How to Set Better Goals so You Can Grow Your Speaking Business with Jon Acuff

09/05/23 • 37 min

“Just because you’ve had success in other fields doesn’t mean that you get to skip rungs on the ladder.”

Grant welcomes Jon Acuff back to the The Speaker Lab Podcast! Jon is a regular guest on our show, because he’s an active speaker, a well know New York Times bestselling author, and one of Grant’s good friends.

"I think you could climb the ladder faster when you're an expert at something else already. Like, you and I have seen that, like, former athletes climb the ladder faster. People that have done other things climb the ladder faster. But I think it's about setting your expectations. I think it's about setting the reality. I think it's about putting in the work, about thinking about the client, like, outperforming what their expectations are."

This week, they dig into Jon’s speaking journey what he’s learned through writing his latest book, All It Takes is a Goal, and how you apply these goal setting principles to your speaking business.

This episode also covers:

How to climb the speaking ladder
What it looks like to set big goals that don’t set you up for failure
Jon’s favorite goal setting framework
How to embrace challenges and connect with the audience
What it’s like always playing away games
How to use books to grow your business
What ghostwriting is and how to tell if it’s a good fit for you
A little bit more about Jon’s new book

“It's kind of like, an NFL player who sucks at announcing. They do it for like, three games and you never hear from them again. And you're like, But I thought he played in the NFL for ten years. He's a hall of famer. Yeah, it turns out performing in a game or commenting on a game are very different crafts. And he thought, Nah, dude, I throw touchdowns. I know how to break down a game and do color comment like, no, you don't. You have a chance to engage in that with humility and work on it and put in the reps and the effort, or it just falls apart. And so I remember so many times where I would go and again, it would be low fee, small audience, maybe new content, and I'd put together my own slides, and it was me learning how to do it. And you really have to look at, like, if there's five people in there or 500, I have to give my best.”

Episode Chapters:

[00:02:34] Start small, build up to guaranteed goals.

[00:06:52] Frustration and joy in pursuing new ventures.

[00:09:58] Always serve well.

[00:14:54] Content creators need to accept the limitations of their celebrity status.

[00:19:08] To become a keynote speaker you have to cater and serve corporate audiences, books are a great tool for that.

[00:24:26] Test your content live before creating a book.

[00:25:36] Continuing to use older content as it fits the audiences is a great way to use your books after you publish them.

[00:31:22] Is ghostwriting the solution?

[00:33:30] All about Jon’s Book: "All it Takes is a Goal" The author reflects on his college regrets, realizing his potential, and helping others. Study shows most people feel untapped potential. Book offers practical ways to reach goals

Episode Resources:

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“Just because you’ve had success in other fields doesn’t mean that you get to skip rungs on the ladder.”

This episode also covers:

How to climb the speaking ladder
What it looks like to set big goals that don’t set you up for failure
Jon’s favorite goal setting framework
How to embrace challenges and connect with the audience
What it’s like always playing away games
How to use books to grow your business
What ghostwriting is and how to tell if it’s a good fit for you
A little bit more about Jon’s new book

Episode Chapters:

[00:02:34] Start small, build up to guaranteed goals.

[00:06:52] Frustration and joy in pursuing new ventures.

[00:09:58] Always serve well.

[00:14:54] Content creators need to accept the limitations of their celebrity status.

[00:19:08] To become a keynote speaker you have to cater and serve corporate audiences, books are a great tool for that.

[00:24:26] Test your content live before creating a book.

[00:25:36] Continuing to use older content as it fits the audiences is a great way to use your books after you publish them.

[00:31:22] Is ghostwriting the solution?

Episode Resources:

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Previous Episode

Leveraging Discipline and Resilience to Grow Your Business with Katherine Johnson [Coaches Corner]

"We absolutely have the ability to cultivate a growth mindset, which will put us it makes us more resilient. It gives us the ability to see opportunities and connect more easily with people. We move through the world very differently, and it gives you a different energy to go about the task of building a business."

The Speaker Lab Coach, Katherine Johnson is back on the podcast this week sharing her expertise on reprogramming your mindset so it’s a helpful tool in building the speaking busines of your dreams. She sat down with Maryalice Goldsmith, to chat about changing your mindset, to ensure that you aren't creating a breeding ground for failure.

"I'm always growing. I don't know how to do this piece. This may feel hard right now, but what I know is I can look back at my past life and be like, I can do hard things."

Katherine and Maryalice dig into:

Tips on how to build resilience
Why you need discipline
How to overcome failure
What it looks like to transition to a growth mindset
How to assess our experiences and the stories we tell ourselves for quality in the decision making process
What metrics matter when you’re building a busienss
Ways to recovery when you learn a hard or expensive lesson
And more!

“I think of resilience as coming from focusing more on the activities you're doing and their effectiveness over the long run instead of focusing on the results. Right. Because if we take that idea of, let's say bamboo, right? Bamboo. At first, there are certain kinds. You plant it, you water, water, water. You don't see anything. And then all of a sudden, you can get a foot of growth a day. Right? Well, we have to focus on what you're doing in your speaking business and as a speaker, looking at the activities, and that those compound and they stack. But if you take a snapshot in any moment and you are just like, well, this must mean X, Y or Z, and you walk away, you're doing a huge disservice to yourself.”

Episode Chapters

00:02:13 Mindset impacts everything. Positive mindset is crucial.

00:06:52 Questions to focus on learning and reprograming thought processes.

00:11:33 Embrace new opportunities and see what happens.

00:15:28 Open to learning, failures lead to success.

00:16:36 How to bounce back when things go wrong.

00:22:39 Consistently prioritize key tasks to achieve success.

00:24:41 Focus on growth mindset, set realistic expectations. Seek coaching for perspective and progress.

Episode Resources

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Next Episode

Unlocking Happiness to Grow Your Business with Bruce Wawrzyniak [Student Highlight]

"If you go through adversity and you don't learn anything from it, that it's a lost opportunity"

This episode of the Speaker Lab Podcast is another excellent episode of our Student Highlight Series. Maryalice Goldsmith, Director of Student Success, sat down with Bruce Wawrzyniak to talk about his speaking business, the career he’s building, and his experience here at the Speaker Lab.

"So which ones are you going to choose? Are you going to choose the negative thoughts and dwell on those, or are you going to choose the positive, happy thoughts and really affect your whole day with the choices that you make just based on all the different thoughts that come in and out of your mind?"

When it comes to developing a speaking career, Bruce reflected on finding his niche, developing confidence in his worth, and learning how to run this operation like a business vs. a hobby. Maryalice and Bruce also cover: