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How to become a speaker - Carissa Woo - Episode 94
159 Plays1 year ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays!
Today I share tips on how to become a speaker. I decided I wanted to become a speaker 2 years ago and I have a big announcement.
After rejection after rejection, I didn't give up. I've improved my skills with Toastmasters and networked my booty off.
I'm going to be the main speaker on the big stage for a WIPPA event on June 27th at the beautiful venue https://themuck.org/ : This is for all wedding pros.
The Muckenthaler Cultural Center in fullerton.
My hot topic : How to fill your inbox with inquiries
Thank you Jasmine from https://www.instagram.com/couturecakery/
Director of Education at WIPPA for making this happen.
If you want to become a speaker too, tune in.
Connect with Carissa Woo
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & WIPA Event Announcement
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Well Wednesdays! I did a little impromptu episode today about how to become a speaker as a wedding professional. I had a conversation and got the news and finalization last night from Jasmine from Gator Cakes.
00:00:16
Speaker
that I'm going to be a speaker on June 8th for a WIPA event and I'm going to be the only speaker and I'm going to be talking about how to fill your inbox with inquiries. I just got so excited and emotional and she is just the absolute best and I'm so thankful for her. And yeah, I'll put the link in so you guys could be there. It's going to be in Orange County. And me and my team member slash partner Cindy Suzuki, we are doing free
00:00:42
Speaker
Loom audits for your website. We've been doing this all week. Everyone's been giving us, I don't know, just so thankful for it and they've been loving it. So if you want to DM me at Carissa Woo, drop in the word audit and your website, we will send you back a 10-minute
00:00:59
Speaker
And it's sometimes good to get some fresh eyes on your website and have your website start doing the work for you.
Free Resources & Masterclass Offers
00:01:08
Speaker
And also, I still have my free mini audio masterclass, how to get in your first preferred vendor list. A lot of people told me I gave away too many cool secrets. So you want to check it out. It's going to be in the link once I got on my first one.
00:01:25
Speaker
I got on eight that same year, so I'll give you my exact process. So enjoy this episode.
00:01:36
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:02:05
Speaker
time hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon!
WIPA Event & Community Benefits
00:02:28
Speaker
Hey guys, Happy Woo Wednesdays. I'm going to do a little off the cuff episode about how to become a speaker as a wedding professional. I don't have really good notes, but I'm just going to speak from the heart. So just first, I wanted to tell you I'm going to be a speaker on June 8th for a WIPA event. It's at the Munkin Dollar in
00:02:55
Speaker
Orange County, I love saying that word and it's a beautiful venue. And if you guys are a WIPO member, it's free.
00:03:03
Speaker
And I'm going to be talking about how to fill your inbox with inquiries. Pretty much my favorite thing to talk about. And yeah, I'm just so excited. I think there's going to be probably about 75 people there. And I'm a little nervous, but not nervous. I feel like I'm so ready. And I'm just going to share my journey about how I got to this point.
00:03:31
Speaker
Shout out to WIPA Wedding Industry Professional Association for making this happen. I joined about a year and a half ago Holly Gray from anything but anything but gray events wedding planner. She actually reached out to me on Instagram and she asked me to be a part of WIPA and I started going to the meetings and it was a little awkward at first because I didn't know anyone but
00:03:59
Speaker
I feel like by the third or fourth event, everyone was giving me hugs and so friendly and so warm and everyone's trying to help each other out. So if you're interested to get tapped in to start networking with very elevated brands and elevated people, then sign up to be a WIPA member. And the events are amazing. I'm blown away each and every time.
00:04:21
Speaker
And yeah, shout out to Jasmine from Kator Cakes. She's the one that helped me get this speaking gig. And I just got off the phone with her yesterday. And she's just so amazing. She was so excited for me to get me on. And I just said like, wow, thank you so much. Is there anything I could do for you? And she's like, no, you've just been working so hard. I see that. And you deserve this. And I was almost in tears.
00:04:50
Speaker
It was just, all my hard work has paid off in tenfold and I just, I'm so thankful to her. So shout out to Jasmine. She makes the most luxurious cakes, Pater cakes.
Journey to Becoming a Speaker
00:05:06
Speaker
So yeah, so I'm just going to be giving you some tips on how to become a speaker as a wedding professional. I feel like it could really
00:05:16
Speaker
help your brand, it's great for networking, it's great to be an educator, and it really helps you stand out from the rest. And even Bright and Grooms will take notice too. And they'll be like, oh wow, like she's a speaker, like she must know what she's doing. Like she's really trying to help out the industry and maybe they'll book you because of that reason. It really helps elevate your whole entire brand as a whole.
00:05:43
Speaker
So I guess tip number one, I would say when I wanted to become a coach and really go for it, it was about two and a half years ago and coming from pandemic and then just getting slammed in 2021, I was like, I just want to educate. I started writing my book. Now it's finally done and going to be on Amazon. I just started like,
00:06:09
Speaker
Journaling things all the time and writing what I struggled with when I first started wedding photography when I the first year the second year the third year It was all different because when something becomes easy, then you kind of forget about in your life
00:06:23
Speaker
That's easy, but it really wasn't easy. So step number one is I decided, I decided that I wanted to become a speaker. And I don't know, maybe it was always in me. My parents were already always in Toastmasters for about 20 years, and I'll go more into that. But maybe I just finally just
00:06:46
Speaker
I don't know thought being a speaker was cool. Like I wanted to be on a big stage. I wanted to step into my power. That is step number one, decide.
