening that's thinking, well, I can earn some money as a speaker, but I'm going to need to have a side hustle or I'm going to need to have another stream of income. Sticking with something that is still related reasonably closely to what you do as your main thing is I think really important. Brad, what I know you have a side hustle in effect that is a volunteer position because you're you're a firefighter, but you have also multiple streams of income within your business as well.

And one of the things that we've talked about through this entire series is the means of making sure that you have the backstop, the income, the multiple things, that it's all an ecosystem, not just a one line of something. What are your thoughts on that?

Brad Hauck 23:04

Yeah, look, I think it's essential. I don't think any business can survive with one stream of income these days. Just given the nature of the marketplace and the way the world is, where one thing rises, another thing comes down. So we went through COVID, we didn't have many speaking engagements, but there was people doing other sorts of work. And I think that given the way the world's changing, that's not going to change. So we always need to be looking for those backup streams because the old story, I remember I spoke at Professional Speakers Australia the year before COVID hit.

And the story I told was about Lindsay getting hit by a bus and what would happen to his stream of income. And then of course the next year we all got hit by the bus. But I was using it as an example, a funny example, because everybody knew Lindsay in the room. But it was so true, you don't know what will happen to you personally. And when you're a speaker, you are your business in most cases. Not many speakers have organizations around them. Some do. But if you're not speaking, you're not making money. So yeah, having those extra streams of income, like Lindsay was talking about, is really important because you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Dixie Carlton 24:13

What about the idea of retreats and getting people together to do things over several days rather than running one seminar or doing one keynote or a series of workshops? What are your thoughts on a reasonably good trend I've noticed where people talk about doing retreats?

Lindsay Adams 24:32

Yeah, I think in fact it's funny you mentioned I've just come back from a retreat in Bali about a month ago. And it was a four-day intensive, really high value, load and bucket load of stuff, met some amazing people and did it in some beautiful surroundings. So for me, really high value, and I think there's definite merit in in looking at either participating in or maybe engineering or running retreats. I think there's definitely a space in the market for it, and I think there's value.

Dixie Carlton 25:12

And she was mentioning that as professional speakers, a new line of uh inquiry or opportunity for professional speakers is to make yourself available to be a presenter on someone else's retreat. And I thought, what a fantastic idea. Also being on other people's podcasts when there are now starting to be paid podcast opportunities. And sorry, Lindsay, we're not paying you for this, but hey, we'll shout your coffee next time I'm in town. But obviously, there are completely expanding ideas starting to really generate and bubble now around how else you can get yourself in front of an audience.

What are your thoughts on that?

Lindsay Adams 25:53

Well, I think again, it comes down to that different streams of income thing. And you've got your expertise. Now slice and dice it. So whether it's whether it's a keynote speech on a stage, a training workshop, seminar, a podcast, a retreat, I think they're all viable, valid sources of revenue. And I think we should all be looking at what are the revenue streams that we can create or assessment tools or whatever. And so I think the key is it's the value that's offered and what's your return on investment. And for me, the retreat that I attended, and very good, very well priced, good value, and the ROI for me, very powerful, very strong.

So I think that's the key.

Brad Hauck 26:35

Excellent. Well, Lindsay, that brings us to the end of our time. So have you got anything that you would like to say to the listeners? Some great advice, some sage advice with all your experience that we can end on.

Lindsay Adams 26:49

Well, obviously, keep listening to this podcast because there's some really good advice I'd follow since day one and love the material that you guys present. From me, I'm just going back to my core message: relationships rule. And and think about your relationships, spend time on your relationships. Everyone's got a mobile phone. I challenge you now to go to your mobile phone and go through your contact list and find someone you haven't spoken to in a while and give them a call and just say, How are you? It's amazing what comes from a simple how are you called.

Brad Hauck 27:22

Amazing. Well, if you want to get in contact with Lindsay, you'll find him at lindseyadams.com. And if this episode has you think about writing a book and you're not sure how to do that, please reach out to Dixie at indiexperts.com. And if you want to become number one online, then please contact me at bradhauck.com and I'll help you grow your business.

Dixie Carlton 27:42

It's been a pleasure, as always, having a conversation. I always learn something whenever I talk with you, and you always make me smile. So for everyone listening, if you've loved what you've heard today, please don't forget review us. We love reviews and we love it when you share us. So thank you, everyone. We'll see you next week, Brad. And we've got another great guest coming up for their next episode too.

Lindsay Adams 28:04

Thank you. Thanks, guys.