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EP617: Linda Martin - How To Become Professionally Famous
93 Plays2 months ago
Are people the biggest challenge in your business? What if there was a proven way to transform your leadership team and create seamless collaboration that drives growth?
Whether you’re a business owner or an executive, you've likely faced moments where it felt like your team was pulling in different directions, preventing your company from reaching its full potential. You're not alone—managing people effectively is one of the most common and complex challenges in business.
Discover strategies to overcome the people challenges that hinder your company's growth. Learn how effective leadership can foster harmony, enhance collaboration, and build a culture that aligns with your company's goals. This episode goes beyond traditional management—it's about unlocking your team's full potential and creating an environment where everyone thrives. You'll gain insights into how leadership can drive synchronicity and long-term success for your business.
Linda Martin is a globally recognized expert in leadership and team dynamics. With experience across 50 countries and 75 industries, Linda has a unique ability to help leadership teams "get in sync." She’s worked with fast-growing companies to solve their most pressing people challenges and ensure their teams are working together, not against each other. From her humble beginnings on a hobby farm to advising top executives, Linda brings a wealth of experience and insights to help businesses create cohesive, high-performing teams.
Watch out for Linda’s upcoming book: In Sync: How to Get Leadership Teams Right.
Website: Lindamartinresults.com
LinkedIn: Linda Martin
Listen to Linda’s Podcast ‘In Sync with Linda Martin’ on Spotify or Apple,
Expert action steps:
- Build and lead an all-star team.
- Be an expert at building collaboration, not competition.
- Be a phenomenal connector.
Visit eCircleAcademy.com and book a success call with Nicky to take your practice to the next level.
Recommended
Transcript
The Importance of Collaboration Over Competition
00:00:03
Speaker
I am leading a mission about making work work for everyone. How do you get people rallied around what it is a leadership team is trying to do? I have an unofficial PhD in this topic now. I have found something I have deeply fallen in love with and decided, you know what, I'm going to dedicate the rest of my life to this.
00:00:26
Speaker
Be an expert at building collaboration, not competition. Understand that building and leading an all-star team is one of the most important skill sets that you need to have. So I spent years and years and years, Nikki, doing strategy for companies. I've been responsible for over 50 countries and at this point probably worked in over 75 industries. so So that was my whole gig. I fundamentally believe when it works for everyone, you will get the best and biggest business outcome.
Introduction to 'The Thought Leader Revolution' Podcast
00:01:05
Speaker
Welcome to the Thought Leader Revolution with Nikki Ballou. Join the revolution. There's never been a better time in history to speak your truth, find your freedom, and make your fortune. Each week, we interview the world's top thought leaders and learn the secrets of how they built a six to seven figure practice. This episode has been brought to you by eCircleAcademy.com, the proven system to add six to seven figures a year to your thought leader practice.
00:01:36
Speaker
Welcome to another exciting episode of the podcast, The Thought Leader Revolution. I'm your host, Nicky Baloo, and we have an exciting, amazing, emerging thought leader on our emerging thought leader segment today. She is a dear friend of mine. We first connected seven years ago through the work of thought leadership. I am speaking of the one, the only, the legendary, Linda Martin. Welcome, Linda.
00:02:04
Speaker
Oh my gosh, Nikki, that is absolutely fantastic.
00:02:11
Speaker
I am thrilled to be here. Thank you for that warm introduction. You bet. So tell us your
Linda Martin's Shift to Leadership Alignment
00:02:17
Speaker
backstory. you How'd you get to be the great Linda Martin? Oh my gosh, I'll give you the curated version. Well, um so I spent years and years and years, Nikki, doing strategy for companies. And I did it all over the world. So I've worked in, gosh, I've been responsible for over 50 countries. And at this point, probably worked in over 75 industries. So that was my whole gig. And basically what happened was one day I woke up and I was like, you know what?
00:02:51
Speaker
This stuff's good, but it's not really what is going to take a company to an entire new level. Meaning, of course you have to have the strategy right, but I can tell you that that's about 25% of it.
00:03:08
Speaker
The rest of it is how you get every team in the company rallied around what it is you want to do and excited to come to work and excited to make it happen. So I, I made a decision. I guess it's 10 years now that I was going to take a whole left turn in my career.
00:03:27
Speaker
And I was going to figure out the other piece of the puzzle. How do you get people in sync and rallied around what it is a leadership team is trying to do? And so I feel like I have an unofficial PhD in this topic now because I've been doing all sorts of ah work with leadership teams now.
00:03:51
Speaker
and um designations and reading. I just read this stuff for fun is how much I'm into it. So that's just a bit of my my my journey. But I will say this, I have found something I have deeply fallen in love with and decided, you know what, I'm going to dedicate the rest of my life to this. That's fantastic. So take me back a little further into your story. Yeah.
00:04:18
Speaker
The young girl that was Linda, what were her hopes and dreams and aspirations? What got you into corporate work in the first place?
Influence of Family on Team Dynamics
00:04:27
Speaker
Well, yeah. So the little Linda was kind of born into a big thriving team because I have a family of nine. Wow. And he yeah, so I was the youngest daughter. I have a younger brother. And I remember my first memories are seeing all these people running around in a playpen.
00:04:48
Speaker
And just kind of taking it all in. And, you know, I came from a very industrious background, really probably more by necessity. um So child of the 70s. And believe it or not, both of my parents worked. Now that was unheard of.
00:05:09
Speaker
You know, now people complain about having one or two child two children and two parents working full time. Well these guys were totally pioneering something. They had seven children.
00:05:20
Speaker
and my mom and dad were they both were in government jobs but had you know respectable jobs um and had seven kids and so this was the world that I grew like I was born into and so I think I was just fascinated by How do all these people get along and how does this whole thing work? So I think I was studying people, whether I knew it or not, at a very young age in a playpen, to be honest. Yeah. And um so I learned. Yeah. Sorry. Go ahead. I said that makes complete sense. I mean, being in such a big family, right? You'd need to understand interpersonal dynamics between the people that you're living with. If you're going to thrive.
00:06:09
Speaker
Absolutely. And I think, you know, now, Nikki, like what a blessing. um I always say that I chose that family. I really felt like I chose my family to learn whatever I needed to learn on this path. And um having, I have four brothers.
00:06:29
Speaker
and i have two sisters and i am so grateful for everything that they are and what they have taught me and what i've learned from them um and of course my parents but you know when you have a family that large i think the siblings play an even bigger part in your development perhaps and the parents the parents are kind of framing it up but you're on this uh you're on this team trying to figure stuff out and and you know competing for some things and trying to work things out. So I definitely think that that was the start of it. And you know we grew up on a um ah hobby farm. My dad worked at the University of Guelph and they were they came from generations of farmers. um In fact, we just celebrated 170 years in Canada and our family still gets together and celebrates that.
00:07:23
Speaker
And I think, you know, at the time, you're like, get me the heck out of here. This is the last thing I want to do is be country girl. And so that upbringing created a lot of desire for um I don't know what I'm going to do, but I ain't sticking around here. I knew that for sure. So ah that just created a lot of different ideas. And I thought, you know what, I don't want to get pigeonholed into one area.
00:07:50
Speaker
And so I went to Western for business in London, Western University. Yeah, and I was just like, you know what? I am going to ah pick something that's not going to pigeon myself into one field. And so that was really kind of the start of things and started down the marketing vein um with different companies and um you know, got into very progressive positions very quickly, was very fortunate. And, um and that's how that's really what got me into the strategy side.
Integrating Strategy with Team Collaboration
00:08:26
Speaker
And then of course, now I'm using that, of course, but now moving into how do you how do you integrate strategy and have people really own it and make it come to life. So that is the the little Linda Liu story. That's what the nickname they call me Nikki, just so you know, Linda Liu.
00:08:45
Speaker
I have a friend, Linda Robinson's her name. We call her Linda Lou too. That's our nickname for her, Linda Lou. You can never get away from it. No, no, God. I've known her for 22 years. Crazy. Oh my gosh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you've had four brothers and two sisters. There's seven of you.
00:09:13
Speaker
from your family, from Martin Clan. So which which direction did they all take? Did they also go into business? What happened with them? Oh, you know what? Like we're literally rocking some sort of focus group.
00:09:29
Speaker
We have people that went down very, very different roads. um And it is true in the big families that even though you're raised under the the same roof and have the same parents, they all picked very, very, very different fields. um Like to give you an example, my oldest brother was a diesel mechanic.
00:09:52
Speaker
His whole thing was, yeah, he the mechanical guy, love fix fixing the big trucks. So he's the guy out on, like he actually went to the highways for these large trucking companies because they wanted to keep the trucks operating 24 hours a day. So he's doing something totally different than me. And I think that having siblings like that, you're born into that kind of diversity of different thoughts and different careers. And I think that puts you in really good, um a really good position to really understand the greatness of others and that we are all different. We're not the same, um but that together with all these different preferences and attitudes and strengths,
00:10:44
Speaker
You can create a really dynamic family, a dynamic company, a dynamic country like Canada is, right? Because we can all coexist with all the things that that that make makes us different and makes us great. So yes, no none of us are doing the doing the same same thing at all.
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah, I get it. I totally get it. I totally get it. Wow. So let's segue from there into you and the work you do right now. So right now you're working in the arena of leadership. So what types of problems do your clients have that you solve for them?
Challenges and Solutions in Business People Management
00:11:24
Speaker
So number one problem is people problem. So What I deal predominantly at the CEO and presidential level, Nikki, and unequivocally 100% agreement or 99.999. My biggest problem is people.
00:11:45
Speaker
the process is easier. Why? It's like, it's linear. Like I can see it on a piece of paper. The process doesn't change. You start adding people now, and I'm not just talking the internal team, but the customer teams, the supplier teams, um all of the customer teams, they create more difficulties for the leader than any anything else. So that's their biggest problem.
00:12:15
Speaker
And, you know, having taught MBA at two schools, I can tell you that there's not a lot going on in academia about how to deal with people. But as a CEO, that's all you do all day long because a business is just a network of people. And so that is absolutely their biggest problem. And I think what's interesting is getting, you know, getting the people that are closest to you, getting them to work together, right? So getting that senior executive team, right?
00:12:53
Speaker
will make or break your company because we all know it flows downhill, right? yeah you know if you and i yeah If we're on a team that's working well on an executive team, the teams underneath us will work well, how we show up at customers will work well, how we deal with suppliers will work well, how we deal with our clients,
00:13:15
Speaker
Um, any stakeholder for that matter, once you get, I call it team one, when you can get team one, right. The rest will flow. Yeah. Yeah. That's for sure. It's, it's, it's true. I interviewed someone else today who was talking about people and the power of an organization that really.
00:13:41
Speaker
took people issues seriously. And she talked about winning the war on talent, or the war for talent, right? Not the war on talent, the war for talent, because if you want the best people, you're gonna have to make them believe that you give a good gosh darn, right? You can't just be somebody who's, okay, I'm gonna get everything I can from you, I'm paying you, now get out of here, don't bother me too much. You gotta be somebody that they think cares about them, what matters to them, and it's about helping them advance into the world.
00:14:11
Speaker
And I think that's very powerful, Linda. It's very, very powerful. So why is this so important to you? Oh, good question, Nikki. It's so important to me because I am leading a mission about making work work for everyone.
00:14:33
Speaker
because I fundamentally believe that when it works for everyone, you will get the best and biggest business outcome. And I think we've come from a past where we don't think about the all. We're thinking perhaps about ourselves,
00:14:55
Speaker
perhaps about even our company. But we're not thinking about, hey, wait a minute, if I can deeply care about what's important to my customers, am I going to win better than if I didn't? Well, hell yes, of course you are. What about suppliers? You know, suppliers have historically been treated horrifically.
00:15:19
Speaker
Well, you know, I can get it cheaper over here. um So companies are just not great in making this network of people work for them in a way that will produce a bigger outcome for all. um And so that's what I am very, very passionate about is getting the message out that, you know, we live in a highly interconnected world.
00:15:47
Speaker
yeah So when we're talking about how we are with people, Nikki, how I am as a leader with my own people. is very, very important. How I am with my customers is important. And I just don't think that we are connecting the dots on this. I think business has gotten more challenging and more difficult and I've watched it. People are just struggling to get through the day, get the product out the door. They're not really thinking about, okay, how do we connect as a team? Like,
00:16:21
Speaker
Even like what you're saying with your your interview this morning, how does a CEO really help people on their executive team or anyone in the company for that matter? They're still thinking, get the stuff out the door. I got a number to meet, task orientation. And of course, do we need to do that? Yes. But I think now it's not either or. You can do both. You can get stuff out the door and you can care and connect deeply with any group of people that your your company intersects with. That's true. That's very true. So Linda, who's your ideal client?
Attracting Clients and Podcast Leverage
00:17:03
Speaker
So I work with almost exclusively fast growth companies.
00:17:11
Speaker
Now, why is that? Well, a couple of reasons why. um Number one, companies that are growing minimum 20% a year, Nikki, they are forced to face this issue, right?
00:17:26
Speaker
in the eyes, you have to learn how to be great with people quicker than companies that don't grow as as fast. So there's that piece of it. um The second piece by nature of growing so quickly, I would say that the leaders in these companies are the most open minded, and they're willing to try and go beyond their comfort zone and experiment with things.
00:17:56
Speaker
that um perhaps companies that aren't growing as quickly don't need to. They're like, look, you know we're doing OK. We're getting our plus 5, plus 8% growth. But when you start growing year on year, like double digit growth, it just gets literally that much harder. um So that's kind of the ah the sweet spot. um And also, I would say kind of mid-market growth, um just because my expertise is with teams, with leadership teams. So just by nature of that, you need to be a bit bigger for for me to properly serve you, right? So if you have, you know, 25 people or up on your team, then, or in your company, then of course, by nature, you've going to have a leadership team. And so that's where I'd say we we start with that size company.
00:18:53
Speaker
And you know I've had the pleasure of working with you know really extraordinary leaders who you know they just get it. And they're willing to say, yeah, you know what? the The more I can alleviate the biggest problem in business being people, the quicker I can get my vision and my vision out into the world. And so they go on this path with us.
00:19:20
Speaker
And they start figuring out, how do we get our own team to work in a way that is going to help the the entire company? So they start with their inner or their inner circle. And that starts to bridge out to the other teams that work with them. And then it starts to bridge out to you know all teams that they work with. So it's a pretty um it's a pretty simple model, I would say.
00:19:50
Speaker
um And it's just getting in there, rolling your sleeves up, trying stuff you've never tried before, and, you know, watching the business explode. So, Linde, for you as a thought leader, how do you go about finding or attracting these clients for yourself that meet your your stringent criteria?
00:20:13
Speaker
So, a couple things. So, I chair, Nikki, two groups. of fast growth leaders. um And that is through an organization called Tech Canada, the executive network. And so I'm, you know, in that field all the time. And so I would say a bulk of my business does come from people who just know me, um you know, referrals,
00:20:45
Speaker
Obviously, are they you know the dream on the sales side is people who know your work and say, you know what? You may want to reach out to Linda. She can probably help you figure out how to have an all-star executive team and start to create that team of teams concept. um So I do that. i Like you, i I run a podcast.
00:21:11
Speaker
and my And so that helps me get the word out about what this movement is about becoming in sync. um I am also authoring a book by the same title, In Sync, How to Get Leadership Teams Right. um So I would say kind of all of those in in combination. And um I'm a huge believer in LinkedIn because that's where That's where my people are, is LinkedIn. They're professionals, they're looking for business help. So I would say those are the big big ways of of reaching my target. So tell me about tech. Are you actually a tech chair? Do you do you chair two two tech groups?
00:22:00
Speaker
Sorry, Nicky, just the volume cut out there, but I think I'm good now. so Yeah, but go ahead. The thing is, are you a tech chair? Yes, I am a tech chair of two. So I was hired by chuck bye chuckk by tech to start high growth groups in Toronto. And that happened because of my work with executive leadership teams. So my work with tech is bringing CEOs together as an executive team and leveraging the strengths of the group, just like, you know, like experienced back with the family. So this is how this is all interfinly interconnected. So I do that with executives that aren't on the same team. And then I do similar work in companies who are like, wow, okay, I want to get
00:22:52
Speaker
my team right inside my company. So those are kind of the two areas ah that that I work in and of course I know from tech that getting the leadership team right is a huge topic for most of our members.
00:23:12
Speaker
That's very powerful, very important. I'd like to chat with you offline. I did not realize you were a tech chair, but that's fantastic. I have a a new book and a workshop that I'm teaching, and I've been hired by EO to speak at their um December kind of annual conference that they're having for Toronto area people. And I've been wanting to get through to tech with this as well. So I'd love to chat with you about that offline.
00:23:42
Speaker
I think that's super fantastic. So tell me an example, like a success story. You don't need to like mention names. You can protect the innocent and all that. let Give me an example of a success story. Okay. So, um, a lot of my clients are in Toronto, Nikki, because this work I firmly believe requires face to face contact. Um, you know, yes, we do work.
00:24:11
Speaker
ah virtually, especially during the pandemic, but now as much as possible, we want to do it live or we jump on a plane and go see them. So I would say, you know, one of one of my um many success stories is ah a company that ah is one of Canada's fastest growing companies for over five years.
Success Stories and Overcoming Visibility Challenges
00:24:33
Speaker
wow And um I was hired by their CEO,
00:24:39
Speaker
to come in and you know help them grow their executive team and take the company to a new level. And so over the period of six months, we worked together and through our work, we came up with a solution to one of their biggest biggest biggest business problems. And one of the, the you know what the problem was was, was capital raising of all things. So that's what, when we go into a group, we're not just building a team, but we're using deep team collaboration to solve their biggest problem. And the president said, you know what? If we could start raising our own capital,
00:25:30
Speaker
we would catapult any other company in our field. And so what we did was we worked together. They came up with an idea that they wanted to raise $125 million dollars and they had never done that before. And the executive team got together. So we had a president, we had a CFO and we had a CEO and we had a head of HR.
00:25:59
Speaker
and they all put their heads together and literally six months to the day, I get a call from the CEO and he's like, guess what? It's done. We just closed our first capital raise for 125 million. i And you know, the thing is, Nikki, is that when you get people in sync around what the company is doing and you start unleashing the desire to do more, be more, have more, but it can't be just one person. You need a team to get that kind of win under the under your belt. So they went from that. They today have completed their third round of raising their own capital.
00:26:48
Speaker
and you know I know you're a smart business guy so you know the benefit of having your own cash versus going to the market whether it's the bank or whoever you're going to to private equity they have raised their own capital that has allowed them to move so much quicker they've been able to expand and that's how they've kept on the list of fastest growing companies for the last five years. So this is the type of transformational work we do together, putting all of these bright minds in a room and figuring out how do we collaborate, not compete with each other? And how do we serve the greater good of all these groups in the company?
00:27:36
Speaker
um And that's, you know, that's just one of many stories of how we can serve serve better. I mean, to be like that, Nikki, I mean, that astonished me. um And I guess, first of all, the amount of the raise and the short duration of time that when you can rally the energy and efforts of people I don't think anyone quite realizes what is capable, but when you look back in humanity, this is how we did, this is how we did anything. Whether we put a man on the moon, when we, you know, when the, um, the pyramids of Egypt were built, they're all built rallying people together, but what the heck were they doing? Like what was going on with these teams that those kinds of achievements happen?
00:28:33
Speaker
And now that's why I've been such an avid, um yeah in an avid inquiry, being curious, going back to school, studying, figuring this, all this stuff out and helping leaders unleash the energy that they have on their executive team to take the company to a level that they never even saw thought was possible. That's fantastic. I love it. I love it.
00:29:00
Speaker
So Linda, I'm going to ask you a bit of an off the wall question. You ready? I'm ready. So look, you are an emerging thought leader. I know you got a big heart. You got a desire to make a big dent the universe. So what's the biggest challenge you're currently facing in terms of you being better known out there in terms of you and your message scaling and helping way more folks.
00:29:29
Speaker
Well, ah that is an excellent question. So I think, you know, you, you grow up from a point of who, who do you know? And you flip it to who knows you. So that's why I've been on this trajectory of, yes, am I well known in Canada and really, really well known in Toronto, yes. But for me to achieve what I want for others, I have to create a much bigger platform where people can see my work and um and see who I am as a leader as well. And, you know, I got to tell you, Nikki, one of the biggest things I had to overcome
00:30:18
Speaker
was I did not want to be the public face of this. I just didn't want to. i ah Not that I don't love being with people, I love being with teams, but I love knowing who's in the room versus being somebody who's just on the internet out there talking to a black hole. And you know I have really, really had to work on that part of my personality to realize that this is going to be part of it. And um I guess it just speaks to my level of commitment to this that um I'm going to break that paradigm that I've had and I'm going to be willing to be the public face of it to, you know, be go on internet, do podcasts, be an author, be out there speaking around the world about
00:31:17
Speaker
the most important thing to a business, which is around your your executive teams. So I want to chat with you offline um because I can help you with that in ah in a couple of ways. I think we can help each other, but I want you to do me a favor. This is my newest book.
00:31:38
Speaker
It is called Get Booked and Get Paid, how to generate six figures plus a year through podcast guesting, generating new relationships, new leads. I have become the world expert on this. I've been on 630 shows in 26 months and I've generated 25 client engagements and $410,000 in sales five hours a week.
00:32:02
Speaker
This is an excellent book for anybody who is like you looking to get themselves out there where it's on Amazon right now. so Go grab a copy. It's a fantastic book. I think it'll make a huge difference for you to get a copy of that and we should find time to see each other in person. I'll sign up for you.
00:32:24
Speaker
So yes, absolutely. 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But love that. Honestly, there's a couple of people I want to introduce you to who I think you should be on their shows. And I actually, um,
00:32:37
Speaker
Like I said, um this talk I'm doing for EO is on podcast guesting. All the EO entrepreneurs want to find out about podcast guesting because podcast guesting, people go, okay, I just go on a show and that's great. No, no, no. That's how most people do it. The way I do it is a Blue Ocean. You familiar with the book, Blue Ocean Strategy?
00:32:56
Speaker
So this is a blue ocean. Everybody else, of course you are. Everybody else is in the red ocean of traditional ways of getting themselves out there. Podcast Guessing the Nikki Billoway, which we call Get Booked and Get Paid, is a blue ocean. Nobody understands this. So I'm going to give you a couple of thoughts on it. Number one,
00:33:16
Speaker
The intention has to be that you're going there to make relationships with people that are buyers. I'm going on to generate client relationships, lead sales clients, not to have a great conversation. That's a good intention, but it's a secondary intention. The main intention is lead sales clients. There's a big difference between having that as your primary focus and having a good conversation as your primary focus. You with me? And everybody else does the good conversation and then now magically somehow something's supposed to happen from that. Secondly,
00:33:46
Speaker
This is very important. You need to be on the show to wow the audience. The audience is composed of busy people that are seekers. Many of them are full of ah stress and they wanna hear from you to be inspired so their stress disappears and they're like, wow, Linda was great, I wanna know more. So you've gotta have that as an intention. Secondly, you gotta make the host look good. The host has gotta go, damn, I'm glad I brought it on.
00:34:13
Speaker
God, she's got to come back. That's what you want the host to say. But Linda, here's the most important part. You need to build a relationship with the host. You need to build a relationship with the host. The host is another fellow business person. That relationship can open doors for you.
00:34:33
Speaker
And this is just old fashioned. You and I were from, you know, a generation that understands this, that believes it in person. You meet new people. What's a great way to meet new people? Well, be on an interview with them. Be on an interview with them. You're going to meet new people. If you do two shows a week, 50 weeks a year, that's a hundred shows. That's a hundred new business relationships.
00:34:56
Speaker
I know you and I know each other, but imagine 100 new business relationships. You probably have shared this with some of your clients in the past. 100 new business relationships, if you're smart about it, man, that's worth something. 100 new business relationships is probably worth five to 15 new client engagements. 100 new business relationships is worth an opportunity that one of them can open a door for you to get you to speak.
00:35:23
Speaker
to a whole new association in another country. A hundred new business relationships is an opportunity for you to be of service and for someone to be of service to you.
00:35:35
Speaker
People don't understand that this is the genius of podcast casting. And that's okay. They listen to my podcast, they start to get it. They come and do my my courses or read my books on this. They come and get it. But I'm telling you, this is powerful stuff. People need to know about this business people. Because this is going to be a blue ocean only for a couple more years. Then everyone's going to know about it. It's going to be red as red can be. That's just how it goes. That's just how it goes. And Nikki, just so I know, you're saying to appear as a guest.
00:36:04
Speaker
<unk> versus having a show. Yes. Just so I understand.
Benefits of Being a Podcast Guest
00:36:09
Speaker
And I recommend that too. And you have a show and we can talk about that separately as well. But I'm talking about being a guest. You don't need to commit to a regular schedule to be a guest. You do it whenever you want. You don't need to hire good tech people to put produce your show and all that good stuff. To be a guest, all you need to do is have something valuable to say and be willing to go on shows and say it.
00:36:34
Speaker
That's what makes it so simple. Doesn't it? Anybody can go be a guest, but they want to learn how to be a guest and do it the way that they would go do a TED talk. Because if you go do a talk the way everybody else does it, you're just going to have a conversation. It'll be great. You'll go home. Nothing will happen. But if you do it the way you get booked and get paid lays out for you. Your entire appearance is like a TED talk and it's going to result in great new relationships, great new sales and leads and clients. And that.
00:37:06
Speaker
I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. You know, so that's what I want to say. Sorry. Can you just give me one minute? These delivery guys are supposed to be here at five and they've just shown up. So I'm just going to just give me one minute and I'll be right back. You go for it and I'll speak while you're gone so we don't have dead air. So that's what we're going to do. Awesome. So what I'm saying while Linda's away is that podcast guesting is a way for you to generate leads, sales, and clients. How? Well, first of all, you're going on a show, and you are going to be speaking to a whole new audience who doesn't know you. This audience is full of people who are going to get to know you. That's beautiful. That's magnificent. So if you go on 100 shows, and let's say each show just had 100 listeners, which is a low number,
00:37:59
Speaker
That's 10,000 new listeners who are going to get to know you. That's 10,000 people who otherwise wouldn't get to know you, who now know you. Now, if each show had a thousand listeners, that's 100,000 new people that are going to be exposed to you and your work. And on top of that,
00:38:20
Speaker
You're also going to get a bunch of them that are going to go, I need to get to understand this person and their work. And they're going to want to do business with you. She's back. So Linda. I'm back. Yes.
00:38:36
Speaker
A year from now, three years from now, where would you have to be? so that you are fulfilling your heart's desire in terms of your purpose and your mission, and you're crying tears of joy in terms of the impact you're having out there.
00:38:53
Speaker
And so where would I need to be from here? um Yeah, I would say by next year, because I've got this book coming out, which as you would know is um because of this style that it's being written in. It's very evidence-based just and because of who I'm writing it for, CEOs and presidents. And i know how to I know how to write for them. It's got to be punchy to the point, backed up. um So I've got that on the go. So I want that out by early next year.
00:39:27
Speaker
and ah the podcast ah series, because I've just started it. I just started it was in June of this year. So these two are going to be the the platform. And then um I would say 2025 is going to be all about, um you know, just going out and and selling selling it that much harder on the platform, because I've had a chance with writing the book, Nikki, to really rub out any of the edges of it. So now it's, um it's the same core, but I made a couple of changes to it um to go out and just basically serve more clients. But the one thing I'll never do is I'll never give up my two tech groups, because I just love that work. And you know what, it they I have,
00:40:22
Speaker
learned so much doing that. So I'll have my two tech groups. And then from there, I can probably take on probably to two new clients a month, I would say into probably the into Q2 2025. I love it. That's the yeah that's the gate. That's the game plan.
00:40:47
Speaker
I love it. So Linda, we wrap up every show by asking you as our guest expert, what are your top three expert action steps?
Linda's Top Leadership Advice
00:40:55
Speaker
Bullet Point Forum, what are your three best pieces of advice from my listener? What say you? Best piece of advice for your listener.
00:41:08
Speaker
Understand that building and leading an all-star team is one of the most important skill sets that you need to have. That's number of one. Number two is be an expert at building collaboration, not competition. Hire for that. You need collaborative people in the future, and particularly on your own leadership team. And I would say number three, be a phenomenal connector with your own team,
00:41:47
Speaker
your team of teams internally, your customers, and your suppliers. And if you can do that well, you will be literally Nicky in the 1% Club, because it is not done well. It is done horrifically. But most importantly, you will 2X your business. And I am not. It's not Linda Martin saying not. The data is saying not.
00:42:16
Speaker
that you will um two you'll be two times as likely to be above the medium performance if you do this well. So this is something that in the past was looked at as soft skills. These are not soft skills. I would say the soft skills are the process and all that, then the KPIs and the Lean Six Sigma. That stuff's easy. You just follow a recipe.
00:42:42
Speaker
This is the hard stuff. And you need to, in a modern world, get that stuff right. Pivot your thinking into that, is what I would say. Those are the top three. These are really great. And in reflecting on them as you're sharing them, these are all three areas I want to get significantly better at myself. So I thank you for sharing those with us, for me personally, as well as for my listener. So Linda,
00:43:11
Speaker
What do you want to promote to the listener today? Yes. What do I want to promote? I want to encourage listeners to reach out to me on, uh, on LinkedIn, Linda Martin Toronto. LinkedIn is the new website. I do have a website as well. Linda at Linda Martin results and on your favorite podcast. Um, check me out in sync with Linda Martin.
00:43:37
Speaker
on Spotify, on Apple, um or any of your favorite podcasts. And you know have a listen. Just you know start the journey. And um and I know you'll you'll like it. the the The folks that we're interviewing are absolutely world-class contributors to this movement of making work work. So that's what I would that's what i would say. I've got a couple of guests for you that I think you would enjoy talking to, but fantastic.
00:44:07
Speaker
listener, Linda Martin, the real deal. Check out her LinkedIn profile. Check out her website. And um if you enjoyed the episode, give us a like, give us a rating, give us a review. That helps with the algorithm. And if you have a friend who needed to hear this, share this with them. Sharing an episode is like giving someone a gift because If they need that message and you know they need that message, there's nothing better than you sharing it with them. Linda Martin, God bless your heart. Thanks for coming on the show. Thank you, Nikki. Awesome to see you again. Awesome this to see you as well. And that wraps up another exciting episode of the podcast, The Thought Leader Revolution, to find out about today's amazing guest, the legendary Linda Martin.
00:44:57
Speaker
Go to the show notes at thethoughtleaderrevolution.com or wherever you happen to listen to this episode via iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Audible, YouTube, Rumble, or what have you. Until next time, goodbye.
00:45:14
Speaker
This episode has been brought to you by eCircleacademy.com, the proven system to add six to seven figures a year to your thought leader practice.