00:06:56
Speaker
Pardon this short interruption, but me and the Get A Heck As team have some exciting news. If you haven't heard, I have a free mini masterclass how to get on your first preferred venue vendor list, the Holy Grail of Bliss. Hot leads and these couples don't really care about price. It's 20 minutes and packed with goodness. The link is in the show notes.
00:07:18
Speaker
Also, we are offering website copy writing for all wedding professionals. With my digging and coaching skills and my team member Cindy with 15 years of copywriting experience, we will create your perfect website copy. We want you to cry of happiness when you get it back and say, wow, I'm so proud of myself as a business owner. Get a free audit of your current site.
00:07:41
Speaker
Go from meh to heck yes. Just DM me your website and I will send you a loom audit back. My Instagram is at CarissaWoo. Back to the conversation. Step number two is visualize and make a list of
00:07:59
Speaker
you know, putting things into action. So I think I took a little YouTube course about visualization. It was like a mini course and it was just visualizing myself standing in front of the big audience, maybe 500 people, 1,000 people, 100 people, two people, just seeing myself on the big stage. I even visualize myself what I was wearing. I'm gonna be wearing like a pink suit. I'm gonna have heels on, like my hair is gonna be done.
00:08:26
Speaker
I'm going to be blonde. I visualize what mic I had. The people around me wearing all pops of color, even the venue. And something cool about this is Jasmine, the girl that hooked me up with this gig, she emailed me and she said that she wants to have pink florals as a backdrop in the background. So I was like, whoa, I totally visualize pink.
00:08:55
Speaker
me on the stage with pink colors. So I think I completely visualize that into existence. And yeah, just start making a list.
00:09:05
Speaker
Who, where do people normally speak? Megan Ealy has a weddingspeakers.com. I've been trying to get on her list. I've had the, you know, the podcast. I've been networking with people there. I went to a workshop, you know, at, in Palm Springs. It's called Evolve. I reached out to them, you know, got rejected left and right.
00:09:29
Speaker
been reaching out to people for two years, how my girl Cindy reached out to people. I made my website, it has a speaking tab. I reached out to other speakers and see how they got their foot in the door. Dana and Courtney, their speakers
00:09:46
Speaker
wedding planners, even on my podcast, they I asked them tips and tricks and I just started putting one foot in front of the other and just kind of checking out the list. I even have a journal of just, you know, where I want to speak at. So just tell people you're a speaker. I think when Jasmine Starr was on
00:10:05
Speaker
my podcast, I told her like, I told so many people that I'm a speaker that I really felt like I was a speaker, even though I really not necessarily did any speaking roles, I had in person workshops with about 10 people. But yeah, I just, I was like, wow, like I really saw myself as this big time speaker, but maybe I haven't done anything. But I visualize it so hard that I really truly believed it that I was a speaker.
00:10:32
Speaker
That's tip number two. Tip number three is practice, practice, practice. Guys, I've been practicing so much that I, you know, little nervous, but I feel very confident getting up in front of, you know, a hundred people now.
00:10:49
Speaker
I've done so many online webinars, master classes. I got certified as a lead speaker in Florida. I did a three-day conference and learned how to speak. And I've been in Toastmasters. I told you my parents have been in Toastmasters for about 20 years, and I just grew up going to their meetings, doing table topics.
00:11:12
Speaker
saying different speeches, doing improv. I watched them give speeches, I watched them win contests, and my mom wanted me to join during pandemic, so we have a
00:11:25
Speaker
Zoom meeting every Saturday morning. It's called improv and humor. And yeah, I've given about 12 speeches and it's been an amazing experience. Like I've gotten a lot better. I used to be so nervous. Like my voice was shaking and a lot of the critiques are like, just like, just talk from the heart. Like, like stop looking at your script, you know, you know, have bullets points, but just look into her eyes, connect with your audience and just start talking.
00:11:54
Speaker
And slowly but surely, it got easier and easier. Lewis Howe, he has a number one podcast. He said that he went to Toastmasters and he was shaking in his shoes, sweating, mumbling, saying ums a lot.
00:12:11
Speaker
And now he's a world-class speaker. So trust me, it doesn't come easy. Practice, practice, practice. And practice doesn't make perfect, but I'll never be perfect, but it's okay. I'm just speaking from the heart. And I truly feel like I've gotten so much better.
Creating Speaking Opportunities & Manifestation
00:12:30
Speaker
Okay, and number four step to being a speaker is now you can manifest it, or you could create your own opportunities. So if you really are not getting the opportunities, maybe start your own networking group, you can meet once every month or once every two months. And you could be the speaker at your own event. So just, I don't know, fake it till you make it. And
00:12:56
Speaker
put it on your Instagram or put it on your Facebook and your TikTok and your website and you are the speaker. So just decide that you want to become a speaker, visualize and make a list of how you can make this happen. Practice, practice, practice, practice. And then for manifest. So again, I really give a shout out to WIPA.
Final Reminder of WIPA Event
00:13:24
Speaker
I'm going to be
00:13:26
Speaker
the main speaker and the only speaker on June 8th at Munkin Dollar in Orange County, and it starts at 1030, and it's gonna be amazing. It's for all wedding professionals how to fill your inbox with inquiries because some people are saying it's really slow right now, but there's ways around it. And yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. See you next Woo Wednesdays.
00:13:54
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros!