Next Level Influence

Samantha Riley & Melanie Benson

1 Creator

This is the show for coaches, consultants, course creators and service professionals who are ready to grow their business beyond 6-figures. It’s time to uncover the micro shifts required to elevate your income, influence and impact to the next level. Co-hosts Melanie Benson and Samantha Riley discuss proven strategies and behind the scenes insights to scaling your online business. With their combined 50+ years of business experience, they integrate the practical, spiritual and energetic principles that rapidly move the needle for entrepreneurs.

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Top 10 Next Level Influence Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Next Level Influence episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Next Level Influence for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Next Level Influence episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

024: Speaking To Grow Next Level Influence

Next Level Influence

02/06/23 • 52 min

Whether you’re speaking about something you’re genuinely passionate about or you’re doing it because you’re getting paid, speaking is one of the best tools to attract your target audience and leverage your impact and influence.True power that comes from speaking can be seen in several factors, it opens a new world filled with opportunities and connections you never thought to be possible. In this episode of the Next Level Influence, co-hosts Samantha Riley and Melanie Benson are joined by known authorities in speaking - Bri Seeley, Corey Poirier and Jacqueline Nagle. Their years of experience in the speaking industry have taught them how to use it to scale their business, common mistakes that speakers make, and revolutionary strategies that helped them acquire great results from speaking. Here are some of the highlights of this episode:

Introduction to today's guests - what they do and who they work with (01:40)
How can speaking grow influence and impact (05:30)
Establishing speaking connections through the “Domino Effect” (09:09)
The power of speaking - taking business to the next level and why it won’t deliver a linear impact (14:35)
Game-changing factors that provide better speaking results (19:40)
The biggest speaking mistake others commit and lessons you can learn from them (31:08)

Quotes:"Don't make your pitch about you, focus on the impact that you can make on the audience." -Bri Seeley"A mistake that most speakers make is not knowing how to leverage and fully capitalise after delivering their talks; this limits impact and opportunities." -Corey Poirier"Once you gift someone the power of speaking, their world opens up and they see possibilities that didn't exist before." -Jacqueline Nagle"No one's going to come and tap you on the shoulder. You have to give yourself permission and do the work." -Samantha Riley"We can activate the audience with inspiration and connection but true change happens with what they choose to do after they hear us speak." -Melanie BensonResources:

Get access to Bri's free workshop: Activate Your Most Profitable Year https://briseeley.com/plan/
Watch Bri's TedX Talk, "From Wages To Wealth: The Future of the Female Workforce" https://briseeley.com/ted/
Take Jacqueline's Quiz for Discovering your language of influence https://anygiventuesday.com.au/
Grab a free copy of Corey's The Book of Public Speaking http://thebookofpublicspeaking.com/

Melanie Benson, host of Amplify Your Success PodcastInstagram Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Samantha Riley, host of Influence by Design PodcastInstagram Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Produced by Your Podcast Concierge

050: Is Playing Safe in Business Keeping You Small?

Next Level Influence

08/07/23 • 28 min

Entrepreneurs are likely to face significant moments in their lives when they have to make crucial choices. These decisions can either lead them to greater success or keep them in their comfort zones.In this episode of Next Level Influence, Melanie Benson and Samantha Riley chat about the pitfalls of playing safe in business. It is said that in the world of business, fortune will always favour the brave and this entails breaking through things that hold us back and keeping a lid on our potential.Staying in what’s familiar may minimise risks but opting to always play safe can have far-reaching consequences that hinder an entrepreneur's visibility, thought leadership, and potential results.Discover the impact of playing it safe on your progress and learn how to avoid its traps, so you can embrace new opportunities and reach new heights.
Don't miss this episode to learn more!Here are some of the highlights of this episode:

The impact of holding back from sharing your thought leadership (03:30)
What prevents us from reaching a higher level of visibility? (07:05)
The influence of playing safe in investing and growing ourselves (10:08)
Understanding which clients to focus on (13:38)
How your network can affect your actions and results (17:15)
How to breakthrough limiting thoughts, behaviours, and beliefs (21:13)

Quotes:"We want to be around people who make us feel good about ourselves. But when we do that at the expense of stepping into our greatness, it's catastrophic." -Melanie Benson
"If you are not asking for wisdom from somebody who has set the pace beyond what you're doing, you're always going to get people who are afraid of you rocking the boat." -Melanie Benson
"It's uncomfortable to push boundaries. But unless we push those boundaries, we can't take our teachings to new levels." -Samantha Riley
"When you're hanging out with people that also have a mindset of keeping it safe, and don't take risks, that's going to play out in your business. It feeds fear and negative emotions that are going to hold you back." -Samantha Riley
"Ironically, in a changing world, playing it safe is one of the riskiest things you can do." -Reid Hoffman
Resources:

The Million Dollar Plan: Discover The 9 Key Growth Areas For Your Business That Will Give You More Income, Freedom and Impact https://samanthariley.global/plan/
Uncover the #1 Barrier that's keeping your Authority in the Shadows through the Authority Quiz https://melaniebenson.com/authorityquiz/

017: Empower Your Team To Achieve Your Goals

Next Level Influence

12/19/22 • 27 min

Hiring and training teams involve investing a good amount of money and time. But some entrepreneurs feel like it’s wasting their resources because good results aren’t being achieved.Delegation is a crucial factor in the success of your business growth, but not getting the results you want may lead you to wonder if the time, effort, and money are worth it. In this episode of Next Level Influence, Melanie Benson and Samantha Riley speak about how you can empower your team to achieve your goals. Not having a team limits your business growth, so you need to learn how to expand their impact by empowering them. Here are some of the highlights of this episode:

Samantha’s onboarding process of team members (03:59)
Why it’s important to hire people who have an ownership mentality (05:37)
The impact of human design on how team members achieve goals (08:20)
The advantage of employing people with different personality traits (11:20)
Getting clear on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and addressing bottlenecks (15:45)
How to evaluate the outcome of your investment in your team (21:05)

Quotes:"Delegating is such a key part of growth and being able to reach more people." -Melanie Benson"We need to balance our team and understand what kind of role, energy, and human design they have so we don't get stuck all trying to be part of the wheel." -Melanie Benson"Your team will not perform at their best if they're being micromanaged. They'll be afraid at every step, so you need to give them space to operate at their best." -Samantha Riley "If we love what we do, we push forward. If we're hating what we do, we hold back." -Samantha RileyResources:

Download Samantha's Guide to Create Your High-Performing Team https://samanthariley.global/TEAM/
Learn more about Melanie's Hiring For Growth Guide by sending her a message
Next Level Influence Episode 006: Using Your Human Design to Create Aligned Content

018: 2022 In Reflection

Next Level Influence

12/26/22 • 32 min

We’re coming to the end of 2022 and for some of us, it’s been an incredibly powerful year. We’ve experienced transformations through painful lessons and discovered new growth opportunities.Exploring these lessons will give you a better understanding of where to pivot, invest, and how to manage challenges moving forward.In this episode of Next Level Influence, Samantha Riley and Melanie Benson chat about the lessons learned from this year. It’s much harder to move forward and make the changes needed for your next level of growth if you don't look back, reflect and learn from the lessons. These learnings will help you better plan and make the changes needed for the coming year.Here are some of the highlights of this episode:

Melanie’s Year-End Wrap-Up and how she uses it to plan out the next year (02:29)
Samantha’s preparations for 2023 and the value of having a supportive network (02:59)
The dangers of over-delegating and the learnings Melanie got from a difficult situation (04:45)
The significance of having the right people when scaling a business (09:53)
Samantha’s challenges and learnings from doing 30 podcast episodes in 30 days (12:55)
Changes in podcasting during the pandemic (19:40)
The cost when you operate outside your human design (23:49)

Quotes:"You can't move forward and reach your next level of growth without reflecting back." -Samantha Riley "When you're up-leveling in business, there will be hard decisions to make. Sometimes some people need to get off the bus to allow other people to get on the bus." -Samantha Riley"You can delegate ownership but you have to invest in having the right people to accelerate growth. If you don't have the right people and level of expertise and you're giving them ownership, you're bound to have problems and breakdowns in business." -Melanie Benson"When you understand your human design profile, you learn how to engage with others in a way that activates the most energetic flow state." -Melanie BensonResources:

Download The Million Dollar Plan to discover the 9 key growth areas for more income, freedom, and impact https://samanthariley.global/PLAN/
Learn more about Melanie's 7 Step Proven Framework and Add Another 6 Figures to Your Business https://amplifywithmelanie.com
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't

014: Remove The Bottlenecks That Prevent Business Growth

Next Level Influence

11/28/22 • 25 min

Do you regularly spend more time doing tasks that you could have easily assigned to someone else? And instead of showing up as the face of your business, you regularly get caught in the weeds?This symptom is a strong indication that you’re a bottleneck in your business. In this episode of Next Level Influence, Melanie Benson and Samantha Riley exchange insights about how you can remove the bottlenecks that prevent business growth. If you want to succeed in business, there are many areas you need to focus on. However, not dealing with the bottlenecks steers you away from achieving your goals. Here are some of the highlights of this episode:

The importance of recognising you are the catalyst in your business (02:05)
The top five bottlenecks that are preventing you from scaling your impact (04:37)
The danger of doing tasks outside your genius zone (04:53)
Why you need clear systems and procedures to grow (07:45)
The outcomes of investing in your business (11:17)
The impact of spending time on unaligned opportunities (15:25)
The significance of having a plan in business (17:47)
How to remove bottlenecks (19:38)

Quotes:"Spending time on opportunities that are not a good fit means you will not have the time to invest in things that will move the needle." -Melanie Benson"If you're doing something that someone else can do better, faster, or cheaper than you, you're probably bottlenecking your growth." -Melanie Benson"As the CEO of your business, your biggest contribution is the vision. Without sharing your vision, you can't move your business forward and impact more people." -Samantha Riley"To influence more people, we need to be showing up. The more time we're spending backstage in business, the less time we're being seen."-Samantha RileyResources:

Learn Melanie's 7 Step Proven Framework for getting booked as a Guest Expert https://melaniebenson.com/7-steps/
Discover The 5 Biggest Mistakes That Coaches Make That Prevent Them From Having A High Performing Team https://samanthariley.global/team/

027: How To Leverage Speaking to Attract Better Clients

Next Level Influence

02/27/23 • 18 min

Speaking is one of the best resources to gain leads and amplify your influence. But when your schedule gets hectic, you need to evaluate what speaking events are worth taking on.In this episode of Next Level Influence, Samantha Riley and Melanie Benson chat about how to leverage speaking to attract better clients. Although speaking in stages only has you on stage for around an hour, the actual preparation takes days or weeks and it demands a lot of your time, energy, and money. Making the effort to undergo this thorough process can yield significant returns by enhancing the visibility of your business and opening up a world of endless opportunities. When executed correctly, it can help you to draw in your ideal clients who share a genuine connection with your brand.Here are some of the highlights of this episode:

Key factors to consider before saying yes to speaking events (03:05)
The importance of learning how to say no (05:48)
Intentional goals and the value of trusting your own energy (06:35)
How to maximise the return of opportunity (ROO) in speaking (08:50)
Why you need to be aware of the flow of the speaking event (10:35)

Quotes:"Speaking may seem like showing up and speaking on stage for an hour but it's days worth of putting content together that allows you to show up as your best self." -Samantha Riley"You've only got so many hours in a day and you need to make sure that you're getting the greatest ROI of your time, at all times." -Samantha Riley"You need to know the difference between a good opportunity and a great opportunity. Good opportunities are dime-a-dozen while the great ones will keep moving the needle for you." -Melanie Benson"We put a lot of time, money, and energy to show up in a powerful way while speaking." -Melanie Benson Resources:

Move from being Unknown to Standout Expert and attract your dream clients https://samanthariley.global/expert/
Learn more about Melanie's 7 Step Proven Framework to get booked, get leads and get five figure clients https://amplifywithmelanie.com

048: AI Ethics and Thought Leadership: Empowering Entrepreneurs in the Digital Era with Heather Pearce Campbell

Next Level Influence

07/24/23 • 40 min

Picking up where we left off from last week’s episode 047: AI Solutions To Boost Business Success, we dive deeper into the AI rabbit hole and focus on the dark side of AI, what business owners can do to protect their assets, and how to use it responsibly.In this episode of Next Level Influence, Melanie Benson and Samantha Riley discuss AI ethics and thought leadership: empowering entrepreneurs in the digital era with Heather Pearce Campbell. Heather is an Attorney and Legal Coach who provides legal education and support and brand protection to information-based businesses AI is labelled as the ultimate game changer since it enhances productivity and efficiency across all business areas. However, we’re also seeing counterarguments about how AI risks our information and a growing concern about data privacy and security.Heather provides valuable insights into the immense capabilities of AI and the responsibility of business owners to make informed decisions. This empowers entrepreneurs about the types of information that can be fed to AI platforms, help them navigate the complexities of the digital business landscape, and preserve their thought leadership. What you’ll learn in this episode:

How to protect your IP and core assets (06:19)
The risks of inputting your information into different AI platforms (13:07)
Using AI ethically and how to preserve your thought leadership (16:47)
Ways to verify content and prevent publishing inaccuracies (20:45)
Nurturing thought leadership by using AI (24:30)
How to use Chat GPT with limited inputs (27:33)
Things to remember when using ChatGPT (30:58)

Quotes:

"We're seeing some really wild stuff happening in the AI world. And primarily, it's because people are not slowing down to think it through all the way to the end." -Heather Pearce Campbell
"Like any other platform that you get on to, you are responsible as a consumer for understanding the terms that you agree to when you sign up for that platform." -Heather Pearce Campbell
"It's really important that we observe the marketplace, know what's up with these AI tools, and that we interact with them enough so that we are part of the conversation and be informed to contribute in a meaningful way." -Heather Pearce Campbell
"Thought leadership is where creativity and innovation gets rewarded. However, AI could potentially be the antithesis of that." -Melanie Benson
"People are already relying on AI, rather than using their own decision making skills or coming up with their own thoughts." -Samantha Riley
Resources:LEGAL BASICS BootcampNext Level Influence episode 047: AI Solutions To Boost Business SuccessMelanie Benson, host of Amplify Your Success PodcastInstagram Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Samantha Riley, host of Influence by Design PodcastInstagram Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Produced by Your Podcast Concierge

015: How To Get Booked On High Profile Podcasts

Next Level Influence

12/05/22 • 29 min

Podcasting is growing exponentially, yet some people don’t recognise its value in brand visibility.It’s challenging to stand out with platforms such as social media, blogs, or YouTube. But podcasting generates an intimate opportunity that can easily capture the listener’s attention.In this episode of Next Level Influence, Melanie Benson and Samantha Riley talk about how to get booked on high-profile podcasts. With its evergreen shelf life, podcasting is a coveted visibility strategy you should leverage to grow your business. Here are some of the highlights of this episode:

Why podcasting is a hot visibility strategy for your brand (03:30)
The value of consistency in podcast guesting (06:25)
Understanding the power of a great pitch (8:48)
Common mistakes that prevent you from getting booked on podcasts (18:22)

Quotes:"If you don't know how to deliver a good podcast episode then you're not going to get booked on high-profile podcasts." -Melanie Benson"You don't need to be on everybody's podcast. You just need to be on a podcast that is creating a connection with your ideal clients or creating new opportunities." -Melanie Benson"No other platform allows us to dive deep, talk about our zone of genius, and show people what we know and how we interact better than podcasting." -Samantha Riley"You need to understand that showing and doing the interview is not the whole podcast strategy. The whole strategy is also about how you're bringing people back to your world." -Samantha RileyResources:

Learn Melanie’s How to Avoid the 17 Biggest Mistakes When Podcast Guesting https://melaniebenson.com/magnetize/
Get a copy of Samantha’s Podcast Guest Advantage - The 5 steps to getting yourself booked on podcasts https://samanthariley.global/guest/

001: What Is Influence?

Next Level Influence

08/31/22 • 20 min

Our influence impacts the way other people behave, act, think, and make decisions. And when we understand the power of our influence, we realise that it helps elevate our authority in our industries. In the realm of social media, the word “influencer” has been associated with a negative reputation. But being a real influencer is all about building influence that can shake others' thoughts, so they become a better version of themselves.If you want to learn more about how you can build your path to better influence others and how you can elevate this to have more opportunities, let’s dive in!Highlights from Today’s Show:

Why hosting your own podcast is a key factor in elevating your influence (01:20)
The reason influence grows by having a platform (02:30)
Sam and Melanie share their own path to building influence in their business (06:49)
One action someone could take now to boost their influence (13:29)

016: Do This Instead of Goal Setting

Next Level Influence

12/12/22 • 26 min

Many entrepreneurs set goals at the beginning of the year but a whopping 80% of these goals are never achieved. The idea of setting goals may seem exciting, but actually committing to achieve them is a whole different story.In this episode of Next Level Influence, Samantha Riley and Melanie Benson chat about what you need to do instead of goal setting so you can achieve powerful outcomes for your life and business next year.Here are some of the highlights of this episode:

How to decide on a theme for next year (03:05)
Melanie's and Samantha's themes for 2022 (05:52)
How to ensure your decisions are aligned with your goals (12:18)
The impact of challenging your belief systems (15:28)
How habits can hinder or move you towards your goals (17:10)
Finding the gaps in your business, and knowing what needs to be done (18:57)
Milestone projects that scale the business forward (20:18)

Quotes:"Our habits can either hinder or help us. Paying attention to your habits helps you move towards your goals." -Samantha Riley"Our belief system plays out more than any of us could ever know." -Samantha Riley"One of the reasons why people don't achieve their goals is that their habits are taking them away from the goals instead of moving towards them." -Melanie Benson"Setting a theme acts like a guiding light for the goals you set. It will give you a much greater chance of realizing those goals instead of them disappearing on a piece of paper." -Melanie BensonResources:

Discover The 9 Key Growth Areas For Your Business That Will Give You More Income, Freedom and Impact https://samanthariley.global/plan/
Unlock Your Hidden Profits in Just 4 Simple Steps https://melaniebenson.com/profitexplosion/

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FAQ

How many episodes does Next Level Influence have?

Next Level Influence currently has 52 episodes available.

What topics does Next Level Influence cover?

The podcast is about Podcasts, Education and Business.

What is the most popular episode on Next Level Influence?

The episode title '027: How To Leverage Speaking to Attract Better Clients' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Next Level Influence?

The average episode length on Next Level Influence is 27 minutes.

How often are episodes of Next Level Influence released?

Episodes of Next Level Influence are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Next Level Influence?

The first episode of Next Level Influence was released on Aug 31, 2022.

Show more FAQ

Next Level Influence

Samantha Riley & Melanie Benson

Top 10 Next Level Influence Episodes

Featured in these lists

FAQ

How many episodes does Next Level Influence have?

What topics does Next Level Influence cover?

What is the most popular episode on Next Level Influence?

What is the average episode length on Next Level Influence?

How often are episodes of Next Level Influence released?

When was the first episode of Next Level Influence?

